The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume], November 08, 1861, Image 8

About The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865

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6
THE BATTLE OF LEESBUBG.
CAPT. FRANCIS O. YOUNQ’B STATEMENT*
Correspondence of iJw Mow York World.
Washington, October 23.—'The tall and
true story of the battle Dear Harrison’s
Island has reached as within the last hoar.
Now cones the naked troth, in all its
stunning and distressing horrors. 001.
Baker’s body arrived In town, guarded by
a squad of Van Allen’s cavalry, and is now
lying in the mansion of Col. J. W. Webb.
Capt. Francis G. Young, of New York,
Quartermaster of Baker’s Brigade, came in
command of the sad cavalcade, accompanied
bv Major Smith of the California First.
Having obtained a promise of the real posi*
tion of affairs, I had started for Edward’s
Ferry this evening, bat meeting the pro*
cession have returned with my friend Capt.
Young, from whose lips I take down the
following terrible summary of Monday's
events—condensing it as much as possible
to forward it by to-night’s mail.
We have met with a sickening repulse ;
one involving the loss of nearly one tbous
and men, in killed, wounded and missing,
and of many brave and skillful officers ; and
accompanied by scenes of horror unequalled
in any previous battle of the war.
CAPT. FRANCIS U. YOUNO’B STATEMENT.
On Sunday evening Gen. Stone beiDg
persuaded that no important force of the
enemy remained along the Upper Potomac
and in obedience to orders from headquar,
ters, commenced his passage of the river at
Harrison’s Island. The point of transpor
tation was about five miles above Edward’s
Ferry, and nearly an equal distance from
Leesburg. The island is a low, fertile strip
of land, several miles in length, so dividing
the river that the Maryland channel is not
a furlong in width, and that on the Virginia
side not more than 200 feet.
Six companies of the Fifteenth Massa
chusetts Regiment, under Col. Dews, and
two companies of the Twentieth (Tammany)
New York, arrived at the river about two
a. m. Monday, and commenced to cross. At
sunrise they were all on the Virginia side.
Before daylight an order came to Col.
Baker to march the first battalion of the
California regiment to Conrad s Ferry, two
miles south of the Island, and then, if he
heard firing, go to the support of Coggsweil
and DeveDS Accordingly, Lieut. Col.
Wistar advanced with the battalion, six
hundred and eighty-nine officers and men,
and by sunrise had reached the river and
proceeded down to the island crossing. I
accompanied the force to arrange for trans
portation ; was sent to report for orders to
Gen. Stone; returned, having received com
mand to cross at once. On my way back I
overtook Col. Baker, who told me that only
the battalion were to cross. He had no
orders for the brigade.
Shortly alter General Stone placed Col.
Banker in command of all the forces on the
Virginia side. Our battalion, then, at
about 7 a. m., commenced crossing to the
island, and then to the farther shore. Mean
time we heard skirmishing shots on the
heights, which continued without intermis
sion through the morning.
Now we began to experience the diffi
culty which was the chief cause of the ter
rible scenes which closed the day.
No adequate means of transportation bad
been provided. [t seemed as if the column
was expected to walk across the water sur*
face. Nothing but one old i-'cow, capable
perhaps of holding forty men, appeared
available on either side of the island. If
the Massachusetts men had any other boats
they were not visible in the morning. At
length I discovered a large scow in the canal,
and two hours were consumed in getting it
over into the Maryland channel. It would
hold about sixty men. Colonel Baker, Lieu
tenant Colonel Wistar, Assistant Adjutant
General Harvey and myself went with the
first load to the island, and there superin
tended the transit of our men
It was 12 m. before oar first company
landed at the foot of the bash covered precis
pice which rises abruptly over one hundred
feet from the river bed on the further side
of the river. Four hours more had elapsed
before the last company landed. Sections
of the Second Rhode Island Battery, com
prising two howitzers, two field smooth
bores, and one rifled gun, went over with
us, the men dragging them up the heights
with great difficulty ard spirit.
