Diary of Sarah Morgan: April 27, 1862

What a day! Last night came a dispatch that New Orleans was under British protection, and could not be bombarded; consequently, the enemy's gunboats would probably be here this morning, such few as had succeeded in passing the Forts; from nine to fifteen, it was said. And the Forts, they said, had not surrendered. I went to church; but I grew very anxious before it was over, feeling that I was needed at home. When I returned, I found Lilly wild with excitement, picking up hastily whatever came to hand, preparing for instant flight, she knew not where. The Yankees were in sight; the town was to be burned; we were to run to the woods, etc. If the house had to be burned, I had to make up my mind to run, too. So my treasure-bag tied around my waist as a bustle, a sack with a few necessary articles hanging on my arm, some few quite unnecessary ones, too, as I had not the heart to leave the old and new prayer books father had given me, and Miriam's, too; — pistol and carving-knife ready, I stood awaiting the exodus. I heaped on the bed the treasures I wanted to burn, matches lying ready to fire the whole at the last minute. I may here say that, when all was over, I found I had omitted many things from the holocaust. This very diary was not included. It would have afforded vast amusement to the Yankees. There may yet be occasion to burn them, and the house also. People fortunately changed their minds about the auto-da-fé just then; and the Yankees have not yet arrived, at sundown. So, when the excitement calmed down, poor Lilly tumbled in bed in a high fever in consequence of terror and exertion.

[A page torn out]

I was right in that prophecy. For this was not the Will Pinckney I saw last. So woebegone! so subdued, careworn, and sad! No trace of his once merry self. He is good-looking, which he never was before. But I would rather never have seen him than have found him so changed. I was talking to a ghost. His was a sad story. He had held one bank of the river until forced to retreat with his men, as their cartridges were exhausted, and General Lovell omitted sending more. They had to pass through swamps, wading seven and a half miles, up to their waists in water. He gained the edge of the swamp, saw they were over the worst, and fell senseless. Two of his men brought him milk, and “woke him up,” he said. His men fell from exhaustion, were lost, and died in the swamp; so that out of five hundred, but one hundred escaped. This he told quietly and sadly, looking so heartbroken that it was piteous to see such pain. He showed me his feet, with thick clumsy shoes which an old negro had pulled off to give him; for his were lost in the swamp, and he came out bare-footed. They reached the Lafourche River, I believe, seized a boat, and arrived here last night. His wife and child were aboard. Heaven knows how they got there! The men he sent on to Port Hudson, while he stopped here. I wanted to bring his wife to stay with us; but he said she could not bear to be seen, as she had run off just as she had happened to be at that moment. In half an hour he would be off to take her to his old home in a carriage. There he would rejoin his men, on the railroad, and march from Clinton to the Jackson road, and so on to Corinth. A long journey for men so disheartened! But they will conquer in the end. Beauregard's army will increase rapidly at this rate. The whole country is aroused, and every man who owns a gun, and many who do not, are on the road to Corinth. We will conquer yet.

SOURCE: Sarah Morgan Dawson, A Confederate Girl's Diary, p. 20-2

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: April 30, 1862

The last day of this month of calamities. Lovell left the women and children to be shelled, and took the army to a safe place. I do not understand why we do not send the women and children to the safe place and let the army stay where the fighting is to be. Armies are to save, not to be saved. At least, to be saved is not their raison d'être exactly. If this goes-on the spirit of our people will be broken. One ray of comfort comes from Henry Marshall. “Our Army of the Peninsula is fine; so good I do not think McClellan will venture to attack it.” So mote it be.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 161

Diary of Judith W. McGuire: April 27, 1862

The country is shrouded in gloom because of the fall of New Orleans! It was abandoned by General Lovell — necessarily, it is thought. Such an immense force was sent against the forts which protected it, that they could not be defended. The steamer Mississippi, which was nearly finished, had to be burnt. We hoped so much from its protection to the Mississippi River. Oh, it is so hard to see the enemy making such inroads into the heart of our country! It makes the chicken-hearted men and women despondent, but to the true and brave it gives a fresh stimulus for exertion. I met two young Kentuckians to-night who have come out from their homes, leaving family and fortunes behind, to help the South. After many difficulties, running the blockade across the Potomac, they reached Richmond yesterday, just as the news of the fall of New Orleans had overwhelmed the city. They are dreadfully disappointed by the tone of the persons they have met. They came burning with enthusiasm; and anything like depression is a shock to their excited feelings. One said to me that he thought he should return at once, as he had “left every thing which made home desirable to help Virginia, and found her ready to give up.” All the blood in my system boiled in an instant. “Where, sir,” said I, “have you seen Virginians ready to give up their cause?” “Why,” he replied, “I have been lounging about the Exchange all day, and have heard the sentiments of the people.” “Lounging about the Exchange? And do you suppose that Virginians worthy of the name are now seen lounging about the Exchange? There you see the idlers and shirkers of the whole Southern army. No true man under forty-five is to be found there. Virginia, sir, is in the camp. Go there, and find the true men of the South. There they have been for one year, bearing the hardships, and offering their lives, and losing life and limb for the South; it is mournful to say how many! There you will find the chivalry of the South; and if Virginia does not receive you with the shout of enthusiasm which you anticipated, it is because the fire burns steadily and deeply; the surface blaze has long ago passed away. I honour you, and the many noble young Kentuckians who have left their homes for the sake of our country, but it will not do for Kentucky to curl the lip of scorn at Virginia. Virginia blushes, and silently mourns over her recreant daughter, and rejoices over every son of hers who has the disinterestedness to leave her and come to us in this hour of our bitter trial.”

I do not believe that this young man really means, or wishes, to return; he only feels disheartened by the gloom caused by our great national loss.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 108-9

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut, April 27, 1862

New Orleans gone¹ – and with it the Confederacy. Are we not cut in two?  That Mississippi ruins us if lost. The Confederacy has been done to death by the politicians. What wonder we are lost.  Those wretched creatures of the Congress and the legislature could never rise to the greatness of the occasion.  They seem to think they were in a neighborhood squabble about precedence.

The soldiers have done their duty.

All honor to the army. Statesmen as busy as bees about their own places, or their personal honor, too busy to see the enemy at a distance. With a microscope they were examining their own interests, or their own wrongs, forgetting the interests of the people they represented. They were concocting newspaper paragraphs to injure the government. No matter how vital nothing – nothing can be kept from the enemy. They must publish themselves, night and day, what they are doing, or the omniscient Buncombe will forget them.

