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THE CONSTITUTIONALIST
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WEDNESDAY MORNING. JULY
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THE YANKEES DESPONDING AND GETTING
DESPERATE-
The “brilliant strategic movement ’ of McClel
lan does not seem to excite such immense ad
miration among the Yankees as was hoped.
The facts have gradually leaked out through
newspaper correspondents and private letters,
and all Yankeedoodledom, at last, finds out
that the “ brilliant strategic movement ” turns
out to have been a grand “skedaddling" move
ment, which well nigh ruined the grand army of
the Potomac. The Young Napoleon of the
Yankee nation is now looming up before the
world rather as the Prince of Liars than of
strategy. Perhaps we should say that the only
successful part of his strategy of war has been
the deception of his own countrymen by his
lying bulletins. And this has. been a very
short I'ved success, for though his brazen
falsehoods deceived for a while, the reaction is
now all the more severe and overwhelming, on
account of the false hopes they created. The
New York World says, “distrust weighs like a
pall" —“a sullen gloom is settling on every
heart. The people are coldly motionless.
That paper, the Philadelphia Press, and other
leading papers, confess that the call for three
hundred thousand more troops awakes no re
sponse from the people: that volunteering is
played out: and that a draft must be resorted
to. In the Yankee Senate, a proposition has
been debated, and will, no doubt, be adopted,
io raise re-inforcements by arming and organ
izing negroes into regiments, brigades, and di
visions. Sherman, of Ohio, said in the debate,
that rather than see the Union destroyed, he
would organise a great army, black and white,
and desolate every Southern State. Fessenden,
of Maine, said that he was perfectly willing to
confess that in his own State there was not
that willingness shown to enlist as heretofore.
He intimated that this was owing to his people
not being willing to fight for the preservation
of the institution of slavery—-and to dig
trenches, and suffer hardships, when their
friends, the negroes, “were better capable, and
willing to do the work.” If it were made a
was for emancipation, the people of the North
would go into it with earnestness and enthusi
asm—and much more of the same sort.
Rice, of Minnesota, said the time had come
when the North must either recognize the
.Southern Confederacy or speedily put it down,
and use all the means in their power to do so.
This man Rice cemes very near the. truth in
this assertion. They must recognize the South
ern Confederacy, unless they can speedily crush
it: for it is manifest that the Northern people
are getting into a frame of mind not at’ all fa
vorable to an indefinite continuance of the war.
Did they know, as we do here, that the South
will continue the war for a generation to come
rather than submit to Yankee rule, a longer
continuance of the war would soon become an
impossibility at .the North. The Yankees are
not a warlike people. They have 'no aptitude
or taste for fighting. Their genius is essential
ly peaceful, and adapted to the peaceful pursuits
of trade, traffic, and money-making. They are
nfinitely ingenious and fertile in resources for
turning labor and inventive skill into money,
and there is no limit to the scope of their enter
prize, energy and audacity in schemes for realiz
ing the almighty dollar. They will undertake
the hugest contracts that money can be made
out of. They would have undertaken to put
down for England the rebellion of the Sikhs in
India, if they supposed they could have made
a profitable spec of it—or have crushed out the
Hungarians for Austria, or driven Au-stria out
of Lombardy and Venetia, and delivered over
Savoy and Nice to France—for a considera
tion. They would contract te capture the Pope
and his Cardinals, and remove them, Vatican.
St. Peter’s and all—with all the holy shrines
and images to Jerusalem, if paid for it, and if
they could, hire men to do the fighting. They
flippantly talk now of revolutionizing Ireland,
and starving England and France, and Spain,
and destroying their navies; and sweeping from
North America every vestige of their dominion (
if they dare to interfere with the subjugation of
the South.
