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Civil War Harper's Weekly, October 10, 1863

This site features our collection of Civil War Harper's Weekly newspapers. Harper's Weekly was the most popular illustrated newspapers of the day. Our online version of this historical record will help students of the war find in depth information and incredible illustrations of all the key events in the War.

(Scroll Down to See Entire Page, or Newspaper Thumbnails below will take you to the page of interest)

 

General Thomas

General Thomas

Battle of Chickamauga

Battle of Chickamauga

Bread Riots

Mobile Bread Riots

Artillery Shells

Artillery Shells

Sabine Pass

Battle of Sabine Pass

Sabine Pass

Sabine Pass

Dead Horse

Soldier with a Dead Horse

Slave Cartoon

Slave Cartoon

Black Island Batteries

Black Island Batteries

Army of the Potomac

Army of the Potomac

 

 

 

 

 

 

OCTOBER 10, 1863.]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

643

(Previous Page) has recently stated very clearly the position which England truly occupies in the rebel ram question.

That they are building for a belligerent government he thinks will hardly be questioned. But the main object of their building, he agrees with Mr. Dayton, is not their direct use as weapons, but the indirect mischief which their sailing will produce between England and America. In other words, it is an effort to do exactly what the Foreign Enlistment Act declares that it was drawn to prevent—namely, to entangle neutral England with a belligerent. But, he says, if Great Britain found France conspiring with smugglers to defraud the British revenue laws, she would know how to deal with the case very suddenly and summarily. So in this case the British Government should say to the rebel belligerent: "You know our laws, and if you seek to violate them, no matter whether directly or indirectly, openly or by fraudulent contrivances, we will hold you responsible and make you answerable for the offense."

And this should be said to it, he argues, not as a Government but as a recognized belligerent. Its guilt would be established by the passing of the rams into its hands by any "colorable transfers." The measures of redress would be acts of reprisal and of hostility.

Nothing can be simpler or more conclusive than this view. But Britain has no wish to be impartial. She affects impartiality hoping that such a position will produce the catastrophe she desires. We say affects, deliberately, because while her ministers and most of her leading papers were continually exclaiming that British laws should not be changed at the will of a belligerent, they quietly winked at the breaking of those laws by the other belligerent. Now that it is palpably dangerous to continue this game, Britannia ruefully abandons it. She revokes, but not until she has revealed the full value of her honor, friendship, and impartiality.

LITERARY.

"ELEANOR'S VICTORY," by M. E. Braddon, author of "Aurora Floyd," etc. (Harpers), is the last novel, just issued, of the most popular novelist of the moment. She is, we believe, usually writing two novels at a time, all of which are read, and some are dramatized simultaneously in England, France, and America. It is an astonishing popularity, for the secret of which the books are explored in vain. A startling plot, and continuous movement, developed with no remarkable constructive or literary skill, but with more than ordinary interest, characterize these stories. Yet their great and undoubted popularity awakens a curiosity which can only be satisfied by reading.

"A French Reading Book," by William I. Knapp, Professor of Modern Languages, in Madison University (Harpers), is unquestionably the best work of its kind. It is divided into two parts, with a vocabulary at the end, and it introduces the student to the best French literature and its masters. The first part consists of a variety of brief and characteristic selections from the most eminent older and modern authors; and the second part contains what the editor calls "the most perfect specimens of French composition." These are the Phedra of Racine, the ninth satire and epistle of Boileau, the Bourgeois Gentilhomme of Moliere, and the Zaire of Voltaire. It is a most excellent and convenient class-book, legibly printed and neatly bound.

A SWORD AND A GOWN.