This fall of New Orleans means utter ruin to the private fortunes of the Prestons. Mr. Preston came from New Orleans so satisfied with Mansfield Lovell² and the tremendous steam-rams he saw there. While in New Orleans, Burnside offered Mr. Preston five hundred thousand dollars, a debt due to him from Burnside, and he refused to take it.³ He said the money was safer in Burnside's hands than his. And so it may prove, so ugly is the outlook now. Burnside is wide awake; he is not a man to be caught napping.

A son of Hilliard Judge.⁴  A little more than twenty years ago we saw Mr. and Mrs. Judge on their bridal tour.  A six-foot man has come into existence since then and grown up to this – full length, we would say.  His mother married again, is now Mrs. Brooks – wants to come and live in Columbia.

Live!  Death, not life, seems to be our fate now.

They have got Beauregard – no longer Felix, but the shiftless – in a cul-de-sac.

Mary Preston was saying she had asked the Hamptons how they relished the idea of being paupers.

“If the country is saved none of us will care for that sort of thing.”

Philosophical and patriotic,

Mr. Chesnut came in.

 ''Conrad has been telegraphed from New Orleans that the great iron-clad Louisiana went down at the first shot."

Mr. Chesnut and Mary Preston walked off, first to the bulletin-board and then to the Prestons'.

__________

¹ New Orleans had been seized by the Confederates at the outbreak of the war. Steps to capture it were soon taken by the Federals and on April 18, 1862, the mortar flotilla, under Farragut, opened fire on its protecting forts. Making little impression on them, Farragut ran boldly past the forts and destroyed the Confederate fleet, comprising 13 gunboats and two ironclads. On April 27th he took formal possession of the city.

² A civil servant in New York City before the war.  Lovell was commissioned a major general of the C. S. A. and Assigned to command New Orleans in 1861.

³ John S. Preston sold his extensive La. Sugar plantations to John Burnside, a New Orleans merchant in 1857.  These holdings helped make Burnside the greatest sugar planter in the state during the 1860’s.

⁴ Hilliard M. Judge, Sr., was a Methodist minister in Camden who died in 1857.

SOURCES: Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut, A Diary from Dixie, p. 158-9; C. Van Woodward, Editor, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War,  p. 330-1.

Capt. Bailey's Experience In New Orleans

Capt. Bailey, from New Orleans, says that the wealthy citizens, the upper classes, and the creoles rich and poor are in sympathy with the rebellion; but the laboring classes, the mudsills of society, are almost all devoted to the Union.  Capt. Bailey was the bearer of the first summons to surrender, and on his way to the Mayor’s office was surrounded by a constantly swelling crowd, who hurrahed for Jeff. Davis and Beauregard, and shouted, “Kill him!”  “Hang him to a lamp-post!”  “Don’t let him go back alive!”

Every now and then, however, in the throng, his sleeve would be pulled, or his hand pressed, or a whisper dropped into his ear, such as “Glad to see you!”  “Why didn’t you come before?”  He was escorted back in a carriage by two officers detailed for that purpose by Gen. Lovell, who entertained the crowd while he was safely making his way to the boat, with the vainglorious assurances that he would never give up the city.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, May 19, 1862, p. 2

How New Orleans was Taken

The following graphic account, and the only one we have seen of the taking of the city of New Orleans, was transmitted by telegraph on Monday from Cairo to the Chicago Tribune:–

A gentleman who left New Orleans on the 29th ult., o the last train which departed, under Confederate auspices, arrived at Cairo this evening on the Diligent.  The Federals took possession on Thursday at 2 P. M.  On that morning at half-past 3 the Hartford, Richmond, Brookland, and five gunboats passed Forts St. Philip and Jackson, and steamed to the city without being fired at, except at a point called Chalmetto.  At the time of the passage there were eight or ten Confederate steamers above the fort without steam up, and the crews asleep.  When the Federal boats hove in sight, the Confederates set fire to these and blew up the splendid gunboat Louisiana, without firing a shot.  During the bombardment, several of our vessels were badly damaged.  When they passed the forts three were lashed together, so that if one was disabled the others could cut loose and proceed on their way.  In this manner they succeeded in passing.

As soon as the rumor of the passage of the forts reached New Orleans, there was a tremendous consternation in the city.  The authorities immediately set fire to the transports, and two gunboats lying at the levee, a few steamers belonging to the tributaries of the Mississippi, fled crowded with the citizens, up the Arkansas, Red, White, Ouachita, and Yazoo Rivers.  Every dray and vehicle suitable for the service, was impressed by the authorities to carry cotton, sugar and molasses to the levee, where they were piled and burned.  All military stores where removed to the depot of the New Orleans and Jackson Railroad, except the powder, which was thrown into the river.  The conflagration was tremendous, and the sky for several miles was lurid with flame.  The smoke was so thick as to completely darken the atmosphere.

Disorganized Confederate troops in companies and parts of companies fled in wild disorder to the depot to seek a passage to Ponchartulas, fifty miles in the interior, where the military rendezvous was located.  The negroes stole molasses and sugar from the levee, and women and children could be seen in great numbers rolling barrels of sweets over the pavements to their huts in the suburbs.  The streets were so slippery with the drippings that the cab horses could hardly stand upright.

While affairs were in this confusion, the eight Federal frigates and gunboats in firing trim, topmast, guns shotted and run out of the port holes, and the stars and stripes flying from every masthead, anchored on at the foot of each principal street leading to the river, the Hartford, with Com. Farragut’s blue pennant flying from her foretop, taking her position at the foot of Canal street.  After the ships were in position, Capt. Bayless, second in command of the gulf squadron, in a pinnance, unattended and alone, landed on the levee.  Just before him a man stood at the levee with a loaded pistol, and threatened to shoot him if he stepped his foot upon the shore without a flag of truce.  Capt. B. pulled out a white handkerchief and waving it, stepped upon the levee and proceeded directly to the city Hall through a crowd of full twenty-five-thousand men, women and children.  This act of bravery elicited a shout of admiration form the vast assemblage.  He called upon the Mayor, presented a dispatch from Commodore Farragut, and demanded the surrender of the city.  He required the Louisiana State flag to be lowered, and the Stars and Stripes to be hoisted upon the Mint, Custom House, and all the public buildings.  The Mayor informed him that the city was under martial law, that Maj. Lovell was in command, and that he, the Mayor, had no authority to act in the premises.  At this juncture, Gen. Lovell appeared, refused to surrender the city, but offered to withdraw his forces and surrender his authority to the civil authorities.  The Mayor then told Capt. Bayles that he would convene a session of the Common Council that evening, and send an answer to the Commodore’s dispatch in the morning.  The answer, as promised was returned the next day.