But ail this gasconade has no significance,
but as it may embody the Yankee’s notion of
turning into money. The conquest of
the South is but a huge money-making job, and
was undertaken under a miscalculation of the
means at their command, and of the money to
be made by it. The South was a pigeon to be
plucked by the North, and any interference by
foreign nations was to be stare off by bluster
and bravado, until her subjugation could be
effected. ’ Her trade, her crops, her resources of
all kinds, are to be monopolized by the Yankees
at all hazards. They are willing, if necessary, to
accumulate any amount of national debt in order
to bring back the South in chains, not doubting
the job feasible, and that the South could be
made to pay the costs of her own subjugation.
But the frightful truth begins to dawn on
Northern optics, that the job is too vast for even
Yankee enterprise and resources. They are
growirg desperate, and now, as a last resort,
propose to raise an immense army, white and
black, to give the South a finishing blow. If
this scheme fail, then is the Yankee cause des->
per ate indeed. AU that will be left them, will
be as Rice, of Minnesota, suggests, to recognize
the Southern Confederacy, and make the best
trade they can for the peace that is to follow.
The last final struggle is aboat to be made.
It will take months for the Lincoln Government
to rally and recruit for this last crushing blow,
with his army of blacks and whites. Let the
South prepare to resist it-cooly, industriously,
brave'y, in a calm, determined spirit, that
is to bring every man, and every dollar
into this winding up struggle, and the
„] o ri e s that have crowned Southern arms at
Mun-issas, at Shiloh, at Richmond and on the
Chiokahominy will be rivalled in the coming
achievements. “Once more unto the breach,
dear friends, once more." Let another “grand
Union army" like McClellan’s be driven back,
and no amount of falsehood by commanding
Generals— no agonized entreaties of failing mer
chants and bankrupt stock jobbers-no frantic
imprecations of Abolition fanatics will ever in*
fuse life, and energy, and hope enough into
Northern councils to enable them to continue a
war so hopeless, and disastrous to Northern pros
perity.
But Southern prowess and heroism must
achieve the result. It is not to foreign intervens
tion we should look for deliverance. The latter
has proved an iyngus fatuus. The true fire of
liberty and independence flashes alone from the
unsheathed sword and gleaming bayonets of South
ern freemen.
THE DEATH OF GEN. TWIGGS.
We briefly announced, in our evening edition
of Wednesday, the death of the veteran com
mander, Major General David E. Twiggs. This
event occurred in this city on Tuesday morning,
July 15fih, and was caused by the effects of a
congestive chill with which he was attacked on
Sunday last. We are unable, at present, to pay
a fitting tribute to the memory of the gallant old
General; but perhaps some citizen—some cotem»
porary of his, may, at another time, do the sub
ject that justice which it deserves. From such
material as we have convenient, and from in<
quiries, we glean the following statements rela»
tive to his biography:
David E. Twiggs was born in Richmond coun
ty about the year 1789. In 1812 he entered the
Army of the United States, and on the 12th of
March, of that year, received the appointment of
Captain in the Bth Infantry. On the 30th of
Jnne, 1846, he was appointed Brigadier General,
and on the 23d of September, of the same year,
was brevetted Major General. He served with
distinction in the Indian wars in Alabama, and
also in the war with Mexico —his gallantry being
most conspicuous in the battle of Cerro Gordo .
and, when the latter war was closed, the happy
compliment was paid him of being "the hero- of
all the battles, and of none of the letters.”
As an instance of his devotion to his State, it
is mentioned that during the difficulties between
Georgia and the Federal Government under the
Administration of President Adams, General
Twiggs, fearing that he might be called upon
to act against his native State, tendered his
resignation to the Government, as an officer of
the United States Army. So high was the
esteem' in which he was held, however, his
resignation was not accepted, but he
was transfererd to another department.
Again, in 1860, when 'Georgia seceded
from the Union, he resolved to give his
services to the South, and surrendered his com
mand in Texas to the Confederate authorities.
For this act he was, of course, denounced by the
Federal Government and people; but it was ap -
proved by the Confederate Government, and
the eld hero was placed in command of the mili
tary department, of New Orleans, but age and
feeble health soon compelled him to resign ;
and very recently he came to this city to reside
with his relatives. Here, amid friends and rela
tives, his spirit departed and he was “gathered
to his fathers.” ~
DRUNKEN GENERALS.
