Progress of the War.
We take from our Northern files and Confederate exchanges the latest intelligence about the progress of the war:
The fight in Louisiana.
The very latest Northern intelligence published about the recent fight in Louisiana is a telegram dated at Grand Ecore, La, April 11th, and is published in the New York Herald:‘ The advance guard of Gen. Banks's army, comprising two brigades of cavalry, one of infantry and four batteries, was attacked by twenty thousand rebels near Mansfield, fifty miles this side of Shreveport and fifteen miles beyond Pleasant Hill, on Friday last Compelled to yield to superior number, our forces fell back to Gen. Emory's division, of the 19th army corps, which repelled the advance of the enemy and repulsed him with great slaughter.
’ Gen Banks deemed it prudent to fall back to Pleasant Hill, where he could choose his own position, and on Saturday, about 5 P. M, met a renewed attack of the enemy with Emory's and Smith's troops.
He not only gallantly maintained his own ground, but forced the enemy, which was 20,000 strong, under Kirby Smith, to retire hastily and in great disorder.
We captured several pieces of artillery and a large quantity of small arms, three battle flags, and five or six hundred prisoners, including three Lieutenant Colone's and thirty line officers.
Our entire loss is three thousand, that of the enemy much greater.
Gen Ransom, commanding the 13th army corps, was wounded, but is rapidly recovering.
Col Benedict, of the 162d New York, was killed.
Gen Banks will advance again shortly.
The rebel Gen Mouton was killed.
Gen Banks will advance again shortly.
Affairs in the Southwest.
The Memphis Bulletin, of the 13th, says a dispatch from Washington to Missouri calls for troops to be sent to the frontier as soon as possible. Gen Sherman had previously telegraphed to Nashville to send on troops, saying not a moment should be lost.The Bulletin, of the 16th, is received. The headquarters of the left wing of the 16th army corps is at Athens. The headquarters of the 2d division is at Pulaski, and the headquarters of a detachment of the 4th division is at Decatur, Ala.
Brig. Gen. Dadge, of lowa, is in command.
The steamers Emma and Hillman have arrived, and report Fort Pillow evacuated by the Confederates. The Emma was fired into above the fort.
The direction in which the rebels with Irew is not known as yet, although it is surmised that they took a northern course from the fort; that the party which attacked the enemy, supposed to be the rear guard, kept up the bank of the river as far as could he seen.
From reports that reach us we have no reason to believe that Forrest has as yet removed his headquarters from Jackson.
Since Forrest's late operations, much larger numbers of refugees are flocking northwards than at any previous period since the beginning of the war.
The Bulletin says Gen. Steels is making a successful advance in the direction of Red river, and has no doubt he is by this time in Camden.
The new State Constitution has been ratified by the people of Arkansas, in a vote of 12,370. The opposition vote was 227. The Senators repaired to their room in the State House to organize on the 12th.
The number present was sixteen, one short of a quorum, but more will arrive to-morrow. Twenty- five is the whole number. All the districts had been represented in the State but two. The Representatives met in their hall. Allis is Speaker protem. Forty-two answered to their names. Three more are in town sick. It takes six more to form a quorum.
The candidates for the United States Senate are D. Butler, Q. T. Underwood, J. Helera, Issac Mills, Col. Allis, Dr. Beloatte, and W. D S. Snow, of Pine Bluff; Dr. Kirkwood and C. T. Boyton, of Lit le. Rock; Col Fishback, of Fort Smith; Dr. Gregory, of Van Buren, and A. Doseen, and others. Some of the members were captured and one is said to have been killed, on their way to Little Rock.
The Fort Pillow affair.
A. B. Witmore of the United States navy, writes to the Memphis Argus, the following account of the Fort Pillow fight:‘ The combined forces of Major Gen. Forrest, Chalmers, McCulloch and Porter, numbering seven or eight thousand, made an assault on our fortifications at about six P. M, on the 12th. Our forces consisted of 250 whiltes and 350 blacks. The United States steamer New. Era, lying off the fort, shelled the rebels and drove them from the position which they had gained on the south side of the fort. They again assaulted our works from the north side, and owing to the timber it was impossible for the guns of the New. Erat to dislodge them, though a continual shower of shell and shrapnel was rained down on them.
