Latest from the North.
We have received files of New York papers of Monday, the 24th instant.
Alleged defeat of General Price in Missouri--he is reported as retreating.
The Yankee papers, in view of the election, have, of course, gotten up a defeat for General Price. The New York Tribune has the news, dated from Kansas City. A telegram from St. Louis, dated the 22d, says:‘ A dispatch from General Curtis, dated Kansas City, at 6 o'clock last night, says:
’ "I have been pressed all day, and this afternoon the enemy passed around my flank, when I gave him heavy blows for several hours. I have heard firing in the east, and just received a messenger from General Pleasanton, who is fighting on the other side."
Leavenworth papers of the 20th furnish the following:
‘ General Blunt, with two thousand cavalry and four howitzers, entered Lexington on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Price attacked him with an overwhelming force, and, after a sharp fight, drove him from the city. Blunt fell back to the Little Blue river, fighting desperately and retarding the advance of the enemy. On Thursday and Friday, skirmishing continued between the little and Big Blue.
’ Yesterday something of an engagement seems to have occurred between the main forces of Price and Curtis, but the locality of the battle is not known, nor has anything been received at headquarters since Curtis's dispatch of last night. Blunt lost about fifty men in the fight of Wednesday.
General Pleasanton is believed to be co-operating with Curtis and Rosecrans, and A. J. Smith is near by.
Another telegram, dated on the same day, at Kansas City, gives some particulars of the defeat of Blunt, from which it appears that he was again whipped by Price and driven entirely back to the Big Blue; and even after that, one of the fords of the river was carried by Price. The telegram adds:
A message has been received from General Pleasanton stating that he was pressing Price with twenty thousand men; he had fought them on the field of yesterday, drove them from Independence, and pursuing them sharply. Price is heading for Kansas, and may cross the State line on his retreat. We move in Olathe soon.
Our rear had a sharp skirmish with the rebels at the Big Blue this evening, capturing fourteen and killing one.
Of course, if Price was pressing Blunt's rear at the Big Blue on Friday evening, he could not, at the same time, have been fighting Pleasanton at Independence. The affair is closed up by a dispatch from Kansas City, dated the 23d, based upon the story of an "informant," who claims that Price was defeated in a general battle. The telegram says:
‘ A general battle has been fought and a victory won. Price's whole army is reported to be retreating rapidly south. Our cavalry is in hot pursuit — altogether, with Pleasanton's force, numbering one thousand five hundred men only.
The enemy may strike for Fort Scott, but will be too closely followed to do much damage. Pleasanton closed yesterday's battle at Independence by capturing a large number of prisoners and three pieces of artillery. This morning our line was formed five miles south of Kansas City, on the West Point read.
’ Skirmishing continued several hours, when the whole force advanced and heavy fighting ensued. --The enemy rapidly fell back and formed a new line a mile and a half from the first position. An artillery engagement succeeded, our infantry mean while slowly advancing. Fighting was kept up for ten miles from this point, the enemy gradually falling back.
Pleasanton then came in on our left, and a grand charge followed, resulting in the total rout of the enemy.
When our informant left the front our whole cavalry was in vigorous pursuit, the infantry following them.
General Blunt had command of the volunteer force on the left, and General Detasler that in the centre, composed of militia, who behaved gallantly.
The Second Colorado Volunteers, Colonel Ford, in the thickest of the fight made several brilliant charges.
General Detseler, Governor Kearney and General Curtis were constantly with the advance.
Our loss was not heavy; that of the rebels, from the number of dead and wounded left on the field, must have been very great.
A letter in the New York Herald, from St. Louis, says:
‘ Price's march westward seems to be in two columns--one on the north side of the river, commanded by General Mar. duke, and the other, under
his own direction, with Fegin's division in the advance, on the south side. Fegin's men claimed this position, and swore roundly that Shelby had plundered the country so thoroughly that they could find nothing to steal after his passage. Price established his headquarters at Lexington on Friday. That night a portion of his men camped at Marshall, the county seat of Saline county--near the homes of many of his Missourians. The rebel lines extended on Saturday from Marshall to Wellington, seven miles west of Lexington.
