the men whom we have invited to meet us this evening, Such are the men who ought ever to receive our sympathies and our efforts for their good. And I am sure that every heart in this assembly will respond to me when I give them a cordial welcome. At the close of Mr. Perit's address, he formal ly introduced the sailors, and, amid tumultuous applause and waving of handkerchiefs by the audience, a huge flag was run up from the stage, the sailors saluting it with three cheers. The band played the Star-Spangled Banner. The Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, who was then introduced, said that he was proud of New-York, and of these heroic men. At his call and the boatswain's Jack gave the flag three cheers again, and New-York gave Jack "three cheers and a New-York tiger." Dr. Hitchcock proceeded to speak of the dark days of a year ago, of the iron-faced and ironhearted general who saved the capital, and the noble-hearted man who had made Sumter a doubly heroic word. He spoke of Bull Run as a blessing in disguise, and said that it was the navy that turned the tide of victory in our favor. He referred to Hatteras, to the elliptic dance at Port Royal, and good Parson Foote, who held the rebels so long in conference meeting at Island Number Ten, and when they ran away before the benediction, resolute Dissenter as he was, sent the Pope after them. [Laughter.] But, he said, we had met to resolve that the widows and children of the brave men who fell in Hampton Roads should not suffer. Those men fought, not for glory, but for duty's sake; but glory they should have. He believed that the providential care which watched over us was especially marked in the Yankee cheesebox on the raft which entered Hampton Roads that Saturday night. Fear not for the Republic. The decree had been registered in heaven that it should not perish. The Cross alone should float above our flag, and they should go down together, shedding benedictions on all hands until the crack of doom. These brave men had taught us a noble lesson of duty. In regard to this war, our duty was as plain as a turnpike road: it was to fight. If the fighting of this hour did not settle the question, the duty of the next hour was to fight, and so on, fight, fight, fight, until the end. He heard men on all hands saying that we were running into debt that we should never pay. These men had taught us to fight and let the debt take care of itself. He never knew a man who had a family starving, to think twice about incurring debt enough to feed them. Men said the South hated us and never would love us; we might as well let them alone. But he never knew a good father to desist from the punishment necessary for the reformation of his son, for fear of any resulting alignation. He inflicted the chastisement and let the alienation take care of itself. A great many people also were troubled about the "contrabands." He thought we need not trouble ourselves about this matter. Sufficient unto the day was the good thereof as well as the evil thereof. [Marked applause.] Ir conclusion he exhorted all, by land and sea, to do their duty of fighting boldly, and God would defend the right. The Chairman then read the following letter from Gen. Scott: "I would be most happy to meet with you and join in felicitating our noble tars, officers and but for my lameness and the fear that the exmen, of the frigates Cumberland and Congress, citement would be still more hurtful to me. "Respectfully yours, WINFIELD SCOTT." He also read a letter from Capt. Radford, which contained at the close a complimentary mention of Lieut. Morris, who was in command when the Cumberland went down. Three cheers were given for Lieut. Morris. Miss Maria Brainerd sang a charming songViva l'America which was very warmly applauded. A sailor of the Cumberland was then introduced. He said: My friends, the task that I have before me is at once painful and pleasantpainful when I think of my lost shipmates, and pleasant when I see so many smiling faces here, It is my task to detail as near as I can the engagement of our ship with the Merrimac. It was about eight o'clock on Saturday morning, the eighth day of March, when we first saw the Merrimac. We beat to quarters, and so did the Congress. She went on the passage down to Fortress Monroe, instead of coming toward our ship; afterward she stood for the ship. As she passed the Congress the brave ship poured two or three broadsides at her, but they were not any more than throwing peas or apples at her, when she came at us. Could we have kept her off at arm's length she never would have taken us, but she ran her steel prow into us, when Mr. Buchanan, the man who commanded her, asked our commander: "Will you surrender?" He answered, Never will I surrender!" and he took his infernal machine off and ran it into us again. He then asked again, "Mr. Morris," calling him by name, "will you surrender that ship?" "Never," says he, "if you sink her!" Then a marine from our ship drew a bead on Mr. Buchanan, and I rather think that he is dead now. The paper that tells he was only wounded, I think, tells an untruth, for the marine drew a sure head on him. Well, my friends, the Cumberland had to go, and we tried to do our duty, as I hope that every seaman that has to come after us will do his duty in like manner. [Loud applause.] In response to loud cries for Morris," the Chairman stated that Lieut. Morris had been or dered to Washington. A voice. What is the sailor's name? The Chairman-James Marlow. One of the Cumberland's crew, George McKenney, sang the Red, White, and Blue, the crew joining in the chorus. The song was received with vociferous applause. Three cheers were given for the Red, White, and Blue, and between parts first and second of the performance the band played a selection from Robert le Diable. The Chairman said there had been a request from the audience to see the marine who fired the fatal shot; he was not present. His name was Gates. It was proposed to give three cheers for Lieut. Morris. The cheers were given with a will, the crews joining in them. Wm. M. Evarts, Esq., was then introduced. With eloquent panegyric upon the bravery of our sailors, he prefaced a few words upon the war. We were now, he said, paying for the remissness of a whole generation, in sacrifice which would bring sorrow to thousands of hearths, and burden our posterity with debt. Having nothing but praises for our ancestors, let us see to it that our posterity should have something besides reproaches for us. Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish," were brave words, but these men had translated them into braver deeds. He believed that the whole nation was wrought up to this resolve and to this action-"Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, we give our hands and our hearts to this war." Nothing could surpass the bravery of these men. That day was the commencement of a new era in naval warfare, and so long as that should be a science the day would be remembered as that which saw the bravery of the men of the Cumberland and Congress. Nothing could be more dramatic than the events of these two days. In the results we had this paradox, that a tower which was shaken upon its pivot with every wave, was able to resist ordnance which no rock-built fort could stand. Mr. Evarts read an extract from a Southern paper which paid high tribute to the heroism of the Cumberland's crew. [“Three cheers for 'em."] After this, who was there who could not give new meaning to the cry, Don't give up the ship"? It meant something. It meant, Don't give up the ship, although you go the bottom in her." It meant: "Don't give up the good ship, the Constitution; better be buried beneath the liberties of the country, than survive them." [Loud applause.] Mr. S. C. Campbell then sang "The White Squall." .. The Chairman then introduced Mr. Willard, a sailor from the Congress. Mr. Willard said: Gentlemen and ladies, I am not acquainted with this kind of speaking. I am not used to it; I have been too long in a man-ofwar. I enlisted in a man-of-war when I was thirteen years of age; I am now forty. I have been in one ever since. We had been a long time in the Congress, waiting for the Merrimac, with the Cumberland. I claim a timber-head in both ships. I belonged to the Cumberland in the destroying of the navy-yard and the ships at Norfolk. On the eighth of March, when the Merrimac came out, we were as tickled as a boy would be with his father coming home with a new kite for him. [Loud laughter and applause.] She fired a gun at us. It went clean through the ship, and killed nobody. The next one was a shell. It came in at a port-hole, killed six men, and exploded and killed nine more. The next one killed ten, Then she went down to the Cumberland. She had an old grudge against her, and she took her hog-fashion, as I should say. [Great laughter.] The Cumberland fought her as long as she could. She fired her spar-deck guns at her after the gun-deck was under water, but the shot had no more effect than peas. She sunk the Cumberland in about seven fathoms of water You know what a fathom is--six feet. We lay in nine fathoms, and it would not do to sink in that. We slipped our cable and ran into shallower water, to get our broadside on the Merrimac, but we got her bows on; that gave them a chance to rake us, as they did. The commander opened a little port-hole, and said: "Smith, will you surrender the ship?" Says he: "No, not as long as I have got a gun or a man to man it." They fired a broadside. The men moved the dead bodies away, and manned the guns again. They fired another broadside, and dismounted both the guns and killed the crews. When they first went by us, they sot us a-fire by a shell exploding near the magazine. I know where the magazine is; you folks don't. Last broadside she killed our commander, Mr. Smith, our sailing-master, and the pilot. We had no chance at all. We were on the spar-deck, most of us; the other steamers firing at us, and we dodging the shot; no chance to dodge down below, because you could not see the shot till they were inside of the ship. We had no chance, and we surrendered. The rebel officers-we knowed 'em allall old playmates, shipmates-came home in the Germantown with them - all old playmates, but rascals now. She left us, and she went toward Norfolk to get out of the way. She returned in the morning to have what I'd call a fandango with the Minnesota, and the first thing she knowed, the little bumble-bee, the Monitor, was there, and she went back. I have no more to say, people, but there is the flag that the fathers of our country left us, and by the powers of God above us, we'll [Tremendous cheering.] One of the crew of the Congress, Walter M. Pierce, sang the "Boatswain's Call," and he was loudly applauded. The Hon. George Bancroft was next introduced. He said we must remember the wonderful condition in which these brave men were placed not face to face with an equal enemy, but met by a new and untried power, that proved itself vastly superior to anything with which they were acquainted. And not only were they unable to resist the iron, but the Cumberland was so badly wounded that they could see how many sands might yet flow out before she was destined to go down. It was under these circumstances that our friends who were with us manifested that extraordinary self-possession that led them even to the last to continue the combat. These men were entitled to congratulation and to the