All this time irregular fighting was going
on above. It seems that Colonel Devens
had in the morniDg moved with a small de
tachment in the direction of Leesburg,
shortly after his forces had crosed, had
advanced one mile, there he met the
enemy’s skirmishers in fee Je force, and bad
retired to the brow of the heights. Before
this the quartermaster of the Massachusetts
Fifteenth had gone alone to a point within
a mile of the village, had returned, crossed
the river, and reported to General Stone
that there were no hostile forces in that re
gion. But after Colonel Devens fell back
his men were placed in a semicircular
clearing, on a natural forest opening, cover
ing five or six acres, with its base resting on
the edge of the heights, and flunked and
fronted by forest. The enemy, becoming
bolder, advanced in scattered parties to the
edge of these woods, and from 10 a.m. till
4 p,m. kept up a random, annoying fire upon
our men. The latter sheltered themselves
as well as they could, lying just below the
ridge and awaited reinforcements.
At four, then, our whole force had crossed
and ascended, Colonel Baker and staff with
the rest, and the troops were suflering some
what from the concealed enemy’s fire. Many
had drooped and had been carried down the
bill.
We asked Col. Baker what he thought of
affairs. He said that he thought we had a
good position; could fall back for shelter
behind the ridge. « Yes,” said we, “ but
wbat’e in those woods?” He answered: “I
think the enemy are concealed on oar right.”
A private had reported that there was no'
force on the left, but a deep ravine, hidden
by the woods. We then proposed sending
skirmishers to make a reconnoissance on the
right, and Captain Markoe, Second Lieu
tenant Williams, and myself advanced with
Companies A and D of the California Be
giment. Company A got in lront on rising
ground, in skirmishing order, Company D
following in line.
The California battalion, to make the
story clear, were drawn upon the left of the
open field; the Massachusetts 15th and
Tammany on the right, and the Massachu
setts 20th nearer the centre. 001. Ooggs
well took charge of the artillery. Only
four guns were planted in the field, the rifled
gan having been hauled np at the wrong
place, and being afterward seised by the
enemy and spiked.
When oar skirmishing companies bad
reached the edge of the woods, suddenly the
enemy, hitherto concealed, rose with a yell
and fired a volley; then began firing in the
usual manner; first giving a yell and volley;
then loading and firing at will for a few
minates ; then ceasing an eqaal time; then
giving another yell and volley, and so on,
poaring a murderous volley into our little
band for the spaoe of half an hour. The
whole woods around swarmed with them.
They bad no artillery and no cavalry. Our
Rhode Islanders, except the officers, deserted
their guns, but Colonel Baker, Lieutenant
Colonel Wistar, Colonel Coggsweil, and
Adjutant Harvey manned the battery, and
fired the guns themselves, aided by Compa
ny G, Ist California, led by the gallant
Captain Beiral. (The latter was conspic
uous for bravery throughout the action ; he
is wounded, but not dangerously, and is
safe on Maryland ground.)
We kept up both a musketry and cannon
fire as well as we could, but half the time
we could not see the enemy, and his cow
ardly discharges were thinning our ranks ;
still most of the men stood firm and acted
bravely. The enemy’s yells'and volleys in
creased in loudness, and it was evident that
reinforcements were pouring in to his aid.
Captain Stewart, General Stone’s adjutant,
came on the field with the cheering state*
ment that General Gorman would shortly
support us. At a quarter past five in the
afternoon we held a council of war, aod re
solved to stand our ground, and General
Baker ordering me to go for reinforcements.
By this time Coggsweil was wounded—
Wistar had fallen. The enemy were grow
ing more daring, rushing out of the woods,
taking some prisoners and firing hotly.
Just then a rebel officer, riding a white
horse, came out of the woods and beckoned
us to come forward. Col. Baker thought
it was Gen. Johnston, and that the enemy
would meet ns in open fight. Part of our
column charged, Baker cheering us on, when
a tremendous onset was made by the rebels.
One man rode forwerd, presented a revolver
at Baker, and fired all its charges at him.
Our gallant leader fell, aDd at the same mo
ment all our lines were driven back by the
overwhelming force opposed to them. But
Captain Beiral, with bis company, fought
his way back to Col. Baker’s body, rescued
it, brought it along to me, and then a gen
eral retreat commenced.
