SUNDAY
SEPTEMBER 14, 1862
THE TIMES PICAYUNE (LA)

From Richmond.
BATTLE OF MANASSAS.
Additional particulars.

Under the above heads, the Mobile Evening News, of the 6th inst., contains the following dispatches:

Richmond, Sept 5.—The President has issued a proclamation setting apart Thursday, the 18th inst., as a day of prayer and thanksgiving to Almighty God for His great mercies vouchsafed to our people, and more especially for the triumph of our arms at Richmond and Manassas.

Richmond, Sept 5.—The Examiner, of the 4th, says Gen. Ewell is doing well. Pope is wounded in the thigh. Sickles is certainly killed. It is believed we captured eighty pieces of cannon.

The Lynchburg Republican says it is thought our loss in Saturday’s battle was 10,000, of which 3,000 were killed.

Richmond, Sept 5.—In the Senate the House bill to authorize the appointment of additional officers of artillery for ordnance duties, passed with the amendments. Also the bill to organize the division of the army into army corps to be commanded by lieutenant generals, to be appointed by the President, and receive the pay of brigadier generals (?)

In the House, the entire session was occupied in the discussion of the bill extending the provisions of the conscript law to all persons between the ages of 35 and 45.

Harrisonburg, Sept 4.—The Provost Marshal at Newmarket writes to-day that the Yankees evacuated Manchester night before last, burning all their stores and blowing up the magazine. We hear from the same source that late Baltimore papers reported the death of McClellan. We have Baltimore papers of the 1st and 2nd inst. They report the Federal loss in the battle of Friday to be not less than 8,000 killed and wounded. They claim a victory. Of Saturday’s fight, the American says the advantage remained with the rebels. The Sun styles it an utter rout. Their losses up to Friday night were estimated at 17,000. Gens. Buford, Hatch, Taylor and Ralpick were killed. Gens. Schenck, Tower, Kearney and Sigel were severely wounded. Col. Fletcher were killed. Col. Farnsworth was wounded.

The American has a list of more than 150 officers killed.

Pope’s report admits a loss of 8,000 on Friday.

The American contains an account of the fight at Richmond, Ky., in which it admits the Federals were defeated, with immense loss, and that they were driven to Lexington, Ky. General Bull Nelson was severely wounded.

Gen. McClellan retains command of the Potomac. He was not sent to Pope.

Chattanooga, Sept 5.—Reliable information has been received by the Daily Rebel, that the Yankees are moving all their siege guns from Nashville northward, by the Gallatin turnpike, the railroad being destroyed in places. They are probably intended for Bowling Green, where they may make a stand.

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Magruder’s Gratitude.

Gen. Magruder is indebted to a soldier for the following account of his exploits with Mexican aguadiente:

About the month of October, 1848, after the close of the war with Mexico, Col. Magruder had been ordered by the General in Chief of the army to proceed across the plains of Lower California to San Diego. One fine Sunday morning we proceeded per order. We had gone about one mile from the city of Mexico, the thermometer being one hundred and twenty-six degrees in the shade, when the Colonel found his coppers getting dry after a hard night’s drinking in the city. Observing a clumsy-looking man, named Ryan, with a well filled canteen of water, as he (Magruder) thought, he turned to him and commenced the following conversation:

“What have you got there, sir?”

“Water, Colonel.”

“Let me have a drink?”

Putting the canteen to his mouth, he took two or three swallows, and turning to the soldier said:

“Good water, sir; do not waste it.”

It must be remembered that this “water” which the Colonel praised so highly was nothing more than Mexican muscatel, commonly called aguadiente. We had proceeded but a short distance further when our gallant Colonel called Ryan for another swig, which he got, when the following colloquy occurred:

“What is your name, sir?”

“Private Ryan.”

“You are hereafter Corporal Ryan.”

A short distance further, and another swig was called for and received, the Colonel’s coppers wanting cooling again, saying as he did so:

“Now, sir, you are Sergeant Ryan, sir, to be honored and respected accordingly.”

If the canteen had held out, and the Colonel had promoted at every drink, the soldier would have obtained a higher rank before the day’s march was finished.

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The Comet.—The New York Journal of Commerce has the following:

This comet, which is attracting some attention at the present time, was discovered at the Dudley Observatory, (Albany, New York,) on the evening of July 18th, as also at Cambridge, by Mr. Tuttle, on the same night.

When first discovered the geocentric motion was quite slow, the comet being at a greater distance from us than the sun, and moving in an orbit making a very large angle with the elliptic. At that time it appeared as a nebulae, considerably condensed at the center, the light being intense enough to be easily seen when the wire of the micrometer were illuminated by artificial light. From this fact we were at once led to conclude, that the amount of matter composing this body is considerable, exceeding the one discovered on the 3d of July, in a very large ratio, for we estimated the intensity of light of the second, equal to that on the 3d, when it was distant only nine millions of miles.

On the 18th of July it was distant about 135 millions of miles, and was thus approaching the earth at a rate of two and a half millions of miles daily.

