The following is extracted from The New York Times, dated 18 October, 1864:

 

The United States steam transport Mississippi Capt. KENNEDY, arrived at this port, this morning, from New-Orleans 18th inst., and the Bar 19th. She brings a number of passengers, and 175 sick and wounded soldiers, consigned to the United States Assistant Quartermaster. Reports, on the 22d MICHAEL Owen, Second Massachusetts Battery, died and was buried at sea; 24th, CARLOS COY, Eighth Vermont, died and was buried at sea; 25th, EDWARD SIMPSON private, Co. F, Thirtieth Maine Regiment, died same day; GUSTAVUS N. CAREY, private, Co. K, Thirtieth Maine, died and was buried at sea. We also have advices from New-Orleans, via Cairo, to Aug. 18. Admiral FARRAGUT made a reconnoissance on the 14th inst. to the obstructions near Mobile, and found the Confederate steamer Nashville sunk across the channel, making access to the City impossible until she is removed. The rebel gunboat Morgan came down during the reconnoissance, and cannonaded our vessels from a safe distance. There are still two iron-clad rams and several plated batteries near the city. Our batteries will open on Fort Morgan in a few days. Admiral FARRAGUT has issued a congratulatory order, returning thanks to the officers and crews of the vessels of fleet, for their gallant conduct during the engagement on the 5th inst., and for the noble and implicit confidence placed in him as their leader. Two hundred of the rebel prisoners taken at Fort Gaines have petitioned to be allowed to take the oath of allegiance. Gen. CANBY has authorized Col. DWIGHT, our Commissioner of Exchange, to effect an immediate release of our prisoners, some 3,500 in number, now in Camp Ford, Texas. The steamer Rob Roy, which was reported captured and destroyed by guerrillas, is reported safe, but aground below Monroe, Wachita River. There was a fair inquiry in New-Orleans for cotton at $1 46 1/2 for strictly good ordinary, and $1 55@ $1 60 for low middling. Flour declined; choice is quoted at a decline of 25c. @50c. Small lots of Sugar were offered at 23c. for fair, 24c. @25 1/2c. for fully fair, and 25c. @26c. for prime.

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U.S. NAVAL HEADQUARTERS,

Aug. 17,1864.

 

          Admiral FARRAGUT made a reconnoissance on the 14th inst., to the obstructions near Mobile, and found the Nashville sunk directly across the channel, making access to the city impossible until she is removed. The gunboat Morgan came rushing down, as if she was going right into the Admiral's ship, and stopping behind the obstructions, commenced a cannonade at a safe distance, to save the honor of the city, and will in all probability boast that they have bearded the Federal fleet. There are still left, as was seen, two small iron-clad rams and several plated batteries near the city. Our batteries will open on Fort Morgan in a few days.

 

CONGRATULATORY ORDER FROM ADMIRAL FARRAGUT.

UNITED STATES FLAG SHIP HARTFORD, MOBILE BAY,

Aug. 6, 1864.

 

          The Admiral returns thanks to the officers and crews of the fleet for their gallant conduct during the fight of yesterday. It has never been his good fortune to see men do their duty with mote courage and cheerfulness; for, although they knew that the enemy was prepared with all devilish means for our destruction, and though they witnessed the almost instantaneous annihilation of our gallant companions in the Tecumseh by a torpedo, and the slaughter of their friends, messmates and gunmates on our decks, still. there were no evidences of hesitation in following their Commander-in-Cnief through the line of torpedoes and obstructions, of which we know nothing except from the exaggerations of the enemy, who had given out -- "That we should all be blown up as certainly as we attempted to enter." For this noble and implicit confidence in their leader, he heartily thanks them. D.G. FARRAGUT, Rear Admiral, Commanding W.G.B. Squadron.

 

"From the New Orleans Times,

Aug. 19.