gratitude of every one who had regard for the cause of Liberty. Yes, they were the champions of humanity, the champions of the great cause of the people, the champions of the great cause of this Republic, and their names should be imperishable; their glory should never fade. The greatest invention of the eighteenth century was Republics founded on the principle of equality of all men, and should that principle perish? No; these men had proved that it could not. The people, six hundred and fifty thousand in the field, had willed that it should not, and the people had perpetual succession. It was then founded on his confidence in the perpetuity of our institutions that he declared that their glory could never fade away, and that glory, while it had gone through the world in one sense, still had a nearer relation to us, who were their fellow-countrymen. Where then should be the boundary of that immediate glory that attached them to their countrymen? Should it be the Potomac ? | Never. The Mississippi? Never. The Rocky Mountains? Never! Our country never should be less than from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In the name of this vast assembly, once more he gave thanks to them all. Let us rejoice that these men went down fighting to the last, and that when they went down they left the Star-Spangled Banner of the Cumberland flying at her peak; the emblem that no dangers, no perils, no enemies, no treasons, not ocean itself could destroy our liberty. [Loud applause.] Three cheers were given for Capt. Ericsson, for Lieut. Worden, and for the President. Mr Kearney of the Congress then sang a humorous song in praise of the yacht America, the curiosity and astonishment of John Bull being represented by the chorus: Oh where did she come from? New-York Town. Who's the Captain of her? One Mr. Brown: which the crew sang with great gusto. The satisfaction of the audience found huge and prolonged manifestation, and the jolly tar was called back. He sang the first verse of "Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm," and retreated under cover of the applause. Wm. E. Dodge, Esq., gave a vivid description of the destruction of the Cumberland and Congress, which he witnessed from Fortress Monroe. He should never forget the shout which went up from the battlements of the Fortress when the arrival of the Monitor was announced. On the next day the fight between the Monitor and Merrimac shook the walls of the Fort. He never felt so strongly that the kind hand of Providence was guiding the destinies of this country as then. Had the Monitor known what the Merrimac was, we never should have heard of the Merrimac again. Had the Monitor been provided with the missiles which she now has, she would have sunk her in fifteen minutes more. He said to the sailors of these vessels that we had hearts to feel for them; if wounded, we would take care of them; if they left wives and children behind them, we would take care of them, too. (Cheers.) The reception we had given them to-night was but the expression of the country toward every man who returned from battle: Honor to-night; honor forever. In answer to a call for the officers, the Chairman stated that there were none present. He said the committee, whose names were announced in the public papers, would be happy to receive funds to indemnify the losses of the men of the crew of the Cumberland and Congress, and to provide for the widows and orphans of those who went down in those ships, and he was sure that he expressed the sentiments of all when he said to our brother sailors that their presence had been to us a source of the highest pleasure, and that we should follow them wherever they went, whatever they might encounter. Capt. Charles H. Marshall offered the following resolution : Resolved, That, as the sense of this meeting, some recognition of the heroic and gallant conduct of the officers and crews of the frigates Cumberland and Congress during the late engagement at Hampton Roads, is eminently due from the Government, and that it be recommended to the Navy Department to prepare a suitable medal to be presented to each of the surviving officers and men in commemoration of the event. Resolved, That a copy of this resolution, signed by the Chairman and Secretary of this meeting, be transmitted to the Navy Department at Washington. The resolutions were adopted and the meeting adjourned. Doc. 129. OCCUPATION OF HUNTSVILLE, ALA. APRIL 11, 1862. A CORRESPONDENT of the Cincinnati Gazette gives the following account of the march and occupation: We have achieved a victory which, although bloodless, must be attended by such important results as can hardly be over-estimated. The main line, and for all practical military purposes, the only line of communication between the eastern and western armies of the enemy, is in our hands. To General Mitchel and his brave troops belongs the distinguished honor of being the first to penetrate to the great Charleston and Memphis Railroad, and the first to break through the rebels' boasted line of defence, extending from Chattanooga to Corinth. The advance from Fayetteville to Huntsville was made with the full expectation that at the latter place there would be a terrible struggle, Every one knew the importance of the railroad to the enemy; every one supposed that they would guard it with the utmost vigilance, and every one predicted that the division of our army which should first reach it, would be met with the sternest determination, and would obtain possession of this great channel of communication, only by a costly expenditure of blood. We all perfectly understood, too, that the rebels had accumulated upon this road nearly all the rolling stock of all the railroads from Bowling