On the evening of the 31st the embryo of a tail was distinctly seen by the aid of the telescope, and as early as the 28th the light was more concentrated on the side in the direction of its motion, showing that the tail was already in process of formation. Although the outlines are not as distinctly marked as in the comet of last year, yet we notice a gradual change of figure and a greater concentration of light at one point. On the 6th of August the tail had increased in length and brilliance, but owing to the strong moonlight it cannot be seen so readily at the present time.

Although many theories have been advanced to account for the formation of the tail, yet we know comparatively little about it. That the source of this power lies in the sun, we have strong evidence for believing, since it is usually the most brilliant after the comet has passed its perihelion.

As it is now approaching both the earth and sun, and being so favorably situated for observation, it will, without doubt, attain greater brilliancy.

Judging from the records of past comets and the position of the present, we surmise it will reach its maximum brilliancy about the 26th August, when it will be only one-fourth the distance it was on the 18th of July.

G. W. Hough,
Assistant, Dudley Observatory.

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Jersey Butter.—On the 25th ult. over 3,000 pounds of butter were sent to Newark, N.J., from Sussex county, and 35,000 pounds to New York—in all, over nineteen tons. On Tuesday, there were twelve tons.

MONDAY
SEPTEMBER 15, 1862
THE MACON DAILY TELEGRAPH (GA)

From the
Manassas Battle-Field.

A correspondent of the Savannah Republican furnished the following:

All of Captain Blain’s company, excepting Sam. Brockington and one other, were either killed or wounded.

Capt. Grace’s Company, the McIntosh County Guards, suffered in about the same proportion.

The flag bearer of the 26th Regiment was show down. Sergeant-major Crawly seized the flag, raised it, and was instantly wounded and had to drop it. It was then taken up and gallantly borne through the action by Lieut. Rice, of the Wire Grass Minute Men.¹

Captain Lee reports hat the men and officer acted with great coolness ad gallantry throughout.

Capt. Forrest, of the 48th Georgia Regiment, whose field officer were absent (sick,) was in command of the regiment and was killed.

All the other regiments comprising Gen. Lawton’s brigade, excepting the 13th Georgia, which Capt. Lee thinks was not in the fight, suffered as severely as the 26^th. That regiment went into action with less than 200; lost 40 killed and 113 wounded.

Gen. Lawton was conspicuous everywhere, and displayed great gallantry and coolness in managing his brigade.

The regiment was in the fight on Saturday, and Capt. Lee learned from reliable authority that it was again cut to pieces, as well as the other regiments comprising the brigade.

Stonewall Jackson, riding behind his army, was praying aloud, and as soon as his army got within gun shot of the enemy, he ceased praying and commenced shouting, cheering and urging on the Georgia boys, and was with them in the charge.

A North Carolina regiment, having exhausted its ammunition, and thinking the time had about arrived for them to be relieved by a Louisiana regiment, stacked arms in a railroad car. The Yankees discovering this, charged upon them. The North Carolinians stood their ground, and fought them with rocks until the Louisianans came up and repulsed them.

Capt. Lee visited the ground on Monday, and states that the Yankees were lying ten tone of the Confederates, and that the Federal Surgeon left in charge of their wounded, stated to him that their loss was ten to our one, and acknowledged a terrible disaster.

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Incidents of the Great Battle.

Personne, the eloquent correspondent of the Charleston Courier, has a description of the great fight of the 30^th August, which occupies five or six columns of the Charleston Courier. From it we clip the following paragraphs:

I have said that the troops were all eager, anxious, and in the full belief that the battle would commence at an early hour in the morning. The waking of a portion of our batteries into life soon after daylight, and the frequent cannonading thereafter, the almost incessant skirmishing in front with its exciting volleys of musketry, all conspired to produce this impression. It is my own surmise, however, based upon certain facts which I cannot relate, that it was not the intention of Gens. Lee or Longstreet to give the enemy battle on that day, but simply to make a feint attack, and while thus engaged allow Gen. Jackson to slip out, continue his onward movement on the left and towards the rear of the Federal column, and thereby secure a position where say in twenty-four hours, the result of a battle would have been the capture and demoralization of the entire Federal army. In this, however, our Generals were disappointed. After waiting until three o’clock p.m., the enemy himself took the initiative, and marched boldly to the attack, aiming their blow, as on the previous day, at the line of Jackson.

