Latest Northers news.
further Intelligence from Tennessee.
death of old Abe's son.
&c. &c. &c.
We have received copies of the New York Herald of the 21st and 23d.
The following is a summary of the latest news from the North: Further from Tennessee--railroad communication between Memphis and charles.
ten out off, &c.
Furture from Trenessei — Railroad communication between Menphis and Charleston cut off, &c.
It was reported that the bridge, at Bridgeport, some seventy miles above, was also disabled; but this is not confirmed.
St. Louis, Feb. 19
--The Republican's ?Cairo dispatch says that the latest advices from Fort Donelson, report that the gunboat St. Louis, Capt. Padding, proceeded up the Cumberland to Clarksville, and found the enemy abandoning that place in a panic.
Two large flatboats, louden with munitions of war, were captured at the rolling mill just below Clarksville.
The rebels were moving everything to Nashville, where the next rebel stand would be made.
The latest dispatches from Port Donelson.
St. Louis, Feb. 19,
--Six additional boat loads of the Fort Donelson prisoners arrived last night and this morning, and will be speedily forwarded to their destination.
The actual number of prisoners taken is 13,310. Among them is General West, who has not previously been mentioned.
The names of the rebel officers captured on Saturday last were incorrectly reported from Sedalla this morning. They are as follows: Brigadier-General Price, Col. Dorsey, Col. Cross, and Capt. Inge, all of Major-General Price's staff.
Everything at Fort Donelson was progressing satisfactorily.
Our army are encamped in the captured works of the enemy, living comfortably in the log huts and tents of the late rebel soldiers.
Our army were very enthusiastic and anxious to march against Nashville.
With the exception of severe colds, consequent upon their recent exposure, the army was well.
Cairo, Feb. 20.
--There remains only sixteen members of company G, 11th Illinois regiment, who are not killed or wounded, or taken prisoners; and of the whole regiment not over one hundred and forty effective men are left.
Two thousand prisoners left this place last evening, and two boat loads have just arrived.
Lieut. Phelps's official report of the Tennes. See river expedition.
The following official report of Lieutenant Phelps we find in our northern papers. It will be seen that he reiterates the statements previously given of the wonderful outbreak of Union sentiment at the South:
United States Gunboat Conestoga, Tennessee River, Feb. 10, 1862.
Flag Officer A. H. Foots, United States Navy, Commanding Naval Forces Western Waters.
Sir:
Soon after the surrender of Fort Henry, on the 6th instant, I proceeded, in obedience to your order, up the Tennessee river with the Taylor, Lieutenant Commanding Gwen; Lexington, Lieutenant Commanding Shirk, and this vessel, forming a division of the flotilla, and arrived after dark at the railroad crossing, twenty-five miles above the fort, of camp equipage abandoned by the flying rebels.
The draw of the bridge was found closed, and the machinery for its turning disabled.
About half a mile above were several rebel transport steamers escaping up stream.
Flag Officer A. H. Foots, United States Navy, Commanding Naval Forces Western Waters.
Sir:
A party was landed, and in one hour I had the satisfaction to see the draw open. The Taylor being the slowest of the gunboats, Lieutenant Commanding Gwen landed a force to destroy a portion of the railroad track and to secure such military stores as might be found, while I directed Lieutenant Commanding Shirk to follow me with all speed in chase of the fleeing boats. In five hours this boat succeeded in forcing the rebels to abandon and burn those of their boats loaded with military stores. The first one fired (Samuel Orr) had on board a quantity of submarine batteries, which very soon exploded. The second one was freighter with powder, cannon, shot, grape, balls, &c. Fearing an explosion from the fired boats — there were two together — I had stopped at a distance of one thousand yards; but even there our skylights were broken by the concussion, the light upper deck was raised bodily, doors were forced open, and locks and fastenings everywhere broken. The whole river, for half a mile round about, was completely ‘"beaten up"’ by the falling fragments, and the shower of shot, grape, balls, &c. The house of a reported Union man was blown to pieces, and it was suspected there was design in landing the boats in from of the doomed home. The Lexington having fallen behind, and being without a piloting board, I concluded to wait for both of the boats to come up. Joined by them, we proceeded up the river. Lieut. Com. Gwen had destroyed some of the trestle work of the end of the bridge, burning with them lots of camp equipage. J. N. Brown, formerly a Lieutenant in the navy, now signing himself C. S. N., had fled with such precipitation as to leave his papers behind. These Lieut. Com. Gwen brought away, and I send them to you, as they give an official history of the reallocating preparations on the Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee. Lieut. Brown had charge of the construction of gunboats.