On Tuesday the 28th, 500 marines landed with a few small brass pieces and marched to the City Hall, demanded to be shown to the top of the building, hauled down the State flag, which a marine rolled up and carried off under his arm, and then proceeded to the Custom House, where the remains of two hundred gun carriages were still burning, hoisted the National Emblem, left a guard to protect it, and returned to the gunboat.

The day previous forts St. Philip and Jackson had surrendered, their own men spiking the guns and refusing to fight longer.  In consequence of this mutiny, General Duncan was compelled to raise the white flag and surrender the fort.  Gen. Duncan and all his officers were released upon their parole and allowed to retain their side arms.  The former came up to the City Hall and made a speech in which he counseled the people not to despair, everything would come out right yet.

The fort having surrendered, the way was clear for transports, which at the same time our informant left were expected.  Order was re-established in the city, shops were being opened, but the St. Charles and principal hotels remained closed, more in consequence of the currency and the scarcity of provisions than from any fear of the Federal soldiers.

Considerable apprehension was felt that the lower classes, Spanish, French, Germans, and foreigners generally, taking advantage of the disorganized condition of the city, might commit excess, and plunder the citizens, the inhabitants were more fearful of these than of the Federals.  Confederate scrip was still current, but prices of provisions were enormously high.

The day after the gunboats arrived, two of them steamed up the river to Baton Rouge, hoisted the U. S. flag on the capital building and arsenal, and captured two steamers for transport service.  Thousands of people were constantly on the levee, gazing at the gunboats and soldiers, towards whom they manifested no ill will or bitterness of filling.

Our informant passed through Gen. Lovell’s camp at a point called Songapoa, about 125 miles north of New Orleans, on the New Orleans and Jackson railroad.  Munitions of war, troops, provisions, &c., were lying about on the utmost confusion.  They were intending to join Gen. Beauregard at Corinth.  People by the thousands were leaving Vicksburg and Natchez for Jackson, which place was crowded to over flowing. – There was an alarming scarcity of provisions.  Our informant reached Memphis on the 2d inst., and left on the morning of the 5th, for a point on the Memphis and Ohio Railroad, 14 miles south of Humboldt, just before dispatches were received confirming reports that six thousand troops had landed at New Orleans.  The citizens of Memphis were satisfied that upon the first determined attack on Ft. Pillow it would surrender.  On the Hatchee river, below Ft. Pillow, and twenty-five from its mouth, an Aid-de Camp of Gen. Beauregard is superintending the construction of a pontoon bridge, to facilitate the retreat of troops from the Fort, in case an evacuation becomes necessary.  Our informant thinks, that if, on the consummation of that event a gunboat will run up the Hatchee river, it will be able to destroy the bridge and cut of their retreat.

A mile and a half below Memphis, 4,000 bales of cotton are piled ready for the torch, as soon as the fall of Ft. Pillow is ascertained; there are also several thousand hogsheads of sugar and molasses ready to be rolled into the river.  There is no telegraph from the Fort, and if, on the occupation; a gunboat will steam directly towards Memphis, then anchor opposite the pile, the entire lot can be secured from the station on the railroad.  When our informant left, he went by land to within fourteen miles of the Mississippi, to a point twenty miles above Ft. Pillow.  By this means he evaded the Confederate pickets and reached the river in a dug-out through the backwater.  On his way thither he passed hundreds of deserters from the Confederate army.  On the 10th he reached the encampment of the 47th Indiana, at Tiptonville, and reported to Col. Slack, Commandant.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, May 14, 1862, p. 2

Major General Ulysses S. Grant to Mary Frances Grant, October 16, 1862

Jackson, Tenn.,

October 16th, 1862,

Dear Sister:

I received your letter by due course of mail and expected before this to have answered one of your questions in the shape of an official report; that is the one where you ask me the part I played at the battle of Iuka. When the reports of subalterns come in I will make my report which no doubt will be published and will be a full answer to your question. I had no more to do with troops under General Ord than I had with those under Rosecrans, but gave the orders to both. The plan was admirably laid for catching Price and his whole army, but owing to the nature of the ground, direction of the wind, and General Rosecrans having been so far behind where he was expected to be on the morning before the attack, it failed. In the late battles we have gained such a moral advantage over them however, with Van Dorn and Lovell added, that I do not know but it may have all been for the best.

I have written to Julia to come down here to spend a short time. It will probably be but a short time that she can stay, but so long as I remain here this will be a pleasant place for her. — If the children have not already been sent to Covington I told her to bring them with her. In the last letter I received she said she was about sending them to Covington.

I believe you have now got it all quiet on the Ohio. I hope it will soon be so every place else. It does look to me that we now have such an advantage over the rebels that there should be but little more hard fighting.

Give my love to all at home. Write often and without expecting either very prompt or very long replies.

ULYS.

SOURCE: Jesse Grant Cramer, Editor, Letters of Ulysses S. Grant to His Father and His Youngest Sister, 1857-78, p. 93-4

From Cairo

CAIRO, May 4.

Intelligence from the army before Corinth has been received up to 6 o’clock Saturday night, at which time no engagement had yet taken place, but a battle was momentarily expected.

Gen. Halleck has removed his headquarters 12 miles toward the front.

Our advance was within two miles of the enemy’s outer works, and the entire column is still pressing forward.  Skirmishes with the advance of the rebels had been of daily occurrence – the latter making but a slight show of resistance, and then falling back.

On Thursday 400 Germans from a Louisiana regiment who had been sent out from the rebel camp on outpost duty, in two detachments, came into our lines in a body, with white flags on their guns, and gave themselves up as deserters.  From this fact arose numberless rumors to the effect that our divisions had been attacked by the enemy and that the latter had been repulsed with great loss, in killed and wounded, and over 1000 prisoners taken.

Gen. Mitchell was within five miles of Gen. Parker’s division.

Deserters report that Gen. Lovell’s advance was at Grenada, Miss., at the junction of the Central Mississippi and Memphis & New Orleans railroads, fortifying the place which is naturally a strong position.

Beauregard was being rapidly reinforced from all points of Gulf States – merchants and business men, in large numbers having closed their stores and flocked to his standard.

The steamer Lacrosse brought down the body of Gov. Harvey.  It was found forty miles below Savannah by an old negro and some children, who had taken it ashore and riffled his pockets of their contents, which were subsequently recovered.  The body had been interred, and is much decomposed.

Fifty-four prisoners arrived here, who have been taken on the outposts since the battle of Shiloh.  Most of them are Germans from New Orleans.

