From Ft. Pillow

MISSISSIPPI FLOTILLA, OFF FT. PILLOW,

On board J. H. Dickey, May 13,

Our mortar boats, one of which, for the past three weeks has kept up a steady day bombardment on Ft. Pillow, from beneath the protection afforded by Craighead Point, were yesterday morning withdrawn and silenced, by order of Com. Davis, after firing one or two shells at dusk last evening.  The rebels commenced shelling the place either from their works at the fort or from the Tennessee shore.  They kept at their firing during the night, their shell bursting wide of the mark.  They fired generally two mortars in quick succession, at intervals of about twenty minutes.  They are provided with heavy mortars and shell, equaling in weight of metal and efficiency to those used by this fleet, and they are rapidly gaining in their gunnery.  Our mortars thus far have remained silent.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, May 17, 1862, p. 1

From Gen. Halleck’s Army

CAIRO, May 14.

The division of Gen. Mitchell has formed a junction with Gen. Pope and now forms the extreme left of our line.

By the City of Memphis from Pittsburg, we learn there is great dissatisfaction among rebel troops; some want to go home, their time of enlistment being out, and others for being taken from their business by force.

No news from the fleet to-day.  The weather is getting very hot here.

The City of Memphis has three hundred and fifty sic; they are going to Keokuk under the charge of Dr. Turner.

Gen. Mitchell’s division has arrived at Farmington.

The story of the enemy’s lack for provisions, is denied by the deserters, who say that there is plenty of subsistence at Corinth.

On Tuesday Gen. Pope moved forward his column to retake the position lost in the skirmish of Friday last.  The result of this movement had not transpired at the time the steamer left Pittsburg.

A lamentable casualty occurred on board the steamer Gladiator.  As the steamer was passing up the Tennessee river, on Tuesday, with the 4th Minnesota regiment on board, just above Paris Landing, her upper works gave way, killing five and injuring several others.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, May 16, 1862, p. 2

From Tennessee

CAIRO, May 14.

A deserter came on board the flag boat Benton, on the 12th and stated that the rebel rams and gunboats engaged in the encounter of Friday morning were not sunk, as represented in a previous dispatch. – They were terribly shattered, but our gunners undoubtedly fired the most of their shots above the water-line, and they struck where the rams were either heavily plated or protected with a layer of cotton bales.

Experienced naval men are of the opinion that the same number of shots, at the same distance, directed near or below the waterline, would have sent every one of the rebel crafts to the bottom.

The deserter reported that the rebel fleet lay off Ft. Pillow yesterday, busily engaged in repairing the damage received, faithfully promising to return in exactly 48 hours, and whip us most handsomely.  They may for once in their lives prove as good as their word, and come up to-day, and make a second desperate attempt, for no one supposes that anything but a most critical condition on their part could induce them to come out in this manner.  Farragut in the rear, Commander Davis in front, Curtis on the east, and the swamps of Arkansas on the west, are enough to make the most cowardly desperate.

An officer of the Union flotilla went out in a skiff on Friday afternoon, within sight of the rebels, and remained for more than an hour taking observations.  His report to the commander confirms the state of the activity in their fleet, and the fact that their rams were not sunk in the late engagement.

The rebels in the late fight were provided with an apparatus for throwing hot water, and actually tried it on the Cincinnati.  The bursting of their hose only prevented great havoc among the Union crew.  This bursting of the scalding concern probably gave rise to the idea that the rebels had collapsed a flue.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, May 16, 1862, p. 2

From Cairo

CAIRO, May 14.

We have received the following dispatches from our correspondent, written just as the mail tug was leaving the Mississippi flotilla, off Fort Pillow, May 13, 12 o’clock m.

A rebel tug has this moment been around the point on a reconnoissance.  Everything seems to indicate a renewed activity on both sides.  We are expecting an attack momentarily.

From Pittsburg we have a dispatch from our own reporter, who had been in front of the lines, and judged that our attack would not be made upon the enemy’s position for several days.  Our siege guns were not yet in position.  Capt. Madison’s battery reached Monterey only on the 9th inst.

The general impression in the army was that the enemy would make no stand at Corinth, but he believes this opinion wrong.

Gen. Halleck is advancing upon the place continuously, and carefully fortifying as he advances.  All his movements are predicated upon the supposition that the enemy is in large force at Corinth, and that he intends to make a stand there.  Grand Junction is being fortified by Beauregard with the evident intention of falling back there if beaten at Corinth.  The number of the enemy’s troops at Corinth is estimated at Gen. Halleck’s headquarters at from 120,000 to 170,000.

The gunboat Mound City was considerably damaged in her bows in the late naval engagement at Fort Pillow, and is now at Mound City awaiting an opportunity of going into dry dock for repairs.

Gen. Strong yesterday visited the hospital at Mound City.  There are only fifty patients in the hospital at present.  Additional apartments are being prepared and improvements effected to accommodate the wounded at the expected battle of Corinth.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, May 16, 1862, p. 2