I do not know whether you would call the act disgraceful or not, but there is not a dead Yankee in all that broad field who has not been stripped of his shoes or stockings, had his pockets turned inside out, and in numerous cases been left as naked as the hour he was born. If you could see our bare-footed and ragged men, you might think there was even a virtue in stealing from a defunct enemy. Some of the soldiers, however, do not scruple at taking every valuable thing they can lay their hands upon, and rob friend and foe, dead and alive, alike. For all such cormorants the halter is the only remedy.²

Among the amusing occurrences of this kind, it is related of a soldier belonging to the Eighth Alabama Regiment, that he found a Yankee in the woods, but being separated from his regiment, did not know what to do with him. While soliloquizing, the officer who gave me the incident rode by, ad his advice being asked, he told the soldier he had better let the prisoner go. “Well,” said the Alabamian, “I reckon I will; but look here Yankee, you can’t leave till you’ve given me some of them good clothes. Strip! I want your boots and breeches.” The Yankee protested against any such indignity, and appealed to the officer to protect him. The Alabamian also plead his cause:

“Here’s this fellow,” said he, “come down here a robbing of our people, and he’s stayed so long it’s no more’n right he should pay for his board. I don’t want him to go round in his bar legs any more’n he wants to; and I mean to give him my ole clothes.” “A fair exchange is no robbery,” replied the officer, “and as you have no shoes and a mighty poor pair of pants, I reckon you had better help yourself.” “Now, Yankee, you hear what the ‘boss’ says, do yer; off with yer traps and let’s trade.” The last thing my friend saw, as he rode away, was the two worthies, in their “bar legs,” stripping for an exchange.

It is impossible to make a correct calculation of the loss on either side. I have already said that that of the enemy, from the evidence on the field, exceeds ours five to one. Riding in a straight line, without turning to right or left, I counted seven hundred and sixty-two of their dead. There are probably three times that number. Major Wheeler, of the 5th United States Regulars, who accompanied a flag of truce to our lines, also visited the field yesterday, and his estimate of the federal loss is from twelve to fifteen thousand killed and wounded.

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Stealing Furniture.—The Lynchburg Virginian learns upon unquestionable authority that during the occupation of the Valley by General Banks, for a portion of the time he used the house of a wealthy gentleman named Lewis Washington as his headquarters. Mrs. General Banks was with her husband, and selected the best of the furniture in the house, and shipped it north to her home in Massachusetts. Upon his return, Mr. Washington found his house dismantled and robbed of its furniture, and inquiry disclosed the fact that the wife of Major General Banks had sent it off to ornament her Northern home.

TUESDAY
SEPTEMBER 16, 1862
THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER

From the Army in Maryland.

Washington, Sept. 15.—The Star says: “At 9 a.m. today the engagement at General Burnside’s position had not been renewed.3 He was then in undisputed possession of the advantageous crest of the mountain, from which he drove the enemy on the night before. The firing that had begun at daybreak today was an attack of the enemy upon Franklin’s corps on the road to Harper’s Ferry. No direct communication was had with that corps up to 9 o’clock this morning, the telegraph operator at Point of Rocks being the party reporting that Franklin was heavily engaged this morning in front of him (the operator).

The division or army corps that yesterday morning occupied Hagerstown was not in yesterday’s action, though it hastily retraced its steps, in order to be in the fight today . . .

Neither Sumner’s army corps nor Couch’s division were in yesterday’s action, though both are doubtless supporting Franklin today . . .

The army corps of Fitz John Porter passed through Frederick at 11 a.m. today, and were to have arrived on the battlefield at noon.

The rebels in the fight say that Beauregard was expected to join them with an army corps of 40,000 strong. We have no idea that any such expectation of things can be realized. Forty thousand efficient rebel troops were not left behind at Gordonsville, from where they say Beauregard is bringing them.

Burnside’s position, won from the enemy in yesterday’s fight, commands the only road from Hagerstown to the position where Franklin is fighting, we believe. Hence its great importance. To lose the use of it will be most damaging to the enemy, it is evident.

An officer slightly wounded in the battle yesterday, who arrived here late today, represents that the fight took place 3 or 4 miles from Middletown, Frederick county, at the foot of the first mountain going west. The enemy were strongly posted there, but our men with the most determined courage drove them up the mountain through a strip of wood, cornfields and open ground. The rebels made occasional stands behind walls and fences, but were driven thence to the top of the mountain, and over into the valley when, it being night, our troops were called from further pursuit. Not one of our men faltered.

The fight was fought principally with infantry on our part, it being impracticable to bring the artillery in full play. Gen. Gibbons, however, with much toil, succeeded in getting a battery upon the mountain to the right of the infantry, and did much execution.

A captured rebel Lieutenant said it was their intention to mass all their forces today.

Harrisburg, Pa., Sept. 15.—It is expected that Gen. McClellan will occupy Hagerstown tonight with a large force.

The excitement continues here. Since the late call for the militia of the State there seems to be no end to the gallant Union army marching to the defence of the capital of the State. The State is safe from rebel invasion, but Maryland must, and no doubt will soon be, rid of the traitorous host now invading a portion of its soil.

A portion of the New York and Illinois cavalry made an attack upon Longstreet’s ammunition train on the road between Hagerstown and Williamsport, and succeeded in talking 50 wagons together with about 50 prisoners, and brought them into Chambersburg.

A deserter came into Chambersburg last night from a Louisiana regiment and represented Longstreet as moving off, and that the rebels had lost 2 men for every 1 recruited. A Baltimore company had deserted in a body.