 

          The subjoined full and interesting description of the great rebel ram Tennessee, recently captured by our navy in Mobile Bay, has been exclusively furnished the Times by a gentleman present at the time of the capture, and who has since been permitted, by the courtesy of Admiral FARRAGUT, to thoroughly examine the vessel: "The importance of our recent naval victory at the entrance of the harbor of Mobile can hardly be appreciated without a more full and complete description of the formidable ram Tennessee than has yet appeared in any of our journals. We have been at some pains to procure a correct description of this dangerous war vessel, that our readers might the better understand the nature of the adversaries which our bluff old Admiral had to contend with, and at the same time experience a higher appreciation of the glorious victory which he has achieved. The ram Tennessee has been some two years building at Mobile, under the immediate eye of the rebel Admiral BUCHANAN, assisted by the best shipwrights and engineers procurable inside the Confederacy. No expense or pains have been spared to render her armament the most complete of any war vessel afloat, and for the purpose of harbor defence she was, without doubt, the most dangerous to encounter and difficult capture of any craft which has ever been put afloat. Her length was about one hundred and eighty feet, and her hull, which was originally intended for a man-of-war, was put together as staunchly and strongly as it is practicable to build one. Her iron armor consists of two and a half inch iron plates, in bars eight inches wide, which are crossed and bolted together so as to leave no seam. Inside this iron plating is twenty-four inches of solid oak, making about thirty inches of solid work on every part exposed to shot. Forward of and including her forward casemates, which embraces perhaps fifteen feet in length and takes in also her pilothouse, this thickness is increased to six inches of iron and thirty of wood backing. It is a noticeable fact that this extraordinary strength of iron and wood enabled her to withstand all the steel shot from our rifled pieces, our 11-inch solid shot from our ships-of-war, and 15-inch shell from the monitors, not one of which penetrated her ribs of iron, while near fifty shots altogether struck her in the engagement. The nearest approach to penetration was from a 15-inch missile from the Manhattan, which made a deep indentation in her broadside, and by impaction stove through her two feet of oak backing, causing the splinters to fly promiscuously inside. Though under way when this struck her, she is said to have stopped as if a magic wand had touched her. She was armed with four 6-inch Brooks rifled guns, of English make, on her broadsides, and two fore and aft, 7 and 8-inch, of same pattern. These, by the completeness of their carriages, could be handled by a single gunner with the greatest ease. Her ports were closed with shutters made of iron plates similar to her external plating. These were attached at the centre of their sides by a pivot,on which they revolved by means of a cog-wheel inside,and turned out of the way outside when her ports were opened. This was, in reality, a defective arrangement, and in the fight proved an element of weakness to her. Two of these shutters had their system of ratches and co[???] deranged during the action, and could not be afterward opened. a third(her after one) was shot away [???] turned was shot off and theshutter fell to deck, leaving that port open and exposed to our gunners, The precision with whichour gunboats aimed can be appreciated by the fact that some ten shots struck her in the neighborhood of this port, and it was here that Admiral BUCHANAN was wounded. One of our shells, striking in the edge of this casemate, splintered the woodwork badly, and the rebel Admiral was directing a gunner about clearing this so as to use the after gun, when a shot struck the casemate and exploded, literally tearing, the gunner to atoms, and wounding Admiral BUCHANAN seriously in the thigh. He fell, covered with the blood and brains of the slaughtered gunner literally covering him. The Hartford had undertaken