When the full history of this war is written,
if it should ever be, a bloody list of blunders
and disasters, growing out of the drunkenness
of Confederate officers, will see the light. This
will prove true, especially of the late battles
near Richmond, which, though they were a
series of brilliant victories for Southern arms,
were, in some parts of those well fought fields,
purchased at an unnecessary cost of blood.
The victories were won not by the cool and
self-possessed intellects of the Generals, ao
much as by the indomitable pluck of the sol
diers. They were won, not in consequence of
the sober skill and good judgment of division
and brigade commanders, but in the absence of
these qualities in some cases. We hear the
names of more than one prominent General of
ficer mentioned in connection with the undue
use of liquor in that eventful week. We for
• bear to publish now what is quite rife in the
community on this point, hoping that authorita
tive action may be taken to bring the facts to
ight.
We simply refer to the subject, without call
ing names. We would not even do this on
vague’ rumor. We are constrained to speak from
the testimony of letters from the army from and
to responsible parties.
DEATH OF R. C. ROBBINS
We regret to learn, by a telegraphic dispatch
from Richmond to our esteemed fellow-towns
man, L. C. Warren, Esq., that another estimable
and patriotic citizen has fallen a victim in this
iniquitous and unholy war, in the person of Jus
tice R. C. Robbins, of Jefferson county. Mr. R.
was a young man, and one of the most wealthy,
influential and respected citizens of that county.
And although of a slight frame and delicate con
stitution, and reared in the lap of opulent refine
ment, yet his ardent patriotism disdained the
employment of a “substitute” in the war, and
his love for the rights and institutions of his na
tive South, animated him to volunteer in their
defence, and to partake alike the common toils
and dangers of the camp, with the thousands of
his brave countrymen. He was attached to
Wright’s Legion at the time of his death, and
while willingly and cheerfully performing the
duties of a patriot soldier, was frequently em
ployed in other departments of the army, for
which his intelligence and fine business quali
ties made him eminently fitted and useful. It
is but simple justice to say of the deceased,
that among the many brave and gallant spirits
who have illustrated their country’s glory by
the laying down of their lives upon its altars,
though many were more publicly distinguished,
yet none Could have offered up the sacrifice
with a purer and more disinterested patriotism.
Mr. Robbins had been for some time previous,
and after the commencement of the war, editor
of the Louisville Gazette, in which he acquired
the reputation ot an agreeable and sensible wri*
ter—and was universally and highly esteemed
in this community and in Jefferson by a very
large circle of friends and relatives, with whom
we sympathize in this their pflinful bereave
ment.
from the New York World, July 9.
THE NORTHERN PRESS ON THE CRITICAL
SITUATION.
THS SUPREME DUTY Os THE HOUR.
Richmond is in possession of the Confederates
because Gen. McClellan has not men enough.—
The people have decided opinions as to where
the responsibility tor this lack rests ; they would
have ceased to be freemen if they had not cour
age to express their judgment of their public
servants. A change in the Cabinet would pro
mote enlistments, but if it is not evident by the
middle ot the month that men volunteer with
the requisite alacrity, the Government must
adopt vigorous measures and promptly resort to
a draft. An additional hundred thousand men
in twenty days will throttle the rebellion. If
they cannot be had in one way they must in
another.
Gen. McClellan must immediately be furnished
with men enough to co-operate effectively with
Captain Wilkes and take Fort Darling, which is
tbe key to Richmond. Fifty thousand men for
garrison duty, to relieve trained soldiers, and
another fifty thousand to fill up the decimated
regiments, would enable our army to take Riche
mond within five days after the arrival of rein
forcements at Harrison’s Landing. Reinforce
McClellan promptly and adequately, and no sub ■
sequent blundering in the War Department can
defer the fall of the Gonfederate Capital, what
ever else it may defer or prevent.
