Brigadier-General Lloyd Tilghman to Lieutenant-Colonel William W. Mackall, October 29, 1861

HEADQUARTERS CAMP, ALCORN,        

Hopkinsville, Ky., October 29, 1861.

Col. W. W. MACKALL,
        Assistant Adjutant-General, &c., Bowling Green:

SIR: I lose not a moment in communicating through you to the general commanding the Western Division the condition of affairs at this post. I had hoped that the picture sketched to me of matters here might not have been realized, but I am compelled to think it not too highly colored. Under all the circumstances, I doubt not General Alcorn has made the best of things, his camp being merely one large hospital, with scarce men enough on duty to care for the sick and maintain a feeble guard around them, with insufficient pickets at prominent points. Over one-half the entire command are on the sick list, with very grave types of different diseases. Those remaining and reported for duty have not enough really well men to do more than first stated. The Kentucky Battalion of Infantry, numbering 547, have only 45 cases reported sick. The measles have made their appearance, and the battalion will average 20 new cases per day, judging from to-day's report. The morning brigade report, herewith inclosed, shows only 716 for duty out of a total of 2,237. Of this number, you will see that the Kentucky Battalion furnishes 376, one-third of whom only are armed, with no equipments.

Of cavalry we have nothing to count on, save Captain Meriwether's company of untutored recruits. Captain Huey's company of cavalry is entirely unarmed. Captain Wilcox's company not yet recovered from the Eddyville affair.

On the score of artillery I have merely to say, that there is not an organized squad for a single gun that could be taken into action. There are five pieces of artillery—two 6-pounders, two 9, one 12—none of which I think fit for service on account of the wretched manner in which they are mounted; a total ignorance of all mechanical principles evidenced in the construction of the carriages. The guns seem to be pretty fair. On the subject of clothing and equipments, equipage, &c., I can only say that I find nothing more encouraging. The commissary department is pretty well supplied; the quartermaster's department entirely deficient.

I have thus fairly sketched the condition of things. Major Hewett will be able to give you some particulars that I have not time now to do, but will write by the next mail. I have commenced at the root of things, and mean to work out the best result I can. I write not thus discouragingly in any spirit of complaint, but to lay before the commanding general the plain facts of the case. They are plainly these: I have no force here available for any purpose save protecting the sick and depot. I have reason to think that the enemy are in full possession of this fact, and are calculating on it. I have no force with which to operate in any direction, and our people are suffering terribly within the lines assigned me for my operations. In front and on my left they need a check. The defenses of the Cumberland cannot I believe be perfected, unmolested, unless my position is strengthened for this purpose.

A movement has taken place at Henderson. A courier reached me to-night with the inclosed paper* from a committee at Henderson. The Union men have been very busy here to-day. They are too open-mouthed, and must be checked. The stage is waiting, and I have not time to say more than this. I deem it absolutely necessary that I should as soon as possible be re-enforced. A cavalry force is indispensably necessary to cover my front and prevent the removal of a large amount of wheat, flour, corn, and hogs, now drafted daily on heavily by scouting parties. Of the latter item, there are not less than 50,000 hogs. This service would require the whole time of not less than 500 cavalry. For practical purposes I am without infantry and artillery, and desire that a due proportion of both be at once sent. I beg you to say to General Johnston that I need the assistance of some graduates, for artillery especially. Could I not have the services of the two young men mentioned by General Buckner? (See him.) I will prepare full estimates for all my wants and forward them.

I beg you to pardon this hurried communication. I have not had time to read it over. Major Hewett will give you facts as to a landing at Eddyville by our people.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

LLOYD TILGHMAN,        

Brigadier-General, C. S. Army, Commanding.

_______________

* Not found.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 485-6

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Saturday, February 8, 1862

This morning we are still at the Fort. This place looks as though it had passed through a terrible storm. We will now take a stroll over the works. They have been furrowed by sweeping shell. Dark and wild must have been the storm around here, ere the flag was lowered. It seems as though nothing of human construction could have survived it. Thirty remained at the guns. We walk a little farther, and oh! what a spectral sight! What a mangled mass, what a dark picture! They are fallen rebel soldiers. The thirty who remained in the Fort and worked the guns in those hours of darkness, have been excavated from the rubbish. It is sad to think how they fell; how they died fighting against the old flag-against the country which fostered their fathers and them in the lap of human freedom. I will turn from this scene; it is too heart rending. I will wend my way to the bivouac fires. This evening the few captives of Fort Henry are forwarded to Cairo. Among the number are General Tighlman [sic] and his Assistant Adjutant General.

SOURCES: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 28-9

Major-General Henry W. Halleck to Major-General George B. McClellan, February 7, 1862

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI,         

Saint Louis, February 7, 1862.

Fort Henry was taken yesterday, with seventeen heavy guns, General Lloyd Tilghman and staff, and 60 men, after a bombardment of one hour and a quarter by gunboats. General Grant's cavalry and gunboats in pursuit of the remainder of the garrison, who have abandoned artillery on the road. Our loss, killed, wounded, and scalded by destruction of boiler of the Essex, 44. Captain Porter is badly but not dangerously scalded. General C. F. Smith has possession of the enemy's redan on the western bank of the Tennessee. General Grant's infantry and artillery have gone to attack Fort Donelson at Dover, on the Cumberland. The gunboats not disabled are moving up the Tennessee. Commodore Foote, with disabled gunboats, has returned to Cairo—gunboats for repairs; will soon return to the field. Enemy's loss not known.

H. W. HALLECK,    

Major-General, Commanding.

Major-General MCCLELLAN.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 120

Report of Flag-Officer Andrew H. Foote, U. S. Navy, February 7, 1862

CAIRo, ILL., February 7, 1862.

SIR: I have the honor to report that on the 6th instant, at 12:30 p.m., I made an attack on Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, with the ironclad gunboats Cincinnati, Commander Stembel; the flagship Essex, Commander Porter; Carondelet, Commander Walke, and St. Louis, Lieutenant Commanding Paulding; also taking with me the three old gunboats, Conestoga, Lieutenant Commanding Phelps; the Tyler, Lieutenant Commanding Gwin, and the Lexington, Lieutenant Commanding Shirk, as a second division, in charge of Lieutenant Commanding Phelps, which took position astern and inshore of the armored boats, doing good execution there in the action, while the armored boats were placed in the first order of steaming, approaching the fort in a parallel line.