’
Price in a Tight place.
Nothing but the most stupid blundering on our side can save Price from a good drubbing. He has received an accession of, perhaps, five thousand men since he entered the State, and lost about one thousand from casualties and desertions. Curtis is still accumulating strength at Independence. Pleasanton is well to the southwest of Lexington, and A. J. Smith, with the veterans of the Sixteenth corps, is moving from Sedalia. Our forces have re-occupied Booneville, and our cavalry have picked up many rebel stragglers in following their main army. A battle is imminent and cannot be long delayed. Price's fleetness saved him at Booneville, but he cannot go farther than Independence without running against a stump in the shape of the men under General Curtia Evidently the crisis is approaching.
The conduct of the rebels at Lexington.
Was marked by the same infamy which has followed in the track of Price ever since he entered the State. The town was first occupied by Colonel Rathbun with six hundred and sixty rebel cavalry. He took immediate possession of the Lexington Union office, and caused a proclamation to be issued informing the people that he would respect private property and allow citizens to transact their ordinary business as usual. This was Friday morning. His men obeyed the order and refrained from interfering with private property, but at night five hundred bushwhackers entered and stripped the town of everything valuable. The Colonel Rathbun was non est; but next morning he pretended to be highly indignant. The perpetrators had gone, and there was no remedy.
The rebels Quarrelling Among themselves.
While Price remained at Booneville the citizens estimated his strength at twenty thousand. They stage that Price urged the so-called Governor Thomas C. Reynolds to issue his proclamation declaring Booneville the capital; but Reynolds refused, and berated Price roundly for not assaulting Jefferson City.Quantrell, who has been reported dead and alive alternately for the last twelve months, is now said to be with Clark's brigade, which took Glasgow. Quantrell demanded Lieutenant-Colonel. Hynes's horse, in violation of the terms of surrender; and Quantrell got the horse, too. Very few horses ever get within his reach that escape.
There is no doubt that a half-dozen guerrilla bands hang on the flanks of Price's army to steal and pillage from the people and burn towns whenever they feel so inclined.
Some excitement exists at St. Joseph for the safety of the place.
The Latest from Georgia.
A letter in the Herald, dated at Chattanooga on the 15th instant, gives the following state of affairs in Georgia:‘ The theatre of war has been transferred to Whitfield, Walker and Dade counties, the northern border of the State. It has at length been definitely settled that a large force of rebel infantry is operating in those counties. Hitherto it has been thought that cavalry only were so far from home. Rome, Georgia, was abandoned, and is now used as a rebel base of supplies, which are brought there on the Coosa river. Resaca has been attacked by a party traveling northward; the road torn up again near Tilton; Dalton captured; Ringgold, Tunnel Hill and Cleveland evacuated, and a concentration of Union forces has taken place here.
’ Colonel Johnson, of the Forty-fourth United States colored troops, who garrisoned Dalton, surrendered to a vastly superior force night before last, seeing that resistance was hopeless. All but seventy-five or eighty of his command were taken by the enemy. No great amount of supplies fill into the enemy's hands; but his possession of the post, the railroad, and some hundreds of sturdy Africans, was indisputable. The guards and garrisons at Tunnel Hill and Ringgold rightly considered discretion the better part of valor yesterday, and came in. The enemy now have the tunnel--one thousand four hundred and sixty feet in length, through a gravel hill — and will undoubtedly destroy it. This will be a severe blow to the Atlantic and Western road, for damage may be done in half a day at the tunnel which weeks will not repair.
General Schofield came down from Knoxville yesterday morning and went to Dalton. There he received dispatches from General Sherman, at above Kingston, advising him not to attempt to get through to the front. General Schofield, in company with Brigadier- Generals Rice and Sprague, of the Army of the Tennessee, went back to Cleveland, ordered the evacuation of that point, and came down here to assume direction of affairs. All artillery and stores were brought away from Cleveland and the place abandoned for a time. No information has been received that the enemy have occupied it. So troops from all quarters come pouring into Chattanooga in detachments, and found the sound-hearted commander of the Ohio department to direct them when they got there. Brigades have come in from unexpected quarters, and nobody has any doubts of the safety of this post. Hood's army, were it as strong and enthusiastic as when he took it in hand last July, could make no impression on the immense strength of these forts, garrisoned as they are now.