The capture of Richmond will not bnd the re
bellion, but it will destroy its prestige. It will
have a greater moral effect both at home and
abroad than any otherpossible military event.—
We must not expect roreign nations, with their
noturions prejudices, to look at the recent occur
rencies through our eyes. Regardless of extenu*
ating minutice, they will see only the main fact
that we marched our finest army against Rich
mond to take it, and, after a terrible sacrifice of
life, were repulsed.
Diplomacy is powerless to meet the conclusions
they will draw from this broad fact. The only
rebutting argument that will tell in our favor is
the actual capture of Richmond. This powerful
and entirely conclusive argument should be forth
coming before the opinions of the foreign Powers
shall mature into resolves. The results of the
late battle will incline them toward recognition,
but it is not probable that their action will be
sudden. It behooves us to arrest their delibera
tion in its early stages, and induce them to hold
■their judgment as to the success of the Conieds
erates in still further suspense. This can be
effectually accomplished only by doing without
delay what our finest, best equipped, and most
vaunted army has thus far failed to do.
THE ANACONDA. ,
From the New York Tribune, July 9,
Advices from various quarters justify the gras
tifying belief that that conception of ineffable
stupidity, the great Union Anaconda, is defunct.
Henceforth, we are confident, the policy of mass
ing our disposable troops into one grand army and
hurling it swiftly and strongly npon the chief
strongholds of the rebellion successively, will
be adhered to. The anaconda has cost us a year’s
time, one hundred thousand men. and five hun
dred millions of money, and its fruits are not at
all commensurate with their cost. Had it never
been conceived, we should have failed to take
New Orleans and some other ports quite so soon,
while we should heve ere this utterly extin
guished the rebellionin Virginia, North Carolina
and Tennessee.
The “Anaconda” makes a present to the Con
federates of the all but exclusive use of railroads
and t&egraphs. It enables him to choose among
our several army corps that one on which he
shall precipitate his entire moveable force. It
enables him to be uniformly superior at the point
of collision, though we have more and better
troops in the field than he has. It enables him
to know the result of any conflict within a few
hours after its occurrence, while we must wait a
fortnight for any account of it but such as he
chooses to give us. In short, the “Anaconda”
is a blunder, a humbug, and a nuisance, away
with him!
From the New York World.
MR. LINCOLN CALLED UPON TO ACT.
What means this indecision at Washington ?
Why are the people kept in this suspense ? Is
there to be a change or not ? The call formore
troops has not yet kindled the first flash of en
thusiasm. Distrust weighs like a pall. A sul
len gloom is setttling upon every heart. The
firmest loyalty is staggered. The clearest minds
are bewildered in trying to account tor the Presis
dent’s inaction. Why stands he passive in this
turning hour of the nation’s destiny ? How is it
that he can fail to heed a necessity which is as
notorious as the san above him ?
******
The President cannot act too speedily. The
people, who have been invoked to volunteer, are
waiting fcr an earnest of a new and more satis
factory war policy. Had that earnest been
promptly given, it would have been responded
to as promptly. In the absence of all signs of it,
tbe people are coldly motionless. Os all things,
the thing which is most needed in the head of
the nation, in this day of trial, is decision, decis
ion, decision.
VIRGINIA.
From the Courtier dee State Onie.
The presumed plans of McClellan are mi idly
discussed; but people reason in the dark, for no
one knows the project of the young General.
Borne assert that be will soon be master of Fort
Darling—the key to Richmond—while others de
clare that he is thinking of resembarking, to
watch over the safety of Washington. There are
great fears on this account. It is apprehended
that Jackson may fling himself again, with irre
sistible impetuosity, upon the valleys of the
Shenandoah and Rappahannock, and that he
may appear threatening tbe banks of the Poto°
mac. it is known, too, that Pope is powerless,
for the moment, <o make any stand against a se
rious attack. He bas but few at Manassas, and
some soldiers m the Valley, who watch themove--
meats of the secessionist detachments left with
Etfell by Jackson.
