Battle of Bridgeport

NOVEMBER 14, 1863.]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

723

MAP SHOWING THE SCENE OF GENERAL HOOKER'S RECENT FIGHT.

club and horticultural or pomological society which has not established relations with it is the loser by the delay.

AS YOU WERE.

THE gentleman who calls mad rioters and assassins his friends, lately said in a public speech that spite of the Vice-President we will have the Union-as-it-was. His friends responded with "tremendous applause." But in one or two little points, perhaps, the Union will not be so much as-it-was in the palmy days of Buchanan as in those of Washington.

For instance, in the Union-as-it-was ten years ago Mr. Horatio Seymour, of New York, could go into Carolina or Georgia and say what he pleased of public affairs, and Mr. William H. Seward, of New York, his equal fellow-citizen, could not. In the Union-as-it-will-be, and as-it-was when it was made, Mr. Horatio Seymour will have no privilege which Mr. Seward has not.

Then in the Union-as-it-was two years ago chattel slavery existed in several of the States. But in the Union-as-it-was-meant-to-be by the fathers, and in the Union-as-it-will-be, there will be no chattel slavery in those States.

Again, in the Union-as-it-was when Mr. Seymour was for the first time Governor of New York, and gave Mies Murray, Victoria's lady of honor, those charming views of the delights of slavery which she reproduced in her book, it was enough to secure great reputation as a "national statesman, that a man should become the nimble lackey of slavery. In the Union-as-it-will-be the test of nationality will be devotion to liberty and equal rights, and not to the interest of an aristocratic party.

The Union-as-it-was in the days of Washington, according to Mr. Alexander H. Stephens, was made by men who believed that Slavery was dying out. The Union-as-it-was in the days of Buchanan, Toucey, Cobb, Floyd, and Thompson, was officered by men who were resolved that slavery should live and grow. That is the Union which our worthy Governor says he means to have. The Union-as-it-was-made is that for which Vice-President Hamlin pronounces. Do wise men think that the country will follow Vallandigham, Seymour, and Fernando Wood, or Washington, Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln?

THE NEW GOSPEL OF PEACE.

THE second book of this most universally popular and effective political pamphlet of the war has just appeared. Like the first book, it owes nothing to elaborate advertising or vigorous puffing. Indeed it is a remarkable fact in the history of our literature, that the first part was quietly issued, and apparently quietly ignored by the press, but gradually making itself known and felt; appeared upon every newspaper stand, and was intimately known to every circle in the country. The actual service it has wrought for the good cause is very great. Like the pamphlets of Defoe, it is not above the easy comprehension and delight of plainest people, while by its trenchant blows it commands the admiration of the most intelligent public. Our political satires hitherto have been generally beneath contempt or above general comprehension. The true wit and power of some of them have commended them indeed to the purely literary classes, but they have not commanded the interest and laughing assent of the great busy crowd of the country. The sale of the first book of The New Gospel is already prodigious, and that of the second will doubtless be like unto it. It treats of events of the last summer. It even alludes to the practice of the doctrines of the New Gospel as seen in the streets of New York in July. The charm of novelty is naturally wanting, but it seems to a not less racy than the earlier part.

The authorship remains a secret. Claims are now asserted for some source beyond Albany, possibly among the fountains of the Hudson. The work has been attributed to a score of literary gentlemen in the city. But the author and the publisher guard their secret well; and whoever he may be the writer of the "New Gospel of Peace" has secured his place in the memorabilia of the war.

PURE CASTILIAN.

THE Archduke Maximilian of Austria is accounted one of the cleverest princes in Europe. That may or may not be praise. That he should find the Mexican adventure alluring is not surprising. For he can not wear the crown at home, and to be emperor and regenerator of a nation—for, of course, this must be his own programme—is a chance which he can not willingly forego. He says, indeed, that he must have a popular call to the throne. But his next friend of France understands exactly how popular calls to the throne are managed, and that will not be wanting. Then he must have guarantees. But guarantee is a strong word. He will doubtless acquiesce in recognition. Yet it seems hardly possible that he seriously supposes he can long sit upon a Mexican throne sustained by French bayonets.

