Posted inColonization & Indigenous Relations Local Histories

A Portrait of Cabul and Ghuznee

INDIA.—A letter was received in town on the 9th inst., from Captain J. Hoppe, of the 16th Bengal Native Infantry, and Adjutant of the 2nd regiment of Infantry of Shah Soojah. Captain Hoppe led the storming party, and was wounded in the attack of Kelali Ghilzie. His letter is dated Candahar, February 14: the gallant officer writes to his father thus :—” We are, thank God, all safe at this place, although in the daily expectation of the people in the town rising against us, and the enemy, only twenty-five miles off, are threatening to attack us. Our communication with Cabul and the provinces is cut off, and report says that Sir W. M’Naghten, the envoy and minister, is murdered, with several other officers. It is to be hoped, in the spring, troops will be pushed up from India—for we can do nothing at this season—when, please God, we will give them a lesson they little think of. General Nott, with a large force, went against the rebels, collected only eight miles from Candahar, and killed and wounded 700 or 800 of them, but they are increasing in numbers every day, and one of Shah Soojah’s sons (Satter Jung) at their head. It is said they dined in their shrouds the other day, and swore upon the Koran that they would either murder us all, or be killed in the attempt. At present we are all safe and well.”

Posted inUS Civil War

May 10, 1863 – Gen. Grant Advancing on Vicksburg

The Cincinnati Gazette’s diapatch trom Memphis announces the capture by Gen. GRANT’s forces of Grand Gulf, Port Gibson and Willard’a Valley. Port Gibson is six miles in the rear of Grand Gulf. The capture of these places has given Grant possession of the Big Black river. The distance from the mouth of that river to the bridge of the Vicksburg and Jackson railroad is thirty-two miles. The Big Black is navigable for gunboats twenty-two miles.

Posted inCulture & Society

The Court and Haut Ton (May 14, 1842)

Her Majesty and Prince Albert arrived in town at half -past four o’clock on Monday afternoon in an open carriage and four, escorted by a party of Hussars, from Claremont. The equerries in waiting, Colonel Arbuthnot and Colonel Wylde, followed in a chariot and four. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal, and their attendants, occupied another carriage ; and the Dowager Lady Lyttleton, lady in waiting, and Lord Byron, lord in waiting, were in the last carriage. Her Majesty and Prince Albert were received at Buckingham Palace by the Lord Steward, the Lord Chamberlain, and Lord Colville, lord in waiting on Prince Albert.

Posted inBiographical US Civil War

May 9, 1863 – Brief Sketch of Maj. Gen. French, U.S. Vols.

The subject of our sketch, Maj. Gen. William H. French, U.S. A., was born near Baltimore. His parents, natives of Massachusetts, removed to Maryland a short time previous to his birth. He commenced his classical studies at the University of Maryland, and afterwards continued them at Columbia College, Washington, D. C., from which, in 1833 he was appointed Cadet to West Point, and graduated with honor in 1837, in the same class as Maj. Gen. Hooker, of our army, and J. Braxton Bragg. of the Rebel service. He was assigned as second Lieutenant to the 1st Regiment U. S. Artillery and ordered to accompany an expedition to Florida. He was promoted 1st Lieut. July 11, 1838, and served on the frontier until the Spring of 1840, when his Regiment was ordered to Houlton, Maine; from there he was detailed on duty with the joint Commission to run the Northeastern Boundary. Early in May, 1846, he was sent with the first reinforcements to Gen. Taylor at Brazors, Texas, and was assigned to the command of the siege train (Mortar Batteries) in front of Matamoros. After he surrender of that city, and war was formally declared, he served with Taylor’s Battery, whose command lauded in the first line at the siege of Vera Cruz. He served throughout the war with Mexico, and was brevetted Captain for gallant and meritorious conduct at the battle of Cerro Gordo, April, 1847, and Major for gallant and meritorious services at Contreras and Churabusco, August, 1817.

Posted inReligion & Spirituality

Mevlood, Or Prophet’s Birth-Day

CONSTANTINOPLE, APRIL 27.—Although this ceremony is closely connected with the first source of Mussulman belief, it may be regarded rather as a civil court pageantry than as a general religious festival. With the exception of its being one of the three days upon which the Sultan annually proceeds in state to the Mosque of Achmet, and of salutes being fired at the hours of prayer, it is not distinguished by any public signs of devotion or respect. Business is not suspended, shops are not closed, work is performed as usual, no special prayers are offered up during the day at the ordinary mosques, and it is not regarded as a holiday by the common people, as is the case at Beiram. The preceding night is, however, included among the seven holy nights dedicated to the great mysteries of Islam, during which the mosques are illuminated within and without, and the faithful, summoned by the Muezims, crowd to the temples after dark to perform their devotions, in lieu of saying the prescribed night prayer in their houses or elsewhere. Attendance at the mosque is not enjoined by the canonical code, but orthodox Mussulmans hold it to be more meritorious to maintain the observance. Upon this night, called Leily ul Mevloody, as upon the other six mystic nights, it is also considered praiseworthy to abstain from all sensual gratifications. Thus few true believers, not excepting the Sultan, pass the threshold of their harems from sunset until dawn. Indeed, it is a received opinion, that all children born in consequence of the transgression, will come into the world as blind as bats, and go out of it as hump-backed as camels, and be subjected, moreover, to leprosy, rickets, and divers other bodily afflictions.

Posted inMaritime & Naval History Shipwrecks & Nautical Disasters

Awful Steam-Boat Explosion

It is our melancholy duty to record the most fearful and fatal steam-boat explosion which has ever taken place on the waters of the Chesapeake. The Medora was just completed, and, preparatory to being turned out of the hands of the machinist, a number of persons were invited to go in her on an experimental trip. The day being pleasant, it is supposed that probably 100 or more were on board, including some of the directors of the steam-boat company and their friends, and a number of the hands engaged in finishing the vessel, putting in the machinery, &c., and otherwise connected with the construction or sailing of the boat.

Posted inDaily News

Intellectual Scum

Sixty thousand copies of the May edition of the American Mercury, the monthly magazine edited by H. L. Mencken, were destroyed early Saturday morning on the order of the editor because they contained an article entitled “Sex and the Co-Ed,” purporting to be an expose of collegiate undergraduate life, it was learned this week.

This number of copies had been run from the presses of the Hudson Craftsman, Camden, N. J., which prints the magazine, when a man, reported to be Mencken himself, rushed into the pressroom and ordered the machine stopped.