Posted on 11/15/2023 6:26:37 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
From the Montreal Commercial Advertiser, Nov. 13.
The expedition intended to effect the liberation of the Confederate officers held prisoners on Johnson's Island, Lake Erie, having failed, in order to remove the misapprehensions that may be created by Federal accounts of a Canadian plot to burn Western cities, we give below all the facts in which the public is interested, which may, we are assured, be implicitly relied on.
The Washington Government having refused to continue the exchange of prisoners of war under the cartel, sent the Southern officers accustomed to a tropical climate to Johnson's Island, where 2,000 of them were confined in wretched quarters, absolutely unfit to house cattle. There is no reason to doubt that the officers selected for this prison were those on whom the cold, damp climate and exposure would act most prejudicially. It was, in fact, an attempt to commit murder without publicly incurring the odium of slaughter.
In these circumstances the Confederate Government determined to make an attempt to rescue the doomed officers, and for this purpose an expedition was fitted out, consisting of thirty-six officers, under the command of one who had distinguished himself in similar dashing enterprises, and three hundred men. The officers embarked at Wilmington in the Confederate steamer Robert E. Lee, and landed at Halifax. The cotton and tobacco brought by that steamer as freight were sold to furnish the funds required, amounting to about $110,000. The men came overland through the States in small parties to the general rendezvous.
The intention was to surprise the Federal garrison on Johnson's Island, liberate the prisoners, convey them to Canada in vessels provided for that purpose, and forward them by Halifax to Nassau or Bermuda; the greater part of the funds being specially devoted to paying their passage
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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The Rebel Conspiracy in Canada: A Singular and Authorized Explanation – 2
From Fortress Monroe: General Fitzhugh Lee Bound to Fort Lafayette – 2
The War in North Carolina: Reconnoissance of the Chowan River – 2
The Rebel Guardians of National Prisoners in Richmond – 2-3
Further from the Rebel States: Southside Views of the Military Situation – 3-5
The Battle at Pine Bluff, Ark.: Over 4,000 Rebels Repulsed by 700 Kansas Cavalry – 5
Guerrilla Raid in Northwestern Kentucky – 5-6
The National Cemetery at Gettysburgh – 6
Execution of a Missouri Bushwhacker – 6
Presentation of a Cane to President Lincoln – 6
Note on Polydactylous Anomalies Among Virginia Negroes, by Dr. D.J. Macgowan, M.D. – 6
The Nuptials of Miss Kate Chase and Ex-Gov. Sprague: Scenes and Incidents – 6-7
News from Washington: Our Special Washington Dispatches – 7
Whisky in Dixie – 7
Editorial: Women’s Work, and Their Struggle for Better Compensation – 7-8
Editorial: The Anglo-Japanese War – 8
A New Nuisance – 8-9
Further from the Rebel States (continued) – 9
Movements of European Steamers – 9
later
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