drowning, and after more than one hour's strug gling with the stream was pulled out so exhausted as scarcely to be able to stand. nuisance." When the train reached Xenia, it was detained by some accident more than an hour. Imagine his anxiety, as soldier after soldier would pass through the train, for fear that when the sentinel passed his round at two o'clock their ab-menced to walk him, when suddenly, he says, he sence might be discovered. The train was due in Cincinnati at six o'clock. This was the hour at which they were turned out of their cells, and of course their escape would be then discovered. In a few moments after it would be known all over the country. The train, having been detained at Xenia, was running very rapidly to make up the time. It was already,past six o'clock. The General said to Captain Hines: "It's after six o'clock; if we go to the dépôt we are dead men. Now or never." ." They went to the rear and put on the brakes. "Jump, Hines!" Off he went, and fell heels over head in the mud. Another severe turn of the brake, and the General jumped. He was more successful, and lighted on his feet. There were some soldiers near, who remarked, "What in the h―l do you mean by jumping off the cars here ?" The General replied: "What in the d-1 is the use of my going into town when I live here; and, besides, what business is it of yours?" They went immediately to the river. They found a skiff, but no oars. Soon a little boy came over, and appeared to be waiting. "What are you waiting for?" said the General. "I am waiting for my load." "What is the price of a load?" "Two dollars." "Well, as we are tired and hungry, we will give you the two dollars, and you can put us over." So over he took them. "Where does Miss live?" "Just a short distance from here." "Will you show me her house?" "Yes, sir." The house was reached, a fine breakfast was soon obtained, money and a horse furnished, a good woman's prayer bestowed, and off he went. From there, forward through Kentucky, every body vied with each other as to who should show him the most attention-even to the negroes; and young ladies of refinement begged the honor to cook his meals. He remained in Kentucky some days, feeling perfectly safe, and sending into Louisville for many little things he wanted. Went to Bardstown, and found a Federal regiment had just arrived there, looking for him. Remained here and about for three or four days, and then struck out for Dixie; sometimes disguising himself as a Government cattle-contractor, and buying a large lot of cattle; at other times, a quartermaster, until he got to the Tennessee River. Here he found all means of transportation destroyed, and the bank strongly guarded; but with the assistance of about thirty others, who had recognized him and joined him in spite of his remonstrances, he succeeded in making a raft, and he and Captain Hines crossed over. His escort, with heroic self-sacrifice, refused to cross until he was safely over. The General threw a blanket on him and com was seized with a presentiment that he would be attacked, and remarking to Captain Hines, “We will be attacked in twenty minutes," commenced saddling his horse. He had hardly tied his girth, when "Bang! bang!" went the Minié balls. He bounced his horse, and the noble animal, appearing to be inspired with new vigor, bounded off like a deer up the mountain. The last he saw of his poor fellows on the opposite side, they were disappearing up the river bank, fired upon by a whole regiment of Yankees. By this time it was dark, and also raining. He knew that a perfect cordon of pickets would surround the foot of the mountain, and if he remained there until morning he would be lost. So he determined to run the gauntlet at once, and commenced to descend. As he neared the foot, leading his horse, he came almost in personal contact with a picket. His first impulse was to kill him, but finding him asleep, he determined to let him sleep on. He made his way to the house of a Union man that he knew lived near there, and went up and passed himself off as Captain Quartermaster of Hunt's regiment, who was on his way to Athens, Tenn., to procure supplies of sugar and coffee for the Union people of the country. The lady, who appeared to be asleep while this interview was taking place with her husband, at the mention of sugar and coffee, jumped out of bed in her night-clothes, and said: "Thank God for that; for we an't seen any rale coffee up here for God knows how long!" She was so delighted at the prospect, that she made up a fire and cooked them a good supper. Supper being over, the General remarked that he understood some rebels had "tried to cross the river this afternoon." "Yes," said the woman, "but our men killed some un um, and driv the rest back." "Now," said the General, "I know that; but didn't some of them get over?" "Yes," was her reply; "but they are on the mountain, and can't get down without being killed, as every road is stopped up." He then said to her: "It is very important for me to get to Athens by to-morrow night, or I may lose that sugar and coffee; and I am afraid to go down any of these roads for fear my own men will kill me." The fear of losing that sugar and coffee brought her again to an accommodating mood, and she replied: "Why, Paul, can't you show the Captain through our farm that road down by the field?" The General says: "Of course, Paul, you can do it; and as the night is very cold I will give you ten dollars (in gold) to help you along." The gold, and the prospect of sugar and coffee, was too much for any poor man's nerves, and he yielded, and getting on a horse, he took them seven miles to the big road. He then hired a negro to get his