days after my capture, I was sent to Jackson's camp, at Nineveh, Warren County, Va. I reached there Tuesday, November eleventh, in company with four others. Gen. Jackson came out of his tent just as we were leaving for the guard-house, (an old church near by,) and desired us to wait a few minutes, as he would like to ask us a few questions.

"When were you taken ?" he inquired. "November seventh," I replied. "Have you any New-York papers with you?" he asked.

I replied that we had not, but told him I had read the Herald of the fifth, which had reached camp on the day of my capture.

"Ah! did you?" said he. "I wanted to inquire about the recent elections. Do you know what majority Seymour received ?"

"Between ten and fifteen thousand," I replied. "Do you know how many Congressmen the Democrats elected in the State ?"

I answered that it was believed they had elected nineteen out of the thirty-one.

"Were the Woods both elected ?"

I answered that they were, and that all of the city and river districts were claimed as Democratic.

"Good!" he replied. "New-York City will have more to say in the next session of Congress than all the rest of the State."

"Their constituents would hardly feel flattered to hear you," I said.

"Any man who sincerely desires peace," he said, "should certainly rejoice at their election. If you had such men in power at Washington, to-day, there would be no more bloodshed, and we could easily come to an honorable settlement."

I did not dispute that, nor ask him what he would call an honorable settlement. Desiring to continue the conversation, I agreed with him. "But they all claimed to be War Democrats," I continued, "and in favor of a more 'vigorous prosecution of the war.' Was that a mere political dodge? Your soldiers would hardly cheer the announcement of the election of War Democrats, I should think."

66

"Oh! no!" he replied. They are in favor of prosecuting the war with more vigor. They think that if we are to be conquered, it should be done at once, before spring. If we are not subjugated by that time, they will demand a peace, and force your Government to stop the war. We know we can hold out, and when the next Congress meets, they will all be found to be peace men, and willing to recognize our independence, in preference to a bloody and endless war. When once convinced that they cannot conquer us by merely gaining one or two battles, they will cease to be War Democrats. It is because we know them to be more reasonable than the Republicans, that my men cheered the news of Seymour's election. But what other news was there?"

"New-Jersey," I answered, "has gone strongly Democratic, and the party has gained in Ohio."

"Yes," said the General. "I heard that they had carried Ohio. Did you notice whether Vallandigham was reëlected or not?"

"He was defeated," I answered; "but another friend of yours in the West, was returned." "Who was it?" he inquired. "Voorhees !"

"A good Democrat," he said. "Vallandigham was too outspoken at first; he would have been reëlected if he had been more moderate."

The General was here interrupted, and as he turned

to leave, he asked if any of us had any "green-backs' we would like to exchange for confederate paper!

We remained there two days, with the "Jackson foot cavalry," a brigade of Irish soldiers. Those with whom I conversed, said they would give almost any thing to be back at the North, but as they were in Virginia when the war broke out, there was nothing else to do but join the army.

We were paraded on the thirteenth, and the next morning started for Winchester. From there, we walked to Staunton, in five days, a distance of ninetytwo miles, and thence by cars to Richmond and Libby Prison.

As we were paroled, we had more liberty than the rest of the party. (There were eighty-four of us, and only five paroled.) Instead of staying with the rest nights, we would put up at hotels, and report to the Provost in the morning, and join our party. Two or three times we staid over a day or two, and went on with the next lot. At one place, which it would be unwise to mention, we found some negroes who asked us if we were Yankees. On assuring them we were, and speaking a few kind words, they asked us to follow them, at a distance, to a room of theirs. We had not been there long, before several joined them, each speaking some word through the key-hole, without which they would get no reply from those within, They asked us innumerable questions about the North, the Administration, and the prospects of the war, which we answered to the best of our knowledge. They told us that they were organized into secret societies throughout the South, and were patiently waiting for an **opportunity" to render the President's expected Proclamation of Freedom their aid. Several present were men whom their masters trusted in important transactions, and many assured me that their masters could hardly be convinced that they would do aught against the "institution," but placed the most implicit confidence in them. They appeared to be well posted in public affairs, and confident that the "Confederacy" was on its last legs, as they said the people everywhere were grumbling, and complaining of hard times, and praying for peace. One compared the "Confederacy" to a closet-door in the room, which hung on only one hinge, and that cracked!