Frederick, Sept. 15.—The news that reaches here from the front . . . is all of a gloriously encouraging character. Our troops have been driving the enemy ever since they left Frederick, and yesterday fought them for 4 hours in a general engagement, defeated them, and sent them flying in rapid retreat to get out of “my Maryland.”

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Attack on Fort Ridgely.

A dispatch from Lieut. T. G. Sheehan, commanding the post of Fort Ridgely, received at Washington, says that on the 20th of August he was attacked by the Indians, but the superior fire of the artillery under Sergeant Jones caused the Indians to withdraw. Remnants of once thriving families were arriving at Fort Ridgely for protection. They were in a miserable condition. Some had been badly burned in escaping from their dwellings, which had been fired by the Indians. The people in the immediate vicinity were flying to the Fort and arming for its defence.

On the 22d of August the Indians returned to the attack with a much larger force, and the stables and buildings around the fort affording protection to them, were ordered to be destroyed, which was done by the artillery under Sergeant Jones, assisted by Lieut. Gorman of the Renville Rangers. Great credit is due them for their gallant conduct. The fire balls of the Indians fell all over and through the wooden buildings erected for the officers’ quarters. Still the brave little band maintained its ground. The Indians then prepared to carry the fort by storm, but out artillery compelled them to withdraw, after one of the most determined attacks ever made by Indians on a military post. Our ammunition failing, the men who were unable to fight, assisted by the women, worked day and night until a good supply was obtained. All the buildings except the guard-house and magazine were destroyed. Most of the mules and oxen were taken away by the Indians, and we are left with a scanty supply of transportation. Our loss is three killed and thirteen wounded.

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Capture of a Rebel Vessel.—Admiral Dupont informs the Navy Department that barque Shepherd Knapp, Lieut. Com’g H. S. Eytinge, captured on the 4th inst. barque Fanny Lauries, under English colors, aground in South Edisto Channel. She proved to be of Quebec, recently from Nassau. N.P., with a cargo of salt, quinine, wines, and other articles, at present of high value to the rebels. She had a regular clearance on board for Quebec, but her captain, a French Canadian, acknowledged that Charleston was intended as his real destination. Among her letters was one commending the captain to the good offices of a house in Charleston. A prize crew was put on board, and the vessel was taken to Port Royal, thence to Philadelphia.

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The correspondent of the New York Times, writing from Sugar Loaf Mountain Friday, makes the following statement: “It is well known that large droves of cattle have been sent from Maryland to Virginia within three days for Lee’s army. Our own pickets reported the fact, and they were allowed to proceed without opposition.”

WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 17, 1862
THE CONSTITUTION (CT)

The Business of the Country.

The war has not yet more than temporarily affected the most important business interests of the country. While the tide of evil war has swept over a few sections of the south with fearful power, and almost converted some districts into deserts, the people generally throughout the north have kept on the even tenor of their way, and at the south there are comparatively few plantations which will suffer in cultivation on account of the war. Around New Orleans and up the Mississippi river the plantations have been worked as usual notwithstanding the military operations in their immediate neighborhood.

Agriculture is the most important of our industrial interests, and that has not yet suffered to any considerable extent, certainly not in the northern states. There has been a great abundance of the products of the earth this year, crops have come in well and prices have been good. The necessity of maintaining large armies has placed vast sums of money n the pockets of our farmers. The necessaries of life are now in demand, there is money enough in the country to pay for all that is wanted, and the tillers of the soil are in a fair way of getting their share of any profits which are to be made from the sustenance of the armies in the field.

Manufacturers have suffered more. Some branches of manufacturing have been destroyed. Our cotton mills have been thrown out of employment. But the damage sustained has not been as great as a superficial survey would lead one to suppose. Most manufacturing establishments have changed their business with the change of the times. If there is no market for such articles or goods as have heretofore been made, they make something else that is wanted. New demands have sprung up, and a new class of manufactured articles have found a place in the market. Here in New England many thousands of those who were formerly at work in the factories have joined the army, and receive a liberal support for themselves and their families, so that the amount of actual suffering on account of any damage which the manufacturing interest may have sustained, must be very small indeed.

The commerce of the country has suffered from non-intercourse of the south with the north, and the annihilation of cotton exportations. With this exception the business of our great commercial ports has been about as thriving as ever. There has been no want of employment to seafaring men during the past year, who could always find situations on government vessels if no where else. Hundreds of craft of all kinds have been bought by the navy department, and owners of sea-going steamboats have had no reason to complain of hard times.

Capitalists have been backward in their usual operations. There is plenty of money in the country, but it is difficult to put in circulation. Money is proverbially timorous in a time of war. Those who hold it prefer that it should remain quiet rather than encounter the risks engendered by the times. On this account there is  want of that progressive state of things we are accustomed to in our communities. They will not at a time like this launch out into new enterprises. They will not run the risk. They will enter upon no new track of labor which involves much outlay without being sure that it will pay good and sure profits.

