May 16, 1863, The New York Herald
Our most important news today is from the Southwest. Gen. Grant despatches to Washington that there is no truth in the reports of his either having beaten the rebels under Gen. Bowen on the 6th inst., or of his having been defeated by them on the 4th inst. He states, however, that Port Hudson is positively evacuated by the enemy, except a small garrison and expresses his entire satisfaction at the state of affairs in his vicinity. Reinforcements are hastening to join him from Young’s Point to Memphis. Probably his next effort will be to cut the railroad between Jackson and Vicksburg, and he may meet the enemy in a general battle in the neighborhood of the Big Black bridge.
Rumors, apparently without any confirmation, reached Murfreesboro yesterday that a heavy land and naval engagement had just occurred at Vicksburg, but the result was not known.
Our correspondence from the same place describes very accurately the raid of Colonel Streight into Georgia, the capture of his force near Rome, and the different collisions he had with the enemy in his progress. We give a map in connection of this bold, brilliant, though not quite fortunate expedition, showing the points Colonel Streight passed through and the place of his capture.
Colonel Hazen, commanding at Readyville, Tenn., telegraphs that all is quiet in that vicinity, where lively work was expected before now.
Reports, emanating entirely from rebel sources – namely, the Natchez (Miss.) Courier, reproduced in the Richmond papers of the 12th – were prevalent that General Banks had been defeated by a force of ten thousand rebels under General Kirby Smith, and was driven back to Washington, La. No such information has come from any other quarter.
We give today another most interesting chapter in the history of the late battles of the Rappahannock army, and their movements after the battle of Chancellorsville, furnished by our regular army correspondents and gathered from other sources. Gen. Hooker returned to the army from Washington yesterday, and the telegraph reports tranquility on the banks of the Rappahannock.
The movements of the rebel General Mosby, with his cavalry, in Virginia, continue to create some solicitude. It is said that he has descended the valley of the Shenandoah with a force of 800 men, and is making forays through the country northward, probably with a view to cut the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. At last accounts he was in the mountains in Loudon county, in the vicinity of Lovettsville, and his movements tending toward Leesburg.
Among the incidents of news which we have from South Carolina, by the Arago from Port Royal, are those connected with the capture of the blockade runner Cherokee off Charleston by the Canandaigua, who followed her, and, after a sharp chase, boarded and took possession of her. She is an Anglo- rebel propeller, built in the Clyde, is very swift, and had a cargo of four hundred and fifty bales of cotton and a large quantity of tobacco, worth in all one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. She was bound for Nassau, and is now on her way to Boston in charge of a prize crew. Dates from Charleston up to the 12th inst. appear in the Richmond papers, announcing that, although several steamers from Nassau have safely ran the blockade within a few days, there are many now due which are missing. Let us hope that they have fallen into the clutches of the Union cruisers.
Recent news from Mexico represent things highly favorable for the patriot army who are defending their nation’s soil against the invader. Not only do the Mexicans still hold Puebla, but there is every probability that the French will be outflanked and cut off from their base of supplies at Vera Cruz by the forces of Ortega and Comonfort. Their material is already failing them, and, as large reinforcements are daily arriving to the Mexican army, the position of the French appears to be, to say the least of it, most critical.