At night, on the 7th, we arrived at a landing in Hardin county, Tennessee, known as Cerro Gordo, where we found the steamer Eastport being converted into a gunboat. Armed boat crews were immediately sent on board, and search made for means of destruction that might have been devised. She had been scuttled and the suction pipes broken. These leaks were soon stopped. A number of rifle shots were fired at our vessels, but a couple of shells dispersed the rebels. On examination, I found that there were large quantities of timber and lumber prepared for fitting up the Eastport; that the vessel itself — some two hundred and eighty feat long — was in excellent condition and already half finished; considerable of the plating designed for her was lying on the bank, and everything at hand to complete her. I, therefore, directed Lieutenant Commanding Gwen to remain with the Taylor to guard the prize and to load the lumber, -- while the Lexington and Conestoga should proceed still higher up.
Soon after daylight on the 8th we passed Eastport, Miss., and at Chickasaw, further up, near the State line, seized two steamers, the Sallie Wood and Muscis, the former laid up and the latter freighted with iron, destined for Richmond and for rebel use. We then proceeded on up the river, entering the State of Alabama, and ascending to Florence, at the foot of the Muscle Shoals. On coming in sight of the town three steamers were discovered, which were immediately set on fire by the rebels. Some shots were fired from the opposite side of the river below. A force was landed, and considerable quantities of supplies, marked ‘"Fort Henry"’ were secured from the burning wrecks. Some had been landed and stored. These I seized, putting such as we could bring a way on our vessels, and destroying the reminder. No flats or other craft could be found. I found, also, more of the iron and plating intended for the Eastport.
A deputation of citizens of Florence waited upon me, first desiring that they might be made able to quiet the fears of their wives and daughters, with assurances from me that they would not be molested; and secondly praying that I would not destroy their railroad bridge. As for the first, I told them we were neither ruffians nor savages, and that we were there to protect from violence and to enforce the law; and, with references to the second, that if the bridge were away we could ascend no higher, and that it could possess no military importance, so far as I saw, as it simply connected Florence itself with the railroad on the south bank of the river.
We had seized three of their steamers, one the half flushed gunboat, and had forced the rebels to burn six other, loaded with supplies; and their loss, with that of the freight, is a heavy blow to the enemy. Two boats are still known to be on the Tennessee, and are doubtless hidden in some of the cracks, where we shall be able to find them when there is time for the search. We returned on the night of the 8th to where the Eastport lay.--The crew of the Taylor had already gotten on board of the prime an immense amount of lumber, &c. The crews of the three boats set to work to finish the undertaking, and we have brought away probably 250,000 feet of the best quality of ship and building lumber, all the iron, machinery, spikes, plating, nafis, &c., belonging to the rebel gunboats, and I caused the mill to be destroyed, where the lumber had bean sawed.
Lieutenant Commanding Gwen had, in our absence, enlisted some twenty-five Tennessee, who gave information of the encampment of Colonel Drew's rebel regiment at Savannah, Tennessee. A portion of the six or seven hundred men were known to be pressed men, and all were hardly armed. After consultation with Lieutenants Commanding Gwen and Smith, I determined to make load attach upon the encampment. Lieutenant Commanding Smith, with thirty riflemen, came on board the Conestoga, leaving his vessel to guard the Eastport, and, accom
panied by the Taylor, we preceded up to that place, prepared to land one hundred and thirty riflemen and a twelve-pounder rifled howitzer. Lieutenant Commanding Gwen took command of this force when landed, but had the mortification to find the camp deserted.
