The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-02 00:00:00

AMERICA.

LIVERPOOL, Jan. 31.

The Canadian mail steamer Nova Scotian, Capt.
Ballantine, from Portland, Maine, on the evening of
the 17th inst., reached this port this morning. The
advices by this arrival are virtually the same as
those brought by the steamers City of Washington
and New York, but by telegraph via Portland we
received the following late telegrams
NEW YORK, Jan. 17.—The following are the de-
tails of the inland attack at Galveston, and the gal-
lant defence made by the 42d Massachusetts Regi-
ment. They were obtained by the rebel pilot who
endeavoured to entrap the steamer Cambria into
Galveston, but who was captured by Gen. Sumner,
of the Cambria, and brought to New Orleans :—.
" On the night before the attack, the Union troops
made a reconnaissance, consisting of 25 men, Capt.
Shreve, of the RosburghCityGuards,which resulted
in the discovery of rebel cavalry in the western
part of the city. The news being despatched to
the companies, two platoons of 20 men each, corn•
mended by Captains Proctor and Savage, were de-
tailed to the support of Capt. Shreve, who had been
erroneously reported as captured. Very soon he
and his company were met falling back
to the wharf on and by which the United
States troops were encamped. At half-past one
o'clock the signals of the Harriet Lane warned
the devoted 300 of the 42d Massachusetts
Regiment to prepare for an assault. Almost
instantly she found herself engaged by the rebel
batteries, and Colonel Burrill was informed that his
pickets were driven in and the enemy approaching
in heavy force. Under his direction the men had
constructed two barricades of hogsheads, barrels,
planks, &c., between the piers and the town, and
taking refuge upon the extreme edge of the fOrmer,
taking up all but two planks affording access to
their position by which the pickets might reach
them. They had just completed these arrange-
ments when the rebels fired at them from a brick
market-house a quarter of a mile distant. A few
well-directed shuts from the Owasco silenced this
market-house, but the street cannon were served
steadily, with what effect is evidently un-
known. The rebel informant admitted that our sol-
diers behaved with the utmost coolness and intre-
pidity, holding their perilous position for quite four
hours. After the capture of the Harriet Lane, the
rebels at once displayed the Union flag, in order to
create the impression that she had surrendered vo-
luntarily, when the fleet followed the example. Col.
Russell, in doubt as to the meaning, ordered Adjo-
tent Charles A. Davis to take a boat and two men,
Union refugees, and endeavour to reach the Owasco
and ascertain it; also to entreat her, if possible, to
come to the end of the pier and save his men. In
this perilous adventure the boat was discovered by
a boat full of rebels, newly returned from the West-
field, whither they had been to induce Commodore
Renshaw to give an order for the surrender of the
flotilla, threatening, in the event of any of the ves-
sels reopening fire, to butcher every Union soldier
on shore. The commander of this boat, in the uni-
form of a rebel officer, with no leas than three re-
volvers stuck in his belt, shouted to Davis to stop,
inquiring, with an oath, his business. Going to
the Owasco,' was
the reply, and the swiftly-
pliedeafter
aidofreturned a reaching
field-glass,
ld .
g ito
a s
the
oars soon put the adjutant out of danger.
His errand proved his salvation. He and his com-
panions
Menaced namceedn,ewe wdi
witnessed
ekrs lseeefadnttshheienvetehe
captureee l
,O hwoea,fs
hcbo
hs
.
Just
comrades. It was now about Sor 9 o'clock in the
morning. onw h
oevery
approached
side
ebyt ahne
them
by immenseland
crowd of armed
and water, nothing was practicable but surrender or
death. Col. Burrill
adopted the former alternative,
and made his men lie down on the floor with him ;
hence the rebel cannon shot
tore through the upper
portion without inflicting injury. The 0 wan() was
actually so near to this building that Col. Burrill
directed her gunners where to point their pieces,
his men cheering vociferously when an effectual shot
hurled death into the ranks of the ranks of the
enemy. One heroic act during the assault deserves
special mention—the removal of the ammunition,
comprising powder, shell, shot, and cartridge, from
the building on the wharf to the furthest • t
point
practicable (the outer barricade) in the midst of a
perfect feu d'enfer. The men who effected it de-
serve honourable mention. It must have been
done
under the direction of Advance Sergeant D.
L.
Wentworth. A number of the
Federal ships
had
reached New Orleans, and coming over Galveston
Bar the fleet met a steamer laden with mules from
Sabine Pass. It gave the information that the
rebels had driven all the Union boats out of Sabine
Bay, and that they had three ocean steamers cut
down for gunboats, and one ready to fight."
The New York Times correspondent,
after de-
tailing an account of the fight on the deck of the
Harriet Lane, says, not the least deplorable
fact
connected with the disaster is the fact that the
signal-book giving the keys to Howe's dco e, naval
code, and merchants' code of signals
was on board
the Harriet Lane, and are doubtless
in possession
of the rebels.

A Washington despatch, speaking of the army
of the Potomac, says :

" For some days it has been known a movement
was again in contemplation, and it might be that
the loyal North should not be many days behind the
rebels in the knowledge that our veterans are again
on the road to Richmond. The same despatch states
that there is in the Quartermaster's Department
condemned clothing to the value of 1,280,000 doll.,
which was regularly inspected and passed last year
by the inspector in Philadelphia, and the contrac-
tors paid full value. Being unfit for use, it has
been turned over to the hospitals."
Unless some unexpected cause should interfere,
General Butler will be induced to resume command
of the department of the South as soon as arrange-