’ The garrison was so small, and the rebel force so overwhelming, the enemy gained our works about 3,30 P. M, and the gallant few who were left alive were taken prisoners. The guns of the fort consisted of two twelve pounder howitzers, two ten pound, rifled, and two ten pounder Parror, six pieces in all. Major Booth and two Captains of the 6th United States artillery, colored, were killed early in the fight, also two Lieutenants of the 6th were severely wounded.
Capts Bradford and Porter, Adjutant Lemmon, and Lieut Barr, of the 13th Tennessee cavalry, were killed and some others, who could not be identified. Maj Bradierd, commanding the post, was taken prisoner, and is reported by rebels as having been paroled, with the liberty of their camps, and violating it by escaping last night; but I was told that he was taken out and shot late in the evening.
Capt Young, Provost Marshal, was taken prisoner slightly wounded and paroled, with the liberty of their camps, and allowed to see his wife. He says that our forces behaved gallantly throughout the whole action. Our loss in killed exceeds two hundred.
He also stated that Gen. Forrest shot one of his own men for refusing quarters to our men.
Lieut Commander Thos Patterson, commanding naval station at Memphis, sent the steamer Platte Valley, with U. S steamer Sliver Cloud in tow, with ammunition to Fort Pillow. When we arrived in sight of the fort the commissary and other public buildings, with some twelve stores and private property, were in flames, and the rebels were seen moving about applying torches to the barracks, stables and huts.
We threw shells for thirty minutes at detached squads, when a flag of truce appearing we ceased firing and sent a boat ashore. It presently returned with a communication from Gen. Forrest, saying that a large number of our wounded were suffering for want of proper care, and that he would allow us to bury our dead and remove our wounded under a flag of truce, on our agreement that we would not remove anything from the battle field. Capt Ferguson, knowing that our shells would explode among our wounded, causing greater loss of life, agreed to the proposal. Major Anderson, aid to Gen. Eorrest, drew up the agreement giving us possession of the fortifications and landing till 5 P. M, the truce to end at that hour. The rebels were efficient, and aided us as much as possible in our work. The wounded who were able to walk generally came down the bluff road, supported on either side by a rebel soldier.
He then appends a list of the wounded sent to Cairo by the platte Valley, and remarks:
I know that in storming a fort, where such desperate resistance is offered as was here offered, many must full, but in this instance it looks to me more like indiscriminate butchery than honorable warfare, Now that the excitement is over, the
thought of those charred bodies, together with the nauses by the stench of roasting human flesh, and two hundred or more bodies, mangled and dying, pleading for quarters, with distorted faces, bayonetted eyes, broken skulls,&c, I am sick and can write no more.
Gen. Forrest's Capture of Paducah.
A correspondent of the Mobile Advertiser writes from Forrest's expedition an account of the fight at Paducah, which is the first Southern account which has been published. He says:‘ A portion of the force concentrated at Trento went under the command of Col Falkner (Kentuckian) to Union City, and after a brisk fight of short duration, in which Lt Col Landrum was severely wounded and one man killed, the place surrendered with some five hundred and fifty prisoners--tories, under Hawkins and Hardy. Their horses, equipments and supplies were taken.
’ The other column, composed of Bell's Brigade and Thompson's with the exception of Faikner's regiment, under Gen. Buford pushed on with Gen. Forrest rapidly to Paducah, which place was reached about 10 o'clock on the morning of the 25th -- The Federal force was two thousand infantry, one negro regiment and two gunboats of large size, carrying heavy slege pieces and rifled six pounders.--Two siege pieces were mounted at the fort and a battery of light artillery inside. The attack began at once, not, however, with the object of capturing or routing the enemy here; for it was well known that he would take shelter behind his fortifications, which were strong and made impregnable by abattis, ditches and spikes; but for the purpose of getting possession of the town, and capturing or destroying the immense quantities of commissary, quartermaster, ordnance, and medical supplies. The enemy was immediately driven into and beyond the town, behind his fortifications, where he was kept until night, while we carried away or destroyed his stores. Some two thousand hats, pairs of boots, pants, coats, &c., and a considerable quantity of medicines, were taken away, thus supplying fully the wants of our soldiers, and the balance burned; but it is the general impression that more might have been taken away had quartermasters and commissaries done their full duty. The amount of stores of all kinds was immense, and cannot be correctly estimated. The enemy's encampment, which he had hastily abandoned, was also destroyed.