There is no news from the flotilla.  Com. Foote is awaiting certain movements of Gen. Halleck, when his plans will be consummated.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, May 6, 1862, p. 2

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: Monday, July 13, 1863

The Enquirer says the President has got a letter from Gen. Lee (why not give it to the people?) stating that his operations in Pennsylvania and Maryland have been successful and satisfactory, and that we have now some 15,000 to 18,000 prisoners, besides the 4000 or 5000 paroled. Nonsense!

Lee and Meade have been facing each other two or three days, drawn up in battle array, and a decisive battle may have occurred ere this. The wires have been cut between Martinsburg and Hagerstown.

Not another word have we from either Charleston or Jackson; but we learn that monitors, gun-boats, and transports are coming up the James River.

Altogether, this is another dark day in our history. It has been officially ascertained that Pemberton surrendered, with Vicksburg, 22,000 men! He has lost, during the year, not less than 40,000! And Lovell (another Northern general) lost Fort Jackson and New Orleans. When will the government put “none but Southerners on guard?”

Letters to-day from the Governors of South Carolina, Alabama, and North Carolina show that all are offended at the Confederate government. Judge Campbell's judicial profundity (and he is the department's correspondent) is unfortunate at this crisis, when, not great principles, but quick and successful fighting, alone can serve.

It appears that President Lincoln has made a speech in Washington in exultation over the fall of Vicksburg, and the defeat of an army contending against the principle that all men were created equal. He means the negro — we mean that white men were created equal — that we are equal to Northern white people, and have a right, which we do not deny to them, of living under a government of our own choice.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 377-8

From Washington

World’s Special.

WASHINGTON, April 30.

The Petersburg Express of day before yesterday has a long editorial regarding the loss at New Orleans, and says the city was captured by our gunboats being encased with wet bales of hay, so that hot and cold shot were of no use.  The Louisiana, mounting 23 guns, was sunk, together with the Express, by our steal-pointed conical shot.  The cotton was destroyed by fire, and the sugar emptied into the river.  The special in the banks was all removed from the city when Gen. Lovell retired.

Special to Post.

WASHINGTON, May 1.

The President has just sent to the Senate the name of Chas. C. Lathrop as Collector of the Port at New Orleans.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, May 2, 1862, p. 1

From Fort Monroe

HON. E. M. STANTON, Sec’y of War:

The following appears in the Richmond Dispatch of the 28th:  The fearful state of suspense in which this city has existed for several days, has ended.  New Orleans is in possession of the enemy.  It was evacuated by Gen. Lovell, who removed his forces to Camp Moore, on the Jackson Railroad.

(Signed,)

J. E. WOOL, Maj. Gen.

The Charleston Mercury says that nine schooners left the city on the previous Saturday to run the blockade.  The Guide, Wave and two others were taken.  The crew of the Guide was landed on Gibb’s Island on Wednesday.  On Friday they were seen by our pickets and fired on, under the supposition that they were Yankees.  David Kauffer, of Augusta, was killed.  The three other vessels were sent to Port Royal.

The gunboat Mt. Vernon arrived from the blockade of Wilmington Sunday night.  She left there the Jamestown and Victoria.  The Cambridge sailed hence for Wilmington on Sunday.  The Mt. Vernon’s boilers are defective, but she will return to her station in a few days.  There is but little news.  Fort Caswell is being strengthened by the rebels in expectation of an attack.

The schooner Kate from Nassau was captured by the Mt. Vernon about two weeks ago, while attempting to run the blockade.

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

Southern News

FT. MONROE, April 29.

A flag of truce from Norfolk to-day brought down the wife and family of Parson Brownlow, and also the wife of Congressman Maynard.  The party, consisting of four ladies, two gents and six children, are all from Tennessee.  They bring the report that all the Union families of Tennessee have been ordered by proclamation to leave within 36 hours.  1,800 Union men left for Kentucky a week ago Friday.  Of a party of four hundred attempting to leave, one hundred had been killed.

There can be no doubt of the capture of New Orleans.  The Southern newspapers speak of it in the most dismal strain, and demand that the mystery of the surrender of the city shall be explained.

The Norfolk Day Book, in an editorial, says: “It is by far the most serious reverse of the war.  It suggests future privations to all classes of society; but most to be lamented of all, it threatens our army supplies.”  The raising of meat, and corn and wheat, instead of cotton and tobacco, is earnestly recommended by the disconsolate editor.

The Richmond Dispatch of yesterday, says when the enemy’s fleet arrived opposite the city and demanded its surrender, Gen. Lovell refused, and fell back to Camp Moore, after destroying all the cotton and stores.

The iron-clad vessel Mississippi was burnt to prevent falling into the hands of the enemy.  Nothing is said about the Louisiana, but it is supposed that she was scuttled. – It is rumored that she was sunk at first fire.

Camp Moore is 78 miles for New Orleans, on the Jackson Railroad.

The following are the latest dispatches in to-day’s papers:

MOBILE, April 27.

The Yankee Commodore, Farragut, promised the secretary of the Mayor of New Orleans, who visited the fleet by a flag of truce, to make a renewed demand for the surrender of the city, but he has not done so up to this hour, 5 o’clock.

Our ship, the McRae, came up from the forts under a flag of truce, with forty of our wounded.  She communicated with the Federal flag ship, but the result is unknown.  It is rumored that the Federals refused to let her return.

The rumor that Fort Pike has been evacuated and blown up is unreliable.

In a conference held with one of the Federal officers, after the correspondence between Mayor Monroe and Com. Farragut, the officer left, declaring that he would shoot down the flag on the City Hall if it was not hauled down, and he actually brought his ship within range, but has not fired thus far.

It is reported that French and English men-of-war are below, and will enter their protest against shelling the city; and it is believed the Yankee vessels are short of both provisions and ammunition.

The city is remarkably orderly, but the excitement is intense and the feeling of humiliation deep.

RICHMOND, April 28.

The following dispatch was received to-day by Adj. Gen. Cooper from Gen. Lovell:

CAMP MORE, April 27.

Forts Jackson and St. Phillip are still in good condition and in our hands.  The steamers Louisiana and McRae are safe. – The enemy’s fleet is at the city, but they have not forces enough to occupy it.  The inhabitants are staunchly loyal.

MOBILE, April 28.

The forts on Lake Pontchartrain were all evacuated on the 24th inst.  We have sustained considerable loss in supplies and dismounting, but not in destroying the guns.  At Fort Pike all the buildings were burnt, including the telegraph office.  The operator has gone to the limits of the city to open an office if possible.

All the gunboats on the lake have been burnt by our own people.  The Mobile boats, Whiteman, Brown and several others are running troops, stores and ordnance to Manchock, after which we fear they will be burned.

The Yankee fleet was returning again to Ship Island.

