Notes of the War.
While the mails fall to furnish any exciting news, we find some interesting matter in our exchanges on the various movements of the war, as summary of which we append:
Corinth.
Report the battle.
From the
Corinth correspondence of the New Orleans
Picayune, April 30 we select the following:
For the last few days, there has been the greatest activity prevailing in all departments of our army, and especially in the medical department, which is the surest indication that a battle is at hand.
Ambulances have been distributed to the various brigades, the medicos have been busy in preparing their splints and bandages the rattling of shell and shot in heavy wag us for distribution among the artillery and mortar batteries, the hurrying to and fro of aide and orderlies with messaged, groups of scouts in their brown Linsey dresses, touched hate, and top boots, with cavalry swords and pistols in their belts, standing around the different quarters of our
Generals, or holding their horses by their bridles, awaiting orders or bringing in reports, and looking like paintings of
Italian brigands, or remanding you of pictures of scenes in the old Revolution, the sharp ringing click of the hammer and anvil of the different forges, all give dread note of preparation for the coming battle.
Orders having been issued at midnight for the different brigades of divisions to hold themselves in readiness for a march early this morning, by 3 o'clock our camps were all as ir. and the surrounding hills and woodlands alive with our troops.
Drums and bugles sounded an early reveille, and through the gray mists of the morning were seen the gathering of our hosts.
The gradual rising of the run bathed the hilltops and forests with the rich hues of the sweet spring glow; the birds caroled their morning song from bush and tree, and the beautiful green of open fields and flower gardens on either side, with the fragrance of blooming trees, making a peaceful scene hushed in the quiet of the early morn, and which contrasted strangely with the flashing rays of the sun on the glistening bayonets and brass field pieces.
A most diabolical deed on the part of the enemy was discovered yesterday.
It seems that after our army fell back from
Nashville, and while at
Murfreesboro', large quantified of quinine were smuggled through to our lines by persons who had purchased it from Yankee renders, and which was sold to the medical purveyors of our army.
Fortunately there was no occasion to touch this lot of quinine, thus purchased and distributed to the different surgeons of commands, until yesterday, when
Surgeon Lawrence, the
medical director of
Gen. Hardee's division, who is a most thoroughly educated and scientific physician and surgeon, had occasion to examine one of the packages, and, discovering a slight discoloration, applied the chemical tests, and found that the quinines was mixed with a large quantity of strychnine and morphine.
He immediately apprised the surgeons and medical purveyors of the facts, and telegraphed those at a distance.
Such an act of villainy will strike the civilized world with horror and disgust
European powers may now learn the character of our enemy, and what blends we have to deal with, who could thus outrage all the principles of civilized warfare.
A remarkable escape.
The following particulars of the remarkable escape of
Lieut. Atwell Johnston, of the
Columbus (Miss.) Riflemen, who was captured at
Donelson, forms quite an incident of the surrender, and will be found very interesting:
The day after the surrender, about 700 prisoners, among whom was a large portion of the 14th Mississippi regiment were crowded on board of one of the enemy's transports, with a guard of about 200 men, two of whom were free negro soldiers, a company of them having served, it is said, in the battle.
Lieut Johnston was crashed at the idea of being taken a prisoner, and never, perhaps, being able to see his young wife and mother again, so he proposed to his fellow-officers and men that they should rise upon the guard, who freely mixed among them, secure them, or put them to death, put on their uniforms, run by
Cairo, and make for
Columbus, Ky.--All his powers of persuasion, however, failed to get them to accede to his plans.
Is turned out afterwards that they passed
Cairo in the night, and that there was nothing to prevent them from carrying out the plan, as the boat anchored quietly in the river.
They were taken from thence to
Chicago, Ill, where
Johnston succeeded in swapping off his uniform among his comrades until he obtained a suit of citizen's clothes.
A large number of citizens received passes from the
commanding officer to visit the prisoners daily.
Johnston asked one of the visitors what was the form of obtaining admission, when he exhibited to him his pass.
Closely observing the form of it, he wrote a pass for himself in the evening, signing the officer's name with a bold hand, and the next day, when another crowd came, he mixed himself with them, and entered into conversation with two common looking men, whom he stuck close to, commenting on the appearance of the prisoners in no very flattering terms and as he passed out with them handed his pass to the guard with the coolest indifference!
Having gained the street, he left his companions and made for the first hotel, where he procured a good supper and a night is lodging, and took the train the next morning, which fortunately left at daylight, for New York.
Arrived in the city, he sought out some of his father's old friends, to whom he made himself known, and who freely provided him with means to return home.
He put up at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, enjoyed himself very much, and observed with great satisfaction the total depression and prostration of all manner of business and trade.
