From Cairo

CAIRO, May 15.

There was an arrival from below this forenoon, reporting an attempt on the part of the rebel fleet to dislodge the mortars at Craighead Point.  They were driven back without difficulty and without damage to the federal boats.

No news whatever from Pittsburg.

A private and confidential circular issued by President Davis to the Governors of the States comprising the confederacy, has been received, in which he acknowledges that affairs below look decidedly blue, and asks for donations of money and materials.  He says that casualties, sickness and expiration of the terms of enlistments of the solders is making sad havoc with their cause, and desires for a larger display of patriotism on the part of citizens of the south.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, May 16, 1862, p. 1