In a local paragraph, the Norfolk Day Book, under the head of markets, mentioned the very small supply of edibles exposed for sale, and says it becomes a question of great moment, as to where and how the people are to be fed.

The Death of Samuel B. Todd, brother of Mrs. Lincoln, is announced.  He died on the battlefield from the effects of the wounds he received at Shiloh, in the action of the 7th.

It is reported by the flag of truce that the Merrimac has steam up.  It was expected in Norfolk last night that she would come out to-day.  She has not made her appearance, however.

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

Cairo News

ST. LOUIS, May 29 – The Cairo correspondent of the Republican says troubles are breaking out afresh in West Tennessee.

A considerable force is said to be at Trenton ready to march on Union City and Hickman – Union men from Weakley and Ohio counties have gone to Hickman for protection.

Four or five hundred rebel cavalry are stationed near the mouth of the Ohio river awaiting the drying of the swamps in that region to plant a battery and prevent the passage of our transports on the Mississippi.

A paroled prisoner from New Orleans 18^th, says Gen. Lovell’s forces are still at Camp Jackson, Miss.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 31, 1862, p. 3

Later from Corinth – The Fraudulent Indiana Bonds

CINCINNATI, May 28 – A special to the Gazette from Indianapolis, says an officer who left [Corinth] on Monday morning, reports our army [has] moved up to within three fourths of a mile of the enemy’s fortifications.

Gen. Halleck says his position will not warrant risking anything – hence he is moving by regular approaches and fortifying as he goes.

It was expected that our forces would open fire on the enemy Thursday.

Gen. Lovell is reports as having arrived at Corinth Sunday night with 10,000 raw troops.

Deserters say that the army has more confidence in Bragg and Price than Beauregard.

The Rebel army is on half rations.  They get fresh beef twice a week and spoiled corn beef the balance of the time – no port.

The sickness in the Rebel army is fearful and increasing, while ours is rapidly improving.

The Rebel officers have sent all their baggage and personal effects to Grand Junction.

D. O. Slover the stock swindler, leaves Indianapolis to-day, with a guard, for New York.  He is not very communicative.  He says he used all the blanks he had and cannot tell without examining his books how much spurious stock has been issued.

A number of companies of the Indiana Legion were arriving at Indianapolis to guard prisoners.

The 60 Indiana Regiment, Col. Owen, is under marching orders.

The 12^th and 16^th Indiana Regiments will reorganize immediately.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 31, 1862, p. 3

A Democratic Address at last.

(From the N. Y. Post)

After a month’s labor Vallandigham (whose name is blessed, they tell us, south of the Potomac) has persuaded thirteen other members of Congress to join him in his Sisyphean labor of rolling the “Democratic” stone to the top of the hill.  He has succeeded in getting the National Intelligencer to publish two columns of antiquated political gabble which he calls a “Democratic Address.”  Three Representatives from Illinois, five from Ohio, two from Indiana and two from Pennsylvania, assist in the ungracious service, but strange to say, Powell of Kentucky, whom his colleagues recently tried to expel from the Senate for treason, Starke of Oregon who is about to be expelled for the same reason, and Wood of New York, whose newspapers [sic] was stopped because its chief supporters had enlisted in the secession ranks, though all good ‘Democrats,’ do not sign the document.  Their names are perhaps reserved from the motives of prudence, “to be annexed to the pamphlet,” or private edition of the address which is announced.

Other “Democratic” names would have been added, also, but for the military exigencies which now control the country.  Their bearers are engaged in the Southern army, fighting the soldiers of the Union, and have neither time nor opportunity to join their colleagues in this agreeable duty.  Mr. Jefferson Davis, President of the rebel Confederacy, is one of these “Democrats” who would have been delighted to put his name at the head of the list.  Messrs. Mason and Slidell, who are now abroad engaged in a painful effort to get the monarchies of the old world to make war on the republic, will be dreadfully chagrined not to have been able to co-operate with their old friends.  The eleven ‘Democratic’ Governors of States in open rebellion, who are furnishing Beauregard with ammunition and men, and urging Johnston and Lee to kill our brave brothers on the Peninsula with torpedoes and infernal machines, if they cannot be met in fair and manly battle, would doubtless have taken part in conclaves by which the Address was prepared, but that the roads are obstructed and somewhat complicated.  Major-General Gustavus W. Smith was unhappily prevented from participating by the stubbornness of McDowell, and the gallant General Lovell was too much occupied by the inconsiderate movements of Captains Farragut and Porter at New Orleans.

A pensive tone of despondency pervades the address in consequence of the absence of these powerful coadjutors.  But the most delicate regard for their feelings is shown.  Not a word is said in denunciation of the hideous rebellion of which they are masters and leaders. – A stranger to public affairs, on reading it, would learn that the republic was in the midst of a gigantic effort to save its own life from destruction by parricidal hands, only by rebukes administered to the Government which is making the effort.  The plot to overthrow the republic is nothing, but the energy which strives to defeat the plot is tyranny and wrong.  An infamous revolt against the established order, which arrests the [prosperity] of thirty millions of people, which plunges them into an abyss of bankruptcy and ruin, which has robbed the nation [of] the flower of its youth, and desolated thousands of once happy homes, does not provoke a single phrase of reprobation but the few acts of a loyal administration which may have leaped the doubtful boundaries of the law in a strenuous endeavor to rescue the nation, are branded as despotism.  The men who have not only violated the Constitution, but who have taken up arms to annul the Constitution, are suffered to pass in silence or under the gentle pseudonym of fellow citizens while the defenders of the Constitution, in a time of unexampled embarrassment and peril, are sneeringly berated as enemies of the republic, who would undermine its liberties and overthrow the barriers of Constitutional government.

It is consistent with the other conduct of this squad of fourteen, that while they spare the sensibilities of their absent co-workers, and make no allowances for the extremities in which the government has been placed, they should refrain from all allusion to the noble men who are periling their lives on land and sea in their country’s defense.  They can indulge without stint in laudations of humdrum political parties at home, dwell with beaming complacency on the tap rooms won and the polls carried by assault, exhaust the vocabulary of rhetoric in recounting the sixty years of Democratic electioneering triumphs, but for the glorious deeds of the rebel Democrats of the land – at Mill Spring, Carthage, Henry, Donelson, Pea Ridge, Hilton Head, Pulaski, Roanoke, Newbern, New Orleans, Shiloh and Williamsburg – they find no tongue Ellsworth and Baker, and Winthrop and Lyon, Wallace and Peabody, and a hundred others, might dwindle into utter forgetfulness for all that they say, and the armies of Halleck and McClellan, Banks, Hunter, Curtis, Fremont, Butler and McDowell, now drawing the last folds over the face of dying Rebellion, might perish where they stand, without a voice of sympathy or cheer from these model representatives of Democracy.  Their eyes are so intently fixed upon the reconstruction of the battered machinery which formerly carried them into political power that they cannot see the tremendous conflict which is waged under their very eyebrows.