The fire was opened at 1,700 yards distant from the flagship, which was followed by the other gunboats and responded to by the fort. As we approached the fort under slow steaming, till we reached within 600 yards of the rebel batteries, the fire both from the gunboats and fort increased in rapidity and accuracy of range. At twenty minutes before the rebel flag was struck, the Essex, unfortunately received a shot in her boilers, which resulted in the wounding, by scalding, of 29 officers and men, including Commander Porter, as will be seen in the enclosed list of casualties. The Essex, then necessarily dropped out of line, astern, entirely disabled and unable to continue the fight, in which she had so gallantly participated until the sad catastrophe. The firing continued with unabated rapidity and effect upon the three gunboats as they continued still to approach the fort, with their destructive fire, until the rebel flag was hauled down, after a very severe and closely contested action of one hour and fifteen minutes.

A boat containing the adjutant-general and captain of engineers came alongside after the flag was lowered and reported that General Lloyd Tilghman, the commander of the fort, wished to communicate with the flag-officer, when I dispatched Commander Stembel and Lieutenant Commanding Phelps, with orders to hoist the American flag where the secession ensign had been flying, and to inform General Tilghman that I would see him on board the flagship. He came on board soon after the Union had been substituted by Commander Stembel for the rebel flag on the fort, and possession taken.

I received the general, his staff, and some 60 or 70 men as prisoners, and a hospital ship containing 60 invalids, together with the fort and its effects, mounting twenty guns, mostly of heavy caliber, with barracks and tents capable of accommodating 15,000 men, and sundry articles, which, as I turned the fort and its effects over to General Grant, commanding the army, on his arrival in an hour after we had made the capture, he will be enabled to give the Government a more correct statement than I am enabled to communicate from the short time I had possession of the fort.

The plan of attack, so far as the army reaching the rear of the fort to make a demonstration simultaneously with the navy, was frustrated by the excessively muddy roads and high stage of water preventing the arrival of our troops until some time after I had taken possession of the fort.

On securing the prisoners and making necessary or preliminary arrangements, I dispatched Lieutenant Commanding Phelps with his division up the Tennessee River, as I had previously directed, and as will be seen in the enclosed orders to him to remove the rails and so far render the bridge incapable of railroad transportation and communication between Bowling Green and Columbus, and afterwards to pursue the rebel gunboats and secure their capture if possible.

This being accomplished, and the army in possession of the fort, and my services being o at Cairo, I left Fort Henry in the evening of the same day with the Cincinnati, Essex, and St. Louis, and arrived here this morning.

The armored gunboats resisted effectually the shot of the enemy when striking the casemate. The Cincinnati, flagship, received 31 shot; the Essex, 15; the St. Louis, 7; and Carondelet, 6; killing 1 and wounding 9 in the Cincinnati and killing 1 in the Essex, while the casualties in the latter from steam amounted to 28 in number. The Carondelet and St. Louis met with no casualties.

The steamers were admirably handled by their commanders and officers, presenting only their bow guns to the enemy to avoid exposure of the vulnerable parts of their vessels. Lieutenant Commanding Phelps, with his division, also executed my orders very effectually, and promptly proceeded up the river in their further execution after the capture of the fort. In fact, all the officers and men gallantly performed their duty, and, considering the little experience they o had under fire, far more than realized my expectations.

Fort Henry was defended with the most determined gallantry by General Tilghman, worthy of a better cause, who, from his own account, went into the action with eleven guns of heavy caliber bearing upon our boats, which he fought until seven of the number were dismounted or otherwise rendered useless.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. H. Foote,                       

Flag-Officer.

Hon. GIDEoN WELLEs,

Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C.

[Report of same date and like tenor to Major-General Halleck.]

SOURCE: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, Series I, Volume 22, p. 537-9

Flag-Officer Andrew H. Foote to Gideon Welles, February 6, 1862

U. S. Flag Steamer “Cincinnati,”                          

Off Fort Henry, Tennnesee River,             

February 6th, 1862.

sir:

The gunboats under my command—the “Essex,” Commander Porter; “Carondelet,” Commander Walke; “Cincinnati,” Commander Stemble; “St. Louis,” Lieut. Commander Paulding; 'Conestoga,' Lieut. Commander Phelps; 'Taylor,' Lieut. Commander Gwin; and the “Lexington,” Lieut. Commanding Shirk,—after a severe and rapid fire of one hour and a quarter, have captured Fort Henry, and taken General Lloyd Tilghman, and staff, with sixty men, as prisoners. The surrender to the gunboats was unconditional, as we kept an open fire upon the enemy until the flag was struck.

In half an hour after the surrender, I handed the fort and prisoners over to General Grant, commanding the army, on his arrival at the fort in force.

The “Essex” had a shot in her boilers after fighting most effectively for two-thirds of the action, and was obliged to drop down the river. I heard that several of the men were scalded to death, including the two pilots. She, with the other gunboats, officers, and men, fought with the greatest gallantry.

The “Cincinnati” received thirty-one shots, and had one man killed and eight wounded, two seriously.

The fort, with twenty guns and seventeen mortars, was defended by General Tilghman with the most determined gallantry.

Very Respectfully,

Your Ob't Servant,

A. H. Foote.

Hon. Gideon Welles,

Secretary of the Navy.

SOURCE:  Henry Walke, Naval Scenes and Reminiscences of the Civil War in the United States, p. 56

Details of the Bombardment and Capture of Fort Henry. Incidents, &c., February 10, 1862

The Cincinnati Gazette and Commercial’s Cairo correspondence give the following account of the bombardment and capture of Fort Henry:

Yesterday, (February 6,) at 12½ p. m. the gunboats Cincinnati, St. Louis, Carondelet, and Essex, the Tyler, Conestoga and Lexington bringing up the rear, advanced boldly against the rebel works, going to the right of Painter Creek Island, immediately above where, on the east shore of the river, stands the fortifications, and keeping out of range till at the head of the island, and within a mile of the enemy, passing the enemy in full view of the rebel guns.  We steadily advanced, every man at quarters, ever ear strained to catch the flag-officer’s signal-gun for the commencement of the action.

Our line of battle was on the left, the St. Louis next, the Carondelet next, the Cincinnati, (for the time being the flag ship, having on board Flag officer Foote,) and the next the Essex.  We advanced in line, the Cincinnati a boat’s length ahead, when at 11:30 the Cincinnati opened the ball, and immediately the three accompanying boats followed suit.  The enemy was not backward, and gave an admirable response, and the fight raged furiously for half an hour.  We steadily advanced, receiving and returning the storm of shot and shell, when getting within three hundred yards of the enemy’s works we came to a stand, and poured into him right and left.  In the meantime the Essex had been disabled, and drifted away from the scene of action, leaving the Cincinnati, Carondelet and St. Louis alone engaged.

