March 8, 1863, The New York Herald
The Army of the Potomac has been making a demonstration. An expedition, under Colonel Phelps, which left Belle Plain in steamers on Tuesday for Northumberland county, made a most successful thing of it, and returned to headquarters yesterday. The troops visited Heathsville, which they found deserted by the rebels. Then, throwing out large foraging parties from that base into Lancaster county and in other directions, they succeeded in capturing one thousand bushels of corn, fifty horses and mules, an amount of medical stores. Two post offices and several stores were visited, and two important rebel mails captured. The cavalry also seized a large number of horses and mules, and are now on their way overland to Fredericksburg. Some prisoners were also taken, among them Colonel Claybrook, a prominent rebel officer, and two clerks of the departments of Richmond, with a quantity of correspondence for citizens of Baltimore, and official papers addressed to parties in London, to the care of Baring Brothers. The country was quite deserted and almost barren of everything.
We present our readers this day with a map illustrating the important operations now taking place in the Southwest, accompanying it with a full description of the movements as set forth in the rebel newspapers and Western journals. As the region is but little known the map will be very useful, and as the movement is important and is fully understood by the rebels, its description will be exceedingly interesting to our readers. Such a gigantic operation has never before been attempted by any army of the Old or New World, and if successful, the ‘Great Union River’ will carry down to posterity the history of one of the greatest military operations of the greatest rebellion that has ever shaken the earth.
We publish in another column a highly interesting account of the capture of the Indianola from our special correspondent, accompanied by a map of the locality in which we recently lost the two boats, Queen of the West and Indianola. The story of the fight is most graphically and forcibly given.
Another map illustrates the scene of the destruction of the Nashville on the Ogeechee, with which our readers are already acquainted.
The rebel accounts of the attack of our iron-clads on Fort McAllister up to the 4th inst. represent the shelling as having been briskly kept up till daylight that morning, leaving the fort still unhurt.
The rebel privateers continue their raids upon the sea. The pirate steamer Retribution attacked and sunk a whaler in the Caribbean Sea which showed fight, and killed one man on board the pirate. The entire crew of the unfortunate whaler were sunk with her by the heavy fire of the Retribution. She had previously captured a bark, three brigs and a schooner. The captain of the brig Condor, just arrived from Porto Rico on the 20th ult., reports that when about forty miles from that place he saw a three masted bark rigged steamer – which he believed to be the Alabama – with her foresail, mainsail and jib set, making all sail in the direction of that port. She was closely followed by another steamer of about the same size, which vessel appeared to be chasing her. They both had a full head of steam on; but from the distance – seven of eight miles – the brig was from the two steamers the Captain could not state which gained the better of the race.
The Captain of the schooner Hanover – captured by the Retribution off the coast of Hayti on the 20th of January – has also arrived here, and gives a most interesting account of the mode of his capture and a description of the pirate.
The Richmond Dispatch says that General Rosecrans is about to assail the rebel forces at Tullahoma with sixty thousand men of the one hundred thousand which it says that General has in his department.
Our advices from New Orleans by the steamer Columbia, give full particulars of the recent emigration of secession sympathizers to the barren lands of the Southern confederacy. The scenes on the occasion of the embarkation of these deluded people were sufficiently extravagant, and have already been described in these columns. Our correspondent, who accompanied the […..], now gives us all the facts which remained to be known. By this arrival we also have some further news concerning the Harriet Lane and Queen of the West, all of which is deserving of careful perusal.