Green southward, besides what legitimately belonged to the road itself; and that they could therefore, with the utmost facility, concentrate at any threatened point, whatever forces they had at command. We did not know but that the rebel army of the Potomac, concluding to abandon Virginia and escaping from the grasp of McClellan, would be pouring in overwhelming force down the East-Tennessee and Virginia Railroad, at the very time when we should be advancing upon Huntsville. We could not tell but that our main army in the neighborhood of Corinth, would suffer some serious reverse, in which case we were inevitably lost. But, in case we should be successful-in case we should break the enemy's famous line, we knew how important would be the consequences. There was no time for hesitation, and General Mitchel is not the man to hesitate, even if there were. by observing them, of how much can be accomplished by foresight and care. The horses for this battery were selected mainly by Loomis himself, with great discrimination, and not one was admitted which was in the slightest degree weak or unsound. He has lost but two or three horses during the entire war. The roads improved after this, and were quite tolerable the remainder of the way. A strong Union feeling was manifested after we entered the State of Alabama, but it was mingled with many false notions concerning State sovereignty, and the duty of submission thereto. One old gentleman, a planter with an extensive estate, expressed the views of the majority of the people of Madison County. "It seemed like tearing out my heart," said he, "to give up the old Union, but when Alabama voted to separate, I thought it my duty to sustain her." "But," I reminded him, Alabama, in attempting to break up the nation, did what she had no right to do." "Ah!" said the old gentleman, 66 passion and prejudice blinded our eyes to that truth." Are you then willing," I asked, “to see the authority of the National Government restored?" "Yes," he replied, "and to pray from this time forth that all her people may be willing to return to their allegiance.' I did not think proper to press the matter further, but it seemed to me that even his final answer indi 66 The order to march from Fayetteville was received with pleasure- -a pleasure which was slightly alloyed with regret, that we had not destroyed the town. It is a miserable little secession hole, and the shameful insult that had been offered to our flag of truce, combined with the threatening and scowling looks of the inhabitants whenever they showed themselves at the win-cated his resolution to abide by the action of his dows of their houses, to which General Mitchel had ordered them, had pretty thoroughly angered us against them, and nothing would have pleased our boys better than to have given the rascals a lesson which would never have departed from their memory, provided that after the administra-by this war. tion of said lesson they had any memory left. State, whether the majority of her people became loyal or remained treasonable. The pestiferous and fatal doctrine that the majority of the inhabitants of a single State can sanctify the crime of treason, must be forever rooted out The negroes that we saw were kind and friendly, and generous and benevolent, even when their masters were most strongly "secesh." The face of the country, and the vegetable productions of the southern part of Lincoln County, closely resemble those of portions of the Northern Col. Turchin's brigade and Simonson's battery started from Fayetteville at six o'clock A.M., on Thursday, and marched diligently until nine P.M., which brought them to within eleven miles of Huntsville. Colonel Sill's brigade, with Loomis's famous battery, followed closely, the other bri-States; but after we reached the State of Alabagades at a greater distance. The weather was cool, and beautiful for marching, on Thursday, but we had no turnpike, and in places the road was very bad. This was especially the case about six miles from Fayetteville. A series of swamps and mud-holes was succeeded by a long, precipitous and rocky hill. The tired animals could not take the wagons up, and it was found necessary to hitch the horses or mules of two or three teams to a single wagon, and thus laboriously take them to the top, one at a time. A mile further on, our way was obstructed by another muddy tract, worse than the former: a number of wagons upset, some broke down, and some stuck fast; but the troops moved steadily on. It was worth the looking to see Capt. Loomis's battery move over these roads. Neither mud, nor rocks, nor hills delayed them, but calmly, smoothly, majestically, they moved forward, a real impersonation of power. I was convinced, ma, the vast cotton plantations, the grand country mansions, with their little villages of negro huts, besides trees and shrubs and flowers, with which only the well-versed botanists in our army were acquainted — all reminded us that we were far from home. 66 Shortly after entering the State, we passed the vast plantation of the secession General L. P. Walker, extending along the road for miles. The mansion was utterly deserted, and all the furniture removed. A perfect host of negroes came down to see and to welcome us. They laughed, they sang, they danced in their glee. I stopped a moment to converse with them. By golly," said a fine-looking, honest young negro, great notion to go along with dis crowd. What do you say, massa?" "My poor friend," I replied, "if you did, you will probably be turned out of our lines the first place we encamp. Somebody who claims you will come and take you back; and then, besides being severely punished for running away, you will in every respect be "Ise a worse off than