SUNDAY
MAY 4, 1862
THE DAILY TRUE DELTA (LA)

[NOTE: Com. Farragut turned over occupation of New Orleans
to Gen. Butler on 1 May]

Mail Stage Lines from Brownsville to Mexico, &c.—Speaking of the different route of travel, for which Brownsville now appears to be the common center, the Fort Brown Flag says:

The mail stage line through this place is now completed, so that persons can start from here twice a week, either east or west, without fail. The route east will land a man anywhere this side of Gen. Beauregard’s camp on the Potomac, or Gen. Price’s outposts on Spring Creek, in Missouri; while the route west will take a man to London, Delhi, Pekin, Havana, Vera Cruz, Tampico or Monterey. The line has been so organized that it reaches to Monterey and Tampico, in Mexico, and parties wishing to travel into Mexico will find their opportunity by the present arrangement by the stages leaving Brownsville.

-----

Shakespeare’s House¹—The Annual Pilgrimage to the Poet’s Birthplace.—A letter in the London Athenæum thus describes the celebration of the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday:

Pilgrims to the shrine of the poet come from the uttermost parts of the earth to do him honor and gratify their own sentiment. They cannot do better than arrive on the occasion of this anniversary; and to their knowledge of the Shakespeare localities add that of the appreciation in which the memory of the poet is held in his native town—a kind of fame he would when living have looked forward to with greater zest than to the worldwide reputation achieved by his works.

My reason for coming to Stratford to-day was not, however, to join in the festivities of the diminutive annual jubilee, but chiefly to be present at the sale, advertised for this day, of New Place, the spot where Shakespeare passed the later years of his life, and where he died. To tell of New Place, how it was called in the poet’s time the Great House, how it came a second time into the hands of the Clopton family, and how it was ultimately pulled down by Gastrell, so that nothing but the site remains, would be to repeat so often told a tale that I refrain from entering into its history. I may, however, mention that in some unedited papers just lent to me, I observe that a garden attached to it is described, in the year 1728, as “all that piece or parcel of ground lying and being within the Borough of Stratford-upon-Avon called the Great Garden, and which did formerly belong to New Place, the house wherein Hugh Clopton did inhabit and dwell, and was near adjoining to the said house and back part thereof, which said garden contained by estimation three-quarters of an acre, more or less; together with all barns, stables, out-houses, brick walls, edifices, buildings, ways, waters, &c., to the same premises belonging.” This description would appear to indicate that the garden, in the poet’s time, was originally of a great extent, including, perhaps, much now lying between the grounds of the present New Place and the river. However this may be, it is certain that all the garden now attached to the modern house formed a portion of Shakespeare’s property, though it is likely that what we now see is only part the latter. The extent of the ground attached to the present estate is 1,950 square yards.

The New Place, put up for sale this day, belongs to the family of the late Dr. Rice, and is described in the particulars of the sale, with all proper business perspicuity, unaccompanied by much poetical feeling, as “all that valuable family residence called New Place, where Shakespeare lived and died, situate in Chapel street in the Borough of Stratford-upon-Avon, for many years past in the occupation of the late Mr. Rice; consisting of dining and drawing rooms, entrance hall, kitchens,” and other conveniences, enumerated in the Mrs. Quickly style. There was little poetry in this, but it is passing strange that, on such a day, the day of pilgrimage to Shakespearean Stratford, the associations connected with this last resting place of the living dramatist, should have failed in producing any excitement or apparently much interest. The highest bidding was 1,100 pounds, after which the auctioneer announced the reserve of 1800 pounds—a sum at which New Place can now be wisely purchased by any admirers of the poet, for I believe that I am correct in stating that it is worth not far short of 1500 pounds as an investment. If the perpetually secured privilege of a walk in Shakespeare’s own garden, amidst his own violets and eglantine—for they are virtually the same, undying as renewed—be not worth 300 pounds, never talk of Shakespeare sentiment any more. What if eighteen enthusiasts buy between them? It is only a hundred pounds a piece, and who would desire to keep all the violets to one’s self? I should be for pulling the modern house down, planting the garden in an appropriate style, and allowing everyone with a soul for such associations to wander where Shakespeare himself wandered, and to look upon the flowers and the trees and the ancient chapel on which he so often gazed.

-----

How to Take Life.—Take life like a man. Take it, just as if it was—as it is—an earnest, vital, essential affair. Take it just as though. Take it just as though you personally were born to the task of performing an active part in it—as though the world had waited for your coming. Take it as though it was a grand opportunity to do ad to achieve, to carry forward great and good schemes, to help and cheer a suffering, weary, it may be, a broken-hearted brother. The fact is, life is undervalued by a great majority of mankind. It is not made half as much of as should be the case. Where is the man or woman who accomplishes one tithe of what might be done? Who cannot look back upon opportunities lost, plans unachieved, thoughts crushed, aspirations unfilled, and all caused from the lack of the necessary and possible effort. If we knew better how to take and make the most of life, it would be far greater than it is. Now and then a man stands aside from the crowd, labors earnestly, steadfastly, confidently, and straightaway becomes famous for wisdom, intellect, skill, greatness of some sort. The world wonders, admires, idolizes; and yet it only illustrates what each may do if he takes hold of life with a purpose. If a man but say he WILL, and follow it up, there is nothing in reason he may not expect to accomplish. There is no magic, no miracle, no secret to him who is brave in heart, determined in spirit.