As precisely forty minutes past one, the enemy struck his colors—and such cheering, such wild excitement, as seized the throats, arms, or caps, of the four or five hundred sailors of the gunboats can be imagined.  After the surrender, which was made to Flag-officer Foote by Gen. Lloyd Tilghman, who defended the fort in a most determined manner, we found that the rebel infantry encamped outside the fort, numbering four or five thousand, had cut and run, leaving the rebel artillery company in command of the fort.

The fort mounted seventeen guns, most of them 32-pounders, one being a magnificent 10-inch columbiad.  Our shots dismounted two of their guns, driving the enemy into the embrasures.  One of their rifled 32-pounders burst during the engagement, wounding some of their gunners.  The rebels claimed to have but eleven effective guns worked by fifty-four men—the numbers all told of our prisoners.  They lost five killed and ten badly wounded.  The infantry left everything in their flight.  A vast deal of plunder has fallen into our hands, including a large and valuable quantity of ordnance stores.

Gen. Tilghman is disheartened.  He thinks it one of the most damaging blows of the war.  In surrendering to Flag-officer Foote, the rebel General remarked, “I am glad to surrender to so gallant an officer.”  Flag-officer Foote replied, “You do perfectly right, sir, in surrendering; but you should have blown my boat out of the water before I would have surrendered to you.”

In the engagement the Cincinnati was in the lead, and flying the flag officer’s pennant, was the chief mark.  Flagg-officer Foote and Capt. Stembel crowded her defiantly into the teeth of the enemy’s guns.  She got thirty-one shots, some of them going completely through her.

The Essex was badly crippled when about half through the fight, and crowding steadily against the enemy.  A ball went into her side-forward port, through the heavy bulkhead, escaping steam scalding and killing several of the crew.  Captain Porter, his aid, L. P. Britton, Jr[.], and Paymaster Lewis, were standing in a direct line of the balls passing, Mr. Britton being in the centre of the group.  A shot struck Mr. Britton on the top of his head, scattering his brains in every direction.  The escaping steam went into the pilot-house, instantly killing Mr. Ford and Mr. Bride, pilots.  Many of the soldiers, at the rush of steam, jumped overboard and were drowned.

The Cincinnati had one killed and six wounded.  The Essex had six seamen and two officers killed, seventeen men wounded and five missing.  There were no casualties on the St. Louis or Carondelet, though the shot and shell fell upon them like rain.

The St. Louis was commanded by Leonard Paulding, who stood upon the gunboat and wrought the guns to the last.  Not a man flinched, and with cheer upon cheer sent the shot and shell among the enemy.

THE REBELS NOT TRUE.—It is reported, and believed at Paducah, that the rebel troops at Fort Henry were not true to the rebel cause and took advantage of the opportunity offered by an attack to run away from a fight that was distasteful to them.

IT WAS A NAVAL VICTORY.—It appears that this victory was entirely a navel one—the troops of the expedition not having come up to the scene of action until the rebels had surrendered.  The gunboats engaged are a part of those strong iron-clad river boats, or turtles, which were built within the last few months, at, St. Louis, Carondelet and other points and which were originally destined for Gen. Fremont’s expedition down the Mississippi.  Commodore Foote mentions nine of these vessels as having been in the engagement.

ARMAMENT OF THE GUNBOATS.—The Essex, 9 guns, Commander H. [sic] D. Porter, U. S. N.; Carondelet, 13 guns, Commander H. Walke, U. S. N.; Cincinnati, 13 Guns, Commander R. N. Stembel, U. S. N.; St. Louis, 13 guns, Lieutenant Commanding Leonard Paulding, U. S. N.; Conestoga, 9 guns, Lieutenant Commanding Phelps, U. S. N.; Taylor [sic], 9 guns, Lieutenant Commanding W. Gwin, U. S. N.; Lexington, 9 guns, Lieutenant Commanding J. W. Shirk, U. S. N.

The boats are built very wide, in proportion to their length, giving them almost the same steadiness in action that a stationary land battery would possess.  They are constructed upon the same principle as the famous iron battery at Charleston, the sides sloping both upward and downward from the water line, at an angle of 45 degrees.  The bow battery on each boat consists of solid oak timber 26 inches in thickness, plated on the exterior surface with iron 2½ inches thick.  The side and stern batteries are somewhat thinner, but have the same thickness of iron over that portion covering the machinery.  The boats are not plated on the roof which consists of a 2½ inch plank.

The most dreadfully savage contrivance upon these boats is that to prevent boarding.  Each boat is supplied with a number of large hose-pipes for throwing hot water from the boilers with a force of 200 pounds pressure to the square inch.  Any human being who shall encounter this terrible stream of hot water will be boiled in an instant.

The Conestoga, Taylor [sic] and Lexington are not of the same model or character as the others, being simply Mississippi River steamboats rebuilt with perpendicular bulwarks and pierced for guns.

VALUE OF THE VICTORY.—There is another and stronger rebel fort on the Cumberland, a few miles eastward of the scene of our present victory; but considering the fact that our troops are now in the rear of that fort, and learning, as we do, from the West, the movement that is on the lapis to bring it down as suddenly as Fort Henry has been brought down, we look upon the victory we have gained as being full and complete, as regards the object in view.  Look at the map at that part of Tennessee where Fort Henry is located, and at that point of the Memphis and Ohio railroad which our troops now hold, and see how far we have penetrated in the rear of Bowling Green—see how far in the rear of Columbus—how convenient we are for sweeping down on the railroad to Memphis—see how near we now are to Nashville—and how Nashville is located to the whole State of Tennessee, and that again to the whole of the rebel States of the Southwest, and some idea will be had of the value of the present advance and victory.

COMMODORE FOOTE has been in the naval service over forty years.  He is known in the navy as one of its most efficient officers, and distinguished himself greatly in China by the bombardment and breaching of a Chinese fort, the fort, in all respects, a superior work of masonry.  The feat called forth the praise of all foreign naval officers on that coast.  Commodore Foote is an affable gentleman, and as will be seen by his reply to the rebel Tilghman, never surrenders.