This self chosen committee talk volubly of the constitution, of the rights of the States, of popular supremacy, of economy and reform of national banks and of protective tariffs, which were in former years the shibboleths of party organization but they use the words as a blind for the defense of human slavery.  The sum and substance of their address is, without all disguise that slavery shall forever rule the Republic.  All their babble of constitutional obligation and State rights has this meaning and no more unwarned by the events of the war, they fondly imagine that the people will go back to the times and issues which preceded the war they dream that our stupendous civil struggle has no significance, that our losses, our expenditures, our trials and our sorrows have taught us nothing and that slavery which has been the cause of them all, may yet go forth conquering and to conquer, just as it did before six hundred thousand patriots took up arms to repel and punish its insolent pretensions.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1862, p. 1

The Fall Of New Orleans

We are at last authoritatively informed that this large and flourishing commercial emporium of the South has fallen into the hands of the Yankee vandals, who by means of gunboats and hay bales, accomplish on water what they can never do my land.  We have thus far received very brief particulars, but they are enough to satisfy us that the city has been evacuated by our troops, and is now in possession of the enemy.

The gunboats succeeded in passing the forts, distant some sixty miles below New Orleans, at an early hour Thursday morning, before or just about day dawn.  We hear that they were completely enveloped in bales of hay, the bales being first saturated with water, and thus proving an effectual barrier to both hot and solid shot.

As soon as it was ascertained that the boats had passed the forts, the excitement in the city naturally became intense, but we are pleased to hear that General Lovell, who was in command, possessed complete control over his troops, and caused [all] his orders to be promptly executed.

All the government stores were removed, as was also the ammunition.  What little cotton and sugar remained were destroyed – the former by application of the torch, and the latter by the waters of the Mississippi.  All the bullion in the banks was secured, and on Friday night, Gen. Lovell, at the head of his army, marched out carrying all the small arms.

With the enemy’s gunboats lying directly in range the defense of New Orleans was of course out of the question.  Such batteries as had been erected were constructed with reference to the approach of the enemy by the river.  In regard to the iron clad steamers about which we have heard so much, and which are so confidently relied upon to destroy the piratical craft of the enemy, should they succeed in passing forts we have many rumors, but nothing entirely reliable.  It is said that the Mississippi was on the stocks, in an unfinished condition.  She had not been launched, nor had any attempt been made to launch her.  We have good reason to believe that she was entirely destroyed before our troops left.

The Louisiana, mounting twenty two guns, is said to have been sunk by the heavy steel pointed conical shots of the enemy’s guns.  It is also stated that she proved too heavy to be easily managed.  Her sides were perpendicular – not angular like the Virginia – and therefore far less capable of resisting the terrible fire of the enemy.  As to the Lady Polk, the Manassas and other iron clads which have been at New Orleans, we know nothing.  Rumor assigns them a position near Fort Pillow, where of course they could not have rendered any service in the defense of New Orleans.

It is useless to disguise the fact that the fall of New Orleans is a severe blow, but we do not consider it at all irreparable, as some faint-hearted croakers would endeavor to make us believe.  It is an utter impossibility to defend any city after the enemy has reached it with his formidable gunboats.  Our battles with the enemy have to be fought in the interior, where, by help of God, we hope to continue to thrash him.  East of the Mississippi we have a country larger than any upon the European continent, save Russia, and here we can never be subdued.  But it will not do for any energy to be now relaxed, or for any man who is capable of bearing arms to stay at home.  All must lend a helping hand, and a bold, decisive stroke may push the war into the enemy’s country, and cause him to leave quickly every foot of Southern territory he now holds.  In this way, and this only, can the war be now speedily brought to a close. – {Petersburgh Express, April 28

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1862, p. 1

The Capture Of New Orleans

U. S. FLAG SHIP HARTFORD

OFF THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS,

April 25, 1862

DEAR SIR – In the excitement of the last few days you must not be surprised if I leave undone many things which I ought to do, and one of which was to write to you on the occasion of my taking this city.  But thank God it has been done, and in what I conceive a handsome style.  I had two Union men on board who had been forced into the Confederate service at Fort Jackson as laborers.

They informed me that there were two forts near the city, and as we approached the locality I tried to concentrate the vessels, but we soon saw that we must take a raking fire for two miles.  So we did not mince the matter, but dashed directly ahead.  They permitted us to approach within a mile and a quarter before they opened on us.  Capt. Bailey on the Cayuga, Lieut. Commanding Harrison, was in advance, and received most of the first fire, but although the shooting was good, they did not damage his little vessel

The Cayuga then fell back and the Hartford, took her place.  We had only two guns which I had placed on the top gallant forecastle, that could bear on them, until we got within half a mile.  We then steered off, and gave them such a fire “as they never dreamed of in their philosophy.”

The Pensacola ran up after a while, and took the starboard battery off our hands, and in a few minutes the Brooklyn ranged up and took a chance at my friends on the left bank but they were silenced in, I should say, twenty minutes or half an hour, but I cannot keep a note of time on such occasions.

I only know that half of the vessels did not get a chance at them.  The river was too narrow for more than two or three vessels to act with advantage, but all were so anxious, that my greatest fear was that we would fire into each other, and Capt. Wainwright and myself were hallooing ourselves hoarse at the men not to fire into our ships.

This last affair was what I call one of the elegancies of the profession – a dash and a victory.  But the passing of the Forts Jackson and St. Philip was one of the most awful sights I ever saw.  The smoke was so dense that it was only now and then you could see anything but the flash of the cannon and the fire ship or rafts, one of which was pushed down upon us (the Hartford) by the ram Manassas, and in my effort to avoid it, ran the ship on shore, and then the fire raft was pushed alongside, and in a moment the ship was one blaze all along the port side, half way up the main and mizzen tops, but thanks to the good organization of the fire department by Lieut. Thornton, the flames were extinguished and at the same time we backed off and got clear of the raft, but all this time were pouring the shells into the forts, and they into us, and every now and then a rebel steamer would get under our fire and receive our salutation of a broadside.

At length the fire slackened, the smoke cleared off, and we saw, to our surprise, we were above the forts, and here and there a Rebel gunboat on fire, as we came up with them, trying to escape.  They were fired into and riddled, so that they ran them on shore, and all who could, made their escape to the shore.

