February 8, 1863, The New York Herald
There is no news from the Rappahannock today. The condition of the roads is such as to prohibit all possibility of any advance movements.
Rumors are afloat – although not substantiated – that the President was disposed to recall General McClellan to the command of the Army of the Potomac within the past few days, and that certain members of the Cabinet, including Mr. Chase, had threatened to resign if such measure was carried out. It was further stated that, while the President succumbed to the expressed wishes of the Cabinet for the present, the reappointment of General McClellan was by no means unlikely. We give the report for what it is worth.
It is said that the rebel forces at Fredericksburg have been reduced to 15,000, that number being regarded as sufficient to hold the position. The remainder of the army has been despatched to the Blackwater and to Vicksburg.
The progress of cutting the canal near Vicksburg goes on rapidly. The largest force which can be employed on it are at work night and day, and will continue so until its completion to that point opposite which a formidable rebel battery is said to be now constructed. It has been decided by the engineers that the canal must be cut by artificial means to its full width, as no reliance can be placed upon the action of the water in washing out the banks. It is ascertained that some weeks, at least, must elapse before the work can be advanced so far as to enable our gunboats to effect anything of importance against the rebel stronghold at Vicksburg.
A special despatch from Cairo states that the Union ram Queen of the West ran the blockade gallantly at Vicksburg on Monday morning last about daylight. A hundred heavy siege guns from the shore, and a rebel steamer in the river, opened fire on the Queen of the West, and kept up the storm of shot and shell for three-quarters of an hour. The rebel steamer was crippled by the fire of the Union vessel, which ran the gauntlet in safety.
The official account of the attack on, and the defence of, Fort Donelson, forwarded by General Rosecrans, shows that the Union victory was complete, and that an inferior force of our troops made a gallant stand against a large superior number of the enemy. It appears that the rebels, under Generals Wheeler, Forrest, Woodward and Wharton, numbered four thousand men and eight pieces of artillery, while our troops in the fort, under A.C. Harding, were only eight hundred. “The rebels,” says General Rosecrans, “charged the fortifications several times, but were repulsed by our artillery and infantry with great loss – the enemy, as usual, before and after the fight demanding a surrender, and offering to spare life if accepted. Colonel Harding replied that was ready for all the consequences.” The enemy’s loss in killed was over one hundred, and in prisoners three hundred. The forces under Colonel Lowe, from Fort Henry, are pursuing the rebels, and others have been sent to intercept their retreat. Our loss is twelve killed and thirty wounded.
The division of General Davis, comprising a strong force of artillery and cavalry, was advanced from Nashville to intercept the rebel forces of General Morgan, which were engaged in the attack on Fort Donelson.