Our forces retiring at nightfall the enemy immediately set fire to two blocks of buildings behind which our men had been fighting, fearing that the attack would be renewed in the morning. Nearly the whole town was thus burned to ashes, and great damage done to the balance by shelling. All the Union men left their houses and went into the fort, while their women and children took shelter under the bank of the river. Southern men and their families remained in town, and many of them were seriously injured. Two women were killed by a shell, another with her child in her arms by a solid shot.
Our soldiers fought heroically, and with reckless desperation. Col Thompson, with his Kentucky brigade, and Col Barteau, commanding the 2d Tennessee cavalry, pressed forward to within thirty yards of the fort, and held this position for more than four hours and a half. But the loss incurred in this dangerous and critical position did not repay the advantages gained. Col Thompson was killed, and Lieut Col Crossland, of his command, badly wounded. Lieut. Col Morton, Capt McKnight and Capt Reeves, of Bartean's command, were severely and dangerously wounded. Others were killed and wounded, though it is not thought our entire loss will exceed sixty. The enemy acknowledges a loss of fifty four killed in the fort and over a hundred wounded. None were shot lower than the neck or shoulders. All the gunners were picked off at one gun on the fort. Gen. Forrest's escort encountered one of the gunboats and killed a number of the gunners, and kept it at bay for nearly half an hour. Eighty one prisoners were captured. Only three of our men, who were too badly wounded to be taken away, fell into the hands of the enemy.
The bushwhackers have fired upon and killed a few of our men. They are characters who belong to neither army, and are generally deserters from both Plunder is their object, and night is their time for their deeds. They rob citizens as well as soldiers, and are especially a terror to the inoffensive and defenceless.
Destruction of property in and near Suffolk.
A correspondent of the Petersburg Express writes from Suffolk an account of the ravages of the enemy on their last trip to that place:Early on the morning of the 13th a force of negro cavalry came into town from their camp, about three miles below. The few white soldiers accompanying them stopped near Elisha Norfleet's place, about three-fourths of a mile from town, and the negroes were turned loose upon the unarmed and defenceless old men, women, and children, and nearly every house in town was entered, robbed, and the inmates insulted and abused.-- They entered the residence of Dr. J. S Browne, and stole his daughter's watch and broke up and destroyed all her fancy articles on the centre table, threatening to shoot the Doctor.-- They next forced an entrance into the residence of Dr. Robert Murray, an aged man and a cripple, and stole his bed blankets, and the clothes of his wife and daughter, amounting in value to $1,500 or more, frightening the ladies with their threats. At Mrs. Ann Browne's, they stole a gold watch, earrings, cuff pins, and bracelet from Mrs. Pipkin.-- Took Dr. L. C. Holland's pocket book, containing about fifty dollars in State funds from him, and attempted to force him to take their hated oath of allegiance, which he declined; broke into the stores of solomon Hodges, Joseph P. Hall and Jas. B. Norfleet, robbing them of everything they wanted, amounting to thousands of dollars in the aggregate; destroyed all the tools in M. Faulk's saddlery, and all the shoemaking tools in the shops of Ira Holloway, George Bartiett and Wright Pinner, also the blacksmith tools of Wm. Cherry. They robbed the residence of Benjamin Herrell, an old man of nearly 80 years, of everything he possessed that could be carried off; stole a watch from J. E Bonnewell, and numerous other articles from A. M. Chamiel, Geo. R. Smith and others. Scarcely any one escaped.