horse From this time forward he had a series of adover, paying him twenty dollars for it. The ventures and escapes, all very wonderful, until river was so high that the horse came near he got near another river in Tennessee, when he resolved to go up to a house and find the way. Hines went to the house, while the General stood in the road. Hearing a body of cavalry come dashing up behind him, he quietly slipped to one side of the road, and it passed by without observing him. They went travelling after Hines, and, poor fellow! he has not been heard of since. How sad to think that he should be either captured or killed after so many brave efforts, not only in his own behalf but also in that of the General, for the General says that it is owing chiefly to Hines's enterprise and skill that they made their escape. When he arrived at the river referred to above, he tried to get over, intending to stop that night with a good Southern man on the other side. He could not get over, and had to stop at the house of a Union man. The next morning he went to the house that he had sought the night previous, and found the track of the Yankees scarcely cold. They had been there all night, expecting that he would come there, and had murdered every body who had attempted to reach the house, without hailing them. In pursuing this brutal course, they had killed three young men, neighbors of this gentleman, and went away, leaving their dead bodies on the ground. After he had crossed Okey's River, and got down into Middle Tennessee, he found it almost impossible to avoid recognition. At one time he passed some poor women, and one of them commenced clapping her hands and said, "Oh! I know who that is, I know who that is!" but, catching herself, she stopped short, and passed on with her companions. The General says that his escape was made entirely without the assistance from any one on the outside, and, so far as he knows, also without their knowledge of his intention; that the announcement of his arrival in Toronto was one of those fortuitous coïncidences that cannot be accounted for; that it assisted him materially, no doubt. In fact, he says that his "wife's prayers' saved him, and, as this is the most agreeable way of explaining it, he is determined to believe it. The above account may be relied on as correct; and, although much has been left out, yet enough is printed to stamp it as one of the most remarkable escapes in history. AN APPEAL FROM MORGAN. HEADQUARTERS MORGAN'S CAVALRY, DECATUR, GA., January 1, 1864. SOLDIERS: I am once more among you, after a long and painful imprisonment. I am anxious to be again in the field. I therefore call on all the soldiers of my command to assemble at once at the rendezvous which has been established at this place. Your country needs your services. The field of operation is wide, and the future glorious, if we only deserve it. Remember how many of your brave comrades are still repining in a felon's cell. They call VOL. VIII.-Doc. 21 loudly on you for help. They expect it of you. Will you disappoint them? Come at once, and come cheerfully, for I want no man in my command who has to be sent to his duty by a provost-marshal. The work before us will be arduous, and will require brave hearts and willing hands. Let no man falter or delay, for no time is to be lost. Every one must bring his horse and gun who can. JOHN H. MORGAN, Brigadier-General Provisional Army Confederate States. Official: R. A. ALSTON, Lieutenant-Colonel and Acting A. A. General. Doc. 38. THE REBEL COMMISSARIAT. OFFICE OF CHIEF COMMISSARY, QUINCY, FLA., Ir has been a subject of anxious consideration how I could, without injury to our cause, expose to the people throughout the State the present perilous condition of our army. To do this through the public press would point out our source of danger to our enemies. To see each one in person, or even a sufficient number to effect the object contemplated, is impossible; yet the necessity of general and immediate action is imperative to save our army, and with it our cause, from disaster. The issues of this contest are now transferred to the people at home. If they fail to do their duty and sustain the army in its present position, it must fall back. If the enemy break through our present line, the wave of desolation may roll even to the shores of the Gulf and Atlantic. In discipline, valor, and the skill of its leaders, our army has proven more than a match for the enemy. But the best appointed army cannot maintain its position without support at home. The people should never suffer it to be said that they valued their cattle and hogs, their corn and money, more than their liberties and honor, and that they had to be compelled to support an army they had sent to battle in their defence. We hope it will not become necessary to resort to impressments among a people fighting for their existence, and in defence of their homes and country and institutions. We prefer rather to appeal to them by every motive of duty and honor-by the love they bear their wives and daughters-by the memory of the heroic dead, and the future glory and independence of their country, to come to its rescue in this darkest hour of its peril. A country which can afford to send forth in its defence the flower of its youth and the best of its manhood, can afford, and are in honor bound, to sustain them at any cost and sacrifice of money and property. They have sacrificed home and ease, and suffered untold hardships, and with their lives are now defending every thing we hold most sacred. Florida has done nobly in this contest. Her sons have achieved the highest character for their State, and won imperishable honors for themselves. These