The business of the country is in a state highly favorable to future prosperity. Should the war cease within the next six months, there is no reason why almost every branch f legitimate business should not very speedily be in a highly prosperous condition. The war has not reached the vitals of the nation and we believe it never will. Let this rebellion be crushed and the authority of a beneficent government be re-established, and there is no obstacle in the way of the highest success in the fields of labor and enterprise.

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The Reflux Emigration.—The Cork Constitution states the number of passengers coming from America by the return steamers touching at that port has lately been much on the increase. The [Isis?], which arrived there on Sunday, brought 139; the City of Washington, on the Wednesday previous, 253; and the City of New York, on the Wednesday preceding that, 172; the Etna, which arrived on Wednesday, brought 561, of whom 255 landed there. A great majority of those coming are young, able-bodied men.

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Shocking Infatuation.—The wife of John Sickles, a resident of Wharton township, Fayette county, Pa., in order to prevent her husband from enlisting, cut off the two front fingers of his right hand with an axe. It is said he had told her he was determined to enlist, which so excited her that she resolved at once to render him incompetent to bear arms, and during the night, while he was in a deep sleep, she drew his hand to the bed rail and dropped the axe carefully on his fingers, taking them clean off at the first joint.

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Anthracite coal is said too have gained such favor with the Lords of the Admiralty, as a substitute for bituminous, that instructions have been given for supplies to be furnished at New York to British men-of-war arriving from the Bermudas. The Philadelphia Bulletin congratulates the coal operators of the Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna regions upon the prospect thus opened of a large demand for the product of their mines.

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The rebel General Lee has issued a proclamation to the people of Maryland, dated the 8th inst., in which he announces that the purpose of the rebel army is to liberate the State from the National rule. He is good enough, however, to assure the people that they can have their choice in the matter. He says: “It is for you to decide your destiny, freely, and without restraint. This army will respect your choice, whatever it may be; and while the Southern people will rejoice to welcome you to your natural position among them, they will only welcome you when you come of your own free will.”

THURSDAY
SEPTEMBER 18, 1862
THE NEW HAMPSHIRE SENTINEL

Latest News.

The rebels have re-crossed the Potomac and united their forces in Maryland to the number of 70,000. A great battle was raging at Sharpsburg, near the Potomac, northwest of Harper’s Ferry, Tuesday, which was renewed Wednesday morning. No definite result is known, but stragglers arriving at Hagerstown report the rebels surrounded.

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Harper’s Ferry Taken.

Harper’s Ferry, occupied by Col. Miles with a federal force of some 8,000, was surrendered to the rebels on Monday morning. The rebels commenced the attack on Friday noon, our forces being posted on Maryland Heights. The rebels were repulsed with great slaughter several times; but finally rallying with overwhelming force, and our reinforcements not arriving, the place was surrendered with 6,000 to 8,000 troops, who were subsequently paroled. Col. Miles had his right leg shattered, which was amputated. He had under him 2300 cavalry, who made their escape, cutting their way through the rebel lines to Greencastle. Our reinforcements under General Franklin, were within three hours’ march of Harper’s Ferry when it surrendered.

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Better News from Maryland.
Good Results Prophesied.

Harrisburg, Pa., Sept. 16.—8 p.m. —Dispatches received from Hagerstown say Gen. McClellan came up with the rear of the rebel army at Sharpsburg, and that a battle is now in progress.

Harrisburg, Pa., Sept. 16.—10 p.m. —A dispatch received at headquarters says that Jackson recrossed the Potomac, and Gen. McClellan has engaged him with a tremendous force 10 miles this side of Sharpsburg. The whole rebel army in Maryland will be annihilated or captured this night.

No rebels can be found about Hagerstown, and there are none for two miles on the other side of the Potomac.

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Heavy Firing at Williamsport.
Sending Troops to Chambersburg.

Heavy artillery firing was heard at Greencastle and Chambersburg, Pa., Saturday morning, in the direction of Williamsport. The main body of the rebels does not appear to have gone to Hagerstown. Gen. Longstreet’s division, numbering from 20,000 to 30,000 men, is only there apparently to supply forage and supplies for the advance of the rebel army, which is at Boonsboro. Our pickets have been driven in to the Pennsylvania state line. State troops continue to arrive at Harrisburg and leave for Chambersburg as fast as transportation can be afforded. Gen. Lee is said to be at Hagerstown.

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Battle at Mumfordsville, Ky.
The Rebels Beaten with Heavy Loss.

Louisville, Ky., Sept. 14.—There has been much excitement in this city this afternoon in consequence of news of a great battle between our forces and the rebels at Mumfordsville.

Elizabethtown, Sept. 14.—The rebels under Gen. Duncan attacked our forces at Green river, near Mumfordsville, about three o’clock this afternoon. The fight lasted several hours. Our men fought bravely, firing the last shot. The rebels were repulsed with heavy loss.

The rebels sent in a flag of truce asking permission to bury their dead, which was granted.

