while on guard, was accidentally shot by the corporal of the guard; the last was killed by a piece of shell, fired from the United States gunboat Portsmouth, which, by some strange carelessness, burst over the camp of the Zouaves. They were all estimable men, and their early death is deeply regretted. It has been proposed by General Banks to convert the battalion into a regiment of mounted Zouaves. The matter is under consideration. It would make a magnificent and dashEPISTOLOGRAPHOS. ed for the night on the railroad, the rebel pickets Very respectfully yours, ABEL SMITH, Jr., Lieut.-Colonel Commanding-Abel Smith, Jr. Assistant Surgeon-George C. Hubbard. Company A. Captain, Felix Agnus; Lieutenant, E. Hampton Mulford; Second tenant, Charles A. Walker. Company B.-Captain, Henry W. Hicks, Jr.; First Lieutenant, Edward G. Hoffman; Second Lieutenant, De Forest H. Thomae. Doc. 145. OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GOVERNOR STANLY AND GENERAL HILL MAJOR-GENERAL HILL TO GOVERNOR STANLY. GOLDSBORO, N. C., March 24, 1863. His Excellency E. Stanly, Military Governor of North-Carolina: SIR: A letter from you to Major-General French has been referred to me as his successor. It was with deep mortification and pain I perceived that a son of the proud and honored house of Stanly should so far forget his noble lineage as to de-. scend to low abuse of his own people for the sake of pleasing his Yankee masters. It is true that some houses were burnt in Plymouth by confederate troops. It is alleged that it was done to oust some Yankee thieves and marauders who had taken shelter in them. I hope that this is so, and that the act was not one of wanton wickedness. It is plain, however, that if the Yankee scoundrels had been at home attending to their own business, Plymouth would not have been disturbed. The burden of the sin rests, therefore, upon the brutal invaders of a peaceful and peace-loving people. First May I not hope that your Excellency, the MiliLieu-tary Governor of North-Carolina, having rebuked confederate atrocities, will devote a portion of your valuable time to the excesses of the infernal Yankees? In the gubernatorial peregrinations of your Excellency from Currituck to Cherokeethe seaboard to the mountains-you must have been struck with the remarkable fact that there are more houses burnt in a few eastern counties than in all the rest of the great State over which your Excellency presides. Company C.. Captain Wm. W. Stephenson; First Lieutenant, W. Henry Vance; Second Lieutenant, Gustave F. Linquist. Company D.-Captain, Wm. R. French; First Lieutenant, Barry Fox. Company E.-Captain, Henry C. Inwood; First Lieutenant, John P. Morris; Second Lieutenant, E. Bayard Webster. Company F.-Captain, Gould H. Thorpe; First Lieutenant, James B. Vose; Second Lieutenant, Wm. J. Walker. It is observable that the counties so desolated are those in which the Yankee friends of your Excellency have been able to penetrate. Your Yankee master, Foster, is accustomed to make raids whenever he learns that his forces exceed the confederate five to one. Your Excellency is well There has been one death by disease, and three aware that the path of this murderer and freebootmen have been accidentally killed since the regi-er has ever been marked by the glare of burning ment left New-York, on the eighteenth of De- churches, school-houses, private residences, barns, cember last. Private Spicer J. Ruderow, of com- stables, fences, etc., etc. Your Excellency may pany A, died, in January, of typhoid fever. Cor- have some influence with these brigands, and a poral David Brown, of company D, was shot dur-gentle hint to them that this may not be the best ing the same month, while on guard, by the ac- way of restoring the Union would doubtless meet cidental falling of a stack of muskets. Private with their respectful attention. Geo. Hoctor, and Corporal Andrew Jackson, both of company E, were killed last week. The first, North-Carolina is peculiarly happy to have two Governors in this sad crisis. Her civil Governor at Raleigh has often bared his bosom to the deadly bullet in defence of his native State. Her military Governor has not thought it prudent to expose his gubernatorial person in battle. It is to be hoped, however, that when he has organized his negro brigade, his Excellency the military Governor will (having laid in an abundant supply of ottar of roses and eau de cologne) put himself at its head, and strike for his own, his native land. The parallel between Governors suggests another between generals. There was a Yankee general named Arnold, who turned tory. There was a Southern general named Washington, who was a rebel. The British honored the rebel and despised the tory. North-Carolina has a civil Governor and a military Governor - - a rebel and a tory. Mean as the Yankees are, they respect the former and loathe the latter. In conclusion, permit me to assure your Excellency that, with the distinguished consideration due to your exalted position, I subscribe myself your obedient servant, D. H. HILL, Major-General Confederate States Army. GOVERNOR STANLY TO MAJOR-GENERAL HILL. To Major-General D. H. Hill, C.S.A., Golds boro: SIR: By flag of truce last night I