It was sauve qui pent! 1 got the Colonel’s
body to the island before the worst of the
rout, and then, looking to the Virginia
shore, saw such a spectacle as no tongue
can describe. Our entire forces were re
treating tumbling, rolling, leaping down the
steep heights, the enemy following them,
murdering and taking prisoners. Col.
Devens left bis command, and swam the
river on horseback. Col. Coggswell, after
unavailing bravery, bad ordered the retreat
himself, but being wounded, was taken.
The one boat in the Virginia channel was
speedily filled and 6unk. A thousand men
thronged the farther bank. Muskets, coats
and everything were thrown aside, and all
were desperately trying to escape. Hun
dreds plunged into the rapid current, and
the shrieks of the drowning added to the
horror of sounds and sights.
The enemy kept up their fire from the
cliff above. All was terror, confusion and
diemay. a captain of the Fifteenth Massa
chusetts at one momsnt charged gallantly
up the hill, leading two companies, who
still had their arms, against the pursuing
foe. A moment later and the same officer,
perceiving the hopelessness of the situation,
waved a white handkerchief, and surrender
ed the main body of his regiment. Other
portions of the column surrendered; but the
rebels kept up their fire upon those who
tried to cross, and many not drowned in
the river were shot in the act of swimmiog.
Night came on. At 8 p. u. all of our
band whose fortune it was to return bad
lauded on Harrison Island, and the fire from
the Virginia heights had ceased.
Tne rebels took all our guns but one.
When I left yesterday, they had shouted to
us, telling us to come over and take away
our dead sous of b— s under a flag of truce;
had also mounted our own guns on the
heights, and warned us to leave the island
in four hours.
The cause of this sad havoc was that we
had no proper means of transit and retreat.
The following is an approximate list of the
commissioned officers killed, wounded or
missing, for the first battalion of the First
California Regiment, and comprises two
thirds of the entire number in command:
Coi. Baker, killed; LieuteoaDt Colonel
Wiatar, wounded in the arm and face(safe);
Company A, Captain Markoe, Lieutenant
Parker, prisoners; Company C, Captain
Otter, Lieutenant Keros, prisoners; Com
pany D, Lieutenant Williams, killed, body
saved; Company G, Captain Beiral, Lieut.
11, Lieutenant Hams, prisoner, Lieutenant
Urie, wounded and sate; Company I, Lieut.
Fisher, wounded and s fe; Company N,
Captain Keffer, prisoner, Lieutenant Hoop
er, wounded and prisoner; Company P,
Captain Hicks, wounded and safe, Lieut.
Kenney, prisoner.
I he California Begiment took into action
across the river: *
First battalion officers and men— total. .. .686
Of these there were drowned about... 50
Killed 30
Prisoners ..300
Wounded 125—505
Retreated in safety only 184
The Lieutenant Colonel of tbe Massachu
setts Fifteenth lost a leg ; the Major got
safely back. These are about the right
details of oar own losses. Of the other
forces eog :ged I canuot speak with certain
ty. But the Massachusetts Fifteenth report
nearly six hundred killed, wounded and
taken—the balance of the regiment having
joined tbe six companies first named during
the day. Tbe Tammany Regiment has lost
about one company, '{'be casualties of tbe
Twentieth Massachusetts are not known,
but are very severe.
THE WEEKLY PIONEER AND DEMOCRAT.
THE NAVAL EXPEDITION.
BAILING OF THE FLKET CARGOES
OF THE TRANSPORTS.