If it is asked whether every nation is not interested in having a permanent and peaceable government in Mexico, the answer is very plain that it is. But if then it be asked whether every nation is not much more interested in the maintenance of the principle that every nation shall manage its internal affairs for itself, is the answer any less plain? If Louis Napoleon had said that the Mexican Government could not and would not secure the French debt, and therefore he meant to occupy a port and pay himself, the proceeding would have been unfortunate, but he would have had some reason. But to conquer a foreign country which in no manner threatens the peace or power of France, is as wanton as any raid of Ghengis Khan's, and is an act which threatens the peace of the world by subverting a cardinal principle of international comity.

It will scarcely compensate for so gross an offense that the enthusiasm of Almonte & Co. "reached the highest pitch" upon occasion of their introduction

to Maximilian; "for on leaving the presence one of them declared that the very sight of this incomparable Princess would be worth to her august husband an army of forty thousand men; and that there was not a single partisan of Juarez who, at the aspect of the Archduchess Charlotte, would not become an enthusiastic imperialist." She spoke to them "in the purest Castilian." So if an embassy of rebels should offer a throne at Washington to any Prince or Duke in Europe we should all be charmed, should we not, if his wife should address them in English? The Mexican conquest, thus far, is—excepting the lives it has cost—a comedy. But it may become a tragedy at any moment from which the purest Castilian could not extricate the loveliest Princess.

THE OPERA.

THE Opera goes bravely on. As we supposed, Roberto Devereaux was a failure; but Ione is the most signal success of a new opera since the Trovatore. It seems hard to persuade managers that it is not enough that a work should be new to the audience, it must also be striking to secure popular success. True to his vocation as an enterprising manager, however, Mr. Maretzek offers us still another new and very famous work—the Faust—with one of the most delightful of the older operas, Lucrezia Borgia. For Medori there could not be a finer role. Her queenly aspect and tragic style peculiarly fit her for Lucrezia; while Mazzoleni's passionate tenderness give to Gennaro a newer charm.

The Opera is so evanescent a pleasure in the city that it is necessary to inform all Loungers from time to time when they can hear the finest operas most adequately sung at the Academy. That time is now.

CARLYLE.

SINCE the melancholy gibe of Carlyle at this country we have heard little of him until meeting this picture of him by Mr. M. D. Conway. He is still at work upon his Frederick:

"The Idolater of Work, Carlyle, remains in his room, grimly facing the grim phantom of the Old King—neither suffering the other to rest. You may see him sometimes with a wide-awake hat going out on horseback, generally toward Croydon, which Johnson's life has made one of his Meccas; but the ride seems to have little recreation in it. Carlyle has in his study nineteen different portraits of Frederick, and more than two thousand books, in many languages, which bear upon the life he is writing. Every other picture, and every book not bearing on that life, he has excluded from his study. The spiritualists, of which there are not a few in London, say that he is possessed by the spirit of Frederick, and that he is not responsible for the things he writes now about slavery or any thing else, and that when the life is completed he will awaken as from a spell, and be clothed and in his right mind. The grief of such men as Maurice, Hughes, Browning, and others over the late wild utterances of Carlyle is terrible. They regard it as the result of a very morbid state of mind and body, and it is probable that the publishers of magazines will in future refuse to allow such melancholy exposures as that which took place in Macmillan. But none feel angry with Carlyle who. know him well; for he is utterly unselfish in his utterances, and the friends of oppression who think him as mean and selfish as themselves are sure to get, if they approach him, a fearful tomahawking."

ARMY AND NAVY ITEMS.

BY direction of the President of the United States, Major-General B. F. BUTLER, United States Volunteers, has been appointed to the command of the Eighteenth Army Corps, and the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. Major-General J. G. FOSTER, on being relieved by Major-General BUTLER, will report in person for orders to the Adjutant-General of the army.