ALL England is laughing at Mr. Guy Livingston Lawrence. This worthy came over here, bringing a large pair of riding-boots, and a solemn resolve to offer his sword to the gallant, etc., etc., traitors. He has written a novel called "Sword and Gown;" and failing to be impressed by his noble intention, the London wags said, "H-m-m—yes—offer his sword; and what will he do with his gown?" The very silly young gentleman arrived, ate canvas-back duck in Baltimore, flirted with the lovely ladies of that city, and astonished them by his equestrian performances in the celebrated boots, which, he assures us, had been paid for. When he was tired of singing with the Maryland belles of the despot's heel which was on their shore, he tried to pass into the lines of the enemy of this country, and, having escaped the gowns, to draw his sword against American citizens fighting for their country and government against a horde of slave-drivers. The Government contemptuously took him by the nape of the neck, locked him up, and then told him to run home and keep out of mischief. Spite of his formidable boots and biceps, the pitiful amateur rebel hastened to swear, and running home, now turns about and blackguards us, while England laughs still more heartily at his return than it did at his going forth.

Mr. Guy Livingston, having ludicrously failed with the "Sword," should at once betake himself to the "Gown," and a very long one—long enough to hide the boots. "I like not when a'oman has a great peard. I spy a great peard under her muffler."

FROM PRIVATE P.

DEAR LOUNGER,—Shall we whip or be whipped? That is the question for all of us nowadays. But behind that, giving significance to victory or defeat, is another. Shall principle or prejudice be our standard? Here are some millions of persons of a peculiar class, who, for a few centuries past, have held peculiar relations to our peculiar class, and the relations have now to be readjusted either on the old basis or a new.

The old relation has been that of a subject to a dominant race—the lower hated and oppressed by the upper with an intensity and activity that have seldom been equaled. The relation has been maintained by all the force of statute and compact, political intrigue, and social ostracism. In the South oppression has gone as far as it could go, and made property of its victims. In the North it has been still more atrocious. The North has recognized and co-operated with the Southern dictum, and has

added to it the bitterness of malignant and unreasoning prejudice.

This old relation, like most others among us, has now its foundations unsettled, and the question is, Shall we settle them back in their old positions and re-establish the old matters upon them with new strength, or shall we clean them out utterly and establish a new relation securely founded in justice and equity and redeemed honor? In other words, shall we perjure ourselves, or shall we keep our faith?

The initial act of our national existence pledged us to accept equality of rights for all innocent men as the fundamental principle of our national existence. The machinery which was adopted to carry the nation forward had this principle for its motive power. We have accepted the principle as our fathers declared it, and have reiterated it on our own responsibility, in every tone, to every quarter of earth and heaven. We are sworn in ever way, save by our history to faithfully embody it. Shall we keep our oath?

"Why," says Seyless, "do you know what you are doing? You're running into abolitionism and niXXer equality. These men are niXXers!"

"That has nothing to do with the case. These men are men, and our oath applies to men, not Caucasians."

"But these men are niXXers, I tell yoy! Shall we have the niXXers running around here loose, putting on style, living among us, voting against us, and working with us? I don't want the niXXers cutting up in any such way."

"That's it. You state your side of the question fairly. Your likes and dislikes are on one side, and our oath and national principle are on the other. Which shall rule? Prejudice? Whose? I don't know why yours should have more authority than mine. You dislike negroes; I dislike red-headed people. You don't want a negro for a neighbor; I don't want a member of the brass band. You don't want a negro working beside you, I don't want a man who chews tobacco. Suppose you and I enforce our prejudices. Then suppose every other man enforces his prejudices, what will become of us? The fact is, Seyless, this matter is not to be decided by your likes or my dislikes. We have no resource left, in honor or righteousness out to decide on principle. We have sworn always by the Declaration of Independence, and we must redeem ourselves, If at all, by honoring it practically."

"niXXer equality. There it is, flat."

Yes, there it is. It must be manhood, not color, that shall adjust the scale of relations among us. We must treat men as men, not as blacks or whites. If a man, whatever his color, proves himself unworthy to exercise the rights of a man he must forfeit them. Till that is the case, every man, whatever his color, must be allowed to use his prerogatives. The test must be character, not features. Grant that all Seyless can say against the negro is true; what then? He (the negro, not Seyless) is a man, and as such must be disposed of. He is entitled to a man's chances and a man's responsibilities, a man's rewards and a man's punishments.

