April 3, 1863, The New York Herald
The official despatches from General Gillmore relative to the battle near Somerset, Kentucky, on the 30th ult., have been forwarded by General Burnside to the War Department. The action lasted five hours. The rebels were driven from their first position, which was defended by six cannon, and the second position was finally stormed and carried. The rebels, commanded by Pegram and numbering over two thousand six hundred men, were driven in confusion to and over the Cumberland river, with a loss that will not fall far short of five hundred men. Between three and four hundred cattle were taken, and Scott’s famous rebel regiment was cut off from the rest and scattered. General Gillmore is the officer who commanded at the reduction of Fort Pulaski last April.
A cavalry skirmish took place near Broad run, Va., on the 1st instant, between the rebels, under Captain Mosby, and a portion of the Vermont cavalry. The rebels appear to have maintained their position, although full particulars have not yet been received.
A portion of the Illinois cavalry, belonging to General Hooker’s army, on Tuesday captured ten rebels in the woods near Dumfries, Va., the neighborhood of which place is infested with guerillas.
A rebel mail has been captured below Fredericksburg, and is said to be valuable.
A preliminary report of General McClellan’s military operations, from the evacuation of Harrison’s Landing to the close of the campaign in Maryland, has been published in Washington, having been furnished by the government for that purpose. It is merely a simple outline of the brilliant operations, owing to the absence of full reports from corps commanders. He says: – “The easy and disgraceful surrender of Harper’s Ferry deprived his operations of results which would have formed a brilliant sequel to a substantial and gratifying success.” He alludes to skulkers on the field in severe terms, and says that “Death on the spot must hereafter be the fate of all such cowards.”
The case of the captured vessel Peterhoff is likely to become a matter of diplomatic correspondence before coming before the prize courts, as the captain has laid it before Lord Lyons, who will doubtless communicate with Secretary Seward on the subject.
The news from Vicksburg is very unsatisfactory, and the statements contradictory relative to the operations on the Sunflower.
From Baton Rouge intelligence has been received that an expedition under command of General Dudley made a reconnoissance above Port Hudson, on the opposite side of the Mississippi, to False river, to communicate if possible with Admiral Farragut, and having learned his destination and safety returned to Baton Rouge without serious damage. The command succeeded also in destroying a rebel signal station and capturing the officers and men on duty therein.
The operations of General Weitzel on the Bayous Teche and Boeuf are interesting. Our map illustrates this heretofore almost unknown region.
From the South we learn that all speculators in food in Virginia are to be punished for misdemeanor; that the salt works of that State are to be impressed into State service, and that the foreign arrivals at Charleston now even exceed those during the pressing times of peace in spite of the blockade. The correspondence between Beauregard and Bragg relative to a captured battery is interesting, although […..] to each particular commander.
Two rebel steamers laden with cotton are reported as having arrived at Bermuda from rebel ports on the 22d and 23d of March.
The privateer Florida has again been seen, and reports having been chased by the Vanderbilt near Barbados, which vessel she eluded by a cunning device. She afterwards captured the Star of Peace and the Aldebaran, of Rockhaven.
A splendid demonstration in honor of Major General Butler took place last evening in the Academy of Music, which was filled to overflowing with an influential and fashionable audience. The General made a speech, reviewing the war, his own administration of the Department of the Gulf, the ground that the Union armies have gained the last year, the mode of reconstruction, the English aids to the rebels, and their Northern sympathizers. He spoke for nearly two hours.
The Paris Nation of the 17th of March says: – The numerous satisfactory accounts which have arrived from Mexico, both by way of Spain and England, since the coming in of the last French transatlantic packet, are of a nature to allow the next steamer – the Vera Cruz – being waited for without much impatience.