MONDAY
MAY 5, 1862
BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER

The Value of New Orleans

As the London Times is not very likely to think that the possession of New Orleans is worth much after it is known that our forces have taken it, it is worthwhile to note the Times’s opinion of the value of the city in advance of its capture. We therefore make the following extract from the Times of April 18:

“The Northern conquerors do not over-estimate the importance of the conquest for the tidings of which they are so impatient. New Orleans is the commercial metropolis of the South and the West; it is the emporium of the vast tracts traversed by the Mississippi and all the great tributaries of that most mighty of rivers. It has a greater command of internal navigation than any city in the Old or New World. In itself, as a city, it is little worth. Built upon a flat below the level of the risen river, it would, perhaps, be to the permanent  benefit of its inhabitants if the dykes were cut, and the stream were allowed to flow over it. To friend or foe its atmosphere alike is fever and death, and even among the acclimated New Orleanists the annual mortality is three times that of Boston. It is not the city but the position at the point that commands all the internal navigation which is so important. The Southern papers pertinently remind its defenders that ‘superior cheapness of transportation by water draws thither all the cotton produced in Middle and Western Tennessee, Arkansas, Eastern Texas, and Mississippi, while the tobacco, hemp, and cereals of the vast Western Empire find their way thither from the same cause.’ The occupation of New Orleans would be a tourniquet tightened over the great artery of the Seceded States. This important place is now attacked both by land and by water. General Butler has a strong land force under his orders, and Captain Porter with his mortars and his frigates has already passed the bar at the mouth of the river. Nothing was wanting but that the Mississippi fleet should come down by the upper river, and the city would be surrounded and must fall. But even without this aid hopes run high at New York that by this time New Orleans is in the hands of the Imperial North.

“Perhaps in the case of a city where yellow fever and cholera have in some years destroyed one-tenth of the whole population, the best revenge of an invaded people would be to let the invaders take and hold it. Such, however, does not appear to be the intention of the Confederates. They on their side also have their boasts of assured victory. Commercial writers of the first authority have predicted that New Orleans is destined to become the emporium not only of the Southern and Western States of America, but also of the whole world, and when the uncultivated and unoccupied basins of the Mississippi and Missouri are peopled and tilled, this city, on one placed on some happy neighboring site, will eclipse all the present magnificence of the ports of the North. The confederates are as sanguine that they will be able to preserve their commercial capital for its future destinies as the federals are that they are even now certainly wresting it from them. New Orleans is a hundred miles from the mouth of the river, and the banks are fortified all the way down. At a convenient point there are forts armed with the heaviest guns, and commanding an artificial dam stretched across the river,² and which is calculated to delay any naval force under the guns of the forts for a sufficient time for the artillery to sink them. These defences, so described, are suspiciously like those which were prepared by the Chinese to oppose the passage of the English and French fleets up the Peiho, and which, although temporarily successful, were readily overcome when the leaders had learned to respect their enemy. But, in addition to these, there are, we are told, two iron-cased floating batteries, carrying heavy armaments, and a garrison of 32,000, eager for the appearance of the invaders. The New Orleanists say they are mad with excitement and rage, that their hot shot are ready, their furnaces in complete preparation, and that the Yankees, whenever they come, will receive a hot reception.

“The game of brag on both sides is played with equal enterprise. Events will soon tell us on which side the power of execution lies. Times are much altered since an English Admiral and an English General quarrelled and bungled on the same spot, and were lured on by the most transparent tricks to disgraceful defeat.³ Nearly half a century has sufficiently improved the art of war to make us certain that General Mansfield Lovell will not have an opportunity of saving New Orleans by the simple tactics of General Jackson; but if there be any truth in the loud cries of defiance of the Southern press, the conquest of this city is not so absolutely certain as the Northerners think. It may be attacked either from the sea or from the river. If the Federalists think it is better to force their gunboats and steam frigates up the river their success must depend upon their being able to run that gauntlet of the forts and batteries. Once past these there is deep water up to the city quays and many miles above. Arrived at these, New Orleans is their own. But, if they are strong enough by land, there is an inlet of the sea which reaches within six miles of the city, and from this they may debark their land army and attack the city by land. The 32,000 men in garrison ought to be able to give a good account of these invaders, if that garrison exists in any other columns than those of the newspapers. It is suggested that the attack is to be made in concert, by General Butler overland, debarking from the lake or rather gulf of Ponchartrain, and by Captains Porter and Farragut up the river. If there be any real fight in these belligerents, this is an impending event worth our interest.”

DEMAND OF COM. FARRAGUT
on the Mayor of New Orleans for the Surrender
of the City, and the Mayor’s Reply.

The following correspondence is taken from the Richmond Inquirer of Wednesday, which city it reached by telegraph, and it has been received at the Navy Department:

United States Flag Ship Hartford,
Off New Orleans, April 26.

