Important and highly interesting news . . .

. . . has been received from Port Royal, by the gunboat Seminole, which arrived Thursday at Fortress Monroe. For thirty days Fort Pulaski had been invested by the National forces, and was momentarily expected to surrender unconditionally, the garrison – 500 in number – having offered to retire with the honors of war – a proposal which Gen. Sherman naturally declined. By Commodore Dupont’s official report, dated “Flag-ship Wabash, off Port Royal, March 27,” inclosing that of commander Gillis of the Seminole, we learn that the formidable batteries on Skidaway and Green Islands had been abandoned by the Rebels; the guns being withdrawn for the immediate defense of Savannah. By this abandonment, the national batteries have now complete control of Warsaw and Ossibar Sounds, and also of the mouths of Vernon and Wilmington rivers – all forming important approaches to the City of Savannah.

– Published in the Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 12, 1862