received a communication from you of the twenty-fourth instant, full of insolent falsehood and blackguard abuse. To those who know any thing of the peculiar traits of your character, it will be amusing to learn that you were capable of feeling "mortification and pain" because of any unfortunate conduct of a North-Carolinian. You say I have descended to low abuse of my own people. I do not know what the abuse to which you have reference can be, unless it was when I characterized as "cowardly incendiaries" the men under the command of General French who burned the town of Plymouth. I am happy to know that you and I differ in opinion as to those upon whom the burden of this sin rests. If the Union forces were "brutal invaders," I see no excuse for your burning the towns of those peaceful citizens whom you profess you came to save. If it will afford you pleasure, you may know that I have omitted no opportunity of rebuking any "atrocities" committed by troops of the United States, in which I have been sustained by the gallant General upon whom you so unworthily endeavor to cast reproach. As far as my observation extends, I know of but two attempts in North-Carolina to destroy towns by burning- both these were made by men of your political school. I refer to the attempt to destroy Newbern and to the burning of Plymouth. You are pleased, in the mean malignity of your nature, to make a comparison of the civil and military Governors of North-Carolina, in the hope of wounding my feelings. How little you know of the feelings and character of the gentleman whom you would assail. I feel a just and proper pride for the good conduct of any true son of North-Carolina, even when engaged in a bad cause. The gallant gentleman to whom you refer-as little honored by your praise as I am injured by your sneers-was honored by my 31 own people North-Carolini ans - for his lifelong devotion to the Union and I did condemn and do condemn as cowardly incendiaries" the perpetrators of that diabolical outrage; but I have never believed they were citizens of North-Carolina. It was evidently a premeditated attempt to destroy the whole town. The houses of widows, of Union men, and of secessionists, who had been protected by the troops of the United States, were indiscriminately burned, without regard to the entreaties and tears of their wives and daughters. General French only admitted the firing of one house. You now admit that some houses were burned in Plymouth by "confederate troops." But unfortunatelyif to be convicted of falsehood can be a misfortune to a general in the "Confederate States Army" while you confess his sin, you, from the force of irresistible habits, are guilty of the same infirmity. You say, "it is alleged it was done to oust some Yankee thieves and marauders." What Your allusion to Arnold is beneath contempt, I have stated above of the character of the per- and only reveals the deep malignity which you sons residing in the houses is a sufficient refuta-have had toward me. Though bound to my nation of this. tive land with "hooks of steel," my adopted But truth demands I should declare that if I were compelled to choose between fighting with such secessionists and town-burners as you are, attempting to destroy the government, and with "a negro brigade" to prevent its destruction, I should prefer the negro brigade. Under no circumstances could I submit to the degradation of an association with men who would serve under such a man as D. H. Hill. the historian and the Captain Bobadils of the home is California. My loyalty to her is not impeached. My duty to her is undeniable. Her determination in the present crisis is not doubted. I hardly think even one of your mad preju- peace I have done something to mitigate the hordices against the "infernal Yankees," in a sober rors of war; and though no call of duty has remoment, would condemn as a traitor him who quired me to "bare my bosom to bullets," yet was faithful in his allegiance to his home, whe- upon occasions, not exempt from danger, I have ther that home was California, Louisiana, or Ver-defied the utmost malice of the evil men whose mont. pernicious doctrines have brought the dreadful calamities of civil war on our land. I have something to be "proud" of-a consciousness of sincere efforts, at least, to save my country, and that, while I deserve the respect of honest patriots, I have provoked the ridiculous enmity of such creatures as D. H. Hill. You are supposed, General, to command the Department of Pamlico," or the whole of Eastern North-Carolina. Can you not condescend to pay me a visit? Come and see what inestimable blessings your peaceful secession has conferred on the peace-loving people of North-Carolina. Come! behold the scenes of your great military But the height of hypocritical audacity is reached when you, though rather tamely, endeavor to speak respectfully of the "Southern General Washington." In your estimation his only title to public honor was that he was called a rebel, and that he was "honored by the British," and therefore honored by D. H. Hill, "Major-General, Confederate States Army!" The monomaniac of secession, D. H. Hill, at last speaks respectfully of Washington! "Therefore it became