In Libby, we were placed in a large room, about one hundred and twenty-five by fifty feet. The room was entirely destitute of every thing, save one bench capable of holding five. We had one hundred and fortyfive in the room, and not twenty-five had blankets. The windows were all open, not one pane of glass being left. We had a fire-place at one end of the room, but the fortunate few who got around it, would shut off the heat from reaching the unlucky mortals outside the ring. I remained there twelve days, and at no time did I get more than two hours' sleep, but I would wake up shivering, and walk the floor to get warm. Every crack in the floor appeared to be swarming with vermin, and none of us could say we were free from them. We had two meals a day- at eight A.M., and five P.M.; at each meal, a half loaf of bread and a cup of weak soup, and meat twice a week. But few had cups, and those who had none, had to go without the pleasure of drinking cold soup, which had never heard of such an article as salt. On leaving the pri son, those who had blankets were obliged to leave them, but all were glad to leave at any cost. When next I meet them, I hope it will be with rifle in hand, and with a victorious army.

GENERAL EARL VAN DORN.

For sixty days and upwards

A storm of shell and shot

Rained round as in a flaming shower,

But still we faltered not!

"If the noble city perish,"

Our grand young leader said,

"Let the only walls the foe shall scale Be ramparts of the dead!"

For sixty days and upwards

The eye of heaven waxed dim,

And even throughout God's holy morn,
O'er Christian's prayer and hymn,
Arose a hissing tumult,

As if the fiends of air
Strove to engulf the voice of faith
In the shricks of their despair.

There was wailing in the houses,

There was trembling on the marts,
While the tempest raged and thundered,
'Mid the silent thrill of hearts;
But the Lord, our shield, was with us,
And ere a month had sped,
Our very women walked the streets
With scarce one throb of dread.

And the little children gamboled—
Their faces purely raised,

Just for a wondering moment,

As the huge bombs whirled and blazed! Then turning with silvery laughter

To the sports which children love,
Thrice mailed in the sweet, instinctive thought,
That the good God watched above.*

Yet the hailing bolts fell faster
From scores of flame-clad ships,
And above us denser, darker,

Grew the conflict's wild eclipse,
Till a solid cloud closed o'er us,
Like a type of doom and ire,
Whence shot a thousand quivering tongues
Of forked and vengeful fire.

But the unseen hands of angels
These death-shafts warned aside,
And the dove of heavenly mercy
Ruled o'er the battle tide;

In the houses ceased the wailing,

And through the war-scarred marts
The people strode with the step of hope
To the music in their hearts.

COLUMBIA, S. C., August 6, 1862.

"THE YANKEE DEVIL."

BY W. P. RIVERS.

The Nondescript, or "Yankee Devil," for clearing the harbor, was washed ashore on yesterday at Morris Island, and is now in our possession. It is described as an old scow-like vessel, painted red, with a long protruding beak, and jutting iron prongs, and claws, intended for the removal of torpedoes. It was attached to the Passaic, and managed by her during the engagement.-Charleston Courier.

The enemy are waiting for a new machine, ("Devil,") to remove the torpedoes in the harbor, and to have every thing in readiness before the attack.-Intelligencer.

Hurrah, hurrah, good news and true,
Our woes will soon be past;
To Charleston, boys, all praise be due,
The Devil's caught at last.

He's caught, he's dead, and met his fate
On Morris Island's sands,
His carcass lies in solemn state,
The spoil of rebel hands.

Hurrah, hurrah, let Dixie cheer!

What may not Charleston do!
The devil's caught at last, we hear;
A Yankee devil, too!

The blackest, bluest from below,

The prince of all is he,

Who leads the Yankees where they go,

On land, or on the sea.

*It has been stated by one professing to have witnessed the fact, that some weeks after the beginning of this terrific bombardment, not only were ladies seen coolly walking the streets, but that in some parts of the town children were observed at play, only interrupting their sports to gaze and listen at the bursting shells.

The news is true, all doubt dispel,
All grief and fears be o'er!
The chiefest from perdition's well
Lies on a Southern shore.