Leaving soon after for
Cincinnati, he made his way to
Louisville, from thence to
Gallatin, Tenn, where, meeting with friends who properly advised him, he made a flank movement to the left of the enemy, reached our lines in safety, and returned once more to his home in
Columbus, Miss.
The Houston
Telegraph has further accounts of the
battle of Valverde, dated Sorocco, March 1st. We extract the following:
It will appear strange when I tell you that we ran them off of the field, and whipped them fairly, and then, the second day after the fight, we put our wounded into wagons and moved forward for this place.
The cause was this: We only had a few days' rations, and they had but little in the fort, and we are moving for
Albuquerque, where we will be able to procure supplies.--Also, they had made the Mexicans believe that we intended stealing everything they had, kill the men, &c, and had forced four or five thousand to join them; but they find things very different, as we pay them for everything we get, and treat them kindly, and they are fast deserting and returning to their homes and becoming our friends, and I think the fort will soon be entirely evacuated.
The Federal may slip round to Fort Union and make another stand.
I am glad to say that we have procured good quarters in this town, and our wounded comfortably fixed and doing well, (the most of them,) and will be left here under the care of competent physicians.
Still later advices are contained in a telegraphic dispatch from
Houston, Texas.
HoustonMarch 31.--Dates from
Mesilla to the 7th, report
Sibley's advance to be at
Socorro, thirty miles above
Fort Craig, half way between
Mesilla and Santa Fe. Letters received from our troops state that
New Mexico is practically in our hands.
Sibley is advancing on
Santa Fe. Nothing from
Fort Craig; we expect it is probably evacuated.--
Brownsville dates to the 20th state that the British frigate
Phæton, 56.
(not the Rialto,)
Admiral Teasham, and corvette
Berthold, &x 89 pounders,
Commander Janquiere, is off the
Rio Grands.
Admiral Teasham had visited
Brownsville and sympathizes with our cause.
He says his mission is to keep the mouth of the
Rio Grands open to the trade of the world, at all hazards.
England is reported to have withdrawn from the alliance against
Mexico.
A fleet of 800 guns is at
Vera Crtz expecting to sail immediately for New Orleans and the
Southern coast.
How the women make powder.
We copy a portion of a letter addressed to
Lieut. McClung at
Knoxville, by a lady in
Sullivan county,
East Tennessee:
"I saw some weeks ago in the
Register an article on the Making of saltpetre and that the under houses contained more or less I also learned that the
Government was in great need of in order to make powder for our brave boys now in the field.
Well, sir, I felt, though I am a woman that it was my duty to do what I could for my country; so having an old house with dry dirt under it, I determined to make a trial.
I threw out the ashes in my ash hopper, and had two others built — I then had the dirt under the house dug up and put into the hoppers.--I then run water through one of the hop- pers, and then passed the water through the other two.
After which I added lye to the water until the curdling ceased.
I then boiled it until it was thick, when the pot was set off the fire.
In a few hours the saltpetre had formed into beautiful crystals.
I poured water three times through each hopper, and then boiled it down.
The result is just one hundred pounds of beautiful saltpetre, according to my husband's weighing.
It was very little trouble to me.
"Now, sir, I see you are the agent of the
Government.
I want to hand it over to you to be made into powder and sent to our army.
to be used in defending our country."
The Knoxville
Register adds that a citizen of
Jefferson county, Tenn., made from the dust beneath a single old house two hundred and eight pounds of saltpetre which, with the nitre and sulphur added, was converted into two hundred and fifty pounds of powder.
Every body can do something to help on the cause.
Alluding to the occupation of
Huntsville, Alt., by a body of Federal cavalry, the Petersburg
Express says:
‘
We have no information as to the number, except a report which was circulated in
Lynchburg, Friday, fixing it at 10,000.
This we do not think correct.
But large or small, it was a bold movement on the part of the
Federal horsemen, to penetrate so far into a hostile region, widely separated from their own army, and within striking distance of a large number of Confederate troops.
It is not believed that the
Federal contemplate occupying
Huntsville permanently, and in the absence of positive information, we are bound to conclude that it was merely a raid, for the purpose of cutting the telegraph wires, tearing up the railroad track and perhaps destroying Government stores many of which, we hear, were stored at
Huntsville.
’
Huntsville is a beautiful town, situated in the extreme Northern port of
Alabama, directly on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.
It is the capital of
Madison county, and was formerly the capital of the
State.
It is 150 miles northeast of
Tuscaloosa, 116 miles southeast of
Nashville, and 212 miles east of
Memphis.
It contains many handsome brick buildings, among which is the court-house, created at a cost of $45,000. The bank, a stone edifice, with an Iodic portico, cost $80,000. There are five churches, three newspaper offices, and two female seminaries, one of which is estimated to have cost $80,000. The population is about five thousand.
As most of the prisoners taken in the recent battles near
Shiloh Church have been sent to
Tuscaloosa, it may be that the bold have conceived the idea that they can advance to that point, distant 150 miles, and rescue their friends.