CAPT. PORTER.—Capt. Porter, of the gunboat Essex, who is reported as badly scalded by the bursting of his boat’s boiler, is a native of Louisiana, but entered the navy from Massachusetts in 1823.  He is a son of the renowned Commodore Porter, who figured so prominently in the war of 1812.  He has been thirty-eight years in the service, and has seen twelve years sea duty.  When the Mississippi flotilla was projected, he was detailed to the command of a gunboat.  The Captain christened his boat the Essex, after his father’s renowned vessel, and judging from precedent, Capt. Porter is the “bull-dog,” or fighting man of this expedition.  He has Dahlgren guns for his armament, and delights in “shelling.”  He worked prodigiously getting his boat ready, and since then he has been cruising around, stirring up the rebels wherever he could find them.

GEN. TILGHMAN, the traitor who commanded at Fort Henry, was graduated at West Point, and made brevet second Lieutenant in the First dragoons in 1836, but shortly after resigned, and became division engineer on the Baltimore and Susquehanna railroad, and afterward on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.  In the Mexican war, he re-entered the service as volunteer aid-de-camp to Colonel Twiggs, and was present at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de Palma.  He commanded a volunteer regiment  till October, 1846, and in January, 1847, was made superintendent of the defences of Matamoras; finally he acted as captain of volunteer artillery in Hughes’ regiment from August, 1847, till July, 1848.  At the close of the war he again entered civil live, and was chosen principal assistant engineer in the Panama Isthmus railroad.  On the breaking out of the war, he was acting railroad engineer, but joined the rebels, and was appointed to command at Fort Henry, where he has been ingloriously captured.

SOURCE: The National Republican, Washington, D.C., Monday, February 10, 1862, p. 2

General Albert Sidney Johnston to Judah P. Benjamin, February 8, 1862

HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT, 

Bowling Green, Ky., February 8, 1862.

Hon. J.P. BENJAMIN,

Secretary of War:

SIR: No reliable particulars of the loss of Fort Henry have yet reached me. This much, however, is known, that nearly all of the force at Fort Henry retreated to Fort Donelson, and it is said that General Tilghman and about 80 officers and men surrendered in the fort.

The capture of that fort by the enemy gives them the control of the navigation of the Tennessee River, and their gunboats are now ascending the river to Florence. Operations against Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland, are about to be commenced, and that work will soon be attacked. The slight resistance at Fort Henry indicates that the best open earthworks are not reliable to meet successfully a vigorous attack of iron-clad gunboats, and, although now supported by a considerable force, I think the gunboat of the enemy will probably take Fort Donelson without the necessity of employing their land force in co-operation, as seems to have been done at Fort Henry.

Our force at Fort Donelson, including the force from Fort Henry and three regiments of General Floyd's command, is about 7,000 men, not well armed or drilled, except Heiman's regiment and the regiments of Floyd's command. General Floyd's command and the force from Hopkinsville is arriving at Clarksville, and can, if necessary, reach Donelson in four hours by steamers which are there.

Should Fort Donelson be taken, it will open the route to the enemy to Nashville, giving them the means of breaking the bridges and destroying the ferry-boats on the river as far as navigable.

The occurrence of the misfortune of losing the fort will cut off the communication of the force here under General Hardee from the south bank of the Cumberland. To avoid the disastrous consequences of such an event I ordered General Hardee yesterday to make, as promptly as it could be done, preparations to fall back to Nashville and cross the river.

The movements of the enemy on my right flank would have made a retrograde in that direction to confront the enemy indispensable in a short time. But the probability of having the ferriage of this army corps across the Cumberland intercepted by the gunboats of the enemy admits of no delay in making the movement.

Generals Beauregard and Hardee are, equally with myself, impressed with the necessity of withdrawing our force from this line at once.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

A. S. JOHNSTON,    

General, C. S. Army.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 863-4

Letter from G. W. B., February 8, 1862

FORT HENRY, Tenn., Saturday Night,

February 8, 1862

For all the purposes of navigation a “booming river” is most admirable, but when viewed in connection with the operations of an army on land, the consequent general overflow of all bottoms, and swollen condition of all tributaries, hardly present so favorable an aspect.  Just now the high water would seem to be our most formidable foe.  Although it will probably permit the federal flag to be exhibited to the people along the Tennessee, even into Alabama, it is likely that it in turn will prevent the same flag from waving over the ramparts of fort Donaldson for at least several days longer than would be the case where the stream at a somewhat lower stage.

It was intended to move promptly against the above named fortification to-day, but so formidable have been the demonstrations of the rapidly rising stream, that let alone moving, it has been with no little difficulty that our army has been kept fairly afloat.  The moat around the fort has assumed the dimensions of an inland sea.  The fortification itself is as veritable an island as one need look upon, while the ground of the camps beyond, and in fact all of the “narrow neck” of land between this point and fort Donaldson is nothing more nor less than an extended quagmire.  The numerous little streams running into the Cumberland and Tennessee are all in a swollen condition and with miles of backwater which with the roads (bad enough at best) present such formidable obstacles to the movements of our heavy artillery necessary for the reduction of the place, as to render a movement almost impossible.  But let not the country be impatient.  The floods have reached their maximum, and in the meantime our engineers are hourly gaining their information in regard to the place.  The blow will soon fall.  The little delay will not make it any less sure, nor none the less heavy.

FEDERAL GUNBOATS IN ALABAMA.

Much interest is felt here among us to learn the particulars of the gunboat expedition up the river.  The boats should be back by to-morrow.  Capt. Phelps, of the Conestoga, received orders to go ahead as far as he could, and he is not the man to return without having fulfilled his orders to the letter.  It is probably that the fleet will be able to proceed as far up the river as Florence, Alabama, thus exhibiting the Federal flag through the “Enemy’s country” for over a hundred and fifty miles, and into the very heart of the rebeldom.  in many respects this is the great expedition of the war, and will doubtless have a moral effect upon the people of Central Tennessee unequal to another victory.  The boats left immediately after the reduction of the fort, and their presence will probably be the first intimation to thousands of people along the river that he had reduced one of their strongholds and were now penetrating the very heart of their vaunted confederacy.  The consternation as well as the surprise and joy (for be it known there is not a feeble union sentiment lying latent in Tennessee) of the people along the river upon the sight of the strange steamers, bearing aloft the national colors, can well be imagined.

WHAT FORT HERNY WAS KEY TO.

