?
VOI. 1. _
THE FREE SOUTH.
BEACFOUT, 8. r.,Jl LY 28, 1S63.
Agents for the Free Sonth.
Tat lor Jt Co. Hilton Head, and St Helena Island.
1 C.*C. Lekjii, No. 1 Mercer street New York.
XW Agents wanted hi the different Regiments of this I
Department for the Fibmctb.
6eneml \
The f^pointment^oi
this ftom
his long expressed willingness to proceed
against Charleston with the force already
here. Long continued complaints of inadequate
numbers for offensive operations,
and finally the utter failure of the attack
in April had forced upon the Administration
the alternative of giving up indefinitely
a movement against that city, or of
largely increasing the 10th Army corps.
The necessity of concentrating troops to
meet the offensive movements of Lee, and
to reinforce Rosecrans, Grant and Bauks,
^ had almost decided the point in favor of
y ' giving Charleston an undeserved immnnity.
At the same time the difficulties
j?v arising from the frequent evasion of the
f* *, blockade made it very important that the
port should speedily be closed against a
V 'if contraband trade and opened .once
more to p legitimate commerce by bringing
it under the flag of the Union.
This to sav nothing of the moral tri
? v W
nruph we should win in humbling the
city which has pre-eminently stood forward
as the nursing place of rebellion was
sufficient to induce the government to
listen with favor to a man who asked only
to be allowed to try, without further assistance,
to take the city.
Then, too, the proposal came from one
whose past achievements gave an earnest
of future success. Everybody knows he
took Fort Pulaski, but not eveiybody
knows in the face of what obstacles he
succeeded. Pulaski was deemed impreg_
liable, and the proposed attempt to reduce
it by land batteries on Tybee island was
scouted by the highest engineering au- J
thority A America. General Wright, then
commanding a brigade at Port Boyal, for j
three years Chief of the Engineer Bureau I
in Washington, alter a very carerai survey
and reconnoissance pronounced positively
against the effort " There is not old iron
enough in America to take that fort" said
the General. It was the strongest but
two in the United States. Russell of the
London Times, went over it very carefully
and sent home long accounts and plans in
detail, pronouncing it a model of engineering
strength. ' Gen. Robt E. Lee
wrote to Colonel Olmstead, its commandant
: ' The enemy may fill your fort
with shot and shell, but they cannot breach
its walls. I expect you to defend it to the
last" And to crown all, Gen. Totten,
then and now at the head of the Engineer
Corps, when the project of reducing Pulaski
was suggested to him, declared,
"You might as well undertake to bombard
the Rocky Mountains from Tybee as
Fort Pulaski, It was in the face of such
opinions as this that General, then Captain
Gillmore, resolved to take this fort,
and took it. The credit is due to him
solely. In eighteen and a half hours of
cannonading?thirty from the time the
first gun was fired?Pulaski surrendered,
and from that moment Gen. Gillmore has
been the best hated officer in the Engineer
Corps. Success in defiance of opinion
and tradition is seldom forgiven. When
the Corps was recently reorganized, Gen.
Gillmore was kept still a captain in the
* engineer service, and his remarkable ability
and success have been in no way recognized
or rewarded in connection with
his position in the regular army.
The Court of Inquiry at St. Louis having
finished its business, General McDowell has arrived
in Washington, lie is to proceed to New
York to organize an important Board for the
retiring of army officers.
0 t
?
THE FREE SOUTH, SATt
Sunday last was a sad day in Beaufort.
The arrival of the Cosmojx/litwi with the
wounded from Morris island, bringing
also the intelligence that our brave troops
had been repulsed in the assault upon
Fort Wagner, casta gloom upon the community
greater than any it has experienced
since the affair at Pocataligo, and the
death of the noble Mitchell. As the vessel
neared the wharf with its freight of
sunering, a silent, mournful concourse
gathered around the landing, eager to
lend a helping hand in removing the woun[
ded to the hospital. As those who were
able to walk filed off the boat and wended
their slow way through the crowd, the
scene was truly pathetic. The emotional
nature of the negro broke forth in sobs
and moans of compassion, while the sympathy
and commiseration of the white
man was shown only in the pale face and
trembling lips. The wounded of the 54th
Massachusetts came off the boat first, and
as these sad evidences of the bravery and
patriotism of the colored man passed
through the lines of spectators every heart
seemed to be touched, and we will vouch for
it that no word of scorn or contempt for
negro soldiers will ever be heard from any
who witnessed the sjght. In that moment
our volunteers saw suffering comrades in
the black men, and the tender hand and
strong shoulder was extended as readily
tn tlipm as to their fairer eomuatriots.
All day and far into the night did the sad
procession pass toward the hospital, and
every man and woman at the post who
could do anything to alleviate the sufferings
of our brave fellows was soon busily
at work.