A THOUSAND NEGROES TAKEN AWAY,
< orrespondence of the N. Y. Times,
Hampton Roads, )
Off Fobtbkss Monbob, Oot. 22. J
It is now more than two months since the
first intimation reaehed the public that a
naval expedition was planning against the
Southern coaßt. When Gen. Viele’s brigade,
consisting in part of the New Hampshire
Third and Maine Eighth regiments were so
suddenly removed from the camp of Hemp
stead, in September, it was instantly sur
mised that the Government was designing
a repetition of the Hatteras blow; and ever
since then the public, cot only of New
York, bat of the country, has been on the
alert for intelligence connected with the
movement. During that time, however,
the press has been reticent, and the public
ill informed. Those who were accustomed
to observe, indeed, found out that an unu*
anal number of steam vessels was being
collected in the harbor of New York,
—some loading, others apparently lying
inactive in the bas; bat although the
preparations have been constant, varied and
numerous, nothing of importance to keep
secret has been disclosed. Even at the time
of the removal of the transports from the
metropolis, information of the details was
entirely withheld from the community at
large; and the absolute embarkation of the
armament, which took place yesterday and
the day before at Annapolis, afiords the
first opportunity for the press to furnish
news relative to the greatest naval and mili
tary enterprise which has yet been attempted
on this continent. The absolute sailing of
the fleet releases me from the obligation of
secrecy, and with the fullest concurrence of
the authority to make the following
announcements—announcements which Gen.
Sherman informed me, only last night, it
was his express wish should not be made
until the arrival of the squadron at Old
Point Comfort.
The fleet that sailed yesterday (Monday)
morning consists of seventeen transports, the
Atlantic, Baltic, Vanderbilt, Ariel, Daniel
Webster, Coatzacoalcos, Ocean Queen, Illi
nois, Empire City, Ericsson, Roanoke and
Marion, all large ocean steamers, and the
Parkersburg, Winfield Scott, Pensacola,
Ben De Ford, Belvidere and Philadelphia,
steamers of another class, but adapted for
such a trade as that by sea between Phil
delphia and Baltimore. Four of the trans
ports carry horses and army wagons ; the
others are loaded with troops, including two
regiments from New Hampshire, the Third
and Fourth ; four from New Fork, the
Forty sixth, Forty seventh, Forty eighth
and Seventy ninth, the last now about five
hundred strong; two from Maine, the Eighth
and Ninth; two from Connecticut, the
Sixth and Seventh; one from Penn
sylvania, the Fiftieth, and one from
Michigan, the Eighth. All these but one,
it will be noticed, are from the Eastern or
Middle States, ss is eminently suitable in a
coast expedition. At Fortress Monroe
they will be joined by two steamers, the
Cabawba and Star of the South, carrying
the Rhode Island Third and the Mechanics
or Engineer regiment, under Lieutenant
Colonel Kerrell, the latter sometimes known
as the Mudsill regiment; two transports,
the Oriental and MataDzas, carrying 1000
contraband negroes, received at or near
Fortress Monroe, and six transports, the
Locust Point, the Potomac, the Golden
Eagle, the Ocean Express, the Ziro’s Cof
fin and the Great Republic, carrying the
stores. So that the military position of
the fleet will consist of eighteen vessels, car
rying fourteen regiments and one battery,
and twelve carrying stores, contraband aod
otherwise. The battery is Sherman’s well
known one of six guns and 140 men. Be
sides this, however, a number of heavy
siege guns are taken, a corps of sappers and
engineers belonging to the regular army,
large supplies of camp equipage, a body of
masons and carpenters, quantities of
brick, mortar and large stones, and
in fact a complete fitting out for an ex
pedition about to land on a hostile coast
in the face, perhaps, of powerful batteries,
and to entrench itself on that coast with a
view to making its lodgment the base of
important and future operations. The ne
groes are principally for digging entrench-,
ments, and will, for the first time, consti
tute an important arm of efience in the
hands of a National army; as the example
ol using that arm has been so frequently
set us by our opponents, they will not be
surprised to learn that we have at last
chosen to avail ourselves of the example,
and at the same time, a significant sugges
tion will be afforded them of the furtive use
that could be made of the weapon during
the war. A thousand of these contraband
articles scattered in the Southern interior
from the point d'appui afforded by the pro
posed movement, would do more damage to
our enemies than a hundred thousand can
non balls. We have also long abstained
from availing ourselves ol the means placed
sc obviously within our grasp; perhaps the
very natural apprehensions that the pres
ent brandishing of it will awaken in our
“ Southern brethren,” may incite in them
an appreciation of our previous lorbearance
as well as a wholesome dread of our future
determination. A large quantity of surf
boats is taken with the expedition, whose
completeness in all matters of ordnance and
stores, ammunition and appurtenances seems
admirable. It will be under the command
of Brigadier General W. T. Sherman,
whose services to his country are too re
cent and too brilliant to bear more than a
statement of this fact that be was the lead
er of Sherman’s battery at the battle of
Bull Run. He has now relinquished his
battery to Captain Hamilton, but it is to
accompany him on this precious enterprise.