brave men are now suffering for want of food. Not only the men from Florida, but the whole army of the South are in this condition. Our honor as a people demands that we do our duty to them. They must be fed. The following extracts from official letters in my possession do but partially represent the present condition of the armies of Generals Bragg and Beauregard, and their gloomy prospect for future supplies: Major J. F. Cumming, who supplies General Bragg's army, writes, It is absolutely and vitally important that all the cattle that can possibly be brought here shall be brought as promptly as possible;" and again, on the fifth of October, he says: "I cannot too strongly urge upon you the necessity, yes, the urgent necessity, of sending forward cattle promptly. It appears that all other resources are exhausted, and that we are now dependent upon your State for beef for the very large army of General Bragg. I know you will leave no stone unturned, and I must say all is now dependent on your exertions, so far as beef is concerned. In regard to bacon, the stock is about exhausted-hence beef is our only hope. I know the prospect is very discouraging, and it only remains with those of us having charge of this most important work to do all we can to exhaust our resources; and when we have done this, our country cannot complain of us. If we fail to do all that can be done, and our cause shall fail, upon us will rest the responsibility; therefore let us employ every means at our command." Again, on the sixth, he says: "Major A. can explain to you the great and absolute necessity for prompt action in the matter; for, Major, I assure you, that nearly all now depends on you." And on the nineteenth of October, he says: Captain Townsend, A.C.S., having a leave of absence for thirty days from the army of Tennessee, I have prevailed on him to see you and explain to you my straitened condition, and the imminent danger of our army suffering for the want of beef." And on the twentieth October, he wrote: "The army to-day is on half-rations of beef, and I fear within a few days will have nothing but bread to eat. is truly a dark hour with us, and I cannot see what is to be done. All that is left for us to do is to do all we can, and then we will have a clear conscience, no matter what the world may say." Major Locke, Chief Commissary of Georgia, wrote: "I pray you, Major, to put every agency in motion that you can to send cattle without a moment's delay toward the Georgia borders. The troops in Charleston are in great extremity. We look alone to you for cattle; those in Georgia are exhausted." aster." And on the ninth of October, he says: "We have now forty thousand troops and laborers to subsist. The supply of bacon on hand in the city is twenty thousand pounds, and the cattle furnished by this State is not one tenth of what is required. My anxieties and apprehensions, as you may suppose, are greatly excited." Major Millen, of Savannah, on the tenth of October, says: "I assure you, Major, that the stock of bacon and beef for the armies of the confederate States is now exhausted, and we must depend entirely upon what we may gather weekly. Starvation stares the army in the face- the handwriting is on the wall." On the twentysixth of October, he says: "From the best information I have, the resources of food (meat) of both the Tennessee and Virginia armies are exhausted. The remark now applies with equal force to South-Carolina and Georgia, and the army must henceforth depend upon the energy of the purchasing commissaries, through their daily or weekly collections. I have exhausted the beef cattle, and am now obliged to kill stock cattle." From these you perceive that there is too much cause for the deep solicitude manifested by the writers. They should excite the fears and apprehensions of every lover of his country. Truly the responsibility upon us is great, when we are expected to feed these vast armies, whether the producers will sell to us or not. The slightest reflection would teach any one that it is impossible to provide for such armies by impressments alone. The people must cheerfully yield their supplies, or make up their minds to surrender their cause. It is their cause. It is not the cause of the government. The government is theirs. The army, the government, you and I, and every one, and every thing we have, are staked upon this contest. To fail, is total and irretrievable ruin, universal confiscation of every thing, and abject and ignominious submission and slavery to the most despicable and infamous race on earth. Whoever has any other thought but to fight on, at any cost of life and property, until we achieve our independence, or all perish in the struggle, deserves to be the slave of such This an enemy. But, under the guidance of Providence, our cause is safe in the hands of our army, provided we do our duty at home. But Providence will not help a people who will not help themselves. Our enemies have no hope of conquering us by arms. Their only hope is, that we will be untrue to ourselves, and in the blind pursuit of gain, lose sight of our country, and thus suffer our army, and with it our cause, to perish. How stands the case? You know the resources of Tennessee are lost to us; the hog cholera and other causes have cut short the prospect in Georgia and other States. It is ascertained that the last year's crop of bacon is about exhausted, and it is certain that the crop of this will be much shorter than that of last year. Now two large armies look almost solely to Florida to supply one entire article of subsistThe entire surplus of this year's crop of Major Guerin, Chief Commissary of SouthCarolina, wrote: "We are