Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-02-19

tSAsAy ~ "hiOu Gucy 0lS dCCl COitONs On
long as there should be no ground tc
question their good faith towards the gov.
eminent. 1t has been uniformly adopted
as the course of the government. Ac.
cordingly, passport was granted in the
month of April, 1861, to the minister resi-
dent here, of the Republic of Bremen; a
like passport was granted in August. 1861,
to the French minister, attended by his
royal highness, the Prince Napoleon, and in
| April last, to the French minister. These
| passports were granted at the request of
these distinguished persons respectively,
and not any suggestion of the Govern
ment or Secretary of State. They sever.
ally travelled in private and unofficial char
acter. They bore no commission whatev.
er, or any informal or verbal or written
orders, from the Government or Secretary
OF State, to any of these insurgents, and
they brought none from any such persons
TO the government and Secretary of State.
Since the 4th of March, 1861, no COM
munlcatlon direct or indirect, formal or in
formal, has been held by this government
or by the Secretary of State, with the in
surgents or their aiders or abetters. No
passport has been granted to any foreign
minister to pass the military lines, except
by the Presidents direction, and each Of
such ministers who have received such
passports has upon his return waited upon
the President, as we'll as the Secretary of
State, and given them such an account as
he thought proper of the incidents of his
journey. CT course these statements are
to be qualified so far as the facts relating
to the communication concerning the ex-
change OF prisoners and other military
matters in charge of the War Department.
may affect them.
Washington, Feb. 11.-Admiral Porter,
IN terms of commentator, communicates
to the Navy Department the report Of
Com. Elicit, commanding ram Queen of
the Vest, giving an account of her passage
of the batteries at Vicksburg. The fol-
lowing is the report:
United States Steam Ram, Queen Of the
Vest, below Vicksburg, Feb. 2d.-Admi-
ral:-In compliance with your iustruc-
tons, | started on the Queen Of the West
at half past four O'Clock this morning to
pass the batteries at Vicksburg, and to
sink the rebel steamer lying before that
city. | discovered Immediately on start
ing, that the. change of the wheel from it's
former position to the narrow space be-
hind the Queens bulworks did not permit
the boat to be handled with sufficient &C.
curacy, and an hour or more was spent in
re-arraaging the apparatus, aud when
we rounded the point the sun had risen,
and any advantage which would have re-
snlted from darkness was lost to u.s. This
morning her position was such that if we
had run into her as we came down the
river the Queen would have evidently
glanced, as we were compelled to partially
round to in order to strike. The consequence
was that at the very moment of collision
the current, which was very rapid at this
point, caught the stern of the Queen, so
that she swung around so rapidly that
nearly all her momentum was lost The
rebels opened a heavy fire, but we were
only struck three times. Before reaching
the steamer she was lying in the same po-
sition that the arkansas was when Col.
Elicit ran the Queen into her on former
occasion. The same causes saved the Ar-
kansas as saved the CITY Of Vicksburg. I
had anticipated this, and therefore caused
the starboard gun to be shot;ed with three
of the projecties commended in your or
der. AS we swung around in sight, Ser
geant Campbell, detailed for the purpose,
fired this gun. A 64.pound shell crashed
through the barricade just before she
reached the spot, but she did not hesitate.
The discharge took place at the right mo-
,nent and set the rebel steamer in flames,
which they subsequently succeeded in ex-
tinguishing. At this moment one of the
enemy's shells set The cotton near the star.
board wheel on fire, while the discharge
of one of our guns ignited that on the
bow The flames spread rapidly.
and the dense smoke rolling into the en-
CINE room, saw that if 1 attempted to
run into the City Of Vicksburg again, I
would certainly be burned. | ordered her
to be headed down stream, and ordered
every man to extinguish the flames. After
much exertion, we finally put the fire out
by cutting loose the burnt bales. The
enemy, OF course, were not idle, aud we
were struck twelve times, and though the
cabin door was knocked to pieces, no ma
terial injury was done to the boat or auy
harm to any of those on board inflicted.
About two regiments of cavalry and
sharpshooters, in rifle pits, kept up con.
tlnued fire, but did no damage. The
Queen was struck twice in the hull, but
ABOVE the water line One of our guns
was dsmounted and ruined. l can only
speak in the highest terms of the conduct
of every man on board. All behaved
with cool, determined courage.
remain, very respectfully,
ECHAs. RIVERS Elicit,
Comd'g Ram Fleet.
Com. D. D PORTER,
Acting Rear Admiral.
CAIRO, Feb. 11.-Later information
shows that ram Queen of the Vest did
not damage the steamer Vicks5urg, as
was first reported. 1t is supposed that
the width of the steamers guards pre-
vented the ram from reaching her hull.
Gen. Hurlbut, at Memphis, has issued an
order prohibiting the circulation of the
Chicago Times in his district.
Fort. Monroe, Feb. Richmond d.
pers have the following: -.
Deserters say that Gen. Banks cannot
depend upon the army, hence the delay in
advancing. The Charleston papers an.
nounce the death of Hon. Lawrence
Pinckney, of S. G.
The cavalry division of Gen. Reynolds
moved to Alexandria, Tenn, yesterday.
for the purpose of destroying the Touring
mills there. A portion of Morgan's cav
airy fought them several hours, but owing
to the enemy's force Morgan had to fall
back.
Cairo, Feb. 1.-THE rebel Col. Cusb-
man, arrested on Friday, at his residence.
rear Ripley, Tenn, was brought to Col.
umbus yesterday, in irons. Cushman has
burned more cotton. perhaps, than any
other man in the confederacy. He has
acted throughout without commission