Two days ago, General Sherman was at Kingston. when insurance rates on the rebel stock of provisions at Rome must have gone up somewhat. Sherman could leave force enough at Atlanta to whip Hood's army and bring force enough in pursuit to whip it. To-day he cannot be far behind the rebels; and we hourly expect to hear that he is fighting them. Emphatically, he has them between two fires.
From scouts and others who have come in, we learn that, after the surrender of Dalton and the Forty-fourth United States colored troops, Hood moved on Resaca, which was garrisoned by two Iowa regiments, under Colonel Weaver, Seventeenth Iowa. who refused to surrender, and gallantly held out until reinforced, when the enemy had to retire.
The army in their rear is said to have had some heavy skirmishing with Hood. A brisk fight is reported to have taken place on yesterday, near Smoke Creek gap, between a portion of the Fourteenth corps and the rear of Hood's army. The latter is said to have been routed and fell back towards Lafayette. Our troops occupy the gap and Trenton, thus hedging in between Hood's main army and the portions guarding the rear. A heavy fight is expected to take place in the neighborhood of Lafayette if Hood gives battle. He will have to do this or expose himself to the chance of being cut off. His arm is evidently to get into Alabama. From this, he is shut out by the range of mountains.
The fight in the Valley — what is expected of Sheridan.
However much the Confederates may have been deceived by Sheridan's lying bulletins, the Yankees have not been gulled. They can see that the capture of a certain number of guns is not a victory. A letter from Harper's Ferry, in the Herald, cities all Yankee generals whose heads have been out off for their failures in the Valley, and says that Hunter, who got as far as Lynchburg, came nearest to success, but got his head out off for failing to do what the Government expected of him. It says:‘ The question now arises, therefore, what is to be the fate of "Little Phil Sheridan, " who, after three very gallant and splendidly-fought engagements, has Wisely abstained from trying the strength of his teeth against the iron defences upon and around Mount Crawford! Is he, too, to feel the relentless headsman's Shall the failure to capture Lynchburg — now that Early has been reinforced by Longstreet — be imputed unto Sheridan, as unto others, in the light of a crime! Is the last born of our young hero brood to be strangled while still in the very teething process of his fame; or will not the strong common sense of General Grant step in to assert that "failure to accomplishes impossibilities" is not an offence for which any true soldier or officer should be punished? These are questions now much agitated here, as there can be little doubt that Sheridan will soon be moving this way, instead of pushing higher up towards Lynchburg. Some call his return a retreat; but others, and probably the wiser, contend that he is only returning towards his base, under orders from General Grant, to make ready for another expedition, to be undertaken with larger knowledge of the country and its necessities.
’ A correspondent of the same paper, writing from Sheridan's army, gives the following about the capture of our artillery. It was all picked up by cavalry:
‘ Devin, with his little brigade, kept swooping down upon their rear, gobbling up their officers and men by scores. He pressed them so hard it was impossible to get their artillery out of his way, or their wagons and ambulances. The drivers and cannoneers dismounted and ran off into the woods on either side of the road, and the rear guard of the demoralized rebel army, if it had one, followed suit, leaving the whole train in our hands. Cannon, limbers, caissons, wagons and ambulances were all huddled together in the greatest disorder.
’
General Devins's captures.
The following is the principal part of General Devins's captures: Twenty-two pieces of artillery, including a section of thirty-two pounders; twenty-nine army wagons, thirty ambulances, one hundred and forty-three mules and one hundred and seventeen horses, two stands of colors and a guidon. The Ninth New York captured one of the colors, and the Sixth the other. The First New York dragoons took the guidon. Three hundred and fifty-two prisoners were captured, and a large quantity of small arms, &c.
Captures by General Custer's brigade.
Custer took some twenty pieces of cannon, with a large number of prisoners — making forty- two pieces of artillery in all.