And worse than this, two of the most respectable ladies in the town, ladies of high social position and refined feelings, being found with no male defenders near, were grossly insulted with propositions and attempted violence too indelicate to appear in print. These ladies were forced to defend themselves with knives against great black, greasy buck negroes, whilst their friends were away in the army. This fiendish proceeding has produced a sensation in Suffolk which has been equalled by nothing that has transpired since the war commenced.
A mile or two from town they arrested and carried off Mills Pruden, a quiet, inoffensive, good man, charging him with shooting at them. They tried him and condemned him to death, but he was pardoned and released through the influence of some negroes belonging to a neighbor who happened to be with them. But they robbed him of all his provisions and his horse, leaving a large family to suffer.
This negro party was said to have been led in their depredations by Tom Campbell, formerly a slave to Judge R. H. Baker.
The negro cavalry have now been ordered to Yorktown, and a part of the 5th Pennsylvania cavalry are at Bernard's Mill. There are five cavalry regiments near Portsmouth--11th Penn, 5th Penn, 5th N. Y, 1st N. Y, (Dodge's,) and 20th N. Y. Gen Smith, recently sent to Butler, takes command of this force, and his headquarters are at the farm of Col S. M. Wilson.
From the Trans-Mississippi Department.
The Mobile Tribune publishes some items of news from the Trans- Mississippi Department, obtained from a gentleman just from New Orleans. The battle at Fort De. Russey, between Major Trogean of our forces, and Brigadier General Smith, commanding a part of Sherman's army, lasted four hours. The exact number of killed, wounded, and missing is not known, but our informant says that seven steamboats filled with wounded, composed of Connecticut, Massachusetts, renegade Louisianan, and negro regiments, were sent to Baton Rouge. Four steamboat loads of Northwestern men were sent to Cairo. General Smith, in his report, says that "the Confederate loss is very light," but that "our (the Federal) loss is very heavy, which is always the case with the assaulting party." The number of our prisoners taken was 312 privates and 26 officers, who were sent to New Orleans.All the white troops from New Orleans, Baton Rouge. Natchez, and Vicksburg, have been sent to Virginia; also, all troops belonging to Grant's army now on furlough were ordered to report to the Army of Virginia
Brig Gen. James M. Tuttle, in command of Natchez, has broken up all the negro schools there. White schools are again opened. The white teachers have to take the oath. All negroes able to work have been sent to the leased plantations in Louisiana. Those unfit for duty are put in the negro prison at the cotton press, which caused the black soldiers to mutiny. They expressed great dissatisfaction with the freedom they were receiving at the hands of the Yankees, and were willing to return to their masters within the Southern lines.-- They think, however, that the Confederates will hang them, an idea that the Yankees are continually preaching to them. The 4th Mississippi negro regiment was sent to suppress the riot.
The garrison at Natchez consists of four companies of the 4th Illinois cavalry and the 6th Mississippi negro regiment.
Vicksburg is controlled by negro troops under Gen. McArthur.
Brig Gen. Tuttle has banished from Natchez Mrs. A. L. Wilson for smuggling four pounds of powder to her husband in. Louisiana; Miss. Welst, for smuggling quinine to Louisiana; Miss. Ophelia Myers, for writing a letter saying that she was living under a Yankee despotism; Mrs. Calvert and daughter, for harboring her son, who was at home on furlough; and Mrs. M. E. Whitehurst, for expressing rebel sentiments. All of them are of the most respected families of Natchez. Deserters entering their lines are, by order or Gen. Grant, compelled to take the oath and go North or return to the Confederacy
Grant had also issued orders that all cotton coming into their lines shall be paid one third on delivery and the other two thirds shall be paid after the war, on condition that the parties prove their loyalty to the United States Government.
No one is allowed to go in or out of Baton Rouge without taking the oath.
Cotton is quoted in New Orleans at 40 cents in gold, or 70 cents in greenbacks, but the difficulty of getting cotton across the lines is very great, owing to the vigilant work of the guerillas who destroy almost all that they attempt to send over.
Our cavalry are destroying all cotton along Red river that is within reach of the enemy.
The Southern sympathizers in New Orleans and everywhere else in that part of the country are hopeful and sanguine of the success of our cause, and give demonstrations of the fact on every available occasion.
