Croatan Sound by an ingenious arrangement of force of skirmishers on the left furnished an piles extending nearly from the main-land to the ample support. island, the enemy's gunboats, soon afterwards, fell back with the evident intent to draw the Union squadron into confusion within range of the guns of Fort Blanchard. In this, however, the enemy was not successful, and the guns of the squadron were turned on the fort with marked effect, setting fire to the barracks, etc., which burned with great fury during the remainder of the day. During the afternoon, the transports having come up, preparations were made to debark the troops; and at half-past three o'clock, covered by the gunboats, the Fifty-first New-York, the Twenty-first and Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, the Tenth Connecticut, Fourth and Fifth Rhode Island, and Fifty-first Pennsylvania regiments, and Companies E and K of the Ninth New-Jersey were landed at Ashly's Harbor, about two miles below Fort Bartow, and waded through mud knee-deep to Colonel Ashly's house, and bivouacked. The landing was guarded by one third of the disposable force of the enemy, under Colonel Jordan of North-Carolina, but the fire of the covering gunboats drove it from its position without resistance. During the afternoon the enemy's gunboats renewed the action with the Union squadron, and a brisk engagement ensued, terminating, for the day, with the loss of the Curlew, the enemy's largest steamer, and of the Forrest, one of his propellers, which was disabled. At about six o'clock, after having thrown about fifteen hundred missiles of various kinds into the enemy's squadron and battery, the fire ceased for the day, both parties preparing for a renewal of the action. This morning, at about nine o'clock, the action between the Union gunboats and Fort Blanchard was renewed; but, after continuing about fifteen minutes, it ceased-other elements, meanwhile, having taken part in the struggle. Against this and the other defences of the island, at about half-past seven this morning, the troops were moved in three separate columns of attack. The centre, composed of a marine battery of six twelve-pounders, the Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth, and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, and the Tenth Connecticut regiment, commanded by General Porter, moved up the narrow road, during which it encountered strong bodies of light troops, until it came in front of the enemy's work, when its skirmishers were called in, and preparations were made for an assault. The marine battery opened its fire on the enemy's works, and continued it with great spirit until its ammunition had been expended, and the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, supported by the Tenth Connecticut, suffered very severely from the enemy's fire. In the mean time, the left flanking column, composed of the Twenty-first Massachusetts, the Fifty-first New-York, the Ninth New-Jersey, and the Fifty-first Pennsylvania regiments, commanded by General Reno; and the right flanking column, composed of the Fourth and Fifth Rhode-Island, and the Ninth New-York regiments hastened through the dense woods and swamps toward either flank of the enemy's position, without attracting his attention. A desperate attempt soon afterwards was made to turn the right flank of the central column of attack; and a very spirited encounter between parties from the Twenty-third and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts regiments and the Second Battalion of the Wise Legion, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Anderson, resulted in the utter repulse of the latter with heavy loss, including Captain Robert Coles, killed, and Capt. O. Jennings Wise, mortally wounded. During this engagement the two flanking columns approached the works. That on the right (General Parke's) passed the right of the central column, when the Ninth New-Yorkers (Hawkins' Zouaves) were ordered to charge. Major Kimball headed the storming party, and with the peculiar cheer of the regiment, the men dashed forward. The approach to the enemy's works was through a swampy wood, with dense undergrowth, rendering it almost impenetrable. Immediately in front of the first of the series of defences, a distance of three hundred yards, the trees had been felled, in order that no obstruction should prevent a Almost at the same moment, General Reno, proper use of the guns; and it was also defended commanding the left column of attack, ordered with a ditch eight feet wide and three feet deep. the Fifty-first New-Yorkers (Shepard Rifles) and It was flanked by the same impenetrable swamps the Twenty-first Massachusetts to charge the which skirted the approach to it; and a heavy enemy on his right flank; and, almost at the same moment, the two storming parties appeared on the opposite flanks of the enemy's position. U. S. N., in the Mississippi River, just below Cairo, Ill., and near Fort Holt, on the Kentucky shore. The experiments showed that thirteen Without waiting for any nearer approach of the assailants, the enemy beat a precipitate re-inch shells, filled with sand, could be thrown a treat, casting off their knapsacks, haversacks, coats, etc., to facilitate their flight. The Fifty-first New-Yorkers were the first to enter the works, when they planted the stars and stripes, and the Twenty-first Massachusetts and the Hawkins' Zouaves immediately afterwards dashed through the ditch into the captured redoubt. The three regiments which