previously to run her down; the Lackawanna had followed suit, as bad also the Monongahela and the Ossipee, but without making the least effect upon her solid walls of iron and wood. The Hartford had poured in a broadside, but her 11-inch shells had bounded off from her side like peas. The whole fleet had rained an internal hall of iron upon her, fore and aft, and on either hand: The Manhattan had sent the persuasion of her 15-inch shells to add to the din about her head; but she held out until her Admiral fell, and then, seeing that nothing more remained, she ran up the white flag and Surrendered. Capt. PIERRE GIRAUD, of the U.S. steamer Tennessee, who was at the time on the gunboat Ossipee, was requested by the Captain of the latter to go on! board, and did so, and received the rebel Admiral'ssword in behalf of Admiral FARRAGUT. In form the Tennessee resembles the old Merrimac, is doubtless, fashioned after that short-lived craft, and is, without doubt, much improved over her. Her sides are sloped like the Merrimac, while her top is fist, and is composed of a net work or grating of iron bars, two and a hall by eight inches, placed so as to leave intersecting spaces about three inches broad, and affording a complete ventilation to her gun-room while in action. Her rudder ermine were a most serious element of weakness with her, being carried along her deck, and covered only with a plate, of half-inch iron. They were, consequently, broken early in the engagement, and her rudder was subsequently managed by means of ropes and blocks, which had been attached prior to the action, evidently with a full appreciation on the part of Admiral BUCHANAN of this defect. Some stress has been laid on the fact of her smokestack having been carried away early in the contest, and the impression has been given that this contributed to her surrender. Nothing could be more unwarranted by the facts in the case. This smokestack was set on and s[???]ot away only to a level with the top of the gun room, and the only effect which could come from its loss would be to perhaps lessen the draught of her furnaces. She was armed with a formidable iron prow, which was intended to do some heavy ramming when other offensive devices failed her, and with this she steered for the Hartford at the beginning of the engagement. The superior sailing qualities of the Hartford, together with the eagle-eye of the bluff old Admiral, enabled him to out-manoeuvre the Tennessee, and instead of receiving her running, the Hartford poured into her a broadside. "Give her one bell, give her two bells, give her eight bells," said the impetuous FARRAGUT, and they blazed away accordingly. The balls flew off her like hail from her iron-sides, but she was brought up standing by the concussion and afterward grew more circumspect in her movements. Of her engines and machinery much has been said, but hardly justice done. The engines originally intended for her ,were found inadequate, and others of greater capacity substituted. She is not swift as it is, however, though they claim seven knots for her, which is doubtless quite all she is capable of making and perhaps less. Some eighty muskets compose a part of her armament, and has complete appointments of every kind, which it is surprising where the rebels succeeded in obtaining. Had this formidable craft remained under the guns of Morgan until dusk, and then with her wooden consorts come out to the attack, she might have sunk and destroyed half, if not your entire fleet inside the bay, as in the darkness and confusion which would have ensued our own gunboats would have proven as formidable and mischievous to each other as the rebel boats themselves. It seems as if that Providence which brought us a monitor at the last hour to defeat the Merrimac, had given us the lionhearted FARRAGUT, with the daring and the skill to defeat and capture a foe more formidable and more dangerous to the welfare of the nation than that formidable vessel at the time appointed. God preserve our staunch old Admiral for other deeds of daring and victories to come, wherever and whenever there are foes to vanquish or impediments to overcome in the complete restoration of the national power.