To His Excellency, the Mayor of the City of New Orleans,

Upon my arrival before your city I had the honor to send to your Honor, Capt. Bailey, U. S. N., second in command of the expedition, to demand of you the surrender of New Orleans to me, as the representative of the Government of the United States. Capt. Bailey reported the result of an interview with yourself and the military authorities. It must occur to your Honor that it is not within the province of a naval officer to assume the duties of a military commandant. I came here to reduce New Orleans to obedience to the laws of, and to vindicate the offended majesty of the Government of the United States. The rights of persons and property shall be secured. I therefore demand of you as its Representative, the unqualified surrender of the city, and that the emblem of the sovereignty of the United States be hoisted over the City Hall, Mint and Custom House, by the meridian of this day, and all flags and other emblems of sovereignty, other than this of the United States, be removed from all public buildings by that hour. I particularly request that you shall exercise your authority to quell disturbances, restore order, and call upon the good people of New Orleans to return at once to their vocations, and I particularly demand that no person shall be molested in person or property for sentiments of loyalty to their Government. I shall speedily and severely punish any person or persons who shall commit such outrages as were witnessed yesterday by armed men firing upon helpless women and children for giving expression to their pleasure at witnessing the old flag.

I am very respectfully,

D. G. Farragut,
Flag Officer Western Gulf Squadron

The Reply

Mayor’s Office, City of New Orleans,
City Hall, April 26, 1862.

Flag Officer D. G. Farragut, U. S. Flag Ship Hartford:

In pursuance of a resolution which we thought proper to take out of regard for the lives of the women and children who still crowd the metropolis, Gen. Lovell has vacated it with his troops, and restored back to me the administration of its government and the custody of its honor. I have, in council with the city fathers, considered the demand you made of me yesterday of an unconditional surrender of the city, coupled with a requisition to hoist the flag of the United States on the public edifices and haul down the flag that still floats upon the breeze from the dome of this hall. It becomes my duty to transmit you an answer, which is the universal sentiment of my constituents, no less than the prompting of my own heart dictates me on this sad and solemn occasion. The city is without the means of defence, and is utterly destitute of the force and material that might enable it to resist an overpowering armament displayed in sight of it. I am no military man, and possess no authority beyond that of executing the municipal laws of the city of New Orleans. It would be presumption in me to attempt to lead an army to the field if I had one at command, and I know still less how to surrender an undefended place, held as this is at the mercy of your gunners and your mortars. To surrender such a place were an idle and unmeaning ceremony. The city is yours by the power of brutal force, not by my choice or the consent of its inhabitants.

It is for you to determine what will be the fate that awaits her. As to hoisting any flag not of your own adoption and allegiance, let me say to you that the man lives not in our midst whose hand and heart would not be paralyzed at the mere thought of such an act. Nor could I find in my entire constituency so desperate and wretched a renegade as would dare to profane with his hand the sacred emblem of our aspirations. . .

In conclusion, I beg you to understand that the people of New Orleans, while unable to resist your force, do not allow themselves to be insulted by the interference of such as have rendered themselves odious and contemptible by their dastardly desertion of our cause in the mighty struggle in which we are engaged, or such as might remind them too forcibly that they are the conquered and yours the conquerors. Peace and order may be preserved without resort to measures which I could not at this moment prevent. Your occupying the city does not transfer allegiance from the Government of their choice to one which they have deliberately repudiated, and that they yield the obedience which the conqueror is entitled to extort from the conquered.

Respectfully,

John F. Monroe, Mayor

Commodore Farragut had proposed terms of capitulation to Mayor Monroe, which the latter has accepted, and the City of New Orleans was at last accounts held by a Battalion of Marines from the Squadron. General Butler’s forces were within a few miles of the city, having landed on Lake Ponchartrain.

TUESDAY
MAY 6, 1862
LOWELL DAILY CITIZEN & NEWS (MA)

The Evacuation of Yorktown.—At noon, yesterday, another dispatch from General McClellan was received at the war office. He reports that our cavalry and artillery came up with the enemy’s rear guard in their entrenchments two miles this side of Williamsburg. A brisk fight ensued. Just as the courier left, General Smith’s division arrived on the ground. The enemy’s rear is strong, but the general is confident he has force enough for all emergencies. He adds:

“There shall be no delay in following up the enemy. The rebels have been guilty of the most murderous and barbarous conduct in placing torpedoes⁴ within the abandoned works, near wells, springs, near the flag-staffs, magazines, telegraph offices, in carpet-bags, barrels of flour, &c. Fortunately, we have not lost many men in this manner. Some four or five have been killed and a dozen wounded. I shall make the prisoners remove them at their own peril.”

From various dispatches we glean the following particulars:

The fort had been occupied by the 1st battalion New Orleans artillery, 8th, and 30th Alabama, 15th and 14th Louisiana, 13th and 45th Georgia regiments. They were ordered to report at Howard’s Grove, four miles from Richmond, and left the fort at midnight.

