March 31, 1863, The New York Herald
An attack by the rebel cavalry, one hundred strong, was made yesterday on our cavalry patrol on the telegraph road, between Dumfries and the Occaquan. Eight of our men were captured.
An expedition from General Hooker’s army, under colonel Fairchild, which was sent out recently to Northern Neck, returned to Belle Plain yesterday after a successful forage, in which they got possession of three hundred pounds of bacon, one thousand pounds of pork, two hundred and thirty bushels of wheat, three thousand bushels of corn, fifteen bushels of white beans and a large quantity of oats were secured. The cavalry seized a number of valuable horses and mules, captured several prisoners and broke up the ferries at Union wharf and Tappahannock. Colonel Fairchild also burned a schooner engaged in smuggling contraband goods into Virginia. All is quiet on the Rappahannock.
A despatch from Cincinnati says that the rebel raid in Kentucky has proved a failure, and that intelligence from Murfreesboro says: – “The rebels report 15,000 Union troops at Savannah, Tenn.; that Grenada is in our possession, and that Gen. Grant’s forces are surrounding Vicksburg.”
The daring attempt of Admiral Farragut to pass the rebel batteries at Port Hudson, on the Mississippi, as well as of the cooperating movement of the army under General Banks, are fully and graphically described in the letters of our special correspondents which we publish today. The Hartford (flagship) and the Albatross were the only two vessels that succeeded in running the gauntlet. The firing is described as hiving been most terrific and continuous. The Richmond made vigorous efforts to go by the batteries; but after firing for over an hour was disabled, and had to withdraw. The loss of the Mississippi by fire is fully confirmed. The army operations were brilliant and successful so far as the commanding General intended it should be. The accounts are in every way worthy of attentive perusal, coming as they do from our own reliable correspondents who were in the thickest of the battle.
By this arrival we also learn that the steamer Bio, from Havana, was completely destroyed by fire at New Orleans.
We learn from Hilton Head that on the morning of the 25th inst. all the Monitors (six in number) left that point, together with several wooden gunboats and half a dozen schooners. The Ericsson had just arrived there with a floating nondescript in tow, called “The Devil.” Its purpose is understood to be to clear channels of torpedoes and other obstructions.