before." The negro understood me. "It is very hard, massa," said he. His voice faltered; I saw that tears were gathering in his eyes, and I rode away, as my own were growing moist and dim. A detached house upon Gen. Walker's plantation was in flames when I passed. It had been set on fire by some of our soldiers, but whether accidentally or not, I did not stop to enquire. One of the negroes had a heavy iron ring and bolt fastened to his leg. He said he had worn them for more than three months. A cavalry-man descended quietly from his horse, knocked off the fetters, fastened them to his saddle, and rode away. "By Heaven," I heard him mutter, "I would forfeit a year's pay for the privilege of transferring these to the leg of the rascal who put them on that man!" The Eighth brigade, Colonel Turchin, with Simonson's battery, did not spend much time in slumber Thursday night. After four hours' rest, they recommenced their march, and reached Huntsville at six o'clock on Friday morning. regiment. When he found both himself and his recruits were prisoners in the hands of the Yankees, his mortification was visibly expressed all over his countenance. When our troops advanced into the town, they found they had made a prize of seventeen locomotives, (sixteen of them in fine running order,) and about a hundred and fifty cars, passenger and freight. I shall not attempt to enumerate the other articles captured, and your readers may estimate the value of the rolling stock. The prisoners captured are a wretched-looking set of men, and evidently belong to the lowest class of Southern society-which is, I admit, putting them down pretty low. They are nearly all sick of the business in which they are engaged. Many of them say they were forced to enlist: others admit that they were influenced by leaders whom they believe to be bad men; and there is scarcely one who does not regret that he was induced to take up arms against the Government. One of them told me that if he were home once more, he would die in his tracks before he would again consent to fight against the old Union. “I foolishly thought,” said he, “that I was fighting for my country when I obeyed the mandates of Jeff Davis; now I see plainly that I was fighting against it." An advance force of a hundred and fifty cavalry, together with a section of the battery, in charge of Capt. Simonson himself, assisted by Lieut. M. Allen, commanding the section, the whole directed by Col. Kennett, first caught sight of Huntsville, and the lovely cedar surrounding If these gentry are sent to your part of the it. They were advancing upon the double-quick, country, for God's sake don't allow Northern when two locomotives, with trains attached, sud-traitors to go among them, and revive in their denly made their appearance upon the railroad. bosoms the dying fires of disloyalty. Better, for They were moving in the direction of Stevenson. their own sakes and the sake of the nation, let loose A shot from one of Simonson's guns brought the in their midst a thousand hissing vipers. These first one to. The Captain then turned to pay could only kill their bodies, but the agents of his respects to the second. A shot or two induced Jeff Davis in the North, will, if they are permitit also to haul up. In the mean time, the engin- ted, poison their souls, and do it much more efeer of the first train was quietly getting on a full fectually than their own Southern leaders ever head of steam, and when nobody was suspecting could. such a thing, he suddenly started off. The cavalry went in pursuit, and actually chased the locomotive for a distance of ten miles. A few horsemen tried their carbines upon the second train, and an unfortunate colored person received one of the bullets in his neck. It was said, too, by the secesh that a rebel from Corinth, going home slightly wounded, was instantly killed. The infantry had come up while this was going on, and Colonel Mihalotzi, of the Twentyfourth Illinois, sent a detachment to tear up a portion of the track in the direction of Decatur. The escape of any more trains was thus effectually prevented. Three cavalry-men rushed into the town, found a large number of rebel soldiers sleeping in and around a number of cars, and actually made prisoners of one hundred and seventy men, including a major, six captains, and three lieutenants. The most of these fellows belonged to the Ninth Louisiana regiment, and were on their way to join it in Virginia. The major's name was Cavanaugh. His regiment did not all reènlist when their time of service (one year) expired, and he had been home for recruits. He had succeeded in obtaining a hundred and forty, and was taking them to the Old Dominion, to fill up the ranks of his GEN. MITCHEL'S THANKS TO HIS SOLDIERS. GENERAL ORDER No. 93. SOLDIERS: Your march upon Bowling Green won the thanks and confidence of our Commanding General. With engines and cars captured from the enemy, our advance-guard precipitated itself upon Nashville. It was now made your duty to seize and destroy the Memphis and Charleston Railway, the great military road of the enemy. With a supply-train only sufficient to feed you at a distance of two days' march from your depot, you undertook the herculean task of rebuilding twelve hundred feet of heavy bridging, which by your untiring energy was accomplished in ten days. Thus, by a railway of your own construction, your depot of supplies was removed from Nashville to Shelbyville, nearly sixty miles, in the direction of the object of your attack. The blow now became practicable. Marching with a celerity such as to outstrip any messenger who might have attempted to announce your coming, you fell upon Huntsville, taking your enemy completely by surprise, and capturing not only |