No whites are to be found; only a few Negro women and babes. The town is squalid and filthy. A few days of warm weather will breed pestilence.

Abundance of flour was left; also a large quantity of meat, salt and fresh. All the tents were left, but no horses or wagons.

Reports concur that the rebel army consist of a mob of about 100,000 men, ill-fed, dirty and disheartened.

Some of their works were well built and well laid out; others were wretchedly built. The work upon them was finished on Friday night, and the slaves sent to the rear under guard.

They have nothing behind them on which they can make a stand. Last night their camp-fires were all burning the same as usual. The dense woods along the peninsula enabled them to leave unperceived.

The large guns of the rebels were mostly columbiads taken from Norfolk. Some of them were recently mounted.

The fortifications, although of the roughest character, were very formidable, being surrounded by deep gorges which it was almost impossible to pass.

The New York Times’ special dispatch says as soon as the evacuation of Yorktown became known in the camps the bands of different regiments commenced playing amidst the cheering of the soldiers.

The following order was sent to the divisions and brigades at seven o’clock in the morning from Gen. McClellan:

“Commandants of regiments will prepare to march with two days’ rations, with the utmost dispatch. Leave, not to return.”

At about 8 a.m., the troops began to march, the first regular cavalry and four batteries of artillery leading. Tents were struck, knapsacks strapped, and, within an hour after the order was given, the troops were marching beyond Yorktown.

In another dispatch, dated on Sunday afternoon, near Williamsburg, General McClellan reports the advance, under General Stoneham, within two miles of Williamsburg. The country, in most instances, was laid waste, few of the houses being occupied.

From New Orleans.—The only news from this point rests on the statements of a refugee from Memphis, who, according to a Cairo dispatch of yesterday, states that General Butler’s army had landed at New Orleans, and that an immense amount of cotton had been discovered and seized. The same authority confirms the report of the occupation of Baton Rouge by our forces and the passage up the river of the gun-boats. The dispatch adds:

“The Union citizens had held a meeting which was attended by numbers who indulged in the most enthusiastic demonstrations of joy. According to our informant, but little opposition will be made to our gunboats coming up the river. At Baton Rouge, a few rebel troops were lately enrolled and stationed, but they fled on the approach of the federal fleet.”

-----

 The Tribune’s dispatch reports the people of Richmond in a state of panic; people were packing up furniture and sending it into the country. An apparently intoxicated person, the past week, passing by the tobacco-house where our soldiers are confined, cried out to them, “Cheer up, boys, McClellan or McDowell will be here in a few days.” The sentry shot him dead.

The wives of Union Fredericksburgians have been driven from town. It need be hardly added that their husbands favor a stringent confiscation law. Nothing else will save them from utter ruin.

Our commanding general, galloping into Fredericksburg Monday afternoon, with his staff, was received with closed doors. Not a door was opened to house or store, and not a face to be seen, except now and then the face of a curious damsel peering through half-closed blinds at the cavalcade of Yankees. Rebel pickets are still within a mile of Fredericksburg, and nightly gallop through the streets.

-----

Opening Ports.—Rumors from Washington are repeated that the President will, by proclamation, open the conquered ports of the Southern states to trade with the world.

-----

Another Prediction.—A gentleman who a few days since had an interview with General Scott, at his home in Elizabeth, N.J., reports the veteran soldier as saying that the war will surely be virtually over by the first of July next. He expresses the utmost confidence that by that time we will have completely subdued and driven the rebels from the field.

-----

The Cincinnati Commercial, of Thursday, states that cotton and tobacco are arriving in large quantities from Tennessee. The receipts of cotton from Nashville alone during the last week will amount to 1000 bales. Cotton is arriving in Nashville from plantations in the interior, at the rate of two hundred bales a day.

-----

The Richmond Dispatch of the 30th ult., has an account of the execution of Timothy Webster, charged with being a spy. Owing to a defective cotton rope, the noose slipped, and the victim, half dead, fell on his back to the ground. A new rope was then procured and the business was finished.

-----

The Secretary of State, in a circular to the diplomats of Europe, hints strongly that our government will not allow European nations to establish a monarchy in Mexico or to interfere to change the forms of government upon this continent. This is very nearly the Monroe doctrine, reaffirmed.

WEDNESDAY
MAY 7, 1862
THE HARTFORD DAILY COURANT (CT)

The Rebels Entrenched at Williamsburg

Washington, May 6.—Official dispatches received here indicate that the enemy is in large force and strongly entrenched near Williamsburg, and intending to dispute at that point the further passage of our army. There had been some brisk fighting, in which Gen. Hancock had taken two redoubts, and repulsed Early’s rebel brigade by a brilliant bayonet charge.

In this engagement Gen. Hancock’s force is said to have killed two rebel Colonels, two Lieut. Colonels, captured one Colonel and 150 prisoners. Gen. McClellan highly compliments Gen. Hancock’s conduct.

At the time of sending off the dispatches, our loss was not known, but supposed to be considerable in proportion to the extent of the engagement, as the fighting was quite severe.

