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February 17, 1863, The New York Herald

Our Hilton Head Correspondence.

HILTON HEAD, S.C., Feb. 11, 1863.

There seems to have been some misunderstanding as to whom belongs the command of the reinforcements for this department which have arrived from North Carolina during the present month. The fact that the divisions of Generals Naglee and Ferry, recently constituting a portion of the Eighteenth Army Corps, arrived here nearly a fortnight since, I have hitherto allowed to pass unmentioned in my letters; but as their advent is by this time as well known in the rebel lines as in our own, there can be nothing contraband in any allusion thereto.

The vessel composing the expedition which sailed from Beaufort, N. C., on the 29th ult. have lain quietly at anchor in Port Royal harbor ever since their arrival. Up to tonight the troops on board of them have not in a single instance reported for duty to Gen. Hunter, in whose department they are located, General Foster, their former commander, followed them hither a few days after their arrival, made an excursion to Warsaw and Ossibaw sounds, went on a reconnoitering trip to Folly river, and left yesterday for North Carolina again, having, during his stay, not only failed to report for duty to Gen. Hunter, but, as I learn, having issued an order, just prior to his departure, placing his corps under Gen. Naglee’s command, and assuring his troops that his column was in every way distinct and separate from General Hunter’s department. Meanwhile his troops were getting short of supplies, and requisitions were made upon the chief commissary and quartermaster here; but one of the paragraphs in the revised army regulations requires that every requisition shall be compared with the field returns before being approved, and as no field returns had been received of course the requisitions went unnoticed and the soldiers went hungry. So things went on until today Gen. Hunter issued an order settling the vexed question. The reinforcements became a part of the Tenth Army Corps, and Gen. Hunter commands them. Tonight I learn the long delayed reports are beginning to come in, and the question of rank and command is not likely hereafter to starve the soldiers under Naglee’s and Ferry’s command.

The troops of the two divisions are slowly landing at the new city on St. Helena Island, though the greater portion of them are yet on transports in the stream. Some of the soldiers first ashore were guilty of a mean trick in foraging upon the poultry yards of some contrabands nearby, and, upon the latter’s remonstrating, in tearing down their rude shanties over their heads.

I have spoken of the knowledge among the rebels of our movements. It seems impossible to prevent their constant acquisition of contraband information. They are always forewarned and forearmed. Such reports as the New York Times published from its Port Royal correspondent about the iron-clads are always reprinted with great avidity in the Confederate journals; but a more speedy and almost as correct a channel of information is found in the persons of the dusky natives whom we have so affectionately taken to our bosoms. Their dugouts and canoes ply between the hostile shores with the utmost regularity; and though we do sometimes by this means obtain a late secession paper or an important rebel item, the account in the long run has generally rooted up more to their profit than to ours. General Hunter, I believe, is convinced of this, for he has ordered the seizure of all the dugouts and flatboats to be found, and is further arranging the details of a plan whereby the negroes may be isolated and rendered as harmless as possible to our cause.

The high sounding proclamation of Beauregard and Ingraham, declaring the blockade of the city of Charleston raised by a superior force of the Confederate States, reaches us through the avenue of a Charleston paper of the 7th instant. As an effort at lying it is fully equal to any previous attempt by Beauregard or any other rebel. The blockade has not been broken for an instant. Not half the fleet slipped their cables during the action on the morning of the 31st ult., nor moved from their anchorage during the day. Even the Stone river, in whose waters the Isaac Smith was lost, is again reoccupied, and Union sailors and soldiers are daily and nightly on shore at James Island.

The loss of the Isaac Smith was a misfortune; but it is generally conceded that it befell us through no lack of vigilance nor through any negligence of duty on the part of her commander. The first shot fired at her struck her in the most vulnerable part, carrying away her steering apparatus and disabling the ship. The fourth penetrated her steam chest, and many were fatally scalded by the escaping vapor. The chief engineer, Mr. Turner, was one of them. There was nothing for Commander Conover to do but to strike his colors. He, as well as the remainder of his officers, are now in Charleston jail, and will not be paroled. The men are treated with more humanity.

The Patapsco, Commander Ammon, arrived safely in port on Tuesday morning, having left Beaufort, N. C., on the Sunday previous. She is in the best condition, and even now is ready for action. I learn that the blockade of the Nashville and Atlanta is to be maintained though it will doubtless be made effective without the aid of the Montauk and Passaic, which can be of more service in another quarter. Heavy land batteries like Fort McAllister can easily be erected, and a sufficient number of troops spared to man them. The same means employed by the rebels to prevent our ascending the Ogeechee and Wilmington rivers will be used by our forces to prevent their descending.

The steamer Boston, Captain Johnson, returned this morning from St. Augustine and Fernandina, where she has been engaged for several days in transporting the rebel population, male and female, from our lines to the rebels. Some obdurate cases of secessionism were brought to this point for Gen. Hunter disposal. Among them were Dr. Weems and his son, and Mr. Usina, long residents of Florida, who refused from conscientious scruples to take the oath of allegiance, and preferred rather a cotless lodging in the guardhouse at Hilton Head. They professed to be non-combatants – neither for us or against us – interested neither one way nor the other, but the test of the oath brought out their true colors.