Brig. Gens. Egbert T. Vieleof New York,
Stevens (late Governor) of Oregon, and
Wright, recently a Major of United States
Engineers, are all attached to the expedi
tion, each having command of a Brigade;
all are graduates of the West Point Acade
my, and have served with honor in the
United States service.
The Blonder at Leeeborg
From Ihi Mew York World.
“Worse than a crime—a blunder.” The
American people are getting to be pretty
well schooled into the meaning of Talley
rand’s famoos paradox. Grimes we know
how to meet. They can come only in cer
tain definite shapes. They are limited in
number. You may count the whole list of
all possible crimes in less than sixty seconds,
and there is not one of them you may not
watch for, and guard against. Even if it
comes to the actual grapple, there is Bolid
stuff to deal with in Christian fashion. But
blunders—their name is legion, and in va
riety of form they surpass Proteus. They
are generated by chance, and are as infinite
in their possibilities as chance itself. There
is no end to the ways in which they may
turn up; and there is no providing against
them for there is no reasoning about them.
They defy calculation ; they even baffle con
jecture. You may spot the criminal-as he
comes, but your blunderer—he trips you
when you least expect it. A German phi
losopher has wisely said, that stupidity is an
overmatch even for the gods.
Of all the blunders that have visited oar
arms thus far, this last is positively the
strongest. Even though we know it actually
happened, it is almost incredible. Any
military primmer will tell you to beware of
giving battle with an anbridged river in
your rear; and yet this battle of Leesburg
bas been fought in that position against
greatly superior numbers, resulting in most
deplorable disaster. Cne of our finest reg
iments bas been almost annihilated. It was
a terrible mistake, occasioned by prodigious
misjudgment somewhere. The object in
view—the passage of the river—was just
and necessary, an indispensable preliminary
to the contemplated advance of the main
army. The blunder was in the execution.
The general in charge allowed himself to be
satisfied, on a very imperfect reconnoissauce,
that the number of rebel troops in the vi
cinity was small. Col. Baker was in charge
of all the troops on the Virginia side, but
when the attack was at its height it was
plain that the enemy outnumbered him
three to one; he fell pierced with bullets, and
most of his troops were shot down, taken
prisoners, or driven to a watery grave in the
Potomac. It is useless to represent, as has
been done, that this occurred because Col.
Baker exceeded his instructions. It may
be very true that that lamented officer
was previously ordered not to engage
in battle in case the enemy should be
found in force, but it sounds like mock
ery. If the enemy were in superior
force, of course he would be attacked;
and with the Potomac behind Jiim, and
with no means ol crossing it but with two
or three wretched scows, he had no alterna
tive but to accept battle, and sell his own
life and the lives of his soldiers as dearly as
possible. Colonel Baker was not in lault.
The blunder was not his. It lies with those
who sent him with an inadequate force, and
unprovided with the means of direct retreat,
if necessary, to the main army of twenty
five thousand men on the other bank. The
people will see to it that this miserable
error which ail can understand, attaches to
just where it belongs among living men,
and not to its victim now speechless in his
coffin. We do not undertake to judge who
the responsible officer is—it will take time
to clear that up—but there is a stern
reckoning to be had with somebody.
This journal has from the outset depre
cated unfriendly criticism ol the plans of
our military leaders. We have maintained
that they best know what to do, and how
to do it. We have exclaimed too agamst
the injustice of judging merely by the event.