-----

That the rebels had evacuated Yorktown; that McClellan was in vigorous pursuit, sending gunboats up the York river, and a large part of Gen. Franklin’s division following the gunboats in their steam transports; and that McClellan was determined to push the forces under Lee, Johnson, and Magruder “to the wall,” we announced on Monday. The public seemed uncertain whether to rejoice or sorrow. There are good points, and there are bad points about the matter. The step must result in the capture of Richmond and Norfolk, and the ruin of the Confederacy; and yet, many persons, seeing how the rebels were hemmed in upon a peninsula, with no command of any transportation by water, had set their hearts upon seeing the whole force bagged and made prisoners at one grand swoop. Our General Washington compelled Lord Cornwallis to surrender on that same ground; why should not McClellan repeat the process? The fact that Washington’s force was inside while McClellan’s was outside, made a vital distinction. But why could not McClellan get the inside? Let the World answer:

“Why were the rebels permitted to escape from Yorktown at all? The answer is at hand, and the time has come when it should be made public. The rebel army escaped only because Gen. McClellan’s plan was interfered with, and in an essential particular, upset by the Secretary of War. General McClellan proceeded down the Potomac with the understanding that McDowell was to follow him with his corps d’armee. It was intended that the operations against Yorktown should be preceded by the taking of Gloucester Point by McDowell. Had this plan been adhered to, retreat would have been impossible. It is the Secretary of War who is answerable for the escape of Johnston’s army—a blunder which has defrauded our brave soldiers of the glory of that valiant and vigorous fighting for which Mr. Stanton professes so much admiration.”

-----

Recapture of a Prize.

New York, May 6.—The ship Emily St. Pierre, which was captured some time since by our blockading fleet and a prize crew put on board with orders to make for Philadelphia, was subsequently recaptured by the rebels under Capt. Wilson, who by strategy made prisoners the prize crew and masters. The vessel arrived at Liverpool on the 21st. Lieut Stone was placed in charge of Emily St. Pierre by our gunboat and was overpowered by Wilson and the rebel steward and cook, and placed in irons.

Brisk Cavalry Fight in Tennessee—The Rebels Routed.

Louisville, May 6.—A dispatch to the Journal gives an account of a cavalry fight which occurred at Lebanon, Tenn. Gen. Dumont, with a portion of Woodford’s and Smith’s cavalry and Wynkoop’s Pennsylvania cavalry, attacked Morgan’s and Wood’s cavalry, 800 strong, at Lebanon, Monday morning at four o’clock. The rebels were utterly routed, a large number killed, and a hundred and fifty prisoners taken; nearly all their horses and arms were captured. They fled after fighting an hour and a half. Gen. Dumont is in full pursuit and will capture the whole force. It was a brilliant affair and managed with great skill by Dumont. Morgan is reported killed. The rebels were completely surprised and outwitted.

-----

Fossil Remains.—A collection of the petrified bird-tracks, footprints of animals, &c., found in the rocky depths of the Portland Stone Quarries, and pronounced by Professor Hitchcock to date back to highly remote antiquity, is now to be seen at Batterson’s Marble Works, corner North Main and Pleasant streets. Mr. B. has made the collection himself, with a view to the preservation of these curiosities by placing them in the rooms of the Connecticut Historical Society. There are tracks of some enormous bird, long since extinct; footprints of animals; the impress of the leaves of ferns, and even the prints of what seems to be a pair of large human feet, with moccasins, or some similar covering. Remains of an animal of the Behemoth species are included in the collection. These stony relics all date back to an earlier and very different age of the planet, the carboniferous period, when the saurian tribe flourished, and the earth and air were more favorable to coarse and gigantic growths, vegetable and animal, than they are now in these more stolid and temperate times.—Times.

-----

Miscellaneous

In a late fire at Biddeford, Me., there was a scarcity of men to work the engines, and the ladies volunteered to take their places. They operated one machine, and did good manful service.

The Secessionists at Washington are delighted with the rebel retreat from Yorktown. They declare that the tide has turned in their favor; that Halleck’s army will be destroyed in a week. Jeff. Davis will liberate Maryland in thirty days, and Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri will be united with the Southern Confederacy before midsummer. No one is investing money in this programme.

The President and his wife paid a visit to the Washington navy yard Saturday afternoon to witness some interesting trials of a breach loading cannon, invented and patented by parties in Cincinnati. A large number of distinguished persons were present. The first discharge of the piece interrupted one of Mr. Lincoln’s stories. The experiments proceeded satisfactorily.

The rumor and statements of foreign intervention to induce the government to cease its efforts to put down the rebellion, as well as those projected arrangements and compromise with the rebels, are utterly unfounded.

-----

Warning to Ladies.—A correspondent says that men along Main street are in the habit of stationing themselves at points below the level of the sidewalks, for improper purposes. He specifies a particular case, and advises ladies to avoid the  inside edge of the main street walk.