What other adjustment is worthy of Americans, save an adjustment on the Declaration of Independence? We prate in every speech and every newspaper of possessing the only land on God's earth where principle is the policy; where true ideas are the true interests of the Commonwealth; where the national grandeur is only the aggregate of individual prosperities, and the national glory is but the radiance of universal equality. How long shall we heap up shame by keeping all this a lie? Is it worth while to make ourselves utterly false in the sight of God and man that we may indulge a cowardly, paltry, imbecile dislike to the fibre of certain hair, or the color of certain skins, or the shape of certain feet?

It will cost us all many an unpleasant qualm and many an inconvenient effort to submit to the arrangement of matters on the basis of right instead of prejudice, but so it does to submit to the enforcement of principle in any shape. We will have to put up with our inconveniences. We suffer terribly in every vital part now, that our principles may not be dishonored by others. Shall we not suffer trivially in our prejudices that our principles may not be dishonored by ourselves?

   PRIVATE P.

CAMP DOUGLAS, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

A NEW THING FOR SMOKERS.

WHAT my Uncle Toby would have said to the "Ridgewood Pipe and Tobacco Case," which he would have found at 429 Broadway, it is not easy to imagine. But King James I., who hated tobacco and Puritans, would have blown a "counter-blast" against it as a vile Yankee invention by which the sinful smoker carries his pouch and pipe and matches all together in one convenient case, and fills his pipe by pulling a wire before opening the case, and cleans it thoroughly by the simplest contrivance, so that at last he is tempted to declare, as he clasps the case and slips it away in his pocket, that smoking is now made easier and pleasanter than ever before.

ARMY AND NAVY ITEMS.

GENERAL HOOKER left Washington on 28th to enter on active service. Major-General BUTTERFIELD, it is said, will continue to be General HOOKER'S Chief of Staff.

Major-General SICKLES was serenaded on 26th at Philadelphia, at the Continental, by Birgfeld's band. The General appeared on crutches and addressed the crowd, returning thanks for the compliment, and expressing his determination to remain in the field as long as a rebel bearing arms remained, as he was enlisted for the war.

General GRANT has recovered sufficiently to be removed to Vicksburg, and left New Orleans for that place on 16th, accompanied by Adjutant-General THOMAS. It will be some time before he can resume active duty.

Brigadier-General ROBERT ANDERSON, U.S.A., has been ordered before the Army Retiring Board, and it is expected that he will be retired from active service, as, since the bombardment of Fort Sumter, in 1861, he has not been equal to the fatigue and excitement incidental to service in the field.

Colonel ULRIO DAHLGREN, who was promoted from a Captaincy for his bravery and for capturing JEFF DAVIS'S dispatches to General LEE at the battle of Gettysburg, has been ordered to report to the Secretary of War, as his wound will not enable him to take the field at present.

Colonel WASHINGTON SEWALL, U.S.A., has left for San Francisco, California, where he will report to General WRIGHT for duty.

Major-General SLOCUM is said to have tendered his resignation, and it is rumored that Major-General HOWARD will do likewise.

It is stated that the resignation of General BURNSIDE has been accepted.

Lieutenant-Colonel POWELL, of the Twelfth Loyal Virginia Infantry, is now treated as a traitor by the rebels, and imprisoned in a felon's dungeon at Richmond. The rebel authorities have been notified that a rebel prisoner of equal rank will be subjected to similar treatment unless he be at once put on the same footing with other prisoners of war.

The sentence of death in the case of Private JAMES VAUGHAN, Company B, Thirteenth Ohio Volunteers, convicted of desertion, has been commuted to confinement for three months at hard labor, with forfeiture of all pay and allowances due or to become due until the expiration of his sentence.

Dr. ALEXANDER McDONALD and the Rev. Mr. SCANDLIN, of the Sanitary Commission, held as prisoners in Richmond, arrived at Washington last week, state that the report that Captains FLYNN and SAWYER had been executed is untrue. They were treated with great inhumanity at first; but when the rebels learned that General W. H. LEE and Captain WINDER were held as hostages, they were removed from the dungeons in which they had been placed by the rebels, and now have the same privileges as other Union officers.

In the ease of Captain WILILIAM WOODBURY, Second Minnesota Volunteers, convicted of using disloyal language and insubordination, the sentence of dismissal from the United States service has been commuted to forfeiture of three months' pay.

