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word back not to drop anchor until she was in seven fathoms of water.

Shortly after the captain appeared on deck, and had been but short time, when Acting-Master Morse, who was in the forecastle, cried out, "White water ahead!" The captain immediately ordered the engine to be reversed, but before this could be done, the ship struck hard and fast on a sand-bank. The yards were braced around and set on the foremast, in hopes of getting her off; a portion of the coal in bags was thrown into the sea, but she still stood immovable; as the last resort the engines were brought into requisition, but they soon became out of order, by a large quantity of sand getting into the boiler, and all hopes of getting her afloat vanished. The captain ordered a boat to be lowered, and sent in search of some vessel of the blockading fleet. The boat was in charge of Acting Ensign Williams and ten men. At twelve o'clock, the ship continuing to pound and thump very heavy, the foremast was cut away, which somewhat eased her. At daybreak, Thursday, January 15th, the small boat, with Acting-Ensign Williams, appeared in sight, about three miles from the ship, and the hopes of the distressed crew began to fail them; they then sent up rockets, and fired signal-guns, but received no response. At 10 o'clock A. M. a shout of "Sail ho!" thrilled every heart, as it came ringing from above, and a cheering prospect of escape gleamed before them. As soon as the sail was distinctly made out, the signal-guns were again fired, when the unknown vessel made for the wreck. The rescuer proved to be the United States gunboat Penobscot, which anchored very near the ship, right on the edge of the breakers. At three o'clock the Penobscot's boat came alongside of the ship, and took a line out to her launch, at anchor, between the two ships.

The "Columbia" then commenced to send the crew, one by one, on a life-line to the launch. Up to dark they had rescued thirty-two men; during Thursday night the wind increased to a gale, and the sea made a clear breach over the ship, and she pounded and thumped fearfully. About midnight Acting-Master Balch sent word to the men to look out for themselves, that the ship was going to pieces.

During the night the Penobscot sailed further out, for fear of being wrecked; she made signs to the distressed vessel, but they failed to understand them. Early next morning, after the crew had suffered everything but death, a party of incarnate devils, commonly called Rebels, fired upon these suffering and defenceless men of a wrecked ship, struggling with the winds and waves, and almost overcome with hunger and fatigue. The captain ordered the white flag to be displayed, a signal of surrender, when the rebels ceased firing for a short time, fully making manifest that they saw the signal, and were aware of the helpless condition of the crew. Their reckless malice, however, could restrain itself but for a little time, and they renewed the firing. The United States flag was then run up, Union down, a signal of distress. It mattered not. These blood-thirsty fiends continued hurling their missiles of death at the devoted band of wrecked and wretched men. Nor did nor would they cease, until the captain, risking his life amidst the fury of the breakers in a small boat, landed and remonstrated with the semi-savages for their cowardly, brutal conduct. Their only reply was, that "they knew nothing about it;" whereas they had been firing one full hour after the flying of the white flag, and that in full view.*

* From a letter of H. H. Fanning, Paymaster Marine Corps, to Lieutenant J. E. De Haven, commanding the United States gunboat "Penobscot." January 17th, 1868.

BARBARITIES OF THE REBELS TOWARDS THEIR OWN SOLDIERS.

THE barbarism of the rebellion is not confined to the treatment of Union men. Here, indeed, it manifests itself in the most odious and revolting forms-in forms that would make a savage blush-but here it does not stop. It is seen in the discipline of the rebel army—in the means to which it resorts to secure unquestioning obedience and in the atrocious manner in which offences are punished. As an illustration of this, we give the following extract from the Richmond Examiner of January 20th, 1864:

The times when the cat-o'-nine-tails was the instrument of naval discipline, and soldiers were strapped to the ground and their backs mangled with the scourge, have passed-for us at least-into the traditions of another generation. We are shocked, however, to hear that a naval punishment has been invented in our army which surpasses the horrors of the scourge, and has borrowed its suggestion from the punishment of the Inquisition. It is the thumb-torture.

The mode of punishment is to hang the soldier by straps on the thumb, so that his toes may scarcely touch the ground, and the weight of his body depend from the strained ligaments. We are informed, by testimony that does not admit of question, that this horrid punishment has been practised in a portion of the army on the Potomac, and has been witnessed in the case of two or three men subjected to the torture.*

*Rebellion Record.

THE CONVERSION BY THE REBELS OF THE BONES OF SLAUGHTERED UNION MEN INTO PERSONAL

ORNAMENTS.

MUCH has been said on this topic, and much needs to be said. The theory is so hideous and revolting, so opposed to all true refinement, and so indicative of a barbarous state of society, that men are slow to believe it, and many sympathizers with the rebellion absolutely deny that it has been done. Surely, it is one of the last things to be expected of a people claiming to be highminded and chivalrous. But that it has been done, in numerous instances, is a well-established fact. To the evidence already furnished by these pages, we add the following special Order (152) of Major-General Butler.

SPECIAL ORDER (152).-John W. Andrews exhibited à cross, the emblem of the sufferings of our Blessed Saviour, fashioned for a personal ornament, which he said was made from the bones of a Yankee soldier: and having shown this, too, without rebuke, in the Louisiana Club, which claims to be composed of chivalric gentlemen,

It is therefore Ordered, that for this desecration of the dead, he be confined at hard labor, for two years, on the fortifications at Ship Island; and that he be allowed no verbal or written communication to or with any one, except through these headquarters.

B. F. BUTLER, Major-General Commanding.*

*Rebellion Record, Vol. V.

BARBARITY OF GENERAL FORREST.

HEADQUARTERS, FIRST DIVISION, FOURTH ARMY CORPS, Department of the Cumberland, Blue Springs, Tenn., Apr. 21, 1864. THE late massacre at Fort Pillow, by Forrest, seems to have filled the community with indignation and surprise. To those in the front of our armies, who know Forrest, there is nothing at all astonishing in his conduct at Fort Pillow. I know that this very much respected Confederate hero has, upon former occasions, condescended to become his own executioner.

To show the style of man Jeff Davis and the Confederacy delight to honor, I will relate the following, which was stated to me last summer by a rebel citizen of Middle Tennessee, a man of high standing in his community, who had it from his nephew, an officer serving under Forrest.

About the middle of the summer of 1862, Forrest surprised the post of Murfreesboro', commanded by Brigadier-General T. T. Crittenden, of Indiana. ` The garrison was composed mostly of the Ninth Michigan and Second Minnesota Infantry, and the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry. After some little fighting, the troops were surrounded.

A mulatto man, who was servant to one of the officers of the Union forces, was brought to Forrest on horseback. The latter inquired of him, with many oaths, "What he was doing there?" The mulatto answered, that he was a free man, and came out as a servant to an officer, naming the man: Forrest, who was on horseback, deliberately put his hand to his holster, drew his pistol, and blew the man's brains out. 1

The rebel officer stated that the mulatto man came

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