On South-Carolina's beach he lies,
His majesty ashore !

Ah! well we know that devil dies Who enters at that door.

His name and hue, and shape and size, Identify the beast;

'Tis he the father of all lies,

Of devils not the least.

Scow-like, across the deep he came,

Blood-red his iron sides;

With beak, and claws, and fins of flame
To plough the vernal tides.

Like serpents which Minerva sent
To crush the Trojan sire,
So northern devils come to vent
On Charleston blood and fire.

But Neptune ne'er decreed the fate
Of Laocoon's dear sons,

To gratify the Yankees' hate

On Charleston's dearer ones. They'll never bear one fatal hour, The Northern serpent's coil, Nor feel the Yankee devil's power Who come to crush and spoil.

The "Nondescript," name chosen well;
The "Northern devil," aye!

A fiend, a ghoul, a spirit fell!
Who may describe it—say!

Foul, artful, bloody, false, insane,
This Northern ghote* of sin;

The heathen hells could ne'er contain
A darker power within.

But now, hurrah, the devil's dead!

High, dry upon the shore! Rebellion still may rear its head,

The war will soon be o'er.

Hold, not so fast, abate your cheer,
The battle is not won;
Another devil comes, we hear,
Before the work is done.

REBEL WRITERS IN LONDON.-The Mobile Register publishes a private letter from London which states that the editorial sanctum of The Inder has become the focus and rendezvous of Southerners in London. It is a seminary of Southern intelligence, and a school of Southern writers, not for its own columns, but for the other London papers. J. B. Hopkins and Percy Gregg, both Englishmen, both writers for The Indez, are mentioned as doing valuable service for the South. Gregg is also one of the principal leader writers for The Saturday Review, the leading London weekly, for which he writes Southern articles. He is also an editorial contributor to The Morning Herald, and Standard, both of which papers, says the writer, are in effect daily Southern organs. The financial writer for The Index is Mr. George McHenry, an ardent Southerner, though born in Philadelphia. This gentleman also does yeoman's service to the Southern cause in The Times.

LEAVING NEW-ENGLAND OUT.-The Chicago Times having proposed to enter upon the discussion of the question whether it would not be best to have a Union leaving New-England out, the Louisville Journal asks : "Wouldn't that question have been an interesting one in the revolutionary war? How would the proposition have sounded to exclude New-England privateers and New-England sailors and New-England soldiers from the last war with Great Britain ?"

A NOBLE WOMAN.-Morgan Barclay, son of Dr. J. B. Barclay, of Brownsville, Fayette County, a member of company G, Eighth regiment Pennsylvania Reserves, was killed by a ball through the heart, in one of the late series of battles before Richmond. On receiving the sad tidings of his death, and learning that he died as only die the gallant and the brave, fighting for his country, the noble mother exclaimed, "It is well, and I only regret that I have not another to send in his place"-a sentiment worthy of the matron of the best days of Sparta and of Rome.

FEMALE PATRIOTISM.-The Montgomery (Ala.) Mail gives some interesting instances of female patriotism in the county of Butler, Alabama, which we know all our readers will receive with applause. The first is that of Miss A. Dunham, who, finding that she could not buy shoes, with her own hands tanned skins and made shoes for her mother, three brothers, decrepit father and herself. The other is that of Miss E. Fickling, a girl of nine years of age, who spun a most beautiful article of fine cotton sewing-thread, upon a common spinningwheel.-Charleston Mercury, November 4.

A NOVEL PUNISHMENT.-A somewhat amusing occur. rence took place at Port Republic, Va. One of the men connected with Rigby's battery had stolen an old yellow dress, a scarf, and a small piece of new carpet.

The act coming to General Milroy's notice, he sent at once for the man, and having ascertained that there could be no mistake concerning his guilt, he at once concluded he would let him cultivate a still more familiar acquaintance with a female apparel, and accordingly ordered the old dress put on the offender, the scarf tied about his neck, and the carpeting carefully laid across his arm. Thus equipped and prepared for creating a sensation, he was ordered to be marched through the camp. The mortification of the man was complete. No more delaine dresses were stolen in his command, and the effect was most wholesome.