had taken the battery, immediately pushed forward in pursuit of the fugitives, and captured several prisoners— some of them, already in boats, pushing off from the shore in their flight from the island. The Twenty-first Massachusetts regiment diverged from the line of the enemy's retreat to attack an encampment of North-Carolinians, which was to the northward of the captured battery, when, after a slight resistance, the enemy surrendered unconditionally to General Reno. A few minutes afterwards, the entire island, with all its defences, garrisons, etc., together with Fort Forrest, on the main, was surrendered to General Foster, and hostilities ceased. About three thousand prisoners, six batteries or forts, mounting forty guns, upwards of three thousand stand of small arms, and immense quantities of military stores, were taken by the Union forces, with the loss of about thirty-five killed and two hundred wounded, among the former Colonel Russell of the Tenth Connecticut, and Lieutenant-Colonel de Monteil of the Zouaves. -(Doc. 30.) February 9.-Secretary Stanton ordered the arrest and incarceration in Fort McHenry of one Doctor Ives, a correspondent of the New-York Herald, on the charge of being a spy, and for violating the rules and regulations of the War Department. According to the order of Secretary Stanton, Ives introduced himself into the chambers of the Department, when private consultations were being held, and demanded news for publication. -THE Seventy-sixth regiment of Ohio Volunteers, under command of Colonel C. R. Woods, passed through Columbus on their way to Kentucky.-Cincinnati Gazette, February 11. -THE efficiency of United States mortar-boats was fully tested to-day by Captain Constable, distance of three and a half miles -the time of flight being thirty-one seconds, and the recoil of the gun-carriage about two feet. Filled with powder, the shells could be thrown much further.-(Doc. 31.) -BRIGADIER-GENERAL Charles P. Stone was arrested in Washington this morning, at two o'clock, by a posse of the Provost Marshal's force, and sent to Fort Lafayette, New-York harbor. The charges against General Stone are: First, for misbehavior at the battle of Ball's Bluff; second, for holding correspondence with the enemy before and since the battle of Ball's Bluff, and receiving visits from rebel officers in his camp; third, for treacherously suffering the enemy to build a fort under his guns, without molestation; fourth, for or strong work, since the battle of Ball's Bluff, a treacherous design to expose his force to capture and destruction by the enemy, under pretence of orders for a movement from the commanding general, which had not been given. February 10.-The expedition which had been sent up the Tennessee River, after the capture of Fort Henry, returned to the railroad crossing, twenty-five miles above the fort. The expedition, embracing the gunboats Conestoga, Taylor and Lexington, under Lieutenant Phelps, left Fort Henry on the sixth inst., and on the same day it destroyed a quantity of camp equipage, which had been abandoned by the rebels. On the following day, (the seventh,) several rebel transport steamers were pursued, and two of them, laden with military stores, were abandoned and burned by their crews. On the same night, at Cerro Gordo, Tenn., the steamboat Eastport, in process of alteration into an iron-plated gunboat, and large quantities of timber and lumber, were seized, and the Taylor was left behind to protect them, until the return of the expedition. On the morning of the eighth, at Chickasaw, Miss., two other steamboats-the Sallie Wood and Muscle-were seized; and on the same day, at Florence, Ala., three other steamboats were burned, and great quantities of supplies for the rebel army were taken and destroyed. The expedition proceeded no farther up the river; but a deputation of citizens waited on Lieutenant Phelps and requested him to respect their persons and the property of the citizens, and the railroad bridge, which connects Florence with the railroad on the south bank of the river, all of which was complied with. Returning to Cerro Gordo, the prize steamboats Eastport, Sallie Wood and Muscle, were laden with upward of a quarter of a million of feet of valuable lumber and ship-timber, which, with all the iron, machinery, spikes, plating, nails, etc., belonging to the rebel gunboats, was carried down to the Union lines. A rebel encampment at Savannah, Tenn., was also broken up, and considerable quantities of arms, clothing, shoes, provisions, etc., were secured or destroyed. The expedition met with the most gratifying proofs of loyalty everywhere on the Tennessee River; twenty-five Tennesseeans were enlisted at Cerro Gordo, by Lieutenant Gwin of the Taylor, and the most perfect success crowned the arduous labors of the party.