a proverb, is Saul also among the prophets." Washington's Farewell Address has always been regarded by all of the "proud and honored house of Stanly" as entitled to venera-exploits. tion next to that due to Holy Writ. They were taught to treat with scorn rebel hypocrites like you, whose malignant efforts for years past have been directed in poisoning the minds of your countrymen, and encouraging them to hate their Northern brethren; encouraging them to smile In the Falstaff imagination of your secession benignantly upon all efforts to alienate one por- friends, every soldier under General Foster was tion of our country from another. Is it not reach-transformed into five; the sea-coast is abandoned, ing the pinnacle of hypocritical audacity for you and you are eating out the substance of "my peoto damn with faint praise" the memory of ple" in the interior. Washington? 66 You are not mistaken, sir, in one thing. I am a little proud. I do not claim to be of "noble lineage." That is the cant of the would-be lords of the South-Carolina school, that I despise. But I am descended of honest, patriotic people, whose blood and fortunes in the Revolution were poured out to secure the blessings of the Union that you, with felon hand, would destroy. I well understand the cause of your malignity. More than a quarter of a century ago I denounced, in my first campaign, politicians like you, as those who would "rather reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." My observation in public life has justified me in this opinion. I am "proud" to know I have despised and been hated by them as I am by you. You come from a people that for many years have sneered at North-Carolina as "the Rip Van Winkle of the South." You are one of the "witlings and scorners," reprobated by one great and good for so doing. You have been one of those who loved to revile her, until by devilish stratagem you involved her in war, and when by her gallant men she saved you from the halter, you have condescended to "honor" her. Even now, after all her sacrifices and sufferings, she is reviled by one of your secession curs in office at Richmond as a "nest of damned traitors!" You and I, sir, move in different spheres. have followed the teachings of Washington and the Yankees Hamilton, Adams, and Webster. You have followed those of the "Catilines of A little more than a year ago you came to defend and protect North-Carolina. You had possession of Roanoke Island, Fort Macon, Newbern, Washington, and Hatteras. How are they now? - Come, look at the counties of Currituck, Camden, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Chowan, Washington, Tyrrell, and Hyde. Think of this immense and rich territory of their bright fields; how their valleys laughed with corn and wheat before your arrival; and now behold them, under the advice and rule of your demon associates, almost covered with blood and ashes. Pardon me for giving you a word of advicethe last from me, as I leave immediately for my distant home. You have committed a great crime in your part in this horrid war. You commenced with perjury, and are trying to sustain yourself with impudence and falsehood. As a State rights village politician you were simply ridiculous. Do not attempt, like the frog in the fable, to swell to the size of the ox, by parading your insolence under the name of a "Major-General in the Confederate States Army." You will soon be, in the eyes of all sensible people, utterly contemptible. Yours, etc., EDWARD STANLY. Doc. 146. BATTLE AT MURFREESBORO, TENN. LIEUT.-GENERAL POLK'S OFFICIAL REPORT. To Colonel G. W. Brent, A.A.G.: SIR: I have the honor to submit the following official report of the operations of my corps in the battles on Stone River in front of Murfreesboro. One of my brigades, that of Gen. Maney, was on outpost duty in front of Stewart's Creek, and, with a cavalry brigade under Gen. Wheeler, was held in observation. At the appointed time the battle opened, evidently to the surprise of the opposing army. Major-Gen. McCown, who was acting under the orders of Lieut.-General Hardee, was upon them The enemy made a general forward movement before they were prepared to receive him. He on the twenty-sixth in their immediate front, and captured several batteries and one Brigadier-Genthey were ordered to retire slowly upon the line eral, wounded another, and drove three brigades of battle which the General Commanding had de--those composing the divisions of Brig.-General cided to adopt on Stone River, a short distance Johnson-in confusion before him. from Murfreesboro. On the evening of the twenty-eighth my brigade struck their tents and retired their baggagetrains to the rear, and on the morning of the twenty-ninth they were placed in line of battle. As the brigades composing the division of Major-Gen. Withers had not been engaged in any heavy battle since Shiloh, I placed them in the first line. They extended from the river, near the intersection of the Nashville turnpike and railroad, southward across the Wilkinson pike to Triune or Franklin road, in a line irregular, but adapted to the topography. The division of Major-General Cheatham was posted in the rear of that of Major-Gen. Withers, as a supporting force. The division of MajorGeneral McCown, of Lieut.