I am told, I do not know how truly, that Gen. Lovell had gone down that evening to make an attack with thirteen gunboats, a large ram of 18 guns, and the Manassas.  The Manassas and the Mississippi made a set at each other at full speed, and when they were within 30 or 40 yards the ram dodged the Mississippi and run on shore, when the latter poured her broadside into her knocking away her smoke stack, and then sent on board of her, but she was deserted and riddled, and after a while she drifted down the stream full of water.  She was the last of the seven we destroyed, but the large ram was till at Fort Jackson, but they say here she was sent down before she was ready, and that she will have to surrender with the forts, which I hope will be to-day or to-morrow.  I will give them my attention as soon as I can settle the affairs of the city.

I demanded the surrender of the city yesterday of the Mayor, through Capt. Bailey, as the second in command.  His reply was that the city was under martial law, and he would consult Gen. Lovell.  His lordship said he would surrender nothing, but at the same time he would retire and leave the mayor unembarrassed.

This morning the Mayor sent his secretary and Chief of Police to see me, and say that they would call the City Council together at 10 o’clock, and give me an answer.  That the General had retired, and that he had resumed the duties of his office as Mayor, and would endeavor to keep order in the city, and prevent the destruction of the property.

I sent him by his Secretary the letter No. 1 (copy inclosed).  I also sent him a letter demanding the surrender of the city, in conformity with the demand made by me yesterday through Captain Bailey, copy No. 2.  This morning, at 6 o’clock, I sent to Captain Morris, whose ship commanded the Mint, to take possession of it and hoist the American flag there on, which was done, and the people cheered it.

At 10 o’clock I sent on shore again, and ordered Lieutenant Kortz of the Navy, and Brown, of the Marines, with a marine guard, to hoist the flag on the Custom, but the excitement of the crowd was so great that the Mayor and Councilmen thought it would produce a conflict and great loss of life.  At 11 a signal was made to the fleet for divine service, under a general order, copy No. 3.

April 26, in the afternoon having been informed that there were two forts eight miles above the city at a place called Carrolton, I determined to take a look at them and demolish them.  We accordingly ran up, but to our surprise we found the gun carriages all on fire and upon examination found the guns all spiked.  It was a most formidable work for Foote to encounter on his way down – a long line of defenses extending back from the river to Lake Pontchartrain, both above and below the city, on which were 29 and 30 guns each.

Immediately on my getting above the forts I sent Captain Boggs, who is now deprived of a command by the sinking of his ship which he had so nobly defended, down to Captain Porter, through the bayou at Quarantine, directing him to demand the surrender of the forts.  His demand was at first refused, but the soldiers told their officer that we were in their rear, and that they would not be sacrificed.  So, this morning, 29^th, the gallant Bailey brought us the intelligence, in the Cayuga, Captain Harrison, that the forts had surrendered, the ram blown up, and that the American flag floats over both forts.

I have sent down for Gen. Butler’s troops to come and occupy this city, and will soon be off for Mobile.  Depend upon it we will keep the stampede up.

I send Captain Bailey home as bearer of dispatches.  He has done his work nobly, and that while suffering under an infirmity which required attention and repose.

I am, very truly and respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

D G FARRAGUT

Flag Officer West Gulf Block’ng Squad’n

To G V Fox, Esq., Ass’t Sec’y of Navy

U S SHIP HARRIET LANE,

April 29, 1862

SIR – The morning after the ships passed the forts I sent a demand to Col. Higgins for a surrender of the forts, which was declined.  On the 27^th I sent Lieut. Col. Higgins a communication, herewith inclosed [sic].  On the 28^th I received a communication from him stating that he would surrender the forts, and I came up and took possession, drew up articles of capitulation and hoisted the American flag over the forts.

These men have defended these forts with a bravery worthy of a better cause.  I treated them with all the consideration that circumstances would admit.

The three steamers remaining were under the command of Commander J. K. Mitchell.  The officer of the fort acknowledged no connection with them, and wished in no way to be considered responsible for their acts.

While I had a flag of truce up they were employed in towing the iron floating battery of 16 guns, a most formidable affair, to place above the forts and while drawing up the articles of capitulation in the cabin of the Harriet Lane, it was reported to me that they had set fire to the battery and turned it adrift upon us.  I asked the General if it had powder on board or guns loaded.  He replied that he would not undertake to say what they Navy officers would do.

He seemed to have great contempt for them.  I told him, “we could stand the fire and blow up if he could,” and went on with the conference, after directing the officers to look out for their ships.  While drifting down on us, the guns, getting heated exploded, throwing the shot above the river.  A few minutes after, the floating battery exploded with a terrific noise, throwing the fragments all over the river, and wounding one of their own men in Fort. St. Philip, and immediately disappeared under water.  Had she blown up near the vessels she would have destroyed the whole of them.

When I had finished taking possession of the fort, I got under way in the Harriet Lane, and started for the steamers, one of which was still flying the Confederate flag.  I fired a shot over her, and they surrendered.  There was on board of them a number of naval officers and two companies of marine artillery.

I made them surrender unconditionally and for their infamous conduct in trying to blow us up while under a flag of truce, I conveyed them to close confinement as prisoners of war, and think they should be sent to the North and kept in close confinement there until the war is over, or they should be tried for their infamous conduct.  I have a great deal to do here, and will send you all the papers when I am able to arrange them.

I turned over the force to Gen. Phelps.  Fort Jackson is a perfect ruin.  I am told that over 1,800 shells fell and burst over the center of the fort.  The practice was beautiful.  The next fort we go at we will settle sooner, as this has been hard to get at.  The naval officer sunk one gunboat while the capitulation was going on, but I have one of the others, a steamer, at work, and hope soon to have the other.

I find that we are to be the “hewers of wood and drawers of water,” but as the soldiers have nothing here in the shape of motive power, we will do all we can.  I should have demanded unconditional surrender, but with such a force in your rear, it was desirable to get possession of these forts as soon as possible.  The officers turned over everything in good order except the walls and building[s], which are terribly shattered by the mortars.

Very respectfully,

D D PORTER,

Commanding flotilla.

To Flag Officer D G FARRAGUT

U S STEAMER HARRIET LANE,

Mississippi River, April 30, 1862

I inclose herewith the capitulation of forts Jackson and St. Phillip, which surrendered to the mortar flotilla on the 28^th day of April, 1862.  I also inclose in a box, forwarded on this occasion, all the flags taken in the two forts, with the original flag hoisted on Fort St. Phillip when the State of Louisiana seceded – Fort Jackson is a perfect wreck.

