From Fort Monroe

FORT MONROE, March 2.

The steamer Express left Old Point yesterday morning for James river, to receive the Union prisoners who were expected on Friday.  They were not met, however, according to appointment.  She accordingly came back about 3 p.m.

Yesterday the rebel steamer Jamestown, which, with the [Yorktown], is stationed off Hog Island, steamed toward the Express, with a flag of truce, to ascertain the cause of her appearance in the river on two successive days.  She stopped abreast of the Express at a few rods distance and lowered a boat with a Lieutenant on board, to communicate.  He was informed of the errand of the Express, that she was acting under information furnished by Gen. Huger, when he explained that his commander had no knowledge of any expected prisoners, and from seeing the Express two days in succession, came down to learn the occasion.  He expressed himself satisfied and returned to the Jamestown, which went back to her station.  He has been armed with a gun at her bows and another at her stern, and has a sharp iron cutwater, projecting some three feet from her bows at the water line.  She is supposed to be commanded by Capt. Barnard.  Having been twice disappointed in relation to the expected prisoners, it is not known when they will be sent down the river. – It is uncertain whether Col. Corcoran will be among the number.

Another interview took place yesterday off Craney Island, between Gen. Wool and Gen. Howell Cobb, in reference to a general exchange of prisoners.

We hear, via Norfolk, that the steamer Nashville arrived at Wilmington, N. C., yesterday, having run the blockade at that place.

A quantity of telegraphic cable has arrived here for the completion of the line across the bay.

There is satisfactory authority of stating that a newspaper announcement in yesterday’s Mercury, that Gen. Hooker’s division had crossed the lower Potomac, is entirely false.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, March 4, 1862, p. 1