First Lieutenant MERRILL HICKE, Fourth Kentucky Volunteers, and Captain ADAM HARTMAN, Company G, Twelfth regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, have both been cashiered the service—the former for being absent without leave and the latter far embezzling public property.

Private DENNIS McCARTY, Company B, Twenty-third Illinois Volunteers, having been convicted of a deadly assault upon a fellow-soldier and violently assailing his Sergeant, has been sentenced to be shot, and the sentence has been approved by the President.

Captain OLIVER COTTER, Fifth New York Artillery, convicted of fraud in the matter of musters, has been dismissed the service.

Brigadier-General FRAZIER and one hundred and sixteen rebel officers, captured at Cumberland Gap by General BURNSIDE, have arrived at Johnson's Island.

On the 2d of July, General CHARLES H. GRAHAM was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Gettysburg. By slow and painful stages he was taken to Richmond, where he remained until recently, when he was exchanged and sent to our lines. His arrival here last week was made memorable by a party of prominent citizens, who extemporized an excursion in honor of the event.

The following are among the naval orders recently issued:

Captain CHARLES S. BOGGS, detached from the Sacramento, sick and awaiting orders.

Lieutenant-Commander JOSEPH E. DELHAVEN, detached from the Penobscot and ordered to the command of the Sebago.

Lieutenant-Commander R. B. LOWRY, detached from the Metacomet and ordered to the command of the Tacony.

Lieutenant-Commander JAMES E. JEWETT, detached from the Tobago amid ordered to the command of the Metacomet.

Lieutenant-Commander OSCAR F. STANTON, detached from the Tioga, on her arrival at New Orleans, and ordered to the command of the Pinola.

Lieutenant-Commander A. E. R. BENHAM, ordered to the command of the Penobscot.

TRUSTEN POLK, formerly United States Senator from Missouri, and his wife and two daughters, were made prisoners on the 11th ult., at Bolivar Landing, Arkansas. POLK held the rank of Colonel in the rebel army, and has been serving as Judge-Advocate-General under HOLMES.

Lieutenant-Commander M'CANN, detached from the command of the gun-boat Hunchback, is ordered to the command of the Kennebec.

Government has received intelligence that Colonel STREIGHT and all his officers and men have been removed from Georgia dungeons to Richmond, and are now treated as other prisoners of war. This change in their condition has been wrought by retaliatory measures adopted by our Government. JOHN MORGAN will be held for exchange for General NEAL DOW.

General McCLELLAN arrived at Philadelphia on 29th ult., and was serenaded at the residence of his mother, on Spruce Street, above Nineteenth, in the presence of a large crowd of his admirers and friends. He returned thanks for the compliment in a neat address.

Colonel Loomis, of the celebrated "Loomis Battery," has received a dispatch from Chattanooga stating that the five guns of his battery, which were captured by the enemy in the early part of the battle of Chattanooga, were recaptured before the battle was over.

The War Department has ordered a Court of Inquiry to investigate the conduct of Generals M'COOK and CRITTENDEN in the late battles near Chattanooga.

The fleet of foreign naval vessels in our harbor was reinforced on 29th by the arrival of three English and two French steam-ships of war. The English vessels are the Nile, line-of-battle ship, from Halifax; Immortalite, frigate, from Bermuda; Nimble, dispatch boat, from Halifax. The French vessels are the Guerriere, frigate, from Halifax; and the steam-frigate Bellone.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND.

DISPATCHES have been received from General Rosecrans which state that he is all right in a natural strong-hold, from which he can not be removed. Also, that the enemy has made no attack since the 21st ult.

Quarter-master-General Meigs arrived at Rosecrans's head-quarters on 26th ult., and upon invitation examined the position of the army. He declared that it can not be taken short of a regular siege, which Bragg does not seem to be attempting.

THE LATEST REBEL ACCOUNTS.

A dispatch, dated Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, September 26, says:

Several trains with wounded and prisoners have arrived.

Reports of the condition of affairs above are conflicting. We are inclined to believe that the enemy are fortifying Chattanooga. Our lines are within four miles of that place. There was no fighting yesterday.

