We have received copies of New York papers of Saturday, the 24th instant.
From Hood's army.
The latest intelligence from the "pursuit" of General Hood is from Nashville on the 23d. The telegram says:‘ The latest accounts from the front locate General Thomas's headquarters at Rutherford Hill, yesterday morning, eight miles this side of Columbia. Since that time our forces have crossed Duck river, and have moved to a point south of Columbia. Our cavalry forces crossed at Hunter's ford, below Columbia, and dashed into the town, the enemy meanwhile retiring without firing a shot. We captured about fifty stragglers.
’ The rebel force was, at last accounts, at Pulaski, yesterday morning. They are probably some distance south of that place to day. They are closely followed by our cavalry. No particular damage was done to the town of Columbia by the passage through it of the two armies.
At least one third of Hood's army are without arms and equipments, everything which impedes their flight having been thrown away. Rebel deserters and prisoners report the only effective corps of Hood's army to be S. D. Lee's.
Forrest effected a junction with Hood at Columbia on Tuesday evening. The water on the shoals is fifteen feet deep and at a stand-still.
Having failed to catch Hood, the Yankees are supplying the omission by wonderful stories of what damage they have done him. They put his loss at eighteen general officers, fifty-one cannon and seventeen thousand men. The Yankee loss is fixed at seven thousand men and two general officers. A telegram gives some more of the same sort of stuff:
Frank Cheatham told his aunt, Miss. Rage, that Hood was ordered to Nashville against his own wishes; but he lames Hood for not attacking Schofield at Spring Hill. Hood ordered Bate to attack at Spring Hill, and he did not do it.
The rebel army is now beyond Columbia. During the rebel tarry in front of Nashville they captured but two locomotives and ten cars. The railroad is but little impaired, and trains are running up to Spring Hill; but two small bridges destroyed. Trains were to run to Murfreesboro' on Sunday.
Telegraph communication is all right with all points; but two small trestles are destroyed on the Johnsonville road. Johnsonville itself was not destroyed.
Hood has a pontoon above the shoals on the Tennessee river, where our gunboats cannot reach them.
The correspondent of the Nashville Union also gives this account of what Hood intended to do if General Thomas had not interfered with his plans:
A few days since, General Hood and some of his staff, together with Cheatham, were at the house of a gentleman with whom I conversed to-day, and who was within their lines, and while there Hood stated that he had intended at first to assault Nashville; that while he felt confident he could do so with success, he had concluded that the sacrifice would be to great unless called upon to do so as a last resort. He proposed, instead, to-blockade the Cumberland above and below, and cut the Louisville and Nashville railroad, and then Thomas would be compelled to evacuate the city; "for," said Hood, "he has but the Fourth corps and a few conscripts; I know that all the stories about his strength are false; his men are few and demoralized"; and all present concurred with him. No longer ago than Wednesday night, Cheatham stated, as I am positively informed, that he had no doubts about capturing this city. "We have taken stronger places," were his words, "and we will take Nashville."
From Sherman's army — account of the capture of Fort M'Allister.
The Cincinnati Commercial publishes a long history of the march of Sherman through Georgia. It is rather dull, and as the following summary of it contains about all the lies given in the original, we give it:It was, in the main, uneventful, so far as fighting was concerned, hardly anything in that way having occurred between Atlanta and Savannah. It was not known to the army or to General Kilpatrick himself that he had been whipped, or that he had lost his hat.--In the skirmishes on the march, no general officer was injured, and all the losses from straggling and otherwise will not reach one thousand. The army moved in four columns. Howard on the right and Slocum on the left, with the cavalry in front and rear. In this manner it covered a strip of country nearly sixty miles in width, for three hundred miles.
Sherman has cut through Georgia a swath of sixty miles, and has completely destroyed the great railroad quadrilateral of which Atlanta, Macon, Augusta and Savannah are the four corners. The railroad leading east from Atlanta to Augusta is destroyed for over seventy miles, including the bridges over the Yellow and the contiguous river. The railroad running south from Atlanta to Macon is destroyed for eighty miles. The railroad running east from Macon to Savannah is destroyed for a distance estimated at from ninety to one hundred miles. The railroad running between Augusta and Savannah is destroyed from Waynesboro' to Savannah, a distance of over eighty miles.
The wholesale work of destruction was carried on leisurely, and with an eye to completeness. Every rail was heated and bent; every tie, bridge, water station, tank, wood shed and depot building was burned, and every culvert blown up.--For miles on the Macon and Savannah and Augusta and Savannah roads the track is carried over marshy territory by extensive trestle-work. This is all burned, and it will be very difficult to replace. In all, Sherman has completely destroyed nearly four hundred miles of railroad track.