almost entirely dependent on Florida, and it is of the last importance, at this time, that the troops here should be subsisted." Again, he says: As it is, our situation is full of danger, from want of meat, and extraordinary efforts are required to prevent dis-ence. By order of Brigadier-General FINEGAN. bacon throughout the Confederacy, even when will be impressed under orders from the Quarhusbanded with the utmost economy, will be in- termaster-General. adequate to the demands of the government. This makes it the duty of every man to economize as much as possible-to sell not a pound to any one else whilst there is any danger of our army suffering, and to pledge at schedule rates his entire surplus-bacon, beef, sugar, and syrup -to the government. I solemnly believe our cause is hopeless, unless our people can be brought to this point. I have thought it my duty to address this confidential circular to the principal men in various sections of the State, and invoke their aid and cooperation with the purchasing commissaries and government agents in their districts, in inaugurating and putting into operation some system by which our armies can be more promptly supplied, and all of our resources which are necessary secured to the government. The appeals to me are more and more urgent every day; the pressure upon our State is very great. Should she now respond to the call made upon her resources as she has upon the bloodiest battle-fields of the war, the measure of her glory will be full. But if we withhold our supplies, we cripple our army, and render it impossible for them to advance after achieving the most signal victories. The people at home must put themselves upon a war footing. This they have never yet done. They must sow and plant, and gather for the government. Then, and not till then, will the bright rays of peace break through the clouds of war which overhang us. P. W. WHITE, P. S.-You are specially requested not to allow this circular to go out of your possession, but to read it to such persons as you know to be true and prudent, and to begin the work contemplated immediately. RESTRICTIONS ON FOOD. CIRCULAR. HEADQUARTERS, DISTRICT EASTERN FLORIDA, } Doc. 39. THE REBEL "BIRD OF ART." To the Officers, Soldiers, and Citizens of the SINCE the year 1839 I have devoted much thought and labor to the invention of a machine for aërial locomotion by man. The proper form and external appendages of the body were early and readily devised; but its successful operation has been delayed by the want of a suitable power to give it practical effect. That difficulty has been overcome, however, by my recent invention of an engine for a new motive power, which is admirably adapted to, and deemed amply sufficient for this object. For obvious reasons, it would be improper to publish the plan by which the great and long-sought desideratum of aerial locomotion may be attained. Early in the year 1861, I sent a memorial to the Provisional Congress, then in session at Montgomery, asking assistance in behalf of my invention, with the view of employing it against our enemies in the existing war. At a subsequent period, a similar application was presented to that body, then assembled in this city, with a like object. At a later period still, another application in the same mode was handed to a member of the House of Representatives of the confederate States Congress, but which never was presented to that body. And, to complete this sketch of such efforts on my part to obtain legislative aid, in September last I memorialized the Legislature of Virginia, at that time convened in extra session in this city; but I regret to say that all of those applications failed to elicit any attention to the great importance of this invention to our country at this time. And finally, at the suggestion of Generals R. E. Lee and G. T. Beauregard, I referred the subject In conformity with instructions from depart of my invention to the Engineer Bureau of the ment headquarters, of December twenty-eighth, War Department, where it remained many weeks 1863, and with the urgent request of Major P. without investigation, and was withdrawn a few W. White, C. S. for the State of Florida, "the days since. And feeling a profound personal inremoval across the borders of the State (except terest in the success of our cause and the future for army consumption) of all articles of subsist-welfare of our country, I now appeal to the citience which make part of the army ration, with- zens and soldiers of the country at large for aid out special permit, is hereby prohibited, except in raising the means to construct and put in in cases manifestly for family use, or under cir- operation the Artis avis, (bird of art.) By the use cumstances which relieve the transaction from of a considerable number of these machines, all the possibility of being a purchase for specula- of the Yankee armies now upon our soil and their tive purposes." The permit in the cases men-blockading fleets may be speedily driven off or tioned will be applied for of the District Com- destroyed. In the present condition of our counmissaries. No purchases will be allowed in this district, either by commissaries or their agents from other districts, except under an order from Major White, C. S. for the State. Hides and tallow in the hands of speculators, middle-men, or others, will not be allowed to be removed, but try, it will take a large sum to construct the requisite number of Birds of Art for this object; but if this appeal should be responded to generally, none need contribute more than one dollara sum that every one may spare without inconvenience-in order to rid our country of the pri vations and perils of