THURSDAY
MAY 8, 1862
THE BOSTON HERALD (MA)

The Future

Now that the rebellion is drawing to a close, and the enemy are retiring from one position to another, struggling to maintain their cause, the question which is uppermost in the minds of the politicians is—What is to be the future of the country? This is made evident by the violent partizanship manifested for or against particular generals and prominent civilians. Every effort is directed to make it appear that this or that man is wrong Politicians always entrench themselves behind some popular man, and thus become his violent supporter, denouncing every one who thinks differently. It is not because they love the man or the cause, but their support springs from a desire to use his popularity for their own advancement to power and station. Between these conflicting elements the people are called upon to decide. The war has had the effect to change the programme of operations of old party leaders, and to bring into being new issues and new men.

After the war is over and the rebellion quelled, the nation will be overrun with military heroes ambitious for civic honors. While the true and brave men who have fought our battles and won the victories will be entitled to the lasting gratitude of the nation for their efforts, it must be apparent to every reflecting mind that no military man can be elevated to the Presidency in 1864 unless he is a representative man. The rebellion was gotten up upon the ground that the institution of slavery was not sufficiently protected and that the North were unfriendly. The election of Mr. Lincoln was claimed by the South as evidence of hostility towards their interests, without stopping to inquire if their suspicions were well grounded. It is enough for us to know that they have acted upon it and in this way united the South in opposition to the present Administration.

There can be no question that a majority at the South were desirous of a separation from the free States and the establishment of a Southern Confederacy; and this is what they have been, and are now, contending for. When this fact became evident to the people of the free States, all parties united to resist the insane attempt to divide the Republic and destroy the Union. Upon this issue the battles have been fought; the Union sentiment is triumphant, and the Southern Confederacy scheme has failed. This being true, what is to be the future of the country? With a view to decide this question men are taking position, and will strive to turn public sentiment into channels which will continue certain men in power or restore others to power who are now in the shade. In acting thus, violent partizans forget that the day for men merely has passed away, and that the people have taken matters into their own hands. They will not follow the lead of any man or set of men any further than these leaders are honest and patriotic. Public plunderers have had their day. They will not a second time obtain the votes of the people. In this respect both parties have shown themselves to be corrupt and dishonest. It is therefore apparent that the people will displace old party men whenever an opportunity presents itself, and will call into active political life new men who are the exponents of some well defined principle. The war will forever settle the slavery question, so that it will no longer remain a disturbing issue before the people.

The South will no longer demand of the North a ready acquiescence to their dictum, under the threat that they will secede; for that matter will be settled, and settled permanently and most decidedly. The only question remaining to be determined is, what is to be the policy of the Central Government in the future? This can only be determined by the people in the free States who have by their numerical strength the power to determine what that policy shall be. It requires no great amount of sagacity to see that the great and growing West will exert a controlling influence in this matter, and will determine the future of the country. The West will demand a permanent and enduring peace. She will also demand an economical administration of the affairs of Government, and little or no taxation. She will also demand, to a certain extent, full and unrestricted trade and good markets for her products. She will sell where she can obtain the best prices, and buy where she can buy cheapest. She will oppose a restoration to power of those who slaughtered her noble champion, Stephen A. Douglas, at the South, and also a continuance in power of those who opposed him in the free States. She will go into the contest in 1864 upon the great doctrines which the lamented Douglas taught, of non-intervention, giving to every community the right of regulating their own affairs in their own way.

The West will demand that the South and the North shall regard the requirements of the Constitution and perform the duties which the Constitution imposes. In this position the West will be sustained by Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, as well as by Missouri, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, leaving the two extremes to urge radical doctrines and measures. Who the man will be to lead this great central political army, we do not know; neither is it material that he should be known at this early day. Probably he is not yet settled upon. Under these circumstances, we have the right to hope that, disturbing questions being disposed of, the nation will again resume its onward march in the line of progress. The capacity of the people for self-government will have been fully developed, and the great blessings of civil and religious liberty secured for all coming time to the American people.

“Westward, the Star of Empire takes its way.”

-----

Arrest of Young Shopbreakers.—Night before last Carter’s confectionary store, Main street, Charlestown, was entered through a hole in the cellar and a trap door leading to the floor above, and a few dollars in small change taken. Early this morning officers Whittier and Melvin caught six boys with some confectionary in their pockets, and it was found that they had entered the store again. Their names are Charles Kane, Timothy Sullivan and Timothy Coghlin, of Charlestown, and John Clarkin, Patrick Callahan and Thomas Sugary of Boston. They all had their daguerreotypes taken yesterday, and last night spent the remainder of their money in going to the Museum. Kane’s father enlisted from Philadelphia and he came here to live with an aunt. A short time since he was arrested in Charlestown for stealing milk, but was released on the promise of his aunt to send him out of the city.

FRIDAY
MAY 9, 1862
THE BARRE GAZETTE (MA)

THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS

The Boston Journal of this (Thursday) morning contains the particulars of the capture of New Orleans, from its “own correspondent.” The bombardment of the forts lasted six days, having begun on the morning of April 18^th. The citadel of Fort Jackson was burned on the evening of the 18th, and the fort itself badly damaged by our fire.

The rebels fought with great desperation, sinking one of our mortar boats the second day. But one man was killed and six wounded in the mortar flotilla during the bombardment.