Sherman reached Ossabaw sound with six thousand negroes, two thousand rebel prisoners, and abundant supplies of cattle, horses and mules. He released no Federal prisoners at Millen. They were hurried off to Columbia, South Carolina. A few confined in the penitentiary at Milledgeville were released by our scouts, to whom the city was surrendered two days in advance of the approach of the main army.
No doubt is entertained of the capture of Savannah; but Sherman never intended more than a demonstration against Macon and Augusta to deceive the enemy, and in this he was perfectly successful.
A letter gives the following description of the capture of Fort McAllister--a little earthwork, which was never intended for defence on the land side:
Last night, General Sherman's right, Howard's wing, was thrown around the city, and his cavalry and pickets rested on the Ogeechee river. General Sherman made a careful reconnaissance last evening before dusk, detected the weak points of the work, and instantly formed his plan for its capture. He gave his orders to carry out his plan, and designated Hazen's division of the Fifteenth corps to assault it.
At half-past 4 o'clock this morning, General Hazen placed his division in position, with another division of the Fifteenth corps as a support, and when all his preparations were completed, the order was given, and his gallant division, eager for the fight, marched at a double-quick step forward, penetrated the abattis surrounding the work, plunged through the ditch and scaled the parapets of the fort, ten feet in height, and swarmed into the work under a hot fire, which, while it cut down many, failed to check the advance, and the work was ours. Most of the garrison, bewildered by the sudden sweep of our veterans, surrendered in haste, but others stood by their guns and fought until they were bayoneted or cut down. The work was quickly performed, and not an armed rebel remained within the fort three minutes after the parapets were crossed by our seasoned veterans; and the cheer of victory rang out clearly in the misty morning air and announced success to the eager troops stretching around the doomed city of Savannah.
The substantial results of our victory are two hundred and more prisoners, twenty-one heavy guns and a large quantity of ordnance and subsistence supplies, and, in a still more substantial way, an open port, through which General Sherman can draw all needed supplies for his men.
The Weed-Opdyke libel suit.
This celebrated libel suit, now progressing in New York, furnishes some rich matter for the papers there. A New York letter says:‘ The most noteworthy feature of the Weed-Opdyke libel suit, to-day, was the evidence of General Fremont, who was on the stand for several hours. Part of the libel, you will remember, was that Opdyke had extorted a large amount of Fremont's California mining stocks in consideration of aiding to make him a candidate for the Presidency. But the evidence of the General gave a contradiction to all that. He went into a very minute history of his mining operations in California; explained the embarrassments of the Mariposa estate, and admitted transferring twenty-five thousand shares to Messrs. Opdyke, Ketcham & Hoey in regular course of business.
’ Hon. Thomas C. Fields, lawyer; Philip Tillinghast, commission merchant, and E. Brown, machinist, gave testimony touching Mr. Opdyke's gun factory, his charges to the city for property destroyed by the mob; but nothing especially new or interesting was developed, when the court adjourned till to-morrow.
The exchange of prisoners.
The exchange of prisoners, which has ceased at Charleston, is to commence in James river in a day or two. A letter from Annapolis, Maryland, says:‘ Colonel Mulford leaves in the New York, on Tuesday next, for Richmond, via James river, to settle up his business with the Confederate authorities and confer with Commissioner Ould as to the basis of a further exchange. The New York brings no late news from General Sherman. Colonel Mulford reports Savannah closely invested, and its occupation by Sherman simply a question of a little time. Sherman dined at Port Royal with General Foster on Friday last, and made arrangements with him (Foster) for the transfer of a number of siege guns, ammunition, etc.
’ The truce has existed in Charleston harbor for fourteen days, during which time between eleven thousand and twelve thousand prisoners were exchanged.--Previous to the truce, Charleston and Fort Sumter had been steadily bombarded for five hundred and seventeen days. During the truce, silence reigned on both sides, but the attack is now resumed with vigor.
Opposition to Lincoln's Draft.
The following extract from a New York letter shows that Lincoln's new call for men in not received so complacently as it might be:As was to be expected, the Daily News is doing its best to excite popular prejudice against the President's new call for troops. The workingmen and laborers are told that they must not expect to elude the remorseless power that is ready at any time to drive them from their homes like so many sheep marked for the butcher's knife. And the conscription is alluded to as the odious measure that drags them from their hearthstones to perish wretchedly in an unholy war. While such sentiments as these are promulgated, without let or hindrance from General Dix, the impudence of the secession sympathizers, in their outcries about "muzzling the press" by the "Lincoln despotism," is more sublime than ever.
Deficiencies in the Yankee War Appropriation bill.