We hope to hear that they have all been captured.
Where's Morgan and his intrepid associates?
Partial list of killed and wounded at Shiloh.
The Memphis
Avalanche of the 8th, publishes a partial list of our killed and wounded in the
battle of Shiloh.
We copy it for the information of a large number of our readers who had friends in the fight:
J. W. Thompson, 13th Tenn, wounded;
J. B. Eclin, do;
Sam Cole, killed; E O
Chambers, co;
Capt W D
Bethel, 22d Tenn, wounded; Lt J T
Hines, 5th Tenn, wounded;
Gen Clark, do; K
Maddin, 13th Tenn, do;
Jno Gibson, 5th Tenn, do; W
R. Matthews,
Clark's Battalion, do; M Pointer,
Holly Springs, do;
Lt Abbott, 22d Tenn, killed; J M
Jones, do; John wells.
3d
Miss bat, do; Lt E C
Holmes, 4th La, do; Sam M Miles, do, arm off;
Patrick Lacy, 3d Louisiana, wounded;
Timothy Boothe, 5th La, do; J W
Yates, do;
Lieut Cooper, do; Sgt Maj
Brown, 11th La, do;
Thos Waeller, 154 Tenn, do; W A King, do; J
Hutchinson, 13th Tenn, do; W B
Duke, do; J Dallis, 7th La, do; W P Vandervoort, 13th Tenn., do;
Jacob Baugh, 56th Tenn, do; J Threat, do; S H
Palmer, do; E R Hels, 154th Tenn, do; Corp'l P B Bobtin, 4th La, do; Octave Duplee, do; J A Wharton, 13th Tenn, do; O ondue, 4th La, do; T J
Quintard, 154th Tenn, co; Geo Bosh, 12th Tenn, do; Canderson, 3d
Miss bat, do; Murrel, 5th Tenn, killed; L, 27th Tenn, wounded; W H Tones, do;
Brown, 13th Tenn. do;
Adjutant of 13th Tenn, do;
Capt Wilkins, do;
Harvey Walker, do;
Jno Savege and ap, of
Shelby county, do;
Lt Bell, do;
Capt W K
Crawford, I T Ark, do; Co
Bate, do; Maj
Doak, killed; J J Maggine, 8th Ark, wounded; R C
Tyler, do; Maj &
Lowry, 6th
Miss, wounded;
Lieutenant Col Stewart, do; Miks Doffee, 8th Ark, wounded;
McMinn, 16th la, do;
Capt. Pitmen, 13th Tenn, do; A D Radkin, 44th do, do; Lt Deabbot, 154th, do;
Perriman, 9th Ark, snot in the head; S M
Armstrong, 13th Tenn, wounded,
Capt Tve,
Bates's reg't,) do; W D
Franks, 9th Ark, do; J A Brown, 5th Tenn, do;
Major Henry, do;
Capt Sutherland, killed; M V
Morris, 13th Tenn, wounded;
Lieutenants Rice and
Dyer, do;
General Wood, reported killed; Jimmy McMannus, wounded slightly;
Capt Chairs, 154 killed; J H McConly, do; wounded; E W
Bradford, 155th Tenn, do;
Leroy Reese, do, do;
Fred Wekell, 154th, (B C
Grays,) in the month; R F
Maclay, 4th La, wounded; R H Wella, 3d
Miss, do; J H
Maye, 12th Tenn, do;
Peter Duffee, 8th Ark, do;
Jacob Oldham, 4th La, do; Guy Bridges, do; a Green, do;
Wm Smith, 4th La., wounded;
Lt Miller and younger brother, La. regiment, wounded; Col
Kit Williams, killed;.--
Kirkpatrick,
Marshall county, Miss., wounded;
John Jones, 13th Tenn., wounded;
Capt Johns, 6th Tenn. killed;
Gen Hindman, shell exploded in horse, and wounded by concussion; P
Lawler, 4th La, wounded;
James McDonald, 4th La., wounded; D J Robchaux, 4th La, wounded; A J
Thompson, 4th La., wounded; J P
Muse, 4th La, wounded; T J
Andrews, 4th La, wounded;
Lieut-Col Tyler, 4th Lt, wounded;--
Grisson, John Black, two
Scarboro's, Ren Lique,
Adj't Howell, 13th Tennessee, wounded; W L McWhiter, 27th Tennessee, wounded; W S
Hubbs, 27th Tenn, wounded;
Joshua Phillips 55th Tenn, grape-shot in eye; J D
Moore, 27th Tenn, wounded; C J
White, 27th Tennessee, wounded; A C Christian.
1st Florida battalion, wounded;
Captain Fowter, Confederate battalion, wounded;
Capt H A Eagers, 9th Tenn, wounded.