The rebels had fled at one o'clock in the night, leaving considerable quantities of arms, clothing, shoes, camp utensils, provisions, implements, &c., all of which were secured of destroyed, and their winter quarters of log huts were burned. I seized, also, a large mail bug, and send you the letters giving military information. The gunboats were then dropped down to a point where arms, gathered under the rebel ‘"press law,"’ had been stored, and an armed party, under Second Master Goudy, of the Taylor, succeeded in seizing about seventy rifles and following pieces. Returning to Cerro Gordo, we took the Eastport, Sallte Wood, and Muscle in tow, and come down the river to the railroad crossing. The Muscle sprang a leak, and all efforts failing to prevent her sinking, we were forced to abandon her, and with her a considerable quantity of fine lumber. We are having trouble in getting through the draw of the bridge here.
I now come to the, to me, most interesting portion of this report, one which has already become lengthy; but I must trust you will find some excuse for this in the fact that it embraces a history of labors and movements, day and night, from the 9th to the 10th of the month, all of which details I deem it proper to give you. We have met with the most gratifying proofs of loyalty everywhere across Tennessee and in the portions of Mississippi and Alabama we visited. Most affecting instances greeted us almost hourly. Men, women and children several times gathered in crowds of hundreds, shouted their welcome, and hailed their national flag with an enthusiasm there was no mistaking it was genuine and heartfelt.
These people braved everything to go to the river bank where a sight to their flag might once more be enjoyed, and they have experienced; as they related, every possible form of persecution. Tears flowed freely down the cheeks of men as well as of women, and there were those who had fought under the Stars and Stripes at Moultrie, who in this manner testified to their joy.
This display of feeling and sense of gladness at our success, and the hopes it created in the breasts of so many people in the heart of the Confederacy, astonished us not a little, and I assure you, sir, I would not have failed to witness it for any consideration. I trust it has given us all a higher sense of the sacred character of our present duties. I was assured at Savannah that of the several hundred troops there more than one-half, had we gone to the attack in time, would have hailed us as deliverers, and gladly enlisted with the national force.
In Tennessee, the people generally, in their enthusiasm, braved Secessionists and spoke their views freely, and in Mississippi and Alabama what was said was guarded. ‘"If we dared express ourselves freely, you would hear such a shout greeting your coming as you never heard."’ ‘"We know there are many. Unionists among us, but a reign of terror makes us afraid of our shadows."’ We were told, too, ‘"Bring us a small, organized force, with arms and ammunition for us, and we can maintain our position, and put down rebellion in our midst."’ There were, it is true, whole communities who, on our approach, fled into the woods, but these were where there was less of the loyal element, and where tales of our coming with firebrands burning, destroying, ravishing, and plundering.
The crows of these vessels have had a very laborious time, but have evinced a spirit in the work highly creditable to them. Lieutenants Commanding Gwen and Shirk have been untiring, and I owe to them and to their officers many obligations for our entire success.
From Missouri — sentence of the bridge Runners mitigated — reported evacuation of Columbus, &c.
Private advices indicates that Columbus has been or is being evacuated.
Preparations will undoubtedly be made for an immediate advance on Memphis.
Professor Swallow, the State Geologist, was arrested last night and committed to a military prison on the charge of disloyalty.
Springfield, Mc., Feb. 19.--It is not probable that our army will follow General Price very far into Arkansas. There is considerable talk of fortifying Neosho and placing detachments of troops at Cassville.
Letters found in Price's headquarters reveal a strong Union sentiment in Arkansas.
Albert Pike is working wonders among the Indians.
Cassville, Mo., Feb. 16.--We are in pursuit of the enemy. He is now encamped at Keysville, eight miles Southwest of this place expecting five regiments from Arkansas. Perhaps Priec will make a stand at Keysville; but it is doubtful, as his army seems demoralized. At McDowell's on Flat Creek, we attacked his rear guard. They made a weak resistance, and then precipitately fled.
General Bunter and the Fort Donelson victory.
Headq'rs Department of Missouri, St. Louis, Feb. 19, 1862.
Major-General D. Hunter, commanding Department of Kansas, at Fort Leavenworth:To you more than any other man out of this Department are we indebted for our success at Fort Donelson.
In my strait for troops to reinforce General Grant, Applied to you.
You responded nobly, placing your forces at my disposition.
This enabled us to win the victory.
Receive my most heartfelt thanks.
H. W. Halleck, Major General.
Arrest of General Buckner on a Change of treason.