-Gen. Kirby Smith's army corps, was in prolongation of that of MajorGen. Withers on the left, having that of MajorGen. Cleburne, of Lieut.-Gen. Hardee's corps, as its supporting force. Major-Gen. Breckinridge's division of Lieut.-Gen. Hardee's corps occupied the ground on the east side of the river, in the line of Major-Gen. Withers on the right. The enemy moved forward, and our outposts went back slowly, and took their place in the line of the battle on the twenty-ninth. On the thirtieth, in order to discover the position at which we proposed to offer battle, he moved up cautiously, shelling his front heavily as he advanced. The cannonading was responded to along our line, and the theatre of the impending conflict was speedily détermined. On the left of my line the skirmishing became very active, and my left brigades front and rear became hotly engaged with the line which was being formed immediately before them. The enemy pressed forward very heavily, with both artillery and infantry, and a sharp contest ensued, in which he attempted, with several regiments, to take one of my batteries by assault, but was repulsed in the most decisive manner. In this preliminary onset many lives were lost on both sides. It was from its severity an introduction to the great battle of the ensuing day, and prepared our troops for the work before them. Twilight following soon after, the enemy settled around his bivouac-fires for the night. Orders were issued by the General Commanding to attack in the morning at daybreak. The attack was to be made by the extreme left, and the whole line was ordered to swing around from left to right upon my right brigade as a pivot. Major-General Breckinridge, on the extreme right and across the river, was to hold the enemy in observation on that flank. He was followed quickly by Major-General Cleburne, as a supporting force, who occupied the space left vacant by the forward movement of McCown, between the left of my front line and McCown's right. Opposing him in that space was the second division of Major-Gen. McCook's corps, under the command of Brig.-Gen. Jeff C. Davis, to confront which he had to wheel to the right, as the right of Gen. McCook's corps was slightly advanced. Cleburne's attack following soon on that of McCown, caught the force in his front also not altogether prepared, and the vigor of the assault was so intense that they too yielded and were driven. Major-Gen. Withers's left was opposed to the right of General Sheridan, commanding the third and remaining division of Gen. McCook's corps. The enemy's right was strongly posted on a ridge of rocks, with chasms intervening, and covered with a dense growth of rough cedars. Being advised of the attack he was to expect by the fierce contest which was being waged on his right, he was fully prepared for the onset, and this notice and the strength of his position enabled him to offer a strong resistance to Withers, whose duty it was to move next. Col. Loomis, who commanded the left brigade, moved up with energy and spirit to the attack. He was wounded and was succeeded by Colonel Coltart. The enemy met the advance with firmness, but was forced to yield. An accession of force aided him to recover his position, and its great strength enabled him to hold it. Coltart, after a gallant charge and a sharp contest, fell back, and was replaced by Col. Vaughn, of MajorGeneral Cheatham's division, of the rear line. Vaughn, nothwithstanding the difficulties of the ground, charged the position with great energy, but the enemy, intrenched behind stones and thick woods, could not be moved, and Vaughn also was repulsed. This caused a loss of time, and Cleburne's division pressing Davis, reached a point where Sheridan's batteries, still unmoved, by wheeling to the right, enfiladed it. Col. Vaughn was speedily reorganized and returned to the assaults, and in conjunction with Col. Coltart, drove at the position with restless courage and energy, and although their losses were very heavy, the enemy could not bear up against the onset. He was dislodged and driven with the rest of the flying battalions to McCook's corps. In this charge, the horse of every officer on the field and staff of Vaughn's brigade, except one, and the horses of all the officers of the field and staff of every regiment except two, were killed. The brigade lost also one third of all its forces. It captured two of the enemy's field- Negley's division of Gen. Thomas's corps, which guns. The brigade of Col. Manigault, which was immediately on the right of that of Colonel Coltart, followed the movement of the latter according to instructions. But as Coltart failed in the onset to drive Sheridan's right, Manigault, after dashing forward and pressing the enemy's line in his front, back upon his second line, was brought under a very heavy fire of artillery from two batteries on his right, supported by a heavy infantry force. He was therefore compelled to fall back. In this charge the brigade suffered severely, sustaining a very heavy loss in officers and men, but the gallant South-Carolinians returned to the charge a second and a third time, and being aided by the brigade of