To those who have not taken the pains to look at their maps, the reduction of the fort, with its seventeen heavy guns, may appear only as a gallant affair, which will be productive of an excellent effect upon the Union cause at home and abroad, but otherwise of no very great importance.  But let one glance at our position, and trace the course of the Tennessee—for the next two months navigable for the largest steamers, through the entire breadth of the State—and the importance of the road we have now opened will at once become apparent.  We have now a safe and expeditious highway into the very heart of the Confederacy.  Six or eight miles only from the river at Florence is the Memphis and Charleston railroad—the grand trunk road for the South—which, as the great avenue over which is transported the principal supplies of the rebel armies in Tennessee and Virginia, may well be regarded as one of the main arteries of the rebel system.  It will also be noticed that the river before it bends to the eastward, flows through a corner of Mississippi, where an army once dropped down, would be within an easy week’s march of Memphis.  Would it be the most surprising thing in the world if His Reverend Highness the Bishop General Polk, should awake some fine morning to find a federal army snugly ensconced here, and the two hundred and odd cannon and famous submarine battery, of about as much value to him as so much old iron?  I need not also call attention to the critical condition of Nashville and Bowling Green, when the fortifications of the Cumberland and shall also have been swept away, as they assuredly will be, ere many days have passed.  Indeed it seems very much as if the rebels, in their fright had been so busily engaged in barricading their main approaches, that they had quite forgotten the smaller  avenue through which it was possible for an enemy to find an entrance.  Does it not seem that if the “day and the hour” had at last come for the grand forward movement to be inaugurated?  Shall we not now see McClellan releasing his superabundant legions now stagnating on the Potomac, and pouring them through this new avenue, and striking this rebellion in its very core.

THE RETREAT OF THE REBELS.

We are continually discovering further indications of the great haste in which the rebels outside of the fort decamped.  The road leading to Fort Donaldson is completely strewn with guns, blankets, knapsacks, cartridge boxes, and everything of which they could well dispossess themselves.  It is supposed that every one of the field pieces with which they started out have fallen into our possession.  The piece found by Col. Logan yesterday makes twelve, making two complete field batteries.  They are all spiked but can soon be rendered fit for service.  Among a thousand other things discovered about the woods in the vicinity by the soldiers are the complete plans of Fort Donaldson as drawn by the engineers which is, of course, a most invaluable discovery.  It is not known, however, as to how great an extent the plans have been carried out.  Great difficulty is experienced in getting reliable information in regard to the fort.  The negroes who remain give some most laughable instances of the haste in which the rebel force took to their heels.  It was nothing more nor less than a regular Bull Run stampede.  Nothing in the shape of a quadruped was left behind.  Even Gen. Tilghman’s horse was stolen by some frightened brother officer.  It is not probable that we should have found in the fort even the Small number we did, had not the General, after discovering the universal Stampede on the part of the force outside, and of also nearly all the garrison within, promptly stationed a guard at the draw bridge, with orders to shoot down any others who attempted to implicate their inglorious example.  A company of cavalry was stationed at the railroad bridge, twenty miles above here, and upon the approach of the gunboats on Thursday evening, the Captain, with characteristic Southern braggadocio, draw up his men in line on the river bank with the evident intention of blowing them out of the water.  The little rebel gunboat Dunbar was just above the bridge, but as soon as our gunboat approached, as may be imagined, beat a speedy retreat.  Intent upon the capture of this prize, the cavalry company was entirely overlooked, and as I have above stated, were bravely paraded up behind the trees of the river bank, with, to all appearances, exceedingly hostile intent.  Their Double-barrels had been duly loaded with the inevitable buckshot, and then came the ready—present—when, with the infernal shriek which penetrated to the very marrow of their bones, went whizzing by after the Dunbar one of the Conestoga’s shells.  The concluding order of fire was never given, but with one universal shout of horror, Captain and men scattered for the woods, leaving behind them, in many instance, even their hats.  My informant, the keeper of the draw-bridge, who was a witness of the scene, still retains as a trophy the valiant Captain’s sombrero.  He tells me that three of the Company where drowned in the back water of the river in their hasty flight.

THE RAILROAD BRIDGE.

Gen. Grant and staff, with several representatives of the press, and a body guard of sharpshooters, visited the bridge this afternoon.  The distance from the fort to the bridge is 23 miles.  This structure is one of the very finest of the kind in the country, being over 1,200 feet in length, and with about 300 more feet of tressle work, on the westerly side.  There are seven piers besides those of the draw, making nine in all.  The Memphis, Clarksville and Louisville Railroad has proved a most important auxiliary to the rebels, traversing a country rich in agricultural productions, and affording a speedy transit for troops and supplies to Columbus and Bowling Green.  The interruption of travel on this road, will be of itself be a sad blow to the confederacy.  The last rain passed over the road on Thursday, just before the bombardment.  There have been a few companies of rebels permanently stationed here for several months past.  When, in common with the rest of the rebel soldiery of this section, they, on Thursday, fled before our approach, they left their transportation, commissary stores, and everything besides their own precious selves, behind them.  The wagons deserted are perfectly new, and equal to the best we have.  In accordance with the positive instructions of Gen. Halleck, the bridge was not destroyed, but only partially disabled, by cutting away a few of the supports of the tressle work, which can be readily repaired.  It is probable that the next train watch crosses the bridge will be under Federal auspices.

UNION SENTIMENTS—“MASSA LINCOLN.”

That there is a latent Union sentiment still lingering in the hearts of the people of this section of Tennessee there can be no doubt.  Our troops have been cordially received in many instances, while the great majority of the population here would readily submit to any rule which would give them peace.  I have heard not a few express their gratification at the reduction of Fort Henry, saying—“Now, that flag is down, I reckon we shall again have peace.”  Many of them say they voted for the union twice, but the last time seeing it was all of no avail, either yielded to the popular clamor and voted for secession, or kept away from the polls all together.  The leaders of public opinion, the press and the politicians have so long vilified the North, and subsequently the Union army, and no industriously misrepresented the objects of the present war, that the most absurd beliefs are entertained by the common people in regard to us.  May of them believing that rapine and plunder would surely ensue upon our approach, have left their homes and every thing in them, and fled to the woods for safety.  The most monstrous stories are firmly believed by many of them.  For instance, one lady yesterday said to an Illinois Colonel, who visited her that she had but one objection to our troops—they were so cruel.  Upon seeking an explanation of this, she said we burned the bodies of all dead rebels who fell into our hands, and that she had it upon excellent authority that Zollicoffer’s remains were treated in this way.  But few negroes are found in the country, most of them having been run off upon our approach.  Those who have remained manifest a great interest in regard to everything connected with the army and the North.  The first person met by the officer of the boat landing at the fort after the flag had been struck, was one of these contrabands.  With mingled joy and consternation imprinted upon his countenance, and with uplifted army he exclaimed “Afore God, sir, is Massa Lincoln coming in that boat?”