The pursuit continued.
We followed the enemy up to the of Fisher's Hill, where Colonel Nichols, with his gallant Ninth New York, charged them again and drove them back, leaving a considerable portion of their wagontrain in his hands, which he secured. We did not follow up the chase beyond Fisher's Hill. The infantry commands moved up to Cedar creek and went into their old camps, while the cavalry bivouacked for the night a little beyond Strasburg, at Buckland, and along the pike between Fisher's Hill and the former place.
At an early hour this morning--Thursday, the 20th,--the cavalry corps was again in motion. Colonel Powell captured fourteen pieces of cannon which the enemy had driven into the mountains on the left of the Valley.
At Woodstock, the column was halted and rested for a short time, and then we returned towards Strasburg again. Strong flanking parties were thrown out on either side of the pike to pick up the stragglers that were skulking along the sides of the mountains. A considerable number were picked up; but, night coming on, we could not see them in the darkness. Had it been day when we returned, we must have captured them by hundreds, as the country was full of them. We went into camp for the night between Thom's brook and Fisher's Hill.
Our losses in officers are heavy. In one of General Grover's brigades every field officer was struck and disabled or killed, and in another, only three were left. Colonel Tracy, of the Second Vermont, has arrived here with a bad shell wound in the hip.
The New Constitution of Maryland--no resistance to it to be allowed.
A Baltimore correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer, writing on the 22d, says that the official returns give the Free State Constitution five hundred majority, and adds:Other votes to come in from the soldiers will increase this to six hundred or one thousand. There can be no doubt of the matter whatever. Governor Bradford will issue his proclamation declaring it the organic law of the State in a day or two. It goes into effect on the first of November next. A desperate effort is to be made by some of our prominent lawyers to invalidate the instrument, but it will be of no avail. Revolutions never go backwards. The deed is done. No power on earth can again inaugurate slavery in Maryland. Those who attempt to do so will surely fall themselves before the overwhelming torrent of public sentiment. --They should, therefore, take warning.
Colonel Charles E. Phelps, of Baltimore, has been nominated by the Union party to represent the Third Congressional District (formerly Fourth) of Maryland in Congress. This is the district so often represented by Hon. Henry Winter Davis. Mr. Phelps is a young lawyer of fine talents and finished education. He is, in fact, a gentleman of decided ability. His blood has been shed freely in the cause of his country. It is said by some that Mr. Davis purposes taking up his permanent residence, at no distant day, in New York city.
The Democrats are holding conventions in our State and city, organizing their broken-down secessionized party. It includes, almost without an exception, those who sympathise with the rebellion, and are generally known here as secessionists favorable to dissolving the Union. They talk of nominating, and probably will, Colonel Maulaby, as their candidate for Governor. He is an old Democrat, and has been in the army; was at Harper's Ferry when it surrendered to "Stonewall" Jackson. The Colonel, however, is a very clever gentleman, and were be not in bad company, might make a good run.
Around Richmond.
The New York Herald expresses the opinion that Grant can take Richmond at any time with a few hours' hard fighting, and that the reason that "he does not do so is said to be his confidence in ultimately taking it without the sacrifice of life which its capture at the present time would involve." The Philadelphia Inquirer has a letter from below Richmond, from which we take the following:Three refugees arrived at Haxall's landing, direct from Richmond, on Thursday morning, and signaled to the gunboat at the station. A boat was immediately sent ashore and they were taken on board. They had in their possession detail passes from the war Department. One, Alfred A. Heath, was a printer in the Supreme Court of Appeals. He gave me a very interesting account of matters and things in the Confederacy, his facilities enabling him to become acquainted with the true state of affairs in Richmond and vicinity.
In the inner fortifications around Richmond are placed conscripts. They have been gathered by revocation of all detailed men. Farmers, millers, artisans, and most all, shoulder the musket, no exemption being allowed under any circumstances. Men who are owners of property, and who are, therefore, supposed to have some interest in gaining their independence, are placed on picket, if possible.
Washington Items.