Major-General Maney, of the second line, which came to his relief with his heavy Napoleon guns, and a deadly fire of musketry, the enemy gave way and joined his comrades on the right in their precipitate retreat across the Wilkinson pike. This movement dislodged and drove the residue of Sheridan's division, and completed the forcing of the whole of McCook's corps out of its line of battle, and placed it in full retreat. The enemy left one of his batteries of four guns on the field, which fell into the hands of Maney's brigade. constituted the centre of the enemy's line of battle. The division, with that of Gen. Rousseau in reserve, was posted in the edge of a dense cedar brake, with a position of strength not inferior to that held by Sheridan's right. His batteries, which occupied commanding positions, and enabled him to sweep the open field in his front, were served with admirable skill and vigor, and were strongly supported. Anderson moved forward his brigade with firmness and decision. The fire of the enemy, of both artillery and infantry, was terrific, and his left for a moment wavered. Such evidences of destructive firing. as were left on the forest from which this brigade emerged, have rarely, if ever, been seen. The timber was torn and crushed. Nothing but a charge could meet the demands of the occasion. Orders were given to take the batteries at all hazards, and it was done. The batteries, two in number, were carried in gallant style. Artillerists were captured at their pieces, a large number of whom, and of their infantry supports, were killed upon the spot, and one company entire, with its officers and colors, were captured. The number of field-guns captured in this movement was eight, which, together with four others from which the gunners had been driven by the heavy Here I think it proper to bring to the notice firing from Maney's long-range guns and Maniof the General Commanding an instance of self-gault's musketry on the left, made twelve taken sacrificing devotion to the safety of their immediate commands, and of our cause, which, for heroic courage and magnanimity, is without a parallel. A battery was pouring a murderous fire into the brigade of Gen. Maney, from a point which made it doubtful whether it was ours or the enemy's. Two unsuccessful efforts had been made by staff-officers-one of whom was killed in the attempt to determine its character. The doubt caused the brigade on which it was firing to hesitate in returning the fire, when Sergeant Oakley, color-bearer of the Fourth Tennessee confederate regiment, and Sergeant M. C. Hooks, color-bearer of the Ninth Tennessee regiment, gallantly advanced eight or ten paces to the front, displaying their colors and holding themselves and the flag of their country erect, remained ten minutes in a place so much conspicuous as to be plainly seen and fully to test from whom their brigade was suffering so severely. The murderous fire, instead of abating, increased and intensified, and soon demonstrated that the battery and its support were not friends, but enemies. The sergeants then returned deliberately to their proper positions in the line unhurt, and the enemy's battery was silenced and his column put to flight. The front of Manigault and Maney being free, they swung round with our lines on the left, and joined in pressing the enemy and his reënforcements into the cedar brake. At nine A.M. Brig.-Gen. Patton Anderson, on Manigault's right, moved in conjunction with its left brigade, formed upon the line in its front. That line rested with its right near the Wilkinson pike, and is understood to have been General on that part of the field. This was one of the points at which we encountered the most determined opposition, but the onward movement of the Mississippians and Alabamians was irresistible, and they swept the enemy before them, driving him into the dense cedar brake to join the extending line of his fugitives. This work, however, was not done without a heavy loss of officers and men. The Thirtieth Mississippi, commanded by Lieut.-Col. Seales, in the act of charging, lost sixty-two officers and men killed, and one hundred and thirty-nine wounded; others lost in proportion. Here the brave Lieut.Colonel Jas. L. Autry, of the Twenty-seventh Mississippi, fell, while cheering and encouraging his troops. The supporting brigade of Gen. Anderson, commanded by Brig.-Gen. A. P. Stewart, moved with that of Anderson. It was ordered by the division commander, Major-Gen. Withers-who was in the command of Major-Gen. Cheatham's two right brigades, as Major-General Cheatham was of his two left-to move to the support of the left regiments of Anderson, which were pressed. These regiments, which had suffered greatly, he replaced, and moving forward attacked the ene my and his reenforcements on Anderson's left. After strong resistance they were driven back, shattered and in confusion, to join the hosts of their flying comrades, in their retreat through the cedars. In their flight they left two of their field-guns, which fell into the hands of Stewart's brigade. Brig. Gen. Chalmers's brigade, the remaining one of those constituting my front line, whose right flank rested on the river, was the last to |