MORE TROOPS.

The Memphis, with the Forty-third Illinois and the Birge’s Sharpshooters have just arrived.

SOUTHERN HONOR.

We had a striking exemplification of the much vaunted Southern honor here yesterday.  A rebel captain, who was among the prisoners who surrendered, upon leaving the Uncle Sam where he had been entertained by General Grant and staff, to the best of their power, very coolly pocketed the revolvers of Capt. Lagow, Gen. Grant’s aid.  The operation was witnessed by several, and upon being requested to hand over the weapons as they could not appropriately be termed his side arms, he blustered and grew very red in the face, but it was all of no avail.  There were too many witnesses, and he had to surrender.  In justice, however, to the South, it should be added that the officer was a quartermaster!  Another officer, high in the command, ordered 28 suppers for some of the privates, which he was given the privilege of doing if he would duly pay the steward of the boat for the same.  The suppers were cooked and eaten, when the generous officer coolly told the steward he had no money but Tennessee currency, and that he supposed it was of no service to him; and turning on his heel, left him to whistle for his pay.

DEAD BODIES FOUND IN THE FORT.

No less than nineteen dead bodies were exhumed in the fort to-day, which had been hurriedly buried in one heap after the fight, and before we reached the fort.  The apparent slight loss of the rebels has been a matter of great surprise, but this recent discovery puts rather a new light on the matter, and it would not be if still more were found.  It will be remembered that only four dead men were found in the fort when we took possession.  This will make at least twenty three who fell beneath the unerring shots of our sailors.

G. W. B.

SOURCE: “From Fort Henry,” The Daily Missouri Democrat, St. Louis, Missouri, Thursday, February 13, 1862, p. 2

Brigadier-General Lloyd Tilghman to Captain E. D. Blake, December 2, 1861

NASHVILLE, TENN., December 2, 1861.

Capt. E. D. BLAKE,

Assistant Adjutant-General, First Div., West. Dept., Ky.:

SIR: In obedience to special orders from headquarters Western Department I have assumed command of the defenses of the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers on the line of Forts Donelson and Henry and of the country immediately adjacent thereto. You will please say to the Major-general commanding division that I have made a thorough examination of the whole line and will report as soon as practicable on the subject. I will state here, however, that it is but too plain that instant and powerful steps must be taken to strengthen not only the two forts in the way of work, but the armament must be increased materially in number of pieces of artillery as well as in weight of metal. I have communicated with General Johnston on the subject and learn that my wishes will be complied with on that point. I shall require a stronger infantry force also on these points. I will communicate in detail so soon as I return to my headquarters, which for the present I shall make at Fort Donelson.

I would be glad to have the major-general commanding designate the number or style of my brigade, so that my orders and letters may bear some relation and proper designation.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

LLOYD TILGHMAN,         

Brigadier-General, P. A. G. S., Commanding, &c.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 731-2

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: February 21, 1862

All our garrison in Fort Henry, with Gen. Tilghman, surrendered. I think we had only 1500 men there. Guns, ammunition, and stores, all gone.

No news from Donelson — and that is bad news. Benjamin says he has no definite information. But prisoners taken say the enemy have been reinforced, and are hurling 80,000 against our 15,000.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 110-1

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, February 9, 1862

CAMP PIERPONT, VA., February 9, 1862.

Is not the news from Tennessee glorious? ^l  It is very important in a strategical point of view, as it enables us to get in the rear of both Columbus and Bowling Green, and cut off the communication and supplies from these places, compelling their evacuation, which effected, we can attack them in the open field. Dranesville, Mill Spring, and Fort Henry prove most conclusively that they are not invincible, and will run just as soon, if not sooner, than we will. They have had a most beneficial effect on our morale, and I think all hands are now here looking forward to the period when we can do something.

___________

¹ The surrender of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River, February 6, 1862. The Federal troops under Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, and the gun-boats under Commodore A. H. Foote, defeated the Confederate troops under Brigadier-General Tilghman. The Confederates surrendered after the attack by the gunboats and just as the Federal troops arrived.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 245

In Close Confinement

BOSTON, March 11. – Information from Fort Warren states that Gens. Buckner and Tilghman were put in close confinement yesterday.  The cause for this is not stated.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 15, 1862, p. 4

Rumors in Nashville -- Rebel Credulity -- Brave Officers and Toadies

Correspondence of the Cincinnati Gazette

Nashville, Tenn., March 6.

The sympathizers with treason in this vicinity are consoling themselves with the idea that the retreat of the rebel generals and their forces was designed as a strategic movement, for the purpose of getting Gen. Buell on the south side of the Cumberland, so that whenever they desired so to do, they could easily gobble up him and his entire army.

Whether the men who profess to believe this are sincere or not, it is certain that this is only one of the many absurdities with which they daily undertake to console themselves or to deceive the ignorant.

And the nonsense which they circulate has not merely reference to the operations of our troops in portions of the country distant from here, but to what is transpiring in the immediate vicinity of Nashville.

As examples, let me record a few of the rumors which I heard in a single day.  I was crossing the river in a steamboat yesterday morning, when my attention was  attracted to a conversation which was going on between a Lieutenant of our army and a fat, bluffy gentleman, who, himself a bitter Secessionist, was performing the role of a Union man intensely alarmed for the safety of the Federal Army.

“I know your troops are brave,” said he to the Lieutenant, “but bravery has no chance against desperation, and the men in the Southern army are becoming very desperate, indeed.”

“Do you mean,” replied the Lieutenant, “that they so despair of their cause that they will always run, and thus give no opportunity to our brave boys to engage them?  Against such desperation I admit that bravery is of little avail.”

“Yes,” said the concealed Secesher, “they are in retreat now, but when they do make a stand, I know what sort of men they are, and I very much fear the result.”

“I know what sort of men they are, too,” rejoined the Lieutenant; “they are just the sort that attempted to stand against us at Mill Springs, and fled like frightened sheep at the first charge of the bayonet.”