Gen. Sax ton and the officers of his staff
were untiring in their exertions to provide
accommodations for *11. Fortunately
the post quartermaster, Capt. J. P. Lowe,
had kept his carpenters At work for the
past month or two in getting out hospital i
cots, so there was no lack of comfortable
beds. The hospitals, too, had been kept
in perfect order, ready at any moment to
respond to the most sudden emergency.
The consequences of this good management
and foresight were apparent. Before
midnight the sufferers were lying in
[ cool rooms, their soiled clothes changed
for clean garments, and the surgeons were
busily employed in alleviating their
wounds.
The cheerful resignation with which the
soldiers, white and black, bore the terrible
mutilations, and the sufferings inevi
ii #11
table in moving tnem, was wormy 01 an
praise. No one but those who have witnessed
this and similar scenes can tell
how much of heroism lies dormant in the
American soldier. As we looked upon
some youthful fonp, lying upon a stretcher,
with a cloth covering a torn and shattered
limb, and watched the struggle to bear
up with fortitude and patience, we bowed
in spirit to a hero as great as any whose
fame has employed the pen of the historian
or the muse of the poet.
And the dead. As one by one they
were named, some endeared as the companions
of many a pleasant hour, some
known only as gallant officers or men, cut
short in the prime of manhood by the
foul spirit engendered by slavery and
treason, it seems as if we must one and all
renew our vows of hatred to the rebellion
and its hellish cause.
The Philadelphia BitUetin rebukes
those people who are particularly sanguinary
in their wishes concerning the
army, speaking from their firesides :?" It
is curious to see how fond peaceable folks
are of brisk military movements. There
is nothing a quiet, timid sort of man loves
at breakfast so mnch as a good hot despatch
; a bayonet charge sends him to his
toast with a relish, and he swallows his
last cnp of tea with great satisfaction over
a pretty cruel return of killed and wounded."
General Banks has ordered that hereafter none
but negroes shall be employed as government
teamsters in the Department of the Gulf.
t
TODAY, JULY 25, 1863.
Congratulatory Order.
IlEADQlWKTKns DkI'A UTM knt ok tiik socth,)
Morris Island, 8. C., July l'ith, 1SC3. /
Order.?The Brigadier General Commanding
presents liis congratulation? and
thanks to the army which he has the honor
to command, for the brilliant victory
on the 10th instant, which places them
three miles nearer the rebel stronghold of
Sumter, the first among all our country's
defences against foreign foes that felt the
polluting tread of traitors. Our labors,
however, are not over: they are just be
gun ; and while the spires of the rebel
city still loom up in the dim distance,
hardships and privations must be endured
before our hopes and expectations
can find their full fruition in victory.
Let us emulate the heroic deeds of our
brothers in arms at Gettysburg and Vicksburg,
and add to that roll of fame which
will be transmitted to a grateful posterity.
Special thanks are due to Brigadier General
J. Yogdes and his command, for the
untiring energy and patient endurance displayed
by them in ereQting the batteries
on Folly Island, under almost every conceivable
disadvantage, and to Brigadier
General George L. Strong and his command,
for the heroic gallantry with which
they carried the enemy's batteries on Morris
Island ; this being the first instance
during the war in which powerful batteries
have been successfully assaulted by a
column, disembarked under a heavy artillery
fire. Q. A. Gillmore,
Brigadier General, Commanding.
General Order No. 51.
IlEAiKjr.Mrrr.efl U. 8. Forces, \
Port Royal Island, Beaufort, S. C. July 23, 1^63. j
T Triow niimhpr of wounded
troops now at this Post and the necessity
that all possible attention should be paid
to their wants, all citizens residing at the
Post will be required to serve at the Hospitals,
on the requisition of the Chief
Medical Officer, through the Provost
Marshall, at least three days in each week,
should such services be deemed necessaThe
Chief Medical Officer is authorised
to demand the services of citizens as above
and the Provost Marshall will cause such
requests to be complied with.
By command of
Brig. Gen. R SAXTON. 1
flg^The officers of the U. S. Sanitary
Commission have won for themselves a
splendid reputation in this Department.
They have by their discretion and zeal
saved many valuable lives. Under the guns
of Wagner, in the hottest of the fire, their
trained corps picked up and carried off
the wounded almost as they fell. As
many of our men were struck while ascending
the*parapet and then rolled into
the moat, which at high tide contains six
feet of water they must inevitably have
perished had they been suffered to remain.
But the men who were detailed for service
with Dr. Marsh, went about their
work with intrepidity and coolness worthy
of all praise. The skill and experience of
the members of the commission has, since
the battle, been unremittingly employed
to render comfortable the sick and wounded.