CHARLES R. ELLET, commanding the Mississippi Marine brigade, died suddenly on 29th ult., at Bunker's Hill, Illinois.

Lieutenant MOSES S. STUYVESANT, executive officer of the Housatonic, has been detached from her and ordered to the iron-clad Weehawken, vice Lieutenant-Commander T. H. EASTMAN, assigned to the command of the Flag.

There is no probability now that General HEINTZELMAN will resume command of the Department of Washington, a week having elapsed since he reported for duty.

Admiral DAHLGREN is now feeling in excellent health, and is gaining in flesh and spirits. He expresses great confidence in the final success of the naval and military operations against Charleston, and that at no distant day.

Major-General HUNTER has left Washington on an inspecting tour of GRANT'S army and other forces West.

General AUGUR will in a few days be relieved from duty on his Court-martial, and probably sent into the field.

Colonel D. T. CHANDLER, formerly of the old regular army, who was captured last spring by the Potomac flotilla while attempting to make his way into Virginia, has been released from confinement as a state prisoner, and is held for exchange.

General B. H. GRIERSON arrived in Springfield, Illinois, on 26th ult., from his home at Jacksonville. He will spend a few days in Chicago, and thence return to his command at Memphis. Though still suffering from lameness, his friends will be glad to learn that he is improving in health.

Major MOSEBY, the famous guerrilla, dined in the Marshall House at Alexandria on September 30, and then had the impudence to inform the public of the fact by placarding it in chalk on a dead-wall in town, over his own signature.

An effort is making to gather the remains of those who fell in the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, in one common burial-ground, as is to be done at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

A court-martial, of which Colonel GRAY, Sixth Michigan cavalry, is President, has been appointed for the trial of military offenses.

Captain BENJAMIN F. SANDS has been detached from the Dacotah and ordered to the command of the Fort Jackson.

Captain JAMES ALCON has been ordered to the command of the Brooklyn.

Lieutenant RODERICK PRENTISS has been ordered to the Oneida.

Lieutenant S D. GREENE has been ordered on special duty at New York.

Lieutenant-Commander WM. D. WHITING, commanding the Ottowa, has been detached from her and ordered North for a new and larger command. Lieutenant-Commander S. LIVINGSTON BREESE will succeed him.

Commander PIERCE CROSBY has been detached as Fleet Captain of the North Atlantic blockading squadron, and ordered to command the Florida.

We were in error in stating lately that private BLAKE, who stabbed private REDSON in the Army of the Potomac, belonged to Onderdonk's Mounted Rifles. Both BLAKE and REDSON were members of a Pennsylvania Battery. Onderdonk's Mounted Rifles are one of the finest and best-ordered regiments in the service.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

A FIGHT NEAR BRIDGEPORT.

THE following has been received at the head-quarters of the army:

CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, Oct. 29, 1863.

Major-General H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief:

SIR,—In the fight of last night the enemy attacked General Geary's division, posted at Wauhatchie, on three sides, and broke his camp at one point, but was driven back in most gallant style by part of his force, the remainder being held in reserve.

General Howard, while marching to Geary's relief, was attacked in the flank, the enemy occupying in force two commanding hills on the left of the road.

General Howard immediately threw forward two of his regiments, and took both at the point of the bayonet, driving the enemy from his breast-works and across Lookout Creek.

In this brilliant success over their old adversary, the conduct of the officers and men of the Eleventh and Twelfth corps is entitled to the highest praise.

GEORGE H. THOMAS, Major-General.

NET RESULTS.

The following was also received:

CHATTANOOGA, Oct. 29—11.30 P.M.

Major-General H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief:

Since the fight of the night of the 28th the enemy has not disturbed us.

General Hooker took many prisoners, among whom were four officers and one hundred and three men. He also captured nearly a thousand Enfield rifles. His loss was three hundred and fifty, officers and men, killed and wounded.   G. H. THOMAS, Major-General.