On the night of the 24th the squadron of Flag Officer Farragut dashed up the river and ran the gauntlet of the forts under a terrific fire, which they sustained with the loss of about 120 killed and wounded. Our squadron encountered thirteen Confederate steamers as soon as they passed the forts, and a short and decisive action followed. The notorious ram, Manassas, attempted to sink the Mississippi sloop-of-war, but ailed most signally. She was set on fire, her captain taken prisoner, and, floating down the river, she sunk! The gunboat Varuna set fire to and destroyed six rebel steamers, and was sunk by the enemy, with a loss of three men killed and seven wounded. Eleven of the enemy’s steamers, including three gunboats with iron-clad prows, were destroyed, and their officers and crews either killed or taken prisoners. Only two of the rebel steamers escaped up the river.

After our squadron had passed out of range of the forts, Commodore Porter sent Lieutenant Commanding Guest, of the gunboat Ottawa, under a flag of truce, and demanded an unconditional surrender of the post. The rebels fired on the flag of truce, and Colonel Higgins, the commander of Fort Jackson, refused to yield, saying the terms were inadmissible.

The enemy were engaged in mounting guns on an iron-clad battery, when the mortars reopened to prevent them. The bombardment was kept up until last evening, when, apprehending an attack from the battery, the mortar vessels returned to their anchorage in the South-West Pass, under cover of the gunboats attached to the mortar flotilla and those which did not succeed in passing the forts.

The rebels lost 11 gunboats and the Hollins turtle Manassas. Our forces took 400 prisoners. We lost 150 men, and one gunboat, the Varuna, was sunk.

On the 24th a flag of truce was sent to Commodore Porter, asking the conditions of surrender, to which Gen. Porter replied, “No conditions.” Our flag now waves over the Custom House.

-----

The Powder Mill Explosion at Gorham.—There seems to have been a strange sympathy in blowing up between the Oriental Powder Company’s mills at Gorham and Windham, Me., last Thursday evening. The first explosion took place in eh glazing mill, on the Windham side of the Presumption river. A mill on the Gorham side immediately exploded. Then, almost simultaneously, two more mills on the Gorham side, and four more on the Windham side, blew up—making eight mills in all.

New Orleans Reopened.—Washington, May 4.—The following circular has been addressed to the foreign ministers, announcing the reopening of communication with southern localities reconquered from the insurgents:

Department of State
Washington, May 2, 1862.

Sir: I have the honor to state for your information that the mails are now allowed to pass to and from New Orleans and other places, which, having heretofore been seized by the insurgent forces, have since been recovered, and are now re-occupied by the land and naval forces of the United States. It is proper, however, to add that a military surveillance is maintained over such mails as far as the government finds it necessary for the public safety.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

Wm. H. Seward.

-----

Cotton in Liberia.—Great attention is being paid by the government and people of Liberia to the cultivation of cotton. Nineteen barrels of Sea Island cotton seed from Baltimore, and ten more from England, were received there last February, and the Liberia Herald says there is excellent use being made of both consignments; and from the spirit with which many of the people ad the natives are taking hold of the enterprise, there can be no doubt that gratifying results will be manifested. A wealthy merchant in Monrovia has advertised for $50,000 worth of cotton. A part of a crop grown in Liberia, it is said, has been sold in England at the rate of twenty-two cents per pound.

-----

How the Mortars are Loaded.—I took a position on shore, near the point and alongside the mortars, to witness their practice. The firing of a mortar is the very poetry of a battle.  A bag of powder weighing from eighteen to twenty pounds is dropped into the bore of the huge monster. The derrick drops the shell in; the angle is calculated; a long cord is attached to the primer; the gunner steps out upon the platform, and the balance of the crew upon the shore. The captain gives the word, the gunner gives his cord a sudden jerk, a crash like a thousand thunders follows, a tongue of flame from the mouth of the mortar rolls up in beautiful spirals, developing into rings of exquisite proportions.

One can see the shell as it leaves the mortar, flying through the air, apparently no larger than a marble. The next you see of the shell, a beautiful cloud of smoke bursts into sight, caused by the explosion. Imagine ten of these monsters thundering at once, the air filled with smoke clouds, the gunboats belching out destruction and completely hidden from sight in whirls of smoke, the shell screaming through the air with an unearthly noise, and the distant guns of the enemy sending their solid shot and shell above and around us, dashing the water up in glistening columns and jets of spray, and you have the sublime poetry of war.

-----

Pepper is not included in the army rations, and as it is a preventative of diarrhea in a hot climate, it is suggested that this article be added to the benevolent supplies sent to the camps.

SATURDAY
MAY 10, 1862
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

REVIEW OF THE WEEK.
Progress of the War.