-(Doc. 32.) -ETHAN A. HITCHCOCK was confirmed as MajorGeneral of Volunteers in the Army of the United States. - GENERAL HUNTER proclaimed martial law throughout the State of Kansas, and declared the crime of jayhawking should be put down with a strong hand and summary process. of the people of the South has been, God and the -DR. LUTHER V. BELL, Medical Director to Gen. Hooker's division, in the National Army, died a camp, near Budd's Ferry, Md., this evening. Dr. Bell was a distinguished physician, a native of New-Hampshire, and enjoyed a prominent -COMMANDER ROWAN, with fourteen vessels, family connections, as well as himself, filled many European as well as national reputation. His left Roanoke Island yesterday afternoon, and at six minutes past nine, this morning, when off Cobb's Point, N. C., he attacked the rebels' squadron, which had fled from Roanoke, under Commander Lynch, and two batteries, mounting five guns. Within twenty minutes a schooner belonging to the enemy, struck her colors, and was burned by her crew; and immediately afterward, the crews of the Powhatan, Fanny, Sea Bird and Forrest, ran them ashore and set fire to them, while those of the Raleigh and Beaufort ran their vessels into the Canal and escaped; the Ellis was captured, and brought away by the Union forces. of the most honorable and important positions in the records of his native State. Subsequently he removed to Massachusetts, and took charge of the McLean Asylum for the Insane, at Somerville, in which position he won the attention and applause of his more immediate surroundings. For sevof eminent European physicians, as well as those setts Medical Society. He had always taken a eral years he was also President of the Massachulively interest in politics, and held many importof the Governor's Council. He was also several ant offices, among which may be mentioned that times made a candidate for Congress, and the The battery on Cobb's Point was also aban-Gubernatorial chair of Massachusetts. doned by the enemy, and occupied by acting Master's Mate Raymond during the morning; and before ten o'clock Elizabeth City also surrendered. -(Doc. 33.) February 11. The Nashville American, of this day, has the following: From the beginning of this war to the present time, the constant cry Immediately following the attack on Fort Sumchusetts as surgeon in any of the regiments which ter, he offered himself to the Governor of Massamight require his service. His offer was eagerly accepted, and he was appointed Surgeon to the Eleventh Massachusetts volunteers, and with them departed for the seat of war. He was present at the battle of Bull Run, and distinguished himself Creek, leaving a large amount of military stores by his unremitting attentions to the wounded, and equipments, which were captured by General both friends and foes, and among the last he lin- Curtis. gered devotedly among the suffering soldiers on the field, upon the retreat of the forces on Washington. Soon after he was appointed by President Lincoln a Brigade-Surgeon, under General Hooker. When Gen. Hooker was appointed Major-General of a division, Dr. Bell was promoted to his staff, and since acted as Medical Director. -AN expedition under command of Colonel Reggin, returned to Fort Henry, Tenn., to-day, from up the Tennessee River, having captured seventy-five thousand dollars' worth of contraband goods at Paris, Tenn. They also found the tents and camp equipage of the troops that left Fort Henry.-Chicago Journal. -THE rebel Congress passed and Jeff. Davis He was amiable and courteous, and was greatly approved an act authorizing the construction of beloved by all with whom he came in contact, the railway between Danville, Va., and Greensand by none more so than the officers and soldiers boro, N. C., on the ground of its being a military of the Eleventh Massachusetts volunteers, who necessity.-Richmond Examiner, February 13. experienced the pleasures and benefits of his generous liberality and eminent medical skill. N. Y. Times, February 23. -THE city of Edenton, at the west end of Albemarle Sound, N. C., was taken possession of this morning by an expedition under command of Lieutenant A. Maury, U.S.N. A portion of a rebel flying artillery regiment, situated in the town, fled on the approach of the National vessels, as did also many of the inhabitants. Eight rebel -THIS afternoon, the Sawyer gun, at Newport News, Va., burst while being fired. Privates Josiah Jones, of Company C, and James Shepard, of Company B, of the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts regiment, were instantly killed, and W. W. Bow-cannon and one schooner were destroyed, and man, of Company I, same regiment, was seriously two schooners captured.--(Doc. 40.) injured. Jones belonged in Greenpoint, Long Island, and Shepard in Lowell, Mass. Four or five other persons, who were in the vicinity, were also injured, but none of them seriously. -A FLAG of truce was sent from Fortress Monroe to Craney Island, Va., early this morning, to inform General Huger that the prisoners of war from Fort Warren, had arrived. The bark was accordingly towed up opposite Sewell's Point, by the steamer Rancocas, and the tug Adriatic; and at about one o'clock, the rebel steamer WestPoint came out from Norfolk, and the prisoners were transferred. They numbered four captains, three first lieutenants, six second lieutenants, two third lieutenants, and three hundred and eightyfour others, rank and file, and colored servants. They were taken at Hatteras and Santa Rosa, and were the last of the prisoners of war at Fort Warren, except Commodore Barron. -THE Richmond Examiner, of this date, publishes an elaborate communication, the object of which is to 1 the proper national emblem "single star." The ed for the itor Mo., he idea, as not origin February 13.-The Constitutional Convention, in session at Wheeling, Va., adopted this morning the following as a section of the article on the fundamental provisions of the constitution of the proposed new State of Western Virginia, with the understanding that this action should be a settlement of the vexed question: "No slave or free persons of color shall come into this State for permanent residence after this constitution goes into operation." -THIS day an extensive fire occurred at Bowling Green, Ky., which resulted in the destruction of several large establishments. The soldiers worked hard, and finally succeeded in extinguishing the conflagration. Generals Johnston and Hardee, in person, directed the movements of the troops.