March 4, 1863, The New York Herald
Reports of a battle at Vicksburg have been in circulation in this city since Saturday last, and the statement from the Petersburg (Va.) Express of the 28th ult. would appear to confirm them. But as neither Admiral Porter’s despatch of the 28th, announcing the loss of the Indianola, nor the Richmond Enquirer of the same date make any allusion to an engagement, it is reasonable to conclude that no battle of the character mentioned in the Petersburg Express has taken place, although intelligence of an attack by General Grant’s forces upon the rebel works may be expected at any moment. It is certain that the government has not received any account of a great battle in that vicinity. The Memphis Bulletin of Saturday, the 28th ult., says that it was confidently believed in leading circles in that city that the rebels were then evacuating Vicksburg. Letters received in Washington yesterday state that the expedition under General Washburne to open the Yazoo Pass has been entirely successful, and promises to furnish the key to that stronghold; and despatches from Cairo of the same date say that the gunboat Carondelet and five others have reached the Tallahatchie river by way of the Yazoo. Vicksburg would thus appear to be closely environed by our forces, and therefore the reported evacuation wears a strong color of probability.
General Rosecrans is pushing his forces forward with success. On the 2d instant he had advanced as far as Middleborough, half way between Murfreesboro and Shelbyville, and a despatch from the former place, dated the same day, says that an expedition of one thousand cavalry and one thousand six hundred infantry, left Murfreesboro the following morning, and encountered the enemy at Bradyville. After severe fighting the enemy were driven from the town, with the loss of eight killed and twenty wounded, and eighty privates and none officers captured. There were also captured three hundred new saddles and accountrements and a large collection of official orders and papers and the private baggage of the enemy, who were a portion of John Morgan’s and Wharton’s divisions.
General Rosecrans, in his official despatch to General Halleck, yesterday, says that, when the enemy made a stand at Bradyville, Colonels Paramour and Long went in with sabres and whipped them in about three minutes, Stake’s cavalry advancing bravely with carbines. He reports that we took seventy prisoners, including eight officers, their camp equipage, tents, saddles, some seventy horses and Basil Duke’s regimental papers. He mentions that Major Murphy did good service, and reports our loss at one man killed and one captain and seven men wounded.
Our advices from New Orleans, by the steamers Che-Kiang and Big Bio, are full of interest. The leading feature in the intelligence by these arrivals in the complete metamorphosis effected by he Southern rebellion in the system of negro labor. The planters of Louisiana, in their present helpless condition, have gratefully acceded to the reasonable propositions of the Commanding General of the Gulf Department, and henceforth their plantations will be regularly cultivated by the agency of paid negro labor. The speech of General Banks to the meeting of planters at the St. Charles Hotel, as well as all the facts that transpired on that occasion, together with the important order for regulating negro labor, will be found fully detailed in this day’s paper. Some exciting scenes were witnessed in New Orleans on a recent transmigration of secession sympathisers to points in possession of the rebels. The scenes enacted were so disorderly and improper that Gen. Banks sent down a regiment to disperse the rabble. Over a thousand contraband letters and other articles were captured. The steamer Essex has been again successful in her new crusade against the torpedoes buried in the river with the intention of destroying Union vessels. Through information supplied by a loyal negro four more of these dangerous machines were discovered near Port Hudson, and removed. The Harriet Lane is laid up in one of the rivers near Galveston, and it is said that she is being converted into an iron-clad. It has been reported that General Sibley has sent his infantry – 1,500 strong – to Shreveport, and has gone up with the balance of his command, consisting of artillery and cavalry, to Atchafalaya river. The infantry were said to be entirely destitute of ammunition.
The rebels made an attempt to capture the steamer Laurel Hill, which was loaded with a cargo of cotton, sugar and molasses, obtained above Baton Rouge. She ventured too near Port Hudson, and the rebels placed ten batteries of artillery below her. The Essex went to her assistance, and the rebels fled without firing a shot.
The Southern papers are complaining that the operations of the army and the speculators in rebeldom have brought starvation upon the people. The orders of General Pemberton, prohibiting the shipment of flour and meal southwards, is felt so severely at Mobile that a famine appears to be imminent there.
Jeff. Davis has appointed, by a proclamation – in which he seems to make manifest his religious character and his familiarity with Holy Writ – a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer, on Friday, the 27th instant. He says that it is by prayer alone that the Southern Confederacy can hope to obtain a continuation of those mercies which have shielded it in the midst of previous trials and disasters, and so forth.
Gen. Foster had returned to his command at Newbern, N.C., on Friday, and everything was quiet there at that time.