April 23, 1863, The New York Herald
The steamer Key West, which arrived at this port yesterday from Beaufort, S.C., with dates of the 20th inst., reports that the story of the rebels having abandoned the siege of Washington, N.C., is fully confirmed. We have no later news from that direction.
A despatch from Memphis, dated Tuesday, reports some spirited engagements in that quarter. It says that on Saturday evening last three regiments of infantry and one of cavalry left Memphis on a reconnoitering expedition. When near Nonconna the cavalry came upon a detachment of Blythe’s rebel cavalry. A fight ensued, resulting in the repulse of the rebels. The next morning the cavalry again attacked the rebels, killing twenty, wounding forty and capturing eighty. The rebels fled in great confusion across the Coldwater, where they received reinforcements, and our forces fell back to Hernando. The rebels were so severely handled that they did not attempt to follow.
At Hernando we were reinforced by infantry and artillery, under Colonel Bryant, who moved to the Coldwater and attacked the rebels on the opposite side of that river. The fight lasted until sundown, and was confined chiefly to the infantry, as the artillery could not be as successfully used as desired. Our loss is five killed and fifteen wounded.
The particulars of the passage of Admiral Porter’s fleet under the batteries of Vicksburg show the fact that the transport Henry Clay was so severely damaged by shot that she sunk, and that all hands made for a flatboat as the boat was going down. It is believed that they were lost. The pilot floated down the river nine miles on a plank, and was picked up opposite Warrenton. There are eleven gunboats below Vicksburg now, including three under Farragut. The Navy Department has received an official account of the running of Admiral Farragut’s fleet by the batteries at Warrenton, and his conflict with the batteries at Grand Gulf, the main facts of which we have already published.
The enemy continue to cross the Rappahannock in small bodies, and prowl about the lines of Gen. Hooker’s army. On Tuesday the commanding officer of the rebel Black Horse cavalry and six men were captured at Waterloo. The river is falling rapidly, and the condition of the roads is improving.
The question of the disposition of the British mail found in the Peterhoff was decided in the United States District Court yesterday, Judge Betts delivering the mail bag to the custody of the United States Attorney, who immediately transferred it to Mr. Archibald, the British Consul, who was present in court. The proceedings against the vessel and cargo are suspended for the present.
The British prize steamer Gertrude, of London, from Nassau, N.P., arrived at this port yesterday. She was captured on the 16th inst., off Harbor Island, by the United States gunboat Vanderbilt, after a chase of several hours. She was bound to Charleston, S.C., and on arriving off that port, and finding it so closely blockaded, was on her return to Nassau when captured. Her cargo consists of gunpowder and military stores.
More light is thrown upon the late news from Mexico touching the reported defeat of the French army at Puebla, by the arrival of the steamer Eagle from Havana last night. Her dates are to the 18th inst., and, although the intelligence contained in our correspondence is confined to the rumors extant in Havana, yet it looks in the direction of a defeat of the Mexicans instead of a victory at Puebla, and speaks of the offer of Ortega to capitulate to the French general after being repulsed in a sortie. These, however, are merely the floating rumors in Havana, and have yet to be confirmed before they can be accepted as true.