THE SOUTHWEST.
Virgin® does not entirely absorb public at
tention. The army of Halleck is said to have
melted away, no less than that of Beauregard.—
It is a fact that the Federals have made no
progress in Mississippi or Alabama since the
evacuation of Corinth. The Generals of Haheck
are scattered. Pope commands on the Shenan
doab, Lewis Wallace demands a place in tbe
army of the Potomac; the astronomer Mitchell is
at Washington , McClernand is at Corinth ; Cook,
Nelson, and Crittenden, entrenched between
Huntsville and Decatur, make no movement;
Buell operates odscurely and fruitlessly in East
Tennessee ; and Grant, almost without soldiers
at Memphis, has not sufficient cavalry to prevent
the marauders of tbe'Houth from burning cotton
within 20 miles of the town—that is to say, in
his rear.
THE CALL FOR THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND MEN.
The Governors of the States have responded
to the call of Mr. Lincaln. 1 Mr. Bradford, of Mary
land, says : “The North has no need to fill its
ranks at the point of the bayonet, like the South,
by means of an audacious conscription, and that
its cause will not suffer snch a tyranny.” If
such is the belief of Mr. Bradford, this does not
seem to be the general opinion. Many papers
indicate conscription as the only means of pro
curing sufficient soldiers. Tbe need is, in fact,
to pressing, and the eagerness to enlist so little
marked, that many towns have voted a bounty
in addition to that already allowed by Mr.
ton. The municipal council of Buffalo has voted
$75 per head, payable by the city to every new
recruit.
From the New York Poet.
EUROPEAN INTERVENTION.
1 All the signs show that we stand at the grave
and serious crisis of our history. The recent
intimations from Europe look to speedy interven
tion in our affairs; and if the foreign Powers
hesitate, it is not improbable that the 3 eWB
the next steamer will take to England will help
them to a conclusion. The long delay and I ei -
traordinary care in tbe operations of General
McClellan were justified to the world only by the
assert on that he meant to make sure of victory ;
and now it has slipped from him. Mrnassas and
Yorktown lose the poor excuse they had in tne
light of tbe results of last week: and that wtiicn
was before laid to the account of wholesome pru
dence will now be charged, ana we believe with
justice, to blundering and obstinate incompe-
a significant sign of what is going on
abroad, that the French Princes, who have tor
many months been attached to Gen. McClellan s
staff, have left the army, and return to Europe
by tbe next steamer. They would fight for us,
but, if we should have war with France, they
cannot fight against French solders. Thev see
the lull significance of the results before Rich -
mond and the effect the news will have in Eu
rope, and they i etire in time.
DEPRESSING INFLUENCE OF THE RBTDRNBD SICK AND
wounded:
From the New Yorh Herald,
Wnat can the authorities mean by thrusting
the sick and wounded of the army before the
eyes of the whole community. Instead of pro
viding five or six great hospitals in healthy ins
land for the maimed and enfeebled, it
has scattered them all over the country to sadden
and depress the spirits of the people. Surely
this is not the way to inspire our young men
with enthusiasm, or induce them to enter the
ranks of the army. With conspicuous infelicity
tbe parks has been selected in this city as the
depot for the wounded, and there, day after day,
in the presence of tens of thousands, may be
seen hundreds of poor fellows, every one of
whom is a melancholy reminder of the horrors
of war, and a powerful dissuader to those who
may desire to enlist. Let propef arrangements
be made forthwith to remove every sick and
wounded soldier away from the large centres of
population.
From the New York Herald, 10th inet., editorial.
THE WAR—EUROPEAN INTERVENTION.