War, even with the best generalship, is
liable to vicissitudes. The words of Wei
lington are in our memory : “ I have little
doubt ol final success, but I have fought a
sufficient number ol battles to know, that
the result is not certain, even with the best
arrangements.” Uniform prosperity in
war is never to be expected—least
of all iu a contest like ours, with
an enemy of the same race, aod
of equal skill and eonrage. Our
generals, however unfortunate, until speci
fic waut of generalship can be proved, have
a right to be shielded from such criticism.
But they must not calculate too much upon
this generous forbearance. The people
may make do claim to military judgment,
but they will not forego their common sense.
That faculty will act, and it must be re
spected. No military man, whatever his
military pretensions, can safely outrage it.
If he blunders palpably and grossly, be
must incur its switt and relentless condem -
nation. The blood wasted is too precious,
the cause damaged too sacred, for silence,
in such a case, to be possible.
The Hollins Turtl*. —The following
description of the Turtle, with which Grey
town Hollins attempted to destroy our fleet,
has reached us by a circuitous route from
New Orleans:
The Turtle is a vessel of great power of
engine. She has a bow 9 teet long, of oak
planks, secured all around by timbers 6 feet
in thickness, also covered in the same
manner, and made perfectly tight and
solid, besides being shielded with iron
plates two inches in thickness. The hull
rises only 2% feet above the water level.
She is destined to run Into the Brooklyn,
which lies down on the Balize, and to sink
her. She is provided with a steam borer
or anger, about the size of a man’s arm
above the elbow, intended to make a hole
in the vessel. Twenty-five hose are kept to
throw boiling water over the Brooklyn, to
keep her bands from defending her. Already
several trials have been made with her,
which the rebels say, have given complete
satisfaction. Cannon balls have rebounded
when fired npon her, producing no injurious
eflect, and in fact it is very difficult to hit
her, so small a postion of her hall being
above water.
—The fall season has been unusually
mild this year in England as well as the
United States. Apples in fall bloom in the
first week of October, the laburnam in
flower, and second crops of vegetables, are
among the notable phenomena.
The Latest British Argument in Fa-
▼or of the Rebels.
From the London Times, Oet. 9.
The secession bad been contemplated and
threatened for some thirty years past. It
was defended by arguments as good as have
been usually advanced for national insur
rections, and if it was in opposition to the
dictates of political wisdom, it was in con
formity with the passions of human nature.
The States of the old American Union
would perhaps have been more prosperous
at home, and certainly more formidable
abroad, if they had remained united; bat
the same may be said of the States of all the
empires which have ever fallen to pieces.
Union is strength always and everywhere,
and the larger the population that can be
retained under these conditions the greater
will be the resalt. But it happens that
these considerations are not allowed to pre
vail against influences of a more immediate
kind. The vision of independence is more
attractive than the vision of power. The
people of the Southern States are only doing
what the people of a hundred other States
have done before them. They may be short
sighted, but they are determined. They
may be mistaken, bat they know their own
minds. They may be wrong, but they are
ten millions. The federalists themselves
admit a right of insurrection, but deny that
insurrection can be justified in the present
instance. That argument, however, can
never stand. It is absurd to say that re
bellion is a sacred popular privilege, but
that it can only be exercised with the assent
of those against whom it would be directed.
The Emperor of Russia might admit the
doctrine as thus stated. If people have a
right to rebel against governments, it must
be when they think fitting, and not when
the governments allow it.
So long as the insurrection of the South
seemed a spiteful rebellion against the re
sults of a particular election we were com*
pelled to regard it as unjustifiable. If it
meant only, as has been asserted, “bullet
against ballot," we should look upon it as
a wicked and treasonable act; lor never
could the North be charged, notwithstand
ing its commercial bias, with a want of con
sideration for the institutions of the South.