 

Correspondence of the New-Orleans Times.

OFF FORT MORGAN,

Thursday, Aug. 11

 

          Since the surrender of Fort Gaines and the destruction by the rebels of the gunboat Gaines under the guns of Fort Morgan, but little has apparently been done. I say apparently, for a casual observer would suppose that we were idle for the present, but if I mistake not you will soon hear of the surrender of Fort Morgan and Mobile. In the first place, the former boast of the rebel navy, the invincible ram Tennessee, has been repaired, and a new smoke-stack replaces the old one which was shot away. It was sent from New-Orleans. This morning she steamed toward Fort Morgan, and fired the first shot since her capture. As the fort did not reply, and the Tennessee only wishing to pay her respects to her former old friend. she waited a moment longer, as if saying "good morning," and joined the fleet. There is something very strange in this mysterious and continued silence of the guns of Fort Morgan, as our vessels are allowed to cruise around in easy range, and even to approach, for the purpose of reconnoitering , to within about a mile, without drawing her fire. Our land forces are approaching the fort and throwing up earthworks. It is said that they are already not more than 300 yards distant, yet not a gun has been fired in that direction that I know of. One of the two following suppositions for this strange proceeding must be the reason for its silence: One is that the rebels are either very short of ammunition, or they do not wish to expose the position of their batteries. There is now six feet of water on Dog River Bar. Our fight-draught steamers can pass over with ease,' and the monitors and Tennessee can be lightened over. N. From the New-Orleans Times. Aug. 1[???]. We are enabled this morning to lay before our readers the following information: The United States steamer James Battle, commanded by Capt. PHILIPS, arrived at 3 o'clock on Monday morning at Milneburgh, having left Fort Gaines on Sunday morning at half-past 10 o'olock. Everything was progressing favorably for our cause over there. By the arrival of deserters from Fort Morgan, Admiral FARRAGUT is advised that the rebel General PAGE, in command there, is determined to make an obstinate defence of the fort, and will not surrender it until forced to do so. The monitors and the ram Tennessee have been engaged alternately in shelling the fort at intervals, but had not succeeded in provoking a reply. Whenever they can see men apparently working, they throw a shell and scatter them, thus keeping up a continual annoyance. We understand that Admiral FARRAGUT is confident that success will crown our arms, and that we will have all the forts, and Mobile too, in due time. We must have a little patience, and hope that the noble efforts of our navy and army in Mobile Bay may achieve all that the country can desire. We understand the James Battle brought over twelve or fifteen deserters from Fort Morgan, most of whom have taken the oath, and have been released. From the New-Orleans Times, Aug. 18. Earthworks in three lines are said to extend completely around the city on the land side, with field-pieces in position. Several mud forts, with guns of larger calibre mounted upon them, are within theearthworks. In the bay, immediately ahead of the city, are three or four gunboats, and several-small iron-clad forts. These are intended to resist an advance of a fleet up the bay, or the occupation of the city by land forces. As we learn from the report of the reconnoissance made to the obstructions near the city by the Admiral On the 14th inst., the Nashville lies "sunk directly across the channel, making access to the city impossible until she is removed." The Nashville, it will be remembered by our readers, was being fitted out as an ironclad ram at the same time as the Tennessee, but was found to be too unwieldy and unmanageable. The Nashville drew too much water to be lighted over Dog River Bar, and the rebels sunk her in the channel for the purpose of more effectually obstructing it. From the New-Orleans Times, Aug. 18. The St. Louis and New-Orleans packet steamer James White, commanded by Capt. WHITE, arrived here early this morning from St. Louis, accomplishing the trip, amid serious obstructions from a low stage of water at the commencement, and from the attacks of guerrillas as the boat drew nearer to New-Orleans, in about ten days. Above Helena the boat was fired upon at a wood landing, and her pickets, which had been posted, driven in. Fortunately no injury was done. Below Napoleon she was fired upon again with the same results. About fifteen miles below Baton Rouge another attack was made, the attacking party displaying a great deal of boldness, by riding as near to the boat as possible, upon the levee, and discharging their guns at the passengers and crew. This attack was the last one made and resulted also without injury to the boat or passengers. Navigation of the Mississippi, from St. Louis to White River, is now very difficult, on account of the low stage of the water. The steamer Ida Handy left St. Louis on the 2d inst. On the 3d she met the Continental at Liberty, and the Belle Memphis at Crawford's Bar. On the 4th she met the City of Alton at Burnbridge, and the Graham at Dogstooth. The Ida Handy arrived at Cairo on the 7th, having had to lighten over all the bars, On the 8th, she met the Gladiator at Point Pleasant. Finding only 51/2 feet of water at Island No. 34, the had to lighten over. She left Memphis on the 11th, meeting with the Empress at Helena, and on the 12th, with the Sultana, below Columbia. Arriving at White River on the 11th, she was hailed by a gunboat and ordered to wait for convoy, there being a battery reported at Gaines' Landing. She left White River at 3 P.M. on the 12th, in company with the Clara Dolson, M.L. Mepham, and the gunboat Neosho, and they were also joined by two tin-clads. On reaching the place where the battery was reported to be stationed, the gunboats commenced shelling the woods, but did not receive any reply, and they passed without being molested.

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HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF ATON ROUGE AND PORT HUDSONBATON ROUGE, La.,

Aug. 11,1864

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 1.

 

-- In obedience to Special Orders No. 209, Extract No. 5,

dated HeadquartersDepartment of the Gulf, New-Orleans, La., Aug. 9,1864,

 

          the undersigned hereby assumes command of this district and the troops operating therein. The following officers are announced on the staff of the Major-General-Commanding, and will be respected accordingly: Major Wm. Hyde Clark, Chief of Staff. Capt. Wm.H. Clapp, Assistant Adjutant-General. Capt. N.M. Hubbard, Aid-de-Camp. Capt. Chas. E. Stephens, Aid-de-Camp. Capt. L.B. Morey, Acting Assistant Inspector-General. Capt. John L. Routt, Chief Assistant Quartermaster. Capt. E.E. Shelton, Chief Com. of Subsistence. Surgeon L.F. Humeston, Surgeon-in-Chief. F.J. HERRON, Major-General. AN ORDER FROM GEN. CANBY. INSPECTOR's OFFICE, NEW-ORLEANS. La.,Aug. 15, 1864. The notice from this office requesting information of all moneys paid by citizens for rent, bribery, black mail. &c., having elicited an apprehension that by so doing, the parties would render themselves liable to prosecution, &c., the Commanding-General directs me to guarantee to all thus giving important information an exemption from all military prosecution or persecution.

 

By command of Maj.-Gen. CANBY, Commanding Military Division West Miss. JAS. H. STOKES, Inspector.

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