General Rosecrans has sent in two flags of truce, asking permission to bury their dead and relieve their wounded. General Bragg rejected both of them.

THE WOUNDED AND PRISONERS.

A Nashville dispatch says. Trains from the front are bringing in wounded men and Confederate prisoners. Up to date about 1300 rebels have arrived here, among them Colonel J. J. Scales, Thirtieth Mississippi regiment; Major J. C. Davis, Eleventh Tennessee and Major W. D. C. Floyd, of M'Nair's brigade; together with five Captains and eighteen Lieutenants. Among the Captains is E. D. Sayres, Chief Engineer of Polk's corps.

Over 5000 wounded have reached here since Wednesday. The churches and halls, vacated some weeks since by our sick and wounded, are again taken for the same purpose.

Communication by telegraph has not yet been opened with Chattanooga. Guerrillas are very numerous near Columbia.

Major Fitzgibbon, of the Fourteenth Michigan, arrived here to-night with thirty-eight prisoners—among them one Captain and two Lieutenants of Wheeler's staff. He reports all quiet in front. Our forces were still fortifying.

BRAGG'S REPORTS.

CHICKAMAUGA RIVER. Sept 20 via RINGGOLD, Sept. 21.

To General S. Cooper, A. and I. General:

After two days' hard fighting we have driven the enemy, after a desperate resistance, from several positions, and now hold the field, but he still confronts us.

The losses are heavy on both sides, especially so in our officers.

We have taken over twenty pieces of artillery, and some twenty-five hundred prisoners.

BRAXTON BRAGG, General

TEN MILES SOUTH OF CHATTANOOGA.
Via RINGGOLD, Sept. 21, 1863.

To General Cooper:

The enemy retreated on Chattanooga last night, leaving his dead and wounded in our hands. His loss is very large in men, artillery, small-arms, and colors. Ours is heavy, but not yet ascertained.

The victory is complete and our cavalry is pursuing.

With the blessing of God our troops have accomplished great results against largely superior numbers,

We have to mourn the loss of many gallant men and officers. Brigadier-Generals Preston Smith, Helm, and Deshler are killed; Major-General Hood and Brigadier-Generals Adams, Gregg, and Brown wounded.

BRAXTON BRAGG.

THE LATEST FROM CHARLESTON.

From Charleston advices to the 26th have come to hand. General Gilmore was still engaged getting siege guns into position. Stormy weather had prevented operations on the part of the navy.

THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

All was quiet in front of the Army of the Potomac at latest dates.

CAVALRY AFFAIRS IN VIRGINIA.

There have been several cavalry encounters during the past few days between the advance forces of the armies in Virginia. On 22d a very spirited affair occurred three miles beyond Madison Court House, where General Buford encountered a strong force of the enemy's troopers, driving them across the Rapidan, after killing several and taking 45 prisoners. Another affair occurred also on the same day near Rockville, Upper Maryland, between a body of rebel cavalry and a portion of Scott's Nine Hundred and some infantry, in which the rebel loss was 34 killed and wounded. Our casualties in these affairs were trifling. The guerrillas seem to have been extraordinarily alert in their operations.

AFFAIRS IN EAST TENNESSEE.

General Burnside has appointed General Carter Provost Marshal of East Tennessee, and the latter outlines his policy in an order under date of Sept. 12. He says that it is not the intention of the Government to punish persons who have been guilty of no offense but a tacit acquiescence in the state of affairs which has existed in that region for the last two years. Persons against whom no crime is charged that would subject them to a criminal prosecution or civil suit for damages will be allowed to take the oath of allegiance. General Burnside now holds the East Tennessee and Virginia Road from Knoxville to Henderson, seventy-five miles east. The other road to Chattanooga we also have practical possession of to that place, but the bridges are burned at London and Charleston. The Tennessee River at London has been pontooned. When last heard of, Burnside was at Knoxville.

THE CAMPAIGN IN TEXAS.