Col. Wilder, of the 17th Illinois, commanded the federal forces.

Later from Europe.—The confederate steamer “290” is reported having received from the steamer Bahama, off the Western Isles, iron plates, munitions of war, &c., to enable her to intercept northern vessels as they approach the coast, and in the absence of any port, to take and destroy ships and cargoes; she is commanded by Capt. Semmes, late of the Sumter, and now called the Alabama.

The London journals are generally very gloomy. The Post says the North must either do as England did in 1783, or imitate Russia in the government of Poland.

The Daily News argues that it is absolutely necessary that the South should be compelled to acknowledge the superiority of the North and submit to the terms that the North may dictate.

The Times and Daily News criticize Mr. Lincoln’s address to the Negroes relative to emancipation. They pronounce it impracticable.

The French government ordered that there be no operations in the interior of Mexico till the middle of October.

The details of the capture of Garibaldi say that he was wounded in the thigh and foot by a bayonet, his retreat cut off and unconditional surrender inevitable. His resistance was nevertheless desperate. He has arrived at Spezzia, and it is reported that his wounds are not serious and are favorably progressing. It is presumed that he will be tried and sentenced, but pardoned on account of past services. One rumor says the government contemplated sending him to America. Popular demonstrations in favor of Garibaldi had occurred in several places, but were put down. The newspapers generally think the event must hasten the solution of the Roman question, and cause the French to withdraw from Rome. The blockade of Sicily is raised, and the state of siege removed.

Poor Kossuth, says a Scottish newspaper, is in the final stages of consumption, and before many weeks, probably, the poor Hungarian will pass away, and a noble country mourn the loss of one of her noblest and most gifted sons.

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Recruiting in Coos [County].—The town of Lancaster has furnished more three years’ men than are required for both classes of three years and nine months. But few nine months men are lacking in the county, and probably no drafting will have to be resorted to. Many towns have done as well as Lancaster. Last Thursday a full company for the 14th regiment, Col. Wilson, was organized. Among its men are many of the more substantial farmers and citizens. Another full company has been raised in the upper part of the county.

A letter from Sandwich informs the Statesman that a young man in that town was so anxious to avoid being drafted that he put his foot under a load of hay. It was not so badly crushed as might have been anticipated, and it is expected that he will speedily recover, now that no drafting is likely to be necessary.

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Valuable Capture.—The Memphis Bulletin says that the articles captured on board the rebel steamer Fair Play included 1200 Enfield rifles, 4250 English-made muskets, 21 boxes of accoutrements, 65,000 rounds of cartridges, and 2500 rounds of howitzer ammunition. The above were marked for General Holmes, General Hindman, and General Van Dorn. It is estimated that the boat, arms and ammunition captured are worth fully $100,000.

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Sad.—Mr. John Langley, of Dover, a machinist employed at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, received a dispatch stating that his son had been killed in one of the recent battles, and shortly after received another that his wife had died suddenly on learning the death of her son.

FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 19, 1862
THE LIBERATOR (MA)

Testimony of Dr. Cutter.—Dr. Calvin Cutter, acting division surgeon of Reno’s division, recently captured, has been released. He estimates our casualties at 4,500 killed and wounded. Of these, 2,000 are still on the battle-field. They are being cared for. Dr. Cutter reproaches chief medical director Guild, and other rebel officers, in the bitterest terms, for leaving our poor men three days without food or even water, and warned them that this unheard of barbarity should be faithfully reported to our surgeon general. The wounded were left lying where they fell, surrounded by putrefying corpses, exposed to all inclemencies of weather, their wounds not even moistened, nor a cup of cold water put to lips which were swollen and blackened by three days’ fever.

The inhumanity of the enemy went so far that they supplied our surgeons with neither food, stimulants, lint, bandages, nor operating instruments for thirty-six hours. Dr. Cutter was not even permitted to give his professional services to the wounded. In one interview with medical director Guild, he told him that he had had charge of battle-fields before now, and that he had seen that the Confederate wounded had water, food, shelter and clothes before he went to sleep. Upon which Guild said he wanted to hear no more such talk, and closed the conference.⁴

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More Rebel Poisoning.—A letter dated Alexandria, Va., Sept. 5th, from a young soldier on the way to join the 18th Massachusetts regiment, gives the following warning to beware of rebel women: “On the railroad between Baltimore and Washington, three members of one of the companies were poisoned by eating pies and cakes sold by women, and one died in ten minutes after eating an apple thus poisoned.” Is there no end to such atrocities?

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In the rebel House of Representatives, Foote, of Tennessee, offered a bill for retaliatory purposes. It recites that the enemy refuses to treat our partisan soldiers as prisoners, and have also punished innocent private citizens for their acts. It provides that an officer who may have ordered such atrocities be put to death, if captured. An equal number of prisoners, officers to be preferred, taken from the enemy, to suffer the fate inflicted on our captured soldiers or citizens.