GENERAL GRANT TAKES THE COMMAND.

HEAD-QUARTERS, MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, Oct. 18, 1863.

In compliance with General Orders No. 337, of date Washington, D. C., October 16, 1863, the undersigned hereby assumes command of the "Military Division of the Mississippi, embracing the Departments of the Ohio, of the Cumberland, and of the Tennessee."

The head-quarters of the Military Division of the Mississippi will be in the field, where all reports and returns required by army regulations and existing orders will be made.   U. S. GRANT, Major-General.

THOMAS SUPERSEDES ROSECRANS.

GENERAL ORDERS—No. 243.

HEAD-QUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND,

CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, Oct. 20, 1863.

In obedience to the orders of the President of the United States, the undersigned hereby assumes command of the Army of the Cumberland.

In assuming the control of this army, so long and ably commanded by Major-General Rosecrans, the undersigned confidently relies upon the hearty co-operation of every officer and soldier of the Army of the Cumberland to enable him to perform the arduous duties devolved upon him.

The officers on duty in the various departments of the staff at these head-quarters will continue in their respective places.

All orders heretofore published for the government of the army will remain in force until further orders.

GEORGE H. THOMAS,

Major-General United States Volunteers

ROSECRANS'S FAREWELL.

GENERAL ORDERS—No. 242.

HEAD-QUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND,

CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE, Oct. 19, 1863.

The General Commanding announces to the officers and soldiers of the Army of the Cumberland that he leaves them under orders from the President.

Major-General George H. Thomas, in compliance with orders, will assume the command of this army and department.

The chiefs of all the staff departments will report to him.

In taking leave of you, his brothers in arms, officers and soldiers, he congratulates you that your new commander comes not to you, as he did, a stranger. General Thomas has been identified with this army from its first organization He has led you often in battle. To his known prudence, dauntless courage, and true patriotism you may look with confidence that under God he will lead you to victory.

The General Commanding doubts not you will be as true to yourselves and your country in the future as you have been in the past.

To the division and brigade commanders he tenders his cordial thanks for their valuable and hearty co-operation in all that he has undertaken.

To the chiefs of the staff departments and their subordinates, whom he leaves behind, he owes a debt of gratitude for their fidelity and untiring devotion to duty.

Companions in arms, officers and soldiers, farewell, and may God bless you.

W. S. ROSECRANS, Major-General.

THE LATEST FROM CHARLESTON.

The latest news we have from Charleston is taken from the Richmond Whig of the 31st ult., three days later than we have had before. It states that the bombardment of Fort Sumter on the previous day was the heaviest that has yet taken place. From sundown on Wednesday until sun-down on Thursday one thousand two hundred shots from fifteen-inch mortars and three hundred pounder Parrotts have been thrown against the fort. The rebel loss is seven wounded. On the evening of the 30th General Gilmore's forces opened fire from the mortar battery at Cummings's Point upon the northeast angle of the fort. The batteries engaged were those at Gregg and Wagner, the centre battery and Cummings's Point battery, with the addition of three Monitors. "The bombardment of Fort Sumter," says the Whirr, "still goes on, but the fire is much slacker. Our batteries fire slowly and deliberately. The enemy at present pays no attention to them."

THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

The news from Washington indicates approaching active operations in General Meade's army. All the able bodied troops under the command of General Martindale, the Military Governor of the capital, are to be relieved from duty and sent to the field. Their place will be supplied by the Invalid Corps. The One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania has already been relieved, and left on 3d. It appears that recent information concerning the movements and strength of the enemy will enable General Meade to take some decisive measures at once.

AFFAIRS IN LOUISIANA.