It is now alleged, confidently, that Mr. Stanton will is offered the Chief Justiceship of the United States. Cameron, Banks and Butler are discussed for the of war. Banks is the Seward candidate, Butler is supported by the Chase-Greeley party, while Cameron thinks his services in Pennsylvania deserve this reward. No change will be announced until after the election, nor is it likely that Grant will hazard an attack upon Richmond the Presidential handicap is out of the way.Whatever may be Mr. Seward's private views, the action of the Government in reference to the late rebel-Canadian saids upon St. Albans and our lake steamers will be of the most energetic and conclusive character. General Dix has been here upon the subject, and his course in ordering our troops to the bandits across the Canadian line will be vigorously sustained and followed up. The General this evening for New York.
News from the Army of the Potomac about the Presidential struggle is of the most conflicting character. The fact seems to be that the old soldiers who served under him are for McClellan, but the new are for Lincoln. The officers, brave in the face of death, appear utterly cowed in presence of this question, the Lincolnites — all who seek promotion — being noisy and vehement, while the McClellan shoulder straps are mute as mice.
Private letters from New Orleans, received by the last steamer, state that the immense quantities of cotton stored in the interior of Texas, and which Banks failed to reach last spring, is rapidly being sent over the border into Mexico, where it is bought up by American and European speculators at comparatively small figures.
Refugees from the Shenandoah valley, who have recently arrived here, state that, notwithstanding the outcry which has been made about the devastation of the Valley by Sheridan, there is still an immense quantity of grain, &c., outside of the track taken by our army.
It is understood that the chief cause for the removal of General Averill from his command in the Valley was his of McClellan.
Iron the express south.
By way of Chire, the Yankee papers have New Orleans advices as late as the 16th instant. No new military movements of importance in the Gulf Department are reported. It is said that the Mexican General Corrinas, tired of being a patriot and adhering to the republican cause, has surrendered himself and his forces to the imperialist, and accepted a Brigadier-General's commission from Maximilian.--General Drayton has succeeded Ford in Command of the rebel troops at Brownsville. General fluribut, commanding the Department of the Gulf, has issued an order regulating plantation labor.
More of the "rebel" Vermont raiders.
Further developments relative to the raid from Canada into Vermont have been made. The leader of the gang, styling himself "Bennett H. Young, First Lieutenant, Provisional Army, Confederate States of America," has written a letter acknowledging his connection with the affair. He says he went to Vermont for the express object of burning towns in that State, in retaliation for General Sheridan's destruction of property in the Shenandoah valley. He claims that he has violated no law of Canada. Another of the arrested raiders has made a confession, in watch he says that their leader was commissioned by the rebel Government for this special expedition.
Miscellaneous.
Gold in New York, on Saturday, went up to 212½, a rise of five cents on the day before. The Yankees don't see Sheridan's victory in the same light that he does.Captain Ashley, of the ship Carolus Magnus, from London, reports that, on the 14th of September, in the month of the English channel, he spoke a bark which had spoken the privateer Tallahassee the same day. G. the 2d of October, Captain Ashley saw, on the eastern edge of the Banks of Newfoundland, the deck of a ship which had been burned.
A major-general in the English army, Lord Stanhops, is on a visit to the Army of the Potomac.
A boy of eighteen, named Eads, employed in the quartermaster's department at Nashville, has obtained fifty thousand dollars by forgery and decamped.
Six of the thirteen guns intended for Cedar Point battery, at the entrance of Sandusky harbor, have arrived at Sandusky. They are old thirty-two-pounders, rifled, and will be mounted shortly.
A blockade-runner, recently arrived at an English port, reports that the Wilmington blockading squadron now numbers one hundred and seventy vessels.
The Rocky Mountain News of the 5th says that nearly one hundred persons have been killed by the Indians along the Platte and Arkansas rivers since the beginning of the outbreaks, about three months age.
Fifty places of business in Eastport, Maine, were destroyed by fire on the 23d. The loss is estimated at $300,000.
On the 15th instant, the hills in the vicinity of Woodstock, Vermont, were white with snow.
The court-house at Mayfield, Kentucky, was burned by Confederates on Wednesday night.
