April 24, 1863, The New York Herald
The Richmond papers of Wednesday, in their despatches from Port Hudson, confirm the news, already announced in these columns, of the attack upon the Queen of the West at Grand Lake by our gunboats, and the capture of her officers and crew. The Queen, it appears, got aground and was blown up by a shell from the Calhoun. The Diana, which was assailed about the same time in the Atchafalaya river by the Union gunboat Clifton, was burned by the rebels. A despatch from Berwick Bay on the 15th says that there was then a Union force beyond Franklin, Louisiana, and still advancing. The Richmond Whig states that a squad of Union cavalry, estimated at fifteen hundred, were advancing on Pontotoc, Mississippi, on the 19th. Their advance guard reported there that night, and as the rebels were concentrating to resist them, an engagement was imminent.
The latest from Charleston is to the 18th. The Courier of that date describes an attack by the Union gunboat Flambeau upon the wreck of the Keokuk, while some parties of rebels from Morris Island were endeavoring to dismantle her. They were driven away by the fire of the gunboat. The Mercury of the 15th states that the guns had all been recovered from the Keokuk.
The news from Suffolk and the Nansemond river, as contained in the letters of our correspondents, is highly interesting, although the main facts of importance have been given to our readers before. The action of General Dix and the visit of General Halleck are alluded to in detail.
There is nothing from General Foster’s command, at Washington, N.C. The Wilmington (N.C.) Journal, of the 18th inst., admits, with mortification, that General Hill has abandoned the siege of Washington, and that the expedition has turned out a failure.
The news from the Southwest is interesting.
A despatch from Memphis via Cairo to St. Louis yesterday, says the rebel batteries at Warrenton, below Vicksburg, were destroyed by our gunboats, and that the fleet was lying off Carthage, on the 17th. General Grant had then his headquarters there. Steamers are reported to be running from Warrenton to Young’s Point. The same despatch states that five transports ran the blockade up the Yazoo river, and are now above Haines’ Bluff.
With regard to movements in the West, the information comes from the Atlanta, Georgia, papers of the 17th, that Gen. Rosecrans is receiving reinforcements from Gen. Grant, and that a great battle in Tennessee will come off within the next sixty days.
The rebels are showing themselves with some activity in Missouri. They appeared, several thousand strong, near Pilot Knob; but General McNeil was moving on them from Bloomfield, and a strong force of cavalry was advancing from Rolla in their rear.
Admiral Wilkes appears to have turned up in the Bahamas on the 16th inst., having left Havana on the 11th. In his despatches from the former place he makes no allusion to any arrest or parole at Havana as reported.
The rebel privateers are prowling about the West India islands.
The Austrian bark Constantino, Capt. Mandech, from Newport, Wales, which arrived at this port yesterday morning, reports that on March 25, when off the Western Islands, was boarded by the Confederate privateer Florida, and received from her the steward of the schooner Aldebaron, and two seamen of the ship Star of Peace, burned by her at sea.
The British schooner Garabaldi, from Gonaives, reports having seen a steamer, supposed to be the Alabama, cruising about Hayti on the 4th inst. The bark Sea Ranger, at Providence, reports that she saw the same pirate on the 28th ult. in latitude 7 N., longitude 33 W., and that she escaped by showing the colors of the city of Hamburg.
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