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March 8, 1862 – From the 3rd Regiment N. H. V.

From Our Own Correspondent.

Hilton Head, S. C., Feb. 23d, 1862.

To-day we hear good news; a vessel has arrived with late papers, and we have learned something of the movement of our forces in different quarters. It is really cheering to us, and the cheers that go up from the different regiments here are almost deafening. At last the “ball is opened,” and our prayer is, that the tune may be lively, and the steps short and quick. I have not much that is new to write from here; our folks once in a while take a rebel gunboat, or a battery, and then enter up on some island heretofore occupied by “secesh,” and take possession with very little loss.

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March 7, 1862 – Surrender of Arms

The order requiring the surrender of all private arms in the rural districts, must have been issued without due consideration by the authorities. In a slaveholding community, every family should be permitted to retain at least one fire-arm, either a pistol or a shot-gun. A sense of security, if not safety, demands that much. The reason is too obvious to require words.

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February 20, 1862 – The Battle of Fort Donelson

Chicago, Feb. 19. —The Tribune correspondent, in giving a description of the battle at Fort Donelson, says, that when Col. Crafts’ brigade, which had been ordered to reinforce Gen. McClernand, came up in the rear of the thirtieth, thirty first, and twenty-fifth Kentucky, these regiments were lying down and firing over the crest of a hill. They rose, and not knowing whether the force in their rear was friend or foe, the twenty-fifth Kentucky, supposing them to be rebels, poured in a raking volley on them, which did terrible execution, and was sufficient to throw the entire brigade into disorder at once, which was almost a panic. Some threw down their guns and equipments, and fled immediately. The woods were filled with stragglers. Some even fled to fort Henry.

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February 16, 1862 – The Rebel Commissioners In England

Proposed Sale of the South, Slavery and All

Among the most interesting items of news from Europe by the Asia is the report of the Independance Belje “that the Southern Commissioners have informed tho English governmentthat, in return for the recognition of the Southern confederacy, they would establish most absolute free trade for fifty years, abolish the external slave traffic, and emancipate all the blacks born after the recognition.”

We are strongly inclined to believe that Mason and Slidell were charged with that extensive discretion which would cover these propositions, and that Jeff. Davis and his confederates have placed all their hopes upon British intervention. All their other calculations failing, the conspirators who contrived this rebellion believed that Southern cotton and free trade would infallibly bring England to their rescue. The influence of these temptations upon the British government—which had been presented in every shape and form by industrious Southern emissaries—was betrayed in the indecent haste with which Lords Palmerston and Russell seized upon the Trent affair as a cause for war. But that cloud having blown over, and King Cotton and free trade having failed to silence the abolition objections of the English people to a war with the United States in support of a pro-slavery confederacy, we can readily believe that Davis and Company, as a last resort to save themselves from the penalties of unsuccessful treason, are prepared to sell our revolted States, slavery and all, for English intervention.