Also a bill for the treatment of captives. It provides that any officer or private captured by our army, who shall have committed any offense pronounced felonious by the laws of the Confederacy or any State, shall be delivered up for trial.

Also a bill to punish Negroes in arms. It provides that the Federal armies incongruously composed of white and black shall not be held entitled to the privileges of war. Of such as may be captured, the Negroes shall be returned to their masters or publicly sold, and their commanders to be hung or shot as may be more convenient.

Also a bill to retaliate for seizure of citizens by the enemy. It provides that the prisoners held by the United States, a number equal to that of the citizens seized, shall be held as hostages for their safety, and subjected to like treatment. Any officers, civil or military, concerned in their service, shall be imprisoned during the war.

All the bills were referred to the Military Committee.

Pittsburgh, Pa., Sept. 17.—A frightful explosion occurred at the U.S. Arsenal this afternoon, at 2 o’clock. It occurred in the large frame building known as the laboratory. One hundred and seventy six boys and girls were employed in the building at the time of the disaster, of whom seventy-five or eighty were killed. One explosion followed another until the entire building was destroyed, and those who could not escape in time were burned up.

The scene was most appalling, the dead bodies lying in heaps as they had fallen. In some places where the heat was most intense, whitened bones could be seen through the smoke and flames. In other places, large masses of blackened flesh were visible.

Up to the present time, 63 bodies have been taken from the ruins.

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Louisville, Ky., Sept. 14.—Further particulars of the Mumfordsville fight have been received from Mr. Thomas, who arrived from there this evening. He was present during the battle. The rebels under Gen. Duncan numbered from 5,000 to 7,000, including cavalry, artillery and infantry.

The rebels made the attack from both sides of the river, and boldly advanced to our breastworks. They were repulsed with fearful loss. The Federal forces under Col. Wilder numbered about 2,000. At the commencement of the fight, they were reinforced by Col. Dunham with the 5th Indiana regiment. The first the rebels knew of his whereabouts was his pouring in a whole volley, killing many and stampeding the balance.

The Federal loss was 8 killed and 27 wounded. The rebel loss was from 500 to 700 killed and wounded. The rebels who brought a flag of truce admit a loss of 400 killed. Two pieces of artillery were captured from the enemy.

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Mr. Thorpe has been acting for some time as a teacher and superintendent of the contrabands at Port Royal, in the spirit of true benevolence, performing his duties in a most acceptable manner. Any articles sent to his care will be faithfully and judiciously distributed.—[Editor, Liberator.]

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Escape of Appleton Oaksmith.—Appleton Oaksmith, who has been confined in Suffolk jail since December last, and was convicted in June of fitting out a vessel for the slave trade, made his escape from the jail Thursday morning, and it is supposed had been gone four hours before he was missed. His escape was not known until 10 o’clock. Sheriff Clark offers a reward of $300 for his arrest and return, with the intimation that the runaway is likely to disguise himself as a woman or a sailor. A motion for a new trial was pending, to be argued in October.—Boston Courier.

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St. Paul, Minnesota, Sept. 18.—Four persons were killed to-day by the Indians near Mankato while threshing wheat. This was done within a mile of a company of troops. The Indians took the horses from the threshing machine, and left before the troops could reach them. These bold exploits will prevent the farmers from returning to their crops.

SATURDAY
SEPTEMBER 20, 1862
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

Guerrillas to be Treated as Banditti.—At the request of Gen. Halleck, Dr. Lieber of Columbia college, has written an essay on the proper treatment of guerrillas in war. The following sentences show the conclusions he reaches, after an elaborate discussion of the subject:

“We find that self-constituted bands in the South, who destroy the cotton stored by their own neighbors, are styled in the journals of the North as well as those of the South, guerrillas; while, in truth they are, according to the common law—not surely of war only, but that of every society—simply armed robbers, against whom every person is permitted, or is in duty bound, to use all the means of defense at his disposal; as in a late instance, even Gen. Toombs of Georgia declared to a certain committee of safety of his state, that he would defend the planting and producing of his cotton; though I must own he did not call the self-constituted committee guerrillas, but if memory serves me right, scoundrels.

“This war rebel, as we might term him, this renewer of war within an occupied territory, has been universally treated with the utmost rigor of the military law. The war rebel exposes the occupying army to the greatest danger, and essentially interferes with the mitigation of the severity of war, which it is one of the noblest objects of the modern law of war to obtain. Whether the war rebel rises on his own account or whether he has been secretly called upon by his former government to do so, would make no difference whatever. The royalists who recently rose in the mountains of Calabria against the national government of Italy, and in favor of Francis, who had been their king until within a recent period, were treated as brigands and shot, unless, indeed, pardoned on prudential grounds.