this fiendish war. Each machine will cost about five hundred dollars. A short extract from my memorial to the Legislature of Virginia will serve to show how this most desirable object can be accomplished: "Now, let it be supposed that this number (one thousand) of these Birds of Art were stationed at the distance of five miles from a hostile military camp, fortification, or armada of war-vessels; that each Artis avis was supplied with a fiftypound explosive shell, and being started singly, or two or three abreast, going out and dropping those destructive missiles from a point or elevation beyond the reach of the enemy's guns, then returning to the place of departure and reloading, and thus continuing the movement at the rate of one hundred miles per hour. It will be seen that within the period of twelve hours, one hundred and fifty thousand death-dealing bombs could be thus rained down upon the foe, a force that no defensive art on land, however solid, could withstand even for a single day, while exposed arinies and ships would be almost instantly destroyed, without the least chance for escape." Reference is respectfully made to the Senators and Representatives in Congress from Mississippi, the Hon. H. W. Sheffey, Speaker House of Delegates, Virginia Legislature, and General W. S. Featherston, Miss. QUARTERMASTER-General's Office, RICHMOND, VA., Jan. 1, 1863. Doc. 40. R. O. DAVIDSON. RESTORATION OF ARKANSAS. PROCEEDINGS OF A PUBLIC MEETING IN HELENA, JANUARY 2, 1864. IN pursuance of public notice, a large and enthusiastic meeting of the citizens of Phillips County was held at the Episcopal church, in the city of Helena, on the second instant, for the purpose of electing delegates to a convention to be held at Little Rock on the eighth instant, and also to take such steps as might be deemed advisable to restore the State of Arkansas to its former peace and prosperity in the Federal Union. Brigadier-General Buford, having been invited to attend and preside over its deliberations, appeared at twelve M., and called the meeting to order. General Buford, in stating the object of the assembly, spoke as follows: GENERAL BUFORD'S SPEECH. My Fellow-Citizens of the State of Arkansas : I have learned from your own words that the majority of your legal voters never authorized the act of secession, which has destroyed your civil rights and overwhelmed you with the horrors of civil war. The unholy act having been perpetrated by ambitious and bad men, who usurped the authority of the State and made war against the United States, has placed you in an unnatural and an unfortunate position. From the enjoyment of a free government, you were forced to live under the iron rule of a satrap of unlawful and usurped power. Instead of the mild dominion of just laws, you have felt the iron heel, and been subject to the ungoverned passions of a General Hindman! The false calls of patriotism and love of country have seduced your sons from their true allegiance to their country, whose glorious emblem was the striped banner with its united galaxy of thirty-four stars, among which that one named “ Arkansas" shone with an effulgence as bright and as pure as any in the blue field of the Union, and caused them to trample it into the dust, and erect a new one, unknown to fame, and destined to be as fatal to those who walked under its shade as that of the fabled Upas tree. The false promises of the demagogues who seduced your sons have been unveiled, and instead of a glorious new empire, whose prosperity would outshine the old one, you have been called to witness the destruction of your civil government, with no restraints to anarchy but military power. A false doctrine has been taught in the South for thirty years, that patriotism was confined to a section, instead of the glorious Union. An unnatural hatred has been cherished against a part of your countrymen for whom you should have felt only a brotherly love. All the parts of our Government-land of rivers and land of lakes; land of mountains and land of plains; land of forests and land of prairies; land of granite and land of gold; land of oaks and land of flowersall, all are necessary to be united in one glorious transatlantic brotherhood, to make one great nation, capable of supporting a great free government, strong enough to withstand the shock of despotic power, which has constantly threatened us from the old world. And now, my fellow-citizens, with thirty years of training in the school that you were a peculiar race, understood the Bible a great deal better than the rest of mankind-had a corner-stone for a new empire of more solid substance than that which upheld the old one-who could be surprised that when the flint was struck by the steel, that the fire flew-your country was in a thought it the duty of patriotism and the road blaze-your young men volunteered? They to glory. But you had wise men and prudent mothers among you who thought differently. You who were wise, many of you had your hearts to bleed, when your manly sons, with buoyant hearts and gay thoughts, disregarded your admonitions, and took a fatal resolution. I am not here to reproach you, but to mourn with you. I shall not detail any of the particulars which have led a just and powerful Government to vindicate its rights, and send its armies into your State. I shall not exasperate you by detailing the barbarities of "guerrilla" warfare, nor the miseries of the Libby Prison or Castle Thunder. Neither will I try to screen from censure any of the unlawful marauding acts of some of our own troops. I am here with you to devise measures for the restoration of the Union, I am here to help to pour oil upon the troubled waters. I am here to |