From the telegraphic news from Europe, which
we published yesterday from Cape Race, it aps
pears that Lord Palmerston disclaims any inten
tion of interfering in our civil war at present-
What he will say when the news of the recent
disaster in Virginia reaches England is another
question, and one whose solution will be looked
forward to with great interest. Tbat the purpose
of the British aristocracy is to push forward
France and to keep in the background themselves
is evident. Bui Louis Napoleon will not meddle
in our quarrel unless he can drag England along
with him. She will, therefore, have to join him
openly or make a secret treaty to follow him and
give him her support; for he will not commit
himself to such a struggle alone. However this
mav be, there is only one safe course of action
tor the American government to follow, and that
is to employ the interval between the present
time and the full development of the intentions
of Napoleon in making the most vigorous pre
parations to resist any European interference.
Our true wisdom will be to act as if we were cer
tain to be attacked by France and England, and
our timely preparations will either prevent the
meditated blow or render it powerless for evil
when it falls.
From the local column of Herald.
Ou Tuesday evening next a meeting of foreign
ers will be held at the Cooper Institute to pre
pare an address to the French Emperor, urging
him to abstain from intervention in our domestic
quarrels.
Prom the Atlanta (Chi.) Southern Confederacy, Jnly 19th.
THE TAKING OF MURFREESBORO.
We learn, from a reliable source, that Col.
“Forest, with 2,000 cavalry, made a dash into
Murfreesboro last Sunday morning about 5 o’-
clock. A battle with the enemy stationed
there, about 1,800 strong, ensued, lasting about
five hours. Over 100 Yankees were killed,
and a large number captured. Our loss does
not exceed 25 in killed and but few wounded.
Forest captured 300 mules, 165 horses. 65 road
wagons laden with commissary stores, and a
battery of four brass pieces, with caissons.
He burnt three locomotives, with freight trains
attached, filled with commissary and other
stores, and burnt the depot building, which
was full of stores. The gallant Colonel was
paroling the captured men on Monday morning,
but retaining the officers—one of whom was
Brig. Gen, Tom Crittenden, son of the “ old
man elephant.”
Col. Lawton’s cavalry was in the engage
ment, and distinguished themselves for their
gailant bearing. Major Whaley, of his regi
ment, with the men under bis immediate com
mand, charged and took the battery. Lieut.
Mead bore a conspicuous part, and acquited
himself with honor. Indeed all acted well,
and illustrated anew the prowess and intrepid
ity of Southern soldiers.
Forest is one of the coolest and most compe
tent officers in the service. He is an old friend
of ours. We knew him well years age. He
is made of the right kind of stuff for a suc
cessful commander. If the Government would
put him at the head of 10,000 men, he could
take them to Chicago and back again without
disaster or defeat. Such is our opinion of the
military skill of this talented man.
We hail this brilliant feat as the precursor of
most important events—we hope the capture of
Buell’s entire command. Reinforcements and
supplies are cut off from him, not only from
beyond Nashville, where the gallant Morgan is
operating, but this side also. We hope our
forces from three sides will now fall upon him,
and finish the work for him.
From the Atlanta (da.) Southern Confederacy, July 191A.
OUR SPECIAL KNOXVILLE CORRESPOND CE.
Knoxville, July 15, 1862.
I sent ydu a brief dispatch of Morgan’s sur
prise of three hundred Federals, at Tompkins
ville, Ky., on the 10th inst. They were a part
of a Pennsylvania regiment. Morgan came
upon them about breakfast time; and so com
plete was the surprise that they hadn’t time to
eat, while Morgan and his men “pitched in” and
helped themselves.
The exploit was rather a brilliant one.
Thirty of the number were captured, twenty
two killed, and a number wounded. Tbe bal
ance scattered and fled in tbe wildest confu
sion, leaving everything behind them. Major
Jordan was taken prisoner, and brought to
this city. He bears himself well; seems to be
shrewd and intelligent, and speaks in high
terms of the gallantry of Morgan and of his
men. Yet he seems to meet with scorn and
detestation, on account of his brutal conduct
towards Southern men, many of whom he had
arrested and sent to Andy Johnson, to be dealt
with by this monster brute.