The troops under General Banks are moving through Western Louisiana, as is supposed, with the ultimate object of redeeming Texas from the rebels. At latest dates the Nineteenth Army Corps, under General Franklin, had pressed forward to Opelousas, gaining that place on the 22d of October, without meeting a great deal of resistance, notwithstanding the fact that the enemy in large force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery attempted to make a stand about five miles from the town. Carrying out the policy, however, which has actuated them in all their movements so far during the campaign, they quickly retreated before our advance, and are reported to have gone to Alexandria. The head-quarters of the Thirteenth (General Washburne) Army Corps are still at Vermillionville, and all the troops are in fine health and well supplied. At New Orleans an expedition, under General Dana, composed of veteran troops, was being fitted out. Its precise destination was, of course, not divulged, but the general opinion is, that it was intended for some point on the Texas coast. The enlistment of colored soldiers was going on rapidly in the city, and the Union troops had been very successful in the destruction of salt-works, tanneries, and other rebel property across Lake Pontchartrain in Mississippi.

A DROLL COPPERHEAD PLOT.

A curious Copperhead plot in Ohio has come to light. The plan for effecting the release of the prisoners at Camp Chase was as follows: When the prisoners saw a beacon-light at a certain point, they were to be ready to take their leave. The prison guard was to be shot by outside parties, and axes were to be thrown over the walls to the prisoners. The prisoners once out with their axes were to be provided with arms, and then they were to storm the penitentiary, release John Morgan and other Confederate officers, and the whole party were then to start for the Ohio River and cross near Maysville. Cathcart was to go along and receive a commission in the rebel army as a reward for his services. Cathcart was arrested at the house of the Rev. Sabin Hough. Hough is the secessionist to whom Mr. Vallandigham wrote in the year 1861, that the "Union was hopelessly divided."

SUFFERINGS OF UNION PRISONERS.

The arrival of a boat-load of sick Union soldiers at Annapolis from Richmond, reveals a case of most heartless treatment on the part of the rebels to the unfortunate Union prisoners. Those who arrived living were mere skeletons, of whom one-third will probably die, and eight had died of starvation on the voyage from City Point.

CONFEDERATE FINANCES.

The Richmond Enquirer of the 27th ultimo, on the question of the Confederate currency, says: "The condition of the currency has become so alarming that its importance has risen even above the excitement of military movements. From every quarter of the Confederacy essays, schemes, expedients, and remedies are daily scattered broadcast over the country, and suggestions of every character and description are urged. One thing is certain and indisputable, that the present financial management is an utter and absolute failure, rendered so not by Mr. Memminger, but by the people themselves. The funding scheme of Mr. M. could succeed only by the prompt and persisting co-operation of the people, by coming forward and continuing to convert the currency into bonds. It is not necessary to inquire into the reasons why the people have failed. The fact that they have not and will not voluntarily fund the currency is an important matter for legislative consideration."

FOREIGN NEWS.
ENGLAND.

MORE NEUTRALITY.

Two other members of the British Ministry, the Secretary of War and the Solicitor-General, have made speeches on the American war. Both defended the course hitherto pursued by the Government, and the continuance of strict neutrality.

MR. BEECHER AT EXETER HALL.

The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher delivered a lecture on the American question at Exeter Hall, London, on the 20th of October. The hall was crammed to overflowing, and outside meetings were extemporized. Mr. Beecher was carried into the hall on the shoulders of policemen; being totally unable to make his way through the crowd The lecture was a perfect success.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

THE PIRATES AND THE "VANDERBILT."

Journals from the Cape of Good Hope, dated to the middle of September, contain some very interesting reports of the movements of the rebel privateer fleet in Simmon's Bay and off the coast. The Vanderbilt having reached Simon's Bay, Captain Semmes evidently took off his cruisers to avoid her. After this the American traders commenced to move about more freely, still keeping near to shore, however. The South African pilot who took the Alabama into port disputed with Semmes on the question of his remuneration, and formed a very poor opinion of the liberality or honesty of the rebel commander in consequence. The writers at the Cape describe the Alabama as in excellent trim. The Vanderbilt towed a distressed Dutch vessel into port.