If, again, the question could be argued on
pure,grounds ot expediency, we should here
also, though not so decidedly, pronounce
against the resolution taken by the South
to divorce itself from the North. But the
actual case is very different. The last
ttwelve months have shown conclusively that
Northerners and Southerners are irreconci
lable as Greeks and Turks, or Germans and
Magyars. This war will but intensify and
perpetuate animosities which the very na
ture of things had loDg ago created. “Sec
tional” antipathies have proved as stubborn
as national antipathies. They could not be
assuaged by compromise, and they assured
ly will not be abolished by conquest. The
armies of the North may overpower the
armies of the South, but South and North
may never be expected to amalgamate
again. It is for this reason, and because
territories so prodigious as those of the
Southern States can never bt retained by
armed occupation, that we think the policy
of the federal government wrong. If the
whole case of the war is to be analyzed, we
must needs say the Northerners have the
right on their side, for the Southerners have
des royed, without provocation, a mighty
political fabric, and have impaired the glory
and strength of the great American Res
public. But, as they have chosen to do this,
as they have shown themselves hitherto no
less powerful than their antagonists, as the
decision of so large a population cannot be
contemned, and as we cannot persuade our*
selves that a genuine peace is likely to
spring from protracted war, we should re
joice to see the pacification of America pro
moted by other means.
Robert Howe Gould, the Convicted
Forger In Paris
From the New London (Conn.) Chronicle, Oet. 23.
In the Paris Court of Assizes on the
27th of September last, Mr. Robert Howe
Gould, who called himself “Colonel Gould,
of the United States Diplomatic Service,”
was convicted of forgery, and sentenced to
three years’ imprisonment.
This “Colonel” Gould is tbs son of Hon.
James Gould, formerly Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of this State, and is a broth
er of Hen. Charles Gould, now an Associ
ate Justice of the New York Supreme
Bench. He was born in Litchfield, in this
State, in the year 1818, and his later his
tory, as divulged on the trial, was an inter
esting, though not an entirely honorable
one. In 1840, while residing in England,
he married a daughter of Admiral Wat
kins, of the royal navy. From 1841 to
1843 he held the position of attache to the
United States Legation at London.
Subsequently he removed to Paris, where
he figured in high circles as “Colonel Gould,
of the United States Diplomatic Service,”
while at the same time, under the name of
Mr Hudson, he kept a broker’s office in the
Rue de Colisee. Assisted by his sou, who
is now under twenty years of age, he has
for some years past carried on a system of
forgeries not dissimilar to the famous frauds
of the distinguished forger Huutington,
though on a more limited scale than the mag
nificent swindles of that famous sharper.
During the last five years he is said to have
negotiated bills purporting to be drawn
by an imaginary house in Liverpool, to the
amount of hundreds of thousands of francs.
His system of taking up the forged bills
with subsequent larger ones was followed up
with such watchfulness and care as to pre
vent any exposure of the game until quite
recently.
It appears that the total amount of his
spurious paper bought by a single house—
—the eminent house of the Hottinguers—
has considerably exceeded one hundred
thousand francs; and many other firmß in
Paris and Marseilles have had smaller quan
tities of it.
The trial of this distinguished son of
Connecticut attracted much attention, and
the scandal occasioned by the expose in the
elevated circles of which Col. Gould had
been a shining ornament, was immense while
it lasted.
On the trial an affecting letter from Judge
Gould, of New York, appealing to the
clemency of the French judiciary in behalf
of hia erring brother, was read by the public
prosecutor.
Speech of Hon. Winter Dbtlsj
Baltimore papers publish the speech of
Hon. Winter Davis, delivered in that city on
the 16th inst. We make the following ex
tracts:
And Maryland, too, is she disloyal ? [No,
no.] There are those who say so. There are
those who Bay so in oar midst; there are
those who say so abroad ; there are those in
power who belive it, and there are those who
are not in power, bat who shnik about in
the darkness of the alleys of this great city,
and carrying whispering to the ear of pow
er their slanders on their fellow citisens, or
spread them broadcast by the press all over
the country, until Maryland stands almost
in as ill-repate as if she had lifted her hand
in arms against the Government that she
adores and will maintain; and because
of one deplorable and humiliating event, the
result of weakness in some of our rulers aod
of treachery in others, there are those in one
great region of this country who treat the
State of Maryland as the whole South late
ly treated the North. The time was when
one fanatic inflamed by hatred started out
to make war upon the State of Virginia
and set its negroes free, with twenty men at
his back. [Laughter.] He was seized and
hung. All the South with one acclaim
laid that dastardly and wretched deed at
the door of every man throughout the great
regions of the civilized and Christian North;
and there was no voice from the South in
the House of Representatives but one, and
that one ventured it at the peril of his po
litical existence, to defend the North from
that wretched imputation. [Applause.]