Horses, muies, wagons, one ambulance, guns,
ammunition, saddles, clothing, etc., etc., were
taken in great abundance. Indeed it was a
complete rout, affording no sort of barrier to
Mohan’s advance further on to the West. He
swept them away as chaff’, and moved on in
the even teuor of his way, as if nothing had
happened. Perby.
must not despair of New Orleans.
Though far down on tha Mississippi, she isn’t
quite down in-the mouth.
Louisville (Ky.) Journal.
There is a certain upper fleet near Vicks
burg, too, that is not “down in the mouth,” so
far as the river is concerned, but as relates to
passing that heroic little place, we incline to
the opinion that some of the commanders are
very much “down in the mouth."
We obtain tbe following paragraphs from
the Richmond (Va.) Dispatch, of July 17 ;
Glorious Confbdervtb Victory on the Mis
sissippi—Thb Enemy’s Fleet Dispersed.—The
Iron-clad gunboat Arkansas bas performed a
snlendid achievement on the Mississippi, near
Vicksburg, having attacked the enemy’s fleet
with impetuous gallantry, disabling a id damag
• „ Be veral vessels, and sustaining comparative
iv slight injury herself. The Arkansas is a
steamer of 1,200 tons. She was bmlt at Mem*
nfiis but was removed from that point, in an
unfinished condition, previous to the evacuation
hv our troops. She has since been completed
in tbe Yazoo river. The following is a copy of
an official dispatch received at tbe Navy Depart
meat vesterday morning:
Vicksburg, Misb., July 15, 1862.
ToSon.S H. Malloryt
We engaged to-day from six to eight A.
with tbe enemy’s fleet above Vicksburg, consists,
inff of four or more iron clad vessels, two heavy
sloops-of-war, four gunboats, and seven or eight
rams We drove one iron-clad vessel ashore,
with colors down and disabled, blew up a ram,
burned one vessel, and damaged several othera-
Our smoke-stack was so shot to pieces that we
lost steam, and could not use our vessel as a
rarn We were otherwise cut up, as we engaged at
close quarters. Loss ten killed, fifteen wounded,
and others with slight wounds.
(Signed) Isaac N. Brown,
Lieutenant Commanding.
The Government also received the subjoined
dispatch from General Van Dorn, giving some
additional particulars of the victory, and bestow
ing a proper tribute of praise upon, the gallant
commander of the Arkansas, her officers and
“ vVcksburg, July 15.—The sloop of war Arkan
sas under cover of our batteries, ran gloriously
through twelve or tbirteen of the enemy's rams,
gunboats and sloops of war.
Ou r less > s ten men k l ‘*«dand fifteen wounded.
Captain Brown, her commander and hero, was
slightly wounded in tbe head.
Smoke stack of the Arkansas is nddied, other*
wise she is not materially damaged and can soon
Two of the enemy’s boats struck their colors
and ran ashore to keep from sinking.
Many killed and wounded—glorious achieves
ment for the Navy, her heroic commander, ofih
cers and men. .
One mortar boat disabled and aground is now
burning up. All tbe enemy’s transports and all
tbe vessels of war of lower fleet; except a sloop of
war; have gotten up steam and are off to escape
from the Arkansas.
[Signed] Earl Van Dorn,
Major General Commanding.
This reminds us of the first glorious achieve
mert of the Confederate-steamer Virginia, which
spread consternation throughout Yankeedom,
and astonished the most scientific naval officers
on the continent of Europe. The victory will
inspire the people of Vicksburg with renewed
confidence and zeal,and we hope it will be followed
up bv still more powerful blows. Lessons like
this will teach the enemy that his gunboats may
be driven from Southern waters, while the history
of the past four weeks has proved that his
bcastd land armies cannot stand before Confeder
ate bullets and bayonets.
James City County.—We had an interview
with a gentleman who ran the blockade from
this county, and reached Richmond yesterday
morning. He states that the enemy are indis
criminately arresting the citizens of James and
Charles City counties, and sending them off to
Fortress Monroe. The pickets of McClellan extend
from Berkeley entirely across the county of
Charles City, and every species of stock is being
driven off without the mention of compensation.