This is the eventful week of the war. Our armies are marching triumphantly towards Richmond. The great rebel army collected on the Yorktown peninsula has abandoned its strong defensive works in front of Richmond, which they have been at work upon for ten months, and retreated without an effort to defend them, just as soon as Gen. McClellan had completed his preparations for assault. They left their heavy guns, destroyed immense quantities of ammunition, and fell back to Williamsburg, but again retreated after a severe contest with the advance forces of Gen. McClellan’s army. They are defeated and retreating, disheartened and demoralized, and Gen. McClellan is following in close pursuit. He has attempted to move a force to their rear and cut off their retreat, but it is doubtful whether this movement is in time. If Gen. McClellan’s plans had not been broken up after his advance into Virginia the retreat of the rebels would probably have been wholly cut off, and the war substantially fought out on the peninsula. As it is, he is following up the enemy as rapidly as possible, and if the divisions of McDowell and Banks can again be brought into co-operation with his own, will soon have possession of Richmond and all Virginia, and it is still possible that the retreat of the rebel armies southward from Virginia may be prevented, and so the closing up of the war be accomplished before the summer heats. The retreat from Yorktown is so manifest a confession of weakness on the part of the rebels that it cannot fail to produce the conviction at the South that the fate of the rebellion is already decided, and so make the remaining work of the campaign comparatively easy. McClellan was before Yorktown for just about the same length of time that it required Washington to reduce that stronghold in the memorable siege of 1781, and the time was occupied in the same way, except that on both sides present operations were on a vastly larger scale. It is to be regretted that Gen. McClellan could not have completed the parallel and compelled the surrender of Davis’s army as Washington did that of Cornwallis. The capture of Cornwallis’s army was a triumph of pure military strategy, with no loss of life. By the same means the rebels have been driven from the same place, as the only escape from inevitable defeat and capture. Now as then it is likely to appear that the taking of Yorktown decides the result of the war. Gen. McDowell’s division has crossed the Rappahannock and occupied Fredericksburg. Gen. Banks is still at Newmarket, waiting for forage and supplies. Gen. Burnside is making some new movement of which we shall hear when it is accomplished. Gen. Halleck is pushing Beauregard at Corinth, from which place he seems to be gradually withdrawing southward. Gen. Butler is fully established in New Orleans, and the fleet is moving up the river toward Memphis. Our coast and blockading fleets are active and successful, and Fort Sumter will soon crown the list of recaptured forts. Eastern Tennessee is still ravaged by the rebel invaders, but Gen. Fremont has taken the field, and the enemy

will soon be driven out of the mountain region, where he has evidently been tolerated thus long only in furtherance of the general plan of the campaign, which might have been defeated by breaking the enemy’s line too soon in that quarter. The development of Union sentiment in the South is as rapid as can reasonably be expected, and the hour of complete deliverance from the rebellion is evidently at hand. A few more defeats of the enemy, or retreats that are equivalent to defeats, and the work is done.

-----

Facts and Hints in Science

Chamber’s Journal remarks that from recent discussions “it appears probable that some change will be made in the patent laws at the present session of Parliament. Enlightened mechanics and inventors have long been of opinion that patents are detrimental to the progress of invention, and to increase of trade and industry, and they suggest that if ingenuity is to be rewarded, it should be in some other way than by the grant of monopoly, which experience has proved to be hurtful alike from the practical and the moral point of view.”—A new kind of locomotive, invented by a Russian named Baranowski, has been tried with success at St. Petersburg. The motive power was condensed air, and on the trial trip, made with a  carriage filled with passengers, a speed of twenty-four English miles an hour was obtained. The inventor claims that it can be made to go much faster. —Iron and steel tools may be preserved from rust by dissolving in a given quantity of benzine half its weight of white wax and then applying the solution to the metal with a brush. The benzine evaporates and leaves a thin, smooth and permanent coating of wax on the surface, which protects the metal, and, it is said, resists the action of acid vapors.

A communication from Prof. Charles F. Rafon, of Copenhagen, secretary of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquities, to Rev. Abner Morse of Boston, reports the discovery of ancient hearths in Denmark, like those on Cape Cod, lately reported by Mr. Morse, as the work of Northmen; and adds, that it had been resolved to publish drawings of the former hearths, with descriptions of the latter, in the transactions of their society. Mr. Morse has since read a second paper describing traces of the Northmen on Nantucket and in Dedham; and also relics, not aboriginal, at different places on the natural route from the Hudson to the Ohio rivers; and as one class of these is identical with relics in Massachusetts, attributed to them, some evidence may exist that they removed to the West, where, seven hundred miles west of Lake Superior, “the polite and friendly Mandan Indians, with hazel, grey and blue eyes, and hair of various colors, and complexions as light as half breeds,” might, as late as 1838, have been their representatives.

¹You may wonder why this article in included in a collection of newspaper reports from the Civil War, but it illustrates the great interest in and enthusiasm for Shakespeare and his works in the nineteenth century. The Bard’s plays were routinely performed, not only in theaters in the East, but by travelling troupes through the saloons and mining camps of the West. The average miner could quote more lines from Shakespeare than most people nowadays, and even brief readings from his plays were well-attended.

²Do tell. In reality, there was a massive chain stretched across the river, which Farragut’s men severed the night before the attack. Beyond the batteries at Chalmette (above the forts), there were no other fortifications.

³The reference is to the War of 1812 Battle of New Orleans on 8 January 1815.

⁴At this point in history, “torpedo” is used for what we would call a “mine.”