“Well, well,” said they hypocrite, “you mustn’t count too much upon the battle of Mill Springs.  I am sure no one wishes better success to your cause than I; but we all perfectly understand, down here, that the reason why you gained that fight was that Gen. Crittenden was drunk, and after the death of Zollicoffer, was unable to command the army.”

“Then answered the Lieutenant, “the desperate courage of the rebel soldiers must be of little avail, if it can be turned into arrant cowardice by the drunkenness of one man.”

This seemed rather to puzzle the pretender; but when the Lieutenant proceeded to ask him if Gen. Tilghman was drunk at Fort Henry, and if Pillow, Floyd, et al., were drunk at Fort Donelson, he was unable longer to hid his cloven foot, and spitefully declared: “You’ll see how they thing will turn out!  Only last night there were seventy two of your pickets killed, and two pieces of your cannon taken by a small party of cavalry, not more than twenty in number!”

At this a loud [hoarse] laugh broke from a number of Union soldiers, who had gathered round, and so hearty was it, that even the Secession sympathizers in the crowd were constrained to join in, although they would fain have believed that the old rebel’s story was true.

The Lieutenant said not another word, but after bestowing one smile of contempt and scorn upon the unveiled traitor, rose up calmly and went away.  I should like very much to give you his name, but no one on board seemed to know it.  One thing I considered certain – that in his case, the emblems of military authority had been placed upon the solders of the right man.

And this reminds us of another instance of deserved rebuke to a secessionist, but one of our officers.

A very haughty looking scion of aristocracy stepped up to a group standing not far from the City Hotel.  A captain of one of the Ohio regiments was in the company, and was just re[marking that he considered the rebellion pretty] well played out.  “And isn’t it possible,” said the gent, who had come up a minute previous, “is it possible that you expect to crush the Southern people by force of arms?”

“Did you ever know of such a movement being put down by the bayonet?”

“O, yes! we had an instance in our country, when the whisky insurrection, in Pennsylvania was suppressed, during the administration of Washington.”

“You don’t pretend to compare this ware with the whiskey insurrection in Pennsylvania?” said the nabob, with much apparent horror.

“Not in all respects,” replied the Captain, “for I consider this rebellion, stirred up by the devilish passions of a few disappointed politicians in the South, as infinitely more abominable than any outbreak which could be excited by bad whiskey, in Pennsylvania, or elsewhere.”

An old veteran, a resident of Nashville, who was listening, grasped the Captain by the hand: “God bless you!” said he, “that’s right! Don’t hesitate to tell them the truth.”  The secesh gent suddenly remembered, as the saying is, an engagement an another part of the town.

I record these instances of manly bearing with the more pleasure, because I have seen some disgusting exhibitions of toadyism on the part of certain officers in our army, toward the advocates of this wicked and bloody treason. – It exists generally in a latent form, but is pretty certain to show itself in the supporter of disloyalty happens to live in an elegant mansion, to have a hundred or so “niggers” around him and to sport a gold headed cane.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 15, 1862, p. 2

Up the Cumberland

The voyage up the river from Ft. Donelson to this place yesterday afternoon was quite a pleasant one.  The river just now is boasting of unwanted proportions, inundating all the bottoms, and – in some cases, compelling the inmates of the farm houses along the river banks to flee for safety to the neighboring heights. – In some instances a solitary hog, cow or other domestic quadruped, left behind on a stray yard or two of dry land, beside some deserted house, would present a most mournfully ludicrous picture of unwarrantable desertion, and would gaze at the passing steamers with an earnestness be speaking little or none of the nonchalance of the man of old who is reputed to have had as little faith in the extent of “the shower” as of the efficiency of the Ark.  I fear that some of them have had to swim for [it ere] this.  There are no villages along the river in the thirty five or forty miles intervening, between Donelson and Clarksville.  Farm houses, however, are frequent, interspersed here and there with mills and foundries, which, in days gone by, were of considerable importance hereabouts.  One of these iron mills (Cumberland Iron Works) twelve miles above Dover, has been of great aid to the rebels and, judging from the smouldering ruins now only left, must have been of no little magnitude.  It was burned by order of Commodore Foote the day of the surrender of Donelson. – The private residence of the proprietor, and the smaller dwellings of the workmen, which were left unharmed, are very neat structures, and in all the glory of their white paint, looked very pretty in the afternoon sunshine.  Many of the farm houses, too, are quite fine residences with well built barns and out houses, bespeaking of good farms and prosperous owners.  From some of these houses the Federal flag was waving.  From others a piece of white cloth was visible, and from still others, no insignia at all was displayed, but the closed windows and doors, and apparent absence of all white people about the premises, told, plainly enough the sentiments of the owners thereof.  Not a few, however, waved a cheerful welcome to the passing troops, and it was easy to see that the re-appearance of the old flag was the cause of no little gratification.  At one point where towards night we stopped to “wood up,” the owner of a flour mill adjoining claimed to be a good Union man, and spoke most touchingly of the sad state to which the country had been brought by the interruption of all business.  A present of a hat full of coffee, a luxury which he said he had not seen for six months, rendered him one of the happiest mortals I have recently seen.

Clarksville, from which I now write, has a population of 5,000 or 6,000, and before the war was wont to be considered one of the most flourishing business points in the State.  With a goodly number of fine business blocks, and not a few elegant private residences, it would be considered a pleasant town in any part of the country.  With stores closed and houses deserted it has now, however, a very Sunday like aspect.  It would seem though, that hardly so many of the citizens as would be supposed from a glance at the apparently deserted residences, have left the place.  Not a few within the last day or two have been noticed, badger like, taking a survey of the surroundings from their hiding places, and discovering that our troops were neither vandals nor any other species of barbarians, have concluded to show themselves.  This afternoon I have noticed even many of the gentler portion of the population sunning themselves on the porticos, and gazing with no little interest upon the federal passers by.