The bill which passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the service of the fiscal year ending with June 30, 1865, appropriates about $93,000,000.The largest items are: Gunpowder and lead, $400,000; for contingencies of fortifications, $300,000; Medical and Hospital Department, $3,251,000; purchasing cavalry and artillery horses, $7,600,000; transportation of army, nearly $20,000,000; regular supplies, $20,000,000; barracks and quarters, $10,000,000; incidental and contingent expenses, $1,000,000; military telegraph, $725,000; supplies, and the expenses of providing for prisoners of war, $2,000,000; clothes, camp and garrison equipage, $30,000,000.
Arrest of some of the St. Albans raiders.
A telegram from Quebec, dated the 21st, shows that the Canadian authorities, frightened at the clamor in the United States, have disregarded the decision of their courts and arrested some of the discharged raiders. It says:‘ It is understood that immediately after the issuing of the proclamation in reference to the rebel Canadian raiders, Major-General Dix dispatched a confidential agent to Canada.
’ This gentleman returned to New York, satisfied that the Canadian authorities were taking all necessary steps to perform their international obligations. The best understanding prevails between the Quebec and Washington Governments.
Mr. Thurston, Vice-Consul at Quebec, is also sick. The Governor-General has offered a reward for the arrest of the raiders, which was published yesterday.
Young and two other St. Albans' raiders were recaptured to-day at St. Francois, sixteen miles from Riviere du Loup. They were on their way east. It is thought that the entire party will be arrested. It is evident that they are making for New Brunswick by different routes.
Miscellaneous.
A free school for female negroes was recently opened in Baltimore, in the lecture-room of the Bethel Church, Saratoga street, under the auspices of the American Missionary Association. As a mark of esteem for Lincoln, the author of the proclamation of emancipation, and the deep interest he has manifested in the welfare of the "colored people," the "parents and friends" of the children who attend this school decided to call it the "Lincoln School."The Fenians (Irish nationalists they call themselves) are to have a grand convention at Cincinnati on the 17th of January. They want to get together a fund of $1,000,000, and the Fenians everywhere are busy making collections therefore.
The Missouri Democrat publishes a copy of the application of U. S. Grant for the office of county engineer of St. Louis county, which is dated August 15, 1859, and is marked "rejected. "
In the Supreme Court at Cincinnati, a few days ago, in an action brought by a negro man, named John J. Taylor, against Charles Lyle and Joseph A. Sawyer, for illegally rejecting his vote at the last election, the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff.
A competent authority calculates that between $120,000 and $150,000 yearly is expended in New York upon the religious music of its churches.
General Butler has changed the sentence of the soldier who was to work two years on the Dutch Gap canal to imprisonment for life.
The grade of vice-admiral has been created in the Yankee navy, and Farragut appointed to fill it. His rank, compared with the land service, equals that of a lieutenant general.
Thermometer at Burlington, Vermont, fifteen degrees below zero.
Only five Revolutionary pensioners are now living.
United States Senator Carlile (from West Virginia) does not reside in the State he pretends to represent.
Mrs. Hutchins, recently sentenced to five years imprisonment in the Fitchburg (Massachusetts) House of Correction for attempting to send a sword to Major Harry Gilmore, has been released by order of Lincoln and arrived in Baltimore.
William J. Fish, of the First Connecticut cavalry, late provost-marshal of Baltimore, who was sentenced to the Albany penitentiary for one year, and to pay a fine of $5,000, has also been released.
The Potomac is covered with ice and the channel is completely closed up, so that navigation is suspended and boats do not attempt either to approach or leave Washington. The ice is, at most places, between two and a half and three inches thick. Several boats, with troops, which left yesterday, are ice-bound below Giesborough.
Admiral Porter reports that, within the last fifteen days, the blockade fleet off Wilmington captured or destroyed $5,500,000 worth of the enemy's property in blockade runners, about two-thirds of which covers captured property.
A dispatch to a Boston paper says that Colonel Baker, detective, at Washington, was convicted, in the District Supreme Court, on Wednesday, of false imprisonment in the Old Capitol prison, and was sentenced to three years in the penitentiary.
The Navy Department yesterday received intelligence of the death of Acting-Master Charles Thatcher, of Maine, commanding the Gazette, attached to the Mississippi squadron. He was wounded by guerrillas.
The blockade-runner Petrel was driven ashore by the gunboats at New inlet on the 15th; was fired upon, sunk, then broken up by the gale. Cargo of arms and ammunition gone.
A dispatch from Washington, under the heading of "Mosby killed once more," says: The pleasant intelligence that the pest Mosby was shot yesterday morning near Piedmont and killed was brought here to-night by a soldier.
Gold was quoted in New York on Friday at 221 1-2.