Whew our informant crossed the Chickahominy.
on Monday morning, it was reported that the
Federal army was gradually advancing. He re
ports the force m James City as very small, not
exceeding, in his estimation, more than three
hundred. These seem to be there for no other
purpose than to arrest and plunder.
Yankees in Culpepper and Madison.—From
gentlemen who left Gordonsville on Tuesday
evening, we learn that it was reported by citi«
zens from the neighborhood of Rapidan Station,
that the Yankee force at that place amounted to
about 12,000, and were understood to be under
tbe command of Gen. Pope, who has recently
been assigned to the command of ttyx Federal
forces in the Valley. Besides this force in Cui*
pepper, there were about five thousand men at
or near Madison Court House, who had crossed
tbe mountains from the Valley, and were sup
posed to be moving in co operation with the
forces under Gen, Pope at Rapidan.
Our informants state that the impression pre
vails that very few Federal troops now remain
in this Valley. Our pickets had been down in the
neighborhood of Winchester, and found no enemy
along the route. The Federal force, if any,
in Winchester, cannot exceed a regiment or two.
The Exchange of Prisoners.—We understand
tbat Major General D. H. Hill, the Commissioner
selected by the Confederate Government to con*
duct the negotiations for an exchange of prisoners,
will visit tbe enemy’s lines to-day, under flag
of truce, in pursuance of the discharge of bis
duties. . v ■
FROM THE SOUTHSIDE-
The Petersburg Express, of July 16th, has the
following:
A body of 250 mounted riflemen, attached to
Cdl. C. C. Dodge’s New York regiment, entered
the village of Isle of Wight Court House, on
Saturday night last. They seized feed for their
horses, and levied upon the citizens for their
suppers/,but committed no other depredations so
.far as our informant could learn.
One hundred of the same body went over to
Smithfield, Sunday, and arrested a couple o
soldiers who were sick in the hospital there.—
They are members of the Milton Blues, 13th
North Carolina regiment, but we have teen unv
able to ascertain their names. Several citizens
were also arrested, but subsequently released on
parole.
Our informant is of the opinion, and was so
told by many loyal citizens with whom he con
versed, that Dodge’s mounted riflemen are res
connoitering for the purpose of ascertaining the
movements of the “rebel guerrilla batteries,” as
the Yankees term them, which have been recently
firing upon McClellan’s transports. Since the
withdrawal of our pickets from tha vicinity of
Zuni.tbe Federals are becoming quite bold, and
I fear that the citizens in that section, than whom
none are more loyal, will be much annoyed. .
The Express adds:
We have conversed with gentlemen who left
Norfolk Saturday evening last after twilight.
They reached Petersburg yesterday afternoon, af
ter a most fatiguing jaunt. These gentlemen re
port Norfo'k very quiet. Business of all kinds
has been entirely suspended, and commercially
tbe place may be considered dead.
There are now only about 850 troops in Nora
folk, and they have but little trouble in holding
the place. The citizens go out but little after
dark, and in the day time, if they congregate in
squads of more than a half dozen, the guard of
General Viele immediately orders them to dis*
perse. The ladies are very firm in tueir hostility
to the Federals, and recognize them in no manner
whatever. The only war vessel immediately near
is tbe Minnesota, and she lies at the naval ana
chorage.
From the same source we learn that there are
n0w4,000 Federal troops at Suffolk. No prepa*
ration for a forward movement is apparent.
Fremont is out of service. He has
no longer any columns in the field. But he
will no doubt continue to have columns enough
in the Abolition newspapers.
Louisville (Ky.) Journal.
A good many Yankee Generals, like Fre
mont, may expect to be out of service soon-
They may do to fill newspaper columns, but
they will never do for leaders,
Gen. Mitchell, of the Federal army, passs
ed through Louisville on the 4th, on bis way to »
Washington.