The place was formally occupied by our troops several days since, the enemy having deserted it two or three days before or, in other words, as soon as they could get out of it after the reception of the news of the surrender.  The evacuation of the town, according to all accounts, was a most sudden as well as ludicrous operation.  On Saturday the people of the place and the two or three regiments garrisoned here, received intelligence that the Yankees were rapidly being whipped back to their Northern homes, and a general jollification was at once indulged in.  But, alas, there’s many a slip between the cup and the lip.  They had hardly begun to feel the effect of their carousal, when, lo! and behold who should appear upon the scene but the brilliant heroes, Floyd and Pillow, with some items of information which hardly confirmed their previous veracious accounts of the evening before.  There was then mounting in hot haste sure enough.  The Lincoln gunboats which according to the yesterday’s accounts had all been sunk or crippled, were supposed to be in immediate proximity, and but few of the doughty champions of the South thought it best to stand upon the order of their going.  An Alabama regiment stationed here chartered a steamboat fortunately lying near by, and went at once.  A colonel of a Tennessee regiment gave orders to his men who occupied the fortifications below the city to prepare to march, and upon visiting the fort an hour afterwards found only eighteen of his men left to accompany him.  The rest of them stealing horses, mules and every description of conveyance attainable, were already in full pursuit of their Alabama brethren in arms.  I need not state that Pillow and Floyd did not either tarry long in Jericho, but pressed on with the speediest of them.  It had only been about a week before that both of these distinguished rebels, together with Buckner, had passed through Clarksville, and had received not a little lionizing.  Both Pillow and Floyd had been called on to make speeches, and responded in the most bloodthirsty of efforts making glad the hearts of all rebeldom hereabouts by the promise of a speedy extermination of each and every Lincolnite who had dared to pollute their soil.  Referring to the surrender of Fort Henry by Gen. Tilghman, Pillow said, with peculiar grammatical elegance of the South – But, gentlemen, I never did surrender, and so help me God, never will surrender.  Me, and Gen. Buckner and Gen. Floyd and our gallant troops, are now going down there, and we will sweep every Yankee son of them back to their frozen homes.  (Great applause and hurrahs for Pillow).  General Floyd also presented himself and made equally brilliant promises.  General Buckner, who alone of the unworthy trio said nothing, was the only one who stuck to his troops, and included himself in the “ungenerous and unchivalrous” terms which Gen. Grant saw fit to impose upon him.  I need not add that upon their return, neither Floyd nor Pillow stopped to favor the good people of Clarksville with any further promises of Yankee extermination and I doubt very much whether they would have taken much stock in his promises, even if he had.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 8, 1862, p. 3

Gens. Buckner and Tilghman on their Travels

CLEVELAND, Feb. 27. – Gens. Buckner and Tilghman passed here this morning en route for Fort Warren, under charge of Col. Coats.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 1, 1862, p. 3

Hot Work In Kentucky

There is every appearance that the campaign in Kentucky has opened in full earnest, and the result cannot be long in doubt.  The first demonstration is to be made it appears on Ft. Henry, a point important only as a strong out post, but whose reduction is necessary before proceeding to the attack of the enemy strongholds of Bowling Green and Columbus.

Every hour is now big with the fate of the Nation, and every mind is turned towards Kentucky as there might the pending contest be decided.

The following description of Ft. Henry, the point of the attack, will be interesting.

DESCRIPTION OF FORT HENRY.

The only fortification on the Tennessee river, of much importance is Fort Henry, situated near the line of Kentucky and Tennessee, on the east bank of the stream.  It stands in the river bottom, about the high water mark, just below a bend in the river, and at the head of a strait stretch of about two miles.  It therefore commands the river for that distance down stream, and very little higher than the fort, a portion of it is covered with heavy timber.  On the opposite side of the river are three hills commanding the fort completely.  The armament of the fort consists of eight 32-pounders, four 12-pounders, and two 6-pounders.  The 32 and 12-pounders are heavy guns, and the 6-pounders are light pieces.  My informant left Fort Henry on Thursday, the 12^th inst., at which time a large lot of entrenching tools had just been brought tither [sic] to be used in fortifying the hills on the opposite side of the river.

On these new fortifications it was intended to mount three very large guns, 124-pounders, and some rifle cannon.  An Irish regiment at the fort were relied upon to perform much of the work in prospect, but in addition to this force some four hundred slaves were daily expected from North Alabama.  The Garrison of the fort under Gen. Lloyd Tilghman, consist of Col. Adolphus [Heiman’s] Irish regiment and a regiment of Mississippians, besides the artillerists.

– Published in The Dubuque Herald, Dubuque, Iowa, Friday Morning, February 7, 1862, p. 2

The first thing that . . .

. . . met the Federal eye on entering the camp at Columbus was an effigy marked “Bill Seward, the Abolitionist.”  Not far distant was a similar representation of “Tilgham [sic] the traitor,” and a third one of “Floyd the runaway”

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, March 25, 1862, p. 2

The War News

MANASSAS OURS.

Officers and Soldiers not to Return Slaves.

Battle of Pea Ridge Arkansas.

McCulloch and McIntosh mortally wounded.

Our Blockade in the British Parliament.

BUCKNER AND TILGHMAN IN CLOSE CONFINEMENT.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, March 12, 1862, p. 1

Boston, March 11 [1862]

Information from Fort Warren states that Gens. Buckner and Tilgham [sic] were but in close confinement yesterday.  The cause for this is not stated.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, March 12, 1862, p. 1

From the South

BALTIMORE, March 5.

A letter from Fort Monroe published in the American of this city, says that yesterday’s Richmond Dispatch announces that the steamer Nashville came direct from Southampton to the North Carolina coast, and approached the blockading vessel with the Union flag flying.  The Nashville went up directly under the guns of the blockading vessel, almost within hailing distance, and then passing her raised the rebel flag and moved directly towards Ft. Macon.  The blockading vessel immediately discovered the deception and started in pursuit of the Nashville, following her until within range of the guns of Ft. Macon.  Several shots were fired at the Nashville, but she reports that nobody was hurt. – She claims to have brought into Wilmington a valuable cargo of bank note and printing paper.

The Richmond Dispatch calls attention to mysterious writings on the wall, indicating that Union conspirators are at work. – Among these writings are the following: “Attention, Union Men!  Watch and Wait!  The Union forever!  The day is dawning the hour of deliverance approaches.”

It was those significant announcements that caused the arrest of John Minor Botts and twenty other suspected citizens of wealth, character and position, and the proclamation of martial law.

The Dispatch urges summary measures for checking the progress of treason, and advocates the arrest and execution of the conspirators.

It was thought that Cols. Corcoran and Wilcox will be now held as hostages for Gens. Buckner and Tilghman, but this was merely rumored.  Col. Corcoran, Col. Wilcox and other Federal prisoners have reached Richmond.

There was a great panic at Richmond caused by the recent defeats of the rebels.  The leading traitors exhibited the greatest trepidation.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, March 6, 1862, p. 1