Everything in the shape of a building in and about it was burned up by the mortar shells, and over 1,800 shells fell in the work proper, to say nothing of those which burst over and around it.  I devoted but little attention to Ft. St. Phillip, knowing that when Jackson fell St. Phillip would follow.  The mortar flotilla is still fresh.  Truly the backbone of the rebellion is broken.

On the 26^th of the month I sent six of the mortar schooners to the back of Fort Jackson to block up the bayous and prevent supplies from getting in.  Three of them drifted over to Fort Livingston, and when they anchored the fort hung out a white flag and surrendered. – the Kittatinny, which had been blockading there for some time, sent a boat in advance of the mortar vessels, and reaching the shore first, deprived them of the pleasure of hoisting our flag over what had surrendered to the mortar flotilla.  Still the fort is ours, and we are satisfied.  I am happy to state that officers and crew are all well and full of spirits.

I have the honor to remain,

Your obedient servant,

David G [sic] PORTER

To Hon. G. WELLES

Burlington, Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1862, p. 1

News From Below

ADVANCE OF THE REBEL FLEET

CAIRO, May 5. – A refugee from Vicksburgh, Mississippi passed through here to-day, enroute for St. Louis.  He brings news of importance, having left Memphis on Sunday.

Memphis papers of that morning published a dispatch announcing the occupation of Baton Rouge by the Federal forces, and the passage up the river of the Federal gunboats.  The largest vessels of the fleet were left behind at N. Orleans, which city is nearly deserted.

Butler’s army had landed and were occupying the city.

An immense amount of cotton in warehouses was discovered and seized.

The Union citizens had held a public rejoicing, at which hundreds crowded together and indulged in the most enthusiastic demonstrations of joy.

On the passage of the gunboats up the river, but little resistance was made to them, there being no earthworks to contest the way, until the fleet arrived at Baton Rouge.  Here, as my informant says, were stationed a few rebel soldiers most of whom were lately enrolled according the provisions of the Conscription act.  These, however, fled before the fleet made its appearance.

The United States Arsenal and Barracks were recovered at this point, and the old flag waves over the Union property in Louisiana.

The Southern papers are very meager of news respecting the passage of the gunboat fleet up the river.  Most of their articles being made up of verbose exhortations addressed to the people to defend the Mississippi valley from the enemy though little could be ascertained from the newspapers.

The citizens of Vicksburgh, Natchez, and other places along the river, were fleeing in great numbers to Memphis, which place is in a fever of excitement.

A citizen of Natchez told my informant that a strong force of Mississippi troops were garrisoning Fort Davis, which is located on Ellis Cliffs, nearly twenty five miles below Natchez.

These cliffs form a high ridge on the East bank of the Mississippi commencing 20 miles below Natchez and extending for several miles along the river.  It was thought at Memphis that the fortifications along this ridge would be for a serious impediment to the passage of the Yankee fleet.  Great alarm was felt and many were leaving for the interior.

With regard to the progress already made by the Federal fleet, the publication of such news has been restrained but it was reported by persons arriving from below that the gunboats of the enemy had arrived at Fort Adams which they had passed without resistance and were near Fort Davis.

At Vicksburgh, a fortification which has been in progress of erection for the last two weeks was very nearly completed.  Guns of heavy caliber have been sent from Memphis and are to be mounted on these works.

The rebel fleet from new Orleans had arrived at Memphis and was dispatched to the immediate relief of the fleet off Fort Pillow.

A large number of rebel steamers had taken refuge up White River.

All rolling stock had been concentrated at Memphis in readiness to take away the citizens in case the Federal fleet shall make their appearance.

The cities and towns of the Mississippi valley are plunged into the greatest terror by the unexpected capture of New Orleans.  Great indignation is felt towards Gen. Lovell, whom they accuse of cowardice and imbecility.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 10, 1862, p. 4

Cairo Budget

CAIRO, May 7. – Capt. Hazell, of the Second Ohio, has arrived her on sick furlough. Neither himself, Capt. McKinney, nor Lieut. Dial were taken prisoners at Pulaski, as was reported. By an arrival from Fort Henry, we learn that it is probably that not less than 200 of the Curtis Horse were captured in the recent skirmish with Clay King’s band. The affair occurred about 12 miles west of Fort Heisman [sic] on the opposite shore from Fort Henry. It does not appear that any of the union men were killed, but those who were not captured made good their escape. A strong force has been sent out from the fort in pursuit of the guerrillas, and it was thought that the band, with their prisoners, would be taken to-day. Gov. Yates and party have not yet been permitted to land at Pittsburg. Gen. Halleck was notified that they were at the landing, and desired to go ashore. The General pertinently replied that he had old women enough there. The river is falling rapidly here, and is now several feet below the top of the levee. The I. C. track is out of water and is being replaced. It will be in running order by the first of next week. Another arrival from below to-night brings no news of Mr. Bodeman of the Chicago Tribune. A party of women who were set adrift in a flat boat some days ago by the [Provost] Marshal of Cairo, have found their way back here, and were today taken into custody again. They will be shipped off North by railroad. The rumor of the evacuation of Corinth and its occupation by our forces, is repeated by every arrival of deserters. There is no doubt that Beauregard while holding his forces in line of battle, is gradually falling back on Grand Junction. He seeks to avoid a general battle though frequently offered him by Gen. Halleck. The opinion gains ground that there will be no general engagement between the two armies at or near their present position. A force of 1500 rebels is reported to be concentrated near New Madrid. They are thought to be preparing for a demonstration on the half deserted down. Our forces at Island No. 10 and Tiptonville are amply sufficient to drive the guerrillas away. A Citizen of Jackson, Mississippi, who formerly resided in Pennsylvania, reached here to-day from the South. He fled his Southern home to escape the conscription act which he represents as being rigidly enforced throughout the South. No one is spared. Merchants, bankers, mechanics and planters are all alike being forced into the ranks. In Mississippi there are two camps of instruction, one at Grenada and the other at Jackson. The conscripts are sent to these camps, where they remain until they are deemed fit for service. My informant passed through Grand Junction on Saturday last, and came by the Mobile & Ohio Railroad as far as Newton, where he proceeded on foot to Hickman. He says there were few troops at grand junction and none at Jackson, Tennessee. Most of the troops at the former place had been marched to Pocahontas, on the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, nearly midway between Corinth and Grand Junction. The head quarters of Gen. Beauregard are located at Pocahontas, and not far from the 75,000 troops are concentrated around him. This information confirms the report of the evacuation of Corinth. My informant also confirms the report of the arrival of Federal gunboats off Vicksburgh. Lovell’s army was at latest accounts at Patchapaho, on the New Orleans & Jackson Railroad, about fifty miles north of New Orleans.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 10, 1862, p. 3