JJS^The Richmond editors disbelieve
the accounts of Union success, and look
for no less than the utter annihilation of
the Army of the Potomac. The capture
of Brashear City is called the most impor
tant rebel success in the South-West since
the beginning of the war, and it is presumed
(by the rebels) that New Orleans
has also been retaken. Not much is said
of Vicksburg ; if the editors knew of the
surrender they concealed the fact from
the public. The papers give some details
of Gen. Dix's progress in breaking communications
between Richmond and the
North.
$ mi
A man who will not stand by his Government
is a coward and a traitor, said Ex-Governor
Hill, of New Hampshire. Let the wretched
men at the north, who give aid and comfort
to the rebels make a note of this truth.
_ NO. 29.
Among the officers captured .at Vicksbnrg
was one lieutenant-geueral, Fcmbcrton; four
major-generals, Smith, Stevenson, Forney, and
Bowen, anil sortie fifteen or twenty brigadiergenerals.
Admiral Porter, in his official report
to the Navy Department, refers to the jtfirt the
navy took in the capture of the place. The gunl>oats
had teen constantly engaged below Vicksburg
in shelling the works with success, co-operating
heartily with the left wing of the array.
The mortar boats had been at work for forty-two
days, without intermission, throwing shells into
all parts of the city, even reaching the works in
the rear of Vicksburg, and in front of our
troops -a distance of three miles. Gunboafk
were also stationed to keep the Mississippi clear
of guerrillas. The mortars fired 7,000 mortar
shells, and the gunooats 4,500. Four thousand
five hundred shots were fired from naval guns
on shore, and the navy supplied over G.000 to
the different army corps.
" n t r
Captain Cutts, of the 11th Infantry (regulars)
who is a mcml>er of Gen. Burnside's staff, has
got into trouble by insulting a brother officer on
the staff". It appears that on the 11th of April,
while occupying a room in the Burnet House,
Cincinnati, Ohio, he took a valise from his
room, and placing it against the door of another
room occupied by Capt. Ilutton, looked over
the door while the wife of the latter was undressing.
Capt. Ilutton saw him from the stairs,
and sent hyp a challenge, which he remitted to
Gen. Birrnside. The result of this is, that Capt.
Cutts is to be tried by court-martial, for his indecent
conduct; Capt. Ilutton, for sending &
challenge; and Maj. Cutting, for carrying the
challenge.
The cooj)cration of Gcu. Kelly with Gerteral
Meade, is indicated in the following paragraph
from the Wheeling TnteUigeucer, of Thursday :
We are informed by dcsi?atches from Gen. Kelly's
headquarters to-day, that he made the march,
of forty miles to Hancock in one day, nnd tliaC
a small detachment of his cavalry, under Capt,
Greenfield and Lieut. Kelly, captured a train
of fifteen wagons, sixty mules, two officers,
twenty men and twenty horses, yesterday, within
four miles of Williamsport. He had four men
wounded, none killed. Several of the enemy,
were killed and wounded." ?
Medical-Insjjecror Nollum reports to SurgeonGen.
Hammond that there are now in our hands
at Gettysburg, 10,000 rebel wounded. This
number will be increased rather than diminished,
and the former estimate of 4,000 is now known
, to have been the merest guess work. The rebel
losses, during the three battles ot Gettysburg;
are, to say unofficially, footed up at the Surgeon-General's
as follows:
Left on the field and in oar hands, wonnded 10,009
Slightly wounded, taken away by the lebels 4,000
Killed on the field, and buried by our forces 3,509
Taken prisoners by our forces 14,009
Deserters and stragglers brought in by our cavalry 4,009
Total 33,509
rr^i . I*. - / -1 m* I f n
i nc eunor 01 ine uenyottry Loinpuer, copperhead,
when the rebels were there, made himself
conspicuous by his officiousness in giving
them information, and was even so mean as to
point out the hiding-place of several Union soldiers
who happened to be concealed in a private
house. But the tables have turned. The rebels
have been driven out of the town, and the editor
of The Compiler, without ceremony?without
even the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus?
has been carried off to Fort McHenry, where he
is now imprisoned. A clear case of arbitrary arrest.
The guerrillas in North Carolina do picket
duty in carts, their gnus lying by their sides.
They ride slowly toward our pickets, who, of
course, imagine that some farmer wishes to
procure a pass through our lines, or j>erhap?
desires to go to mill. After approaching near
enough to have a good view, the rebel suddenly
wheels around his cart, and is off on the rim.
Some have thus been caught.
m < m
Mr. C. G. Robbins, the agent, of
the American Watch Company, has a
stock of these unequaled tune beepers oil
hand. The world-wide reputation which,
has been obtained already is augmented
by every watch sold. Bobbins has also
a line stock of miscellaneous goods always
on hand at the lowest prices.
The Montreal Advertiser, after announcing
Vallaniligham's arrival at Halifax, states that be
will soon go to Niagara Falls, where he will remain
for the present, taking care to keep on the
Canada side.