-Lynchburgh (Va.) Republican, Feb. 16. -IN the United States Senate Mr. Davis introduced a series of resolutions declaring that the Constitution is the fundamental law of the Government, and that any attempt to abrogate the rights guaranteed by it would be inhuman and an outrage upon civilisation; that any rights and privileges suspended by the existence of the war be resumed at its termination; that no State, by any vote of secession, or any other act, can abrogate etreated her rights or obligations, or the obligations of the Wilson United States, to preserve her people in all their rights, and guarantee to them a State republican and Albany, one from Alleghany, and one from government; that it is the duty of the United Rensselaer. There are five full companies of States to suppress the rebellion, to carry the sharpshooters, and a large proportion of the other "sword" in one hand and the "olive branch" in companies are good shots. Colonel Crocker is a the other, and to restore the States as they were lawyer by profession, and a native of Cambridge, before the war. Washington county. He was for a long time Colonel of the Thirtieth regiment N. Y.S.M. -THE Thirteenth regiment, Michigan volunteers, passed through Cincinnati, O., to-day, en route for Kentucky.—New-York Times, Feb. 14. -IN the British House of Lords, in reply to a question from the Earl of Stanhope concerning --SPRINGFIELD, Mo., was occupied by the Na- the stone blockade at Charleston, S. C., Earl Rustional troops. At about three o'clock in the morn-sell spoke as follows, declaring his approval of ing General Curtis's army advanced in line of that measure: battle, and at daybreak the third division, headed by the Fourth Iowa, entered and took peaceful possession of the town. The rebel General Price had left at two o'clock the same morning, leaving over six hundred of his sick behind. Large quantities of forage wagons were also left. He had twelve thousand effective troops and fifty pieces of artillery. "He said the government had no official infor mation on this subject subsequent to that which had already been laid on the table of the House. However, the sinking of vessels at the mouth of a harbor was an operation of so much importance that he could not but believe that the reports which had appeared must have some foundation. He was happy to hear the noble Earl's protest against the permanent destruction of any harbor. Considering that these were commercial harbors, and that in time of peace, when there was severe weather, vessels of all nations, even those not ultimately destined for them, ran there to find refuge, to destroy them was undoubtedly an act of barbarity. The noble Earl would have seen that the reply of the American Government was that these stone vessels were intended to be an obstruction in the channel to aid the blockade, but that they were not intended for the permanent destruction of the harbors. In conversing with the American Minister at this Court, that was the view which he took. He said that the permanent destruction of Charleston harbor was impossible; that the two rivers which formed the harbor would be sure to make a channel, and that it was -THE Secretary of the Navy returned the thanks of the Department to Lieutenant Phelps, who commanded the recent gunboat expedition up the Tennessee River, destroying or capturing the rebel gunboats and stores, dispersing their forces, and breaking up their encampments.-(Doc. 35.) -AN expedition under command of Lieutenant William N. Jeffers, U.S.N., left the mouth of North River, near Edenton, N. C., and proceeded to the mouth of the Chesapeake and Albemarle Canal, in North-Carolina, for the purpose of obstructing it. The proposed work was found to have been partially executed by the rebels themselves, some of whom were discovered engaged in sinking vessels across the canal. After driving off the rebels, the work was completed by sinking two schooners in the mouth of the canal and burning all that then remained above water.impossible, even if it had been intended, to effect (Doc. 41.) the permanent destruction of the harbor. That, he said, however, was not the intention. The -IN the United States Senate the Treasury-intention was only to make a temporary obstrucNote bill, with the legal tender clause, and the clause providing for the payment of the interest of the public debt in coin, was passed by a vote of thirty to seven. tion, and when peace was restored that obstruction would be removed. That, he believed, was the view taken by the American government. There had been some communication between February 14.-The Ninety-third regiment of Her Majesty's government and that of France on New-York Volunteers, (Morgan Rifles,) under the this subject, with regard to which the governcommand of Colonel John T. Crocker, left Albany ment of the Emperor took the same view as that for the scene of active service. The regiment of Her Majesty. But whether France has made embraces three companies from Washington coun- any official representation on the matter to the ty, two from Warren, one from Essex, one from Federal Government he was not able to say."Saratoga, Fulton and Hamilton, one from Oneida | London Times, February 15. |