The expedition to Texas has not been abandoned in consequence of the late disaster at Sabine Pass. We learn from New Orleans that the movement will now be made overland, and the large force to be engaged in the undertaking were going forward as rapidly as the transportation facilities would admit by way of Brashear City and Berwick Bay. The occupation of Texas may be regarded as a fixed fact. A dispatch, via Cairo, states that the expedition to the Red River region, under General Herron, had been perfectly successful in clearing out the guerrillas that have infested the banks of the Mississippi, between Vicksburg and Port Hudson.

THE WAR IN ARKANSAS.

Colonel Cloud, of General Blunt's command, arrived at Little Rock on the 19th ult. with a small force of cavalry. Colonel Cloud with a battalion of the Second Kansas Cavalry, five hundred strong, attacked General Cabell's rebel forces, two thousand strong, in the defenses between Perryville and Fort Smith, Indian Territory, and succeeded in routing them with considerable loss. He also defeated a rebel force at Dardonelle on the 9th ult., capturing their camp and commissary stores. Over two thousand Union Arkansans had joined his command, and deserters from the rebel forces were arriving at Little Rock daily.

THE CORPS D'AFRIQUE.

Fifteen thousand of the Corps d'Afrique, under General Banks, have been mustered in, and recruiting is active. The maximum strength is 25,000.

ANOTHER BREAD RIOT.

Another female bread riot is reported to have taken place in Mobile on September 4, on which occasion the Seventeenth Alabama troops were ordered out to put down the disturbance, but refused to do their duty. The Mobile Cadets were driven from the field, or rather streets, by the infuriated women. The rioters openly declared that "if some means were not rapidly devised to relieve their suffering or to stop the war they would burn the city." The suffering in Mobile is said to be very great.

THE LEGAL TENDERS CONSTITUTIONAL.

The Court of Appeals at Albany has decided that the legal tender notes issued by the Government are constitutional, and by its decision confirms that made in the Seventh Judicial district, while it overrules one made in this district. This settles a serious question, that has heretofore caused some unpleasant doubts to be felt by many people.

FOREIGN NEWS.
ENGLAND.

THE INTERVENTION RUMOR.

EARL RUSSEL alluded pointedly to the American question in the course of a public speech in Dundee, Scotland. He stated that England could not be forced to depart from her neutrality, and that the rebel chances of intervention by the Palmerston Cabinet may be regarded as ended.

THE REBEL RAMS.

One of the rebel iron rams has been removed from Laird's yard to another anchorage, preparatory to making her trial trip. Mr. Laird, Jun., assured the Liverpool Post that the firm had not been notified of any intention on the part of the Government to detain the rams. All the newspapers say that Laird has been notified he must not send the ships to sea.

THE ATLANTIC CABLE.

The confidence in the success of the new plan for laying the Atlantic telegraph cable in the summer of 1864 is so firm that Messrs. Glass, Elliott, & Co. have not only contracted to make the cable, but to successfully submerge it.

FRANCE.

THE "FLORIDA" AT BREST.

Captain Maffit, of the pirate Florida, ran his vessel into difficulty by taking her to Brest. She was at first provisionally seized at the suit of a Frenchman named Meiner, who claims an indemnity of 100,000 francs for a vessel which the Florida had taken; but the French Government would not permit the seizure of the Florida to satisfy the indemnity claims against her so long as she remained in the dock-yard of the Imperial navy.

It is rumored that the wily Captain Maffit intends to abandon his famous vessel at Brest and take command of another pirate at Liverpool, whither it is rumored the new craft has already been joined by the greater part of the Florida's crew.

RUSSIA.
THE POLISH QUESTION.

The Russian Government have replied to the last French note concerning the Polish question in a very conciliatory tone—Prince Gortschakoff confining himself simply to a discussion of the expediency of applying the measures claimed on behalf of Poland by the three great Powers.

JAPAN.

THE BRITISH WHIPPED.

Japanese accounts reached Hakodadi on the 30th of August that the British fleet, which had been dispatched to Kagosinia to demand the surrender of the murderers of Mr. Richardson, encountered a heavy fire from the masked batteries of the Japanese, which riddled the greater portion of the fleet, and caused the balance to retire from the contest.


 

 

 

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