Posted inUS Civil War

June 16, 1863 – Whereabouts Of The Rebels—Invasion Of Maryland

MONOCACY JUNCTION, 2 P. M.—While there is no doubt that the major force of the rebels which had besieged Winchester are still in Virginia, it is generally believed that the cavalry and artillery, under Jenkins, who had the fight with Gen. Tyler at Martinsburg, have crossed into Maryland, either above or at Williamsport. It is asserted here quite confidently that rebel cavalry were in Hagerstown at 8 o’clock this morning, but the only positive fact I have been able to learn is that the telegraph line between Frederick and Hagerstown has ceased entirely to work. As there was no storm to damage the line, the inference is that it has been cut, and of course that the rebels have done it. It was a so reported at Harper’s Ferry that a small force of rebel cavalry had been in Sharpsburg. The stage which left Hagerstown early this morning, passing through Middletown, arrived at the usual time, having met with no interruption; nothing having been seen or heard of the rebels along the turnpike.

Posted inBlack History US Civil War

June 12, 1863 – Negroes as Soldiers

We have been permitted to make use of the following extract from a letter of a highly intelligent and competent officer of a Massachusetts regiment at Baton Rouge. The letter is under date of April 30, 1863 :

“And now for the most important feature, the negro troops. I have seen two regiments of them, and I must say that I have seen many white regiments that will not compare with them. They very far exceeded my expectations. I much prefer them to white troops. They obey ail orders given to them cheerfully and with alacrity. They drill remarkably well and their camps are neat and clean. One regiment was officered by white officers entirely, and in the other the field and staff officers only were white, the officers of the line being black. The feeling of the generality of officers here is in favor of blacks, and if we get as good a set of men as those in the regiments we have seen, we shall be perfectly satisfied. The feeling here in regard to them is rapidly changing in their favor. We look upon the whole matter as a fixed fact.

Posted inUS Civil War

Reception Of The New York Regiments

NEW YORK, June 8.-A grand reception of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth regiments took place this afternoon. The escort comprised the Second, Seventy-first, Sixty-ninth and Fifty-sixth Infantry regiments, together with a regiment of cavalry, a battery, and the City Government.

Posted inUS Civil War

June 8, 1863 – News From Vicksburg

[Special Dispatch to the Chicago Tribune.]
Cairo, June 7, 10 p. m.

The steamer Alice Dean, Capt. Pepper, bringing Vicksburg dates to Thursday, and Memphis dates to yesterday afternoon, arrived this evening.

An officer of the Alice Dean reports everything progressing as usual in the rear of Vicksburg. Sappers and miners are still burrowing in the hillside, gunboats and mortar boats are still operating, and new siege guns had opened fire on Thursday as had been anticipated, but with what result is not ascertained.

Sharpshooters still command the rebel works in the rear, and the Confederates are not allowed to show their heads without becoming the targets for hundreds of rifles.

Posted inHumor US Civil War

June 6, 1863 – Editorial Excess

The whiskey in Chattanooga must be dreadful stuff, judging by its effect on the fancy of the editor of the Rebel. He says:

The North has at length reached this point of internal combustion. The entire entrails of its body politic are diseased through and through. The great veins and arteries which once poured such electric life and such a flow of pure blood into the national cerebellum are dried up and decayed. Festering sores and fatal boils have broken out in every part. The scarlet hues of inflammation are relieved only by the disgusting gashes and seams of mortification; whilst over all the great broad, brawny, stalwart skeleton and frame-work of law and constitution, that upheld the whole, is falling in broken fragments, and slipping off in bits of rotten bone. The end is certain, though it may be slow. We shall live to see the day when all that remains of the more thriving, aspiring, and wealthy half of the Union will be a few old bones whitening on the great waste common of nationality.

Posted inUS Civil War

June 4, 1863 – Georgia And The Confederate Bonds

From the Rome (Ga.) Southerner.

The refusal of the Legislature to indorse Georgia’s share of the bonds will travel with the speed of electricity to the North, and from thence it will be carried on the wings of the wind throughout the civilized world. Will not our enemies consider this action of the Legislature the greatest victory for LINCOLN of the war? Can any more loans be negotiated in England and France, when these two great Powers are informed that Georgia is distrustful of the Confederate credit?