“Nor can it be maintained in good faith, or with any respect for sound sense and judgment, that an individual—an armed prowler—now frequently called a bushwhacker—shall be entitled to the protection of the law of war, simply because he says that he has taken up his gun in defense of his country, or because his government or his chief has issued a proclamation by which he calls upon the people to infest the bushes and commit homicides which every civilized nation will consider murders. They are peculiarly dangerous, because they easily evade pursuit, and by laying down their arms become insidious enemies; because they can not otherwise subsist than by rapine, and almost always degenerate into simple robbers or brigands. The Spanish guerrilla hands against Napoleon proved a scourge to their own countrymen, and became efficient for their own cause only in the same degree in which they gradually became disciplined.

“It has been stated already that the armed prowler, the so-called bushwhacker, is a simple assassin, and will thus always be considered by soldier and citizen; and we have likewise seen that the armed bands that rise in a district fairly occupied by military force, or in the rear of an army, are universally considered, if captured, brigands, and not prisoners of war. They unite the fourfold character of the spy, the brigand, the assassin and the rebel, and cannot—indeed, it must be supported, will not expect to—be treated as a fair enemy of the regular war. They know what a hazardous career they enter upon when they take up arms, and that, were the case reversed, they would surely not grant the privilege of regular warfare to persons who should rise in their rear.”

Letter of a Rebel Spy.—The intercepted letter of a rebel spy in New York, dated August 28, makes some interesting disclosures:

“You have no idea of the zeal, eagerness and determination existing here to exterminate the rebels, utterly and thoroughly to exterminate the South. Recruiting is going on with immense success and the men are not impressed.⁵ I have been two weeks in the North, all eyes and ears, and standing a very strong chance of being arrested myself, living behind a mask and acting a part, yet trembling every moment and afraid to speak. The infatuation of the people is beyond belief. But, dear sir,  a terrible army is ready, and my heart has sunk within me to witness the tens of thousands flocking to Washington of hale, strong, hearty men, well equipped and furnished with every requirement. To-day, by chance, I was on the train with Gen. Corcoran from Philadelphia to New York, and, by a strange coincidence, he is coming to-night to this very hotel, which is about to be illuminated. The receptions, demonstrations and processions exceeded all that has ever been known in New York, excepting when the Prince of Wales was here. My eyes swam in tears, and my heart grew sick at what I saw and heard—the reports of his life in the South, and the extraordinary feeling for him here. Why, there were alone Irish enough to advance upon Richmond, besides the companies, regiments of cavalry, infantry, militia, regulars, police, Zouaves, Germans, all strong, hard-fighting men; and car-loads pass us wherever we travel. I enclose something for the Courier, but probably this will do more good if you show it to the editors, and urge upon them to write some fiery, inflammatory, inspiring articles, to urge upon the South to exert itself to the utmost. I tremble for fear this should not arrive in time to be of any use; for in two or three weeks three hundred thousand men will again be between Richmond and the Potomac, many new gunboats and powerful cannon. Don’t stop to let them outreach us. ‘Now or never,’ I fear, is the cry.”

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D. B. Nichols, superintendent of contrabands at Camp Barker, near Washington, appeals to humane people for clothing for the destitute Negroes. The government feeds them, but they suffer from lack of clothing. He says: “Since the military changes in the vicinity of Manassas, the blacks have taken a perfect stampede, and I understand that the road from Manassas Junction is lined with contrabands who will be here in due time. These fugitives have suffered the greatest privations in reaching this place. Some mothers have carried to children in their arms and on their shoulders for miles, and for all this I have never found a single one in whose heart the sparks of freedom burn so dim that, with all their trials, they would be willing to exchange their present condition for their former one.”

¹ The Wire Grass Minute Men were Co. L and the McIntosh County Guards were Co. M of the 26th Georgia.

² A cormorant is a type of seabird noted for its voracious appetite; from this the word can also be used to describe a greedy person, as here.

³ The “engagement” was the Battle of South Mountain on 14 September 1862.

⁴ In fairness to Guild, he (and his resources) may well have been stretched to the breaking point, as, otherwise, history credits him with making great strides in caring for the wounded on the field of battle, to wit: “Appointed as an assistant surgeon in the U.S. Army in 1849, Guild served for a time on Governor's Island in New York harbor; while there, he conducted pioneering studies of yellow fever and its spread. At the beginning of the Civil War, the Alabama-born Guild returned to the South and offered his services to the Confederacy. In the midst of the fighting during the Seven Days' Battles in the summer of 1862, Confederate general Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia and appointed Guild as that army's chief medical officer. It was a daunting task, as Guild later explained, being "assigned suddenly and unexpectedly to the onerous and responsible duties of medical director of this large army, without instructions of any kind and without knowledge of the previous orders and assignments of medical officers of an army already engaged in action." Guild remained in that position until the army surrendered at Appomattox in 1865. During his tenure, Guild was frustrated by the lack of medical supplies, but was also instrumental in improving care on the battlefield, and in establishing protocols—including the creation of a ‘Sanitary Camp,’ which quarantined soldiers afflicted with contagious illnesses—that helped prevent the spread of disease among the troops.” (http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org)

⁵ Meaning they were not press ganged or forced into the service, which was referred to as impressment.