General Hunter’s order suspending the land sale has not had the intended effect, it seems; for today – the day advertised for the sale of Beaufort parish Port Royal island, &c., to commence – the Tax Commissioners convened before the curious multitude and bid off a town lot. The price paid, I learn, was six dollars. It was generally considered cheap, and the multitude were in favor of continuing the auction; but the Commissioners adjourned the sale until tomorrow. They argue that the sale was a mere form, intended to satisfy the law; but General Hunter does not see it in that light, and has ordered their arrest and confinement if they continue further to disregard his order.

Six companies of Colonel Good’s Forty-seventh Pennsylvania regiment arrived from Key West in the Matanzas on Monday night, having been relieved at that post by Colonel Morgan’s entire regiment – the Ninetieth New York. Colonel Good, immediately upon his arrival, was ordered to Beaufort, and to the command of the forces on Port Royal island. This disposition of Colonel Good must be slightly distasteful to General Saxton, who lent his influence to get Morgan returned to Florida, and at the same time sought the command which Colonel Good has received. General Hunter, from some cause or other, seems to be cutting himself aloof from Gen. Saxton’s crowd. His recent suspension of the land sales; his demolition, practically, of the famous Agricultural Bureau instituted by Pierce and patronized by Father French; his decree that black men shall fight and black women till the fields; that corn instead of cotton shall be the staple, all these indicate that he prefers to take the management of affairs into his own hands rather than longer to permit the sway of the cormorants who have clustered about General Saxton and himself.

Lieutenant Huggins, alias Sergeant Wade, whose arrest for desertion from the Tenth infantry was duly chronicled some weeks since, has been released from confinement and ordered to Hamilton’s battery, where, as a private soldier, he will serve out the unexpired term of his enlistment.

Among the resignations which have been accepted during the week are those of Lieutenant W. W. Meeker, Sixth Connecticut Volunteers, and Lieutenant F. N. Barlow, One Hundred and Fifteenth New York Volunteers. Quartermaster A. H. Young, of the Seventh New Hampshire Volunteers, has been promoted to the position of Assistant Quartermaster, with the rank of captain.

The proceedings of a recent court martial, whereof Colonel E. Metcalf, Third Rhode Island artillery, was President, have been promulgated. Captain John E. Wilbur, of the Third New Hampshire Volunteers, was found guilty of […..] of orders” and of […..] prejudicial to good order and military discipline” and sentenced be dismissed the military service of the United States.” Captain Israel G. Atwood, of the First New York Volunteer Engineers, on the charge of […..] unbecoming an officer and a gentleman,” or, in other words, going shares with an enlisted man in the profits arising from the sale of whiskey to officers and soldiers, was found guilty and sentenced be dismissed the service of the United States. The proceedings and findings in both the above cases are approved. The sentence in Captain Wilbur’s case is suspended, however, till the pleasure of the President of the United States can be made known, while in the case of Captain Atwood it is confirmed and ordered to be carried into effect.

GENERAL HUNTER’S GENERAL ORDERS.

GENERAL ORDERS NO. 11.

HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
HILTON HEAD, PORT ROYAL, S. C., Feb. 10, 1863.

1. The orderly hours at general headquarters are from nine A.M. to two P.M. Those having business with the Chief of Staff can transact it from nine A.M. to twelve M.

2. The attention of officers is called to the impropriety of visiting or seeking interviews with the Major General Commanding upon points of duty which should properly be submitted for decision at staff headquarters; and hereafter no officer will communicate on business with the Major General Commanding except in the manner prescribed by paragraph 438, Revised Regulations for the Army, or by the advice and on the introduction of proper staff officers, without being subject to the usual military penalties for neglect of duty.

By command of Major General DAVID HUNTER.
CHAS. G. HALPINE,
AssisAdj. Gen., Tenth Army Corps.

GENERAL ORDERS NO. 12.
HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
HILTON HEAD, PORT ROYAL, S. C., Feb. 10, 1863.

A board, to consist of Brigadier General Alfred H. Terry, United States Volunteers; Brigadier General Stevenson, United States Volunteers; Colonel D. C. Strawbridge, Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers; Colonel Edwin Metcalf, Third Rhode Island artillery; Major Josiah J. Plimpton, Third regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, is hereby ordered to convene at Hilton Head, S. C., at ten A.M. on the 13th instant, for the purpose of examining into the capacity, qualifications, propriety of conduct and efficiency of such officers as may be brought before it.

Commanders of regiments will at once report to these headquarters such cases as they may consider necessary to be acted upon and are reminded that they can best promote the efficiency of their commands by complying fully with the design of the government as expressed in the act authorizing such boards.

By command of Major General DAVID HUNTER.
CHAS. G. HALPINE,
AssisAdj. Gen., Tenth Army Corps.

GENERAL ORDERS NO. 13.
HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
HILTON HEAD, PORT ROYAL, S. C., Feb. 11, 1863.

The undersigned hereby assumes command of the reinforcements recently arrived in this department from North Carolina – such troops, on their arrival here, having become a portion of the Tenth Army corps.

Brigadier Generals Henry M. Naglee and Orris S. Ferry, commanding divisions, will cause the various staff officers of their commands to report and make due returns and reports to these headquarters. They will also cause the chief quartermasters of their divisions to turn over all marine transportation brought down with them to Lieutenant Colonel J. J. Elwell, Chief Quartermaster of this department.

The divisions commanded by Brig. Generals Henry M. Naglee and Orris S. Ferry will remain intact as at present organized – General Naglee, as senior officer, assuming command of all the United States forces on St. Helena Island, with the exception of those stationed at Bay Point, who will continue, until further orders.

D. HUNTER, Major General Commanding.