And now the city in which he lives has
yet to find one delender in all the region
of that North, from complicity with the
equally dastardly t crime ol the 19th of
April. [Applause.] Great masses of
men, when their passions are aroused, and
when the judgment is asleep, when great
events are transpiring, forget the rules of
justice and ot discrimination, and one por
tion of the country is just as liberal and
just as illiberal as the other under anala
gous circumstances. I have defended my
fellow citizens of Maryland, and demand to
be heard elsewhera than here. [Applause ]
1 do not doubt that very nearly one-third
of the people of the State are disloyal—not
that they will take up arms on the secession
side, but that they will not take up arms on
the Union side; they are disloyal. In my
judgment, that is a very large estimate of
the strength of the secession faction in
Maryland this day. It has found the limits
of its power; the nature of the beast is the
same, only it has been deprived of its fangs;
it can now do nothing but mumble false
prophecies about the coming of JefiersoD
Davis, and pray him not to falsify their
predictions.
After denouncing Fremont’s proclama
tion, Mr. Davis proceeds to commend ihe
policy adopted by the Government in refer
ence to Emancipation, as follows :
Gentlemen, there is nothing of such hope
ful augury as the moderation of the United
States in dealing with this great rebellion ;
and on that one subject of the freedom of
the slave, tempting as it is to political as
pirants, tempting as it is to men who wish
a short method of dealing with a great re
bellion, those in power have felt the respon
sibilities of power, aud know that they are
wielding power only to support the laws.
They know that they are just as much
bound to protect that property as any other
property, and that no citizen’s property
can be takeD at the will of the Government
otherwise than according to law and the
Constitution. Only ignorant fanatics prate
about decrees of emancipation. Therefore
it is that everywhere wherever the arms of
the United States have penetrated any of
the slaveholding States, you have found no
servile rebellion following their ranks or
breaking out to meet them. A few strag.
glers find their way into the camps, a few
seize the opportunity of running away from
their masters; bat anything like a servile
insnrrection has not been heard of anywhere
in the presence of the armies of the United
States. That is the short reply to every
imputation upon the faith of the govern
ment. [Applanse.]
Who Gen. Ilallerk Is.
The inquiry is in everybody’s mouth, who
is General Halleck, who rumor says is to
supersede General McClellan in the com*
mand of the army of the Potomac. The
following account of him, which we find in
an exchange paper, iB the only information
we can obtain :
General Henry Wager Halleck is one of
the four Major Generals in the United
States Army. He was bora in New York,
and entered the Military Academy as a
Wtst Point cadet in 1835. He stood third
in the class, and was breveted Second Lieu
tenant of Engineers, July 1,1839. He was
Acting Assistant Professor of Engineering
at the Military Academy from July, 1839,
to June, 1840. In 1841 be was the author
of a military work on “ B tumen and its
Uses,” &c. Appointed First Lieutenant in
January, 1845.
In 1846 be wrote a work entitled the
“Elements of Military Art and Sciences.”
In 18 a 7 was breveted Captain conduct in
affairs with the enemy on the 19 th and 20 th
days of November, 1847, and for merito
rious service in California "Was Secretary
of State of the province of California in
the military governments of Generals Kear
ney, Mason, and Riley, from 1847 to the
end of 1849.
He was Chief of the Staff to Commo
dore Shubrick in naval and military opera
tions on the Pacific coast in 1847 and 1848,
and was a member of the Convention in
1849 to forta, and of the committee to draft,
the Constitution of the State of California.
In July, 1853, he was appointed Captain of
Engineers, and resigned on August 1,1854.
He now appears as a Major General, his
commission bearing date August 19, 1861.
—Wherever treachery is, it should be
ferreted out, though it lurked under the
crinolines of those allied to men in the
highest official stations.—Ufoston Post.