April 25, 1863, The New York Herald
We give very full particulars today of the abandonment of the siege of Washington, N.C., by the rebels, the destruction of their earthworks by our troops, and the inexhaustible perseverance of General Foster’s gallant command in holding out with only twelve hundred men against a force of seventeen thousand, and finally compelling them to retire. General Foster has again returned to Newbern, everything being quiet in his army. General Naglee made a brilliant dash upon the rear guard of the enemy as they were retiring in the direction of Greenville, on the 8th inst., completely scattering them, and taking several prisoners.
We give in another column a list of the killed and wounded at Suffolk and on the Nansemond, in the fights of the 19th, 20th and 21st instant. It is estimated that the rebel loss is at least eight to our one. The battery captured from the rebels on the 30th instant has been removed to a place of safety, and can be turned upon the enemy to good advantage when required.
The late Southern papers to the 21st instant contain some interesting news from the Southwest. The Richmond Whig of that date, on the authority of a despatch from Jackson, Miss., says that the rebel General Chalmer’s command has repulsed four thousand of our cavalry, artillery and infantry, at Coldwater; that the Union troops retreated in great haste and confusion, General Chalmers pursuing energetically.
The same journal reviews the late attack on Charleston, and scoffs at the idea of its having been merely a reconnoissance. It regards it as the best attack the Union forces were able to make after two years’ preparation. It says:– “We whip them so easily that it is hard to distinguish between their battles and their reconnoissances, their fights and their feints. It was not to be supposed that little Beauregard would in two hours and thirty minutes by the watch have repulsed and defeated a grand assault that was two years preparing. But he did.”
Our correspondence from Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana, contains the full details of the late successful run of our gunboats and transports at Vicksburg. The courage and daring of our men under the terrific fire of the enemy’s batteries were splendid.
All danger of the capture of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, is at an end. General McNeill with his command arrived there on Thursday, and fully fortified the place.
The attack on McMinnville, Tenn., and the capture of that place by General Reynolds and Colonel Wilder on Wednesday last, was a most brilliant affair. While General Reynolds kept the enemy at bay outside of the town, Colonel Wilder entered it and took possession. He there destroyed the bridges, six hundred blankets, thirty thousand pounds of bacon, two hogsheads of sugar, three hogsheads of rice, eight barrels of whiskey, two hundred bales of cotton, one large cotton factory, two mills, one camp at Charley’s creek, and subsequently one at Liberty, and took three hundred prisoners. Lieutenant Colonel Martin, rebel, was mortally wounded.
We have some further intelligence of the activity of the rebel privateers. The appearance of the Alabama off Hayti is confirmed. The schooner Julia Grace, which arrived yesterday at Boston, brings news that it was reported in Cape Haytien that the Alabama chased two vessels ashore in Turks Island passage on the 26th of March; that one of them had gone to pieces, and that the cargo of the other would be saved. A Danish brig landed at St. Croix, on the 12th inst., the crews of the following vessels, captured by the Florida: – Ship Star of Peace, bark Lapwing, of New York, from Boston for Batavia, captured March 27, in lat. 21, lon. 32. Two guns and eighteen men were put on board of her by the Florida. The bark M.J. Calcord, of New York, was captured March 30, in lat. 28, lon. 33. It was not known whether she was burnt. Five men of the crew of the ship Star of Peace are supposed to be detained on board of the Florida.