May 8, 1861 – Ingenuity of the Massachusetts Eighth

The March of the New York Seventh Regiment—Ingenuity of the Massachusetts Eighth—Comparison Between Massachusetts and New York Volunteers.

The New York Times has a long account of the trip of the famous Seventh N. Y. Regiment, from New York to Washington, written by Fitz James O’Brien, the accomplished literattuer, author of “The Diamond Lens,” etc., who is himself a member of the Regiment. We copy the following:

“Gen. Scott has stated, as I have been informed, that the march that we performed from Annapolis to the Junction is one of the most remarkable on record. I know that I felt it the most fatiguing, and some of our officers have told me that it was the most perilous. The secessionists of Maryland had sworn that they would cut to pieces that regiment, and it was actually telegraphed all over the South that the threat had been accomplished. We marched the first eight miles under a burning sun, in heavy marching order, in less than three hours; and it is well known that, placing all elementary considerations out of the way, marching on a railroad track is the most harassing. We started at about 7 o’clock A. M., and for the first time, saw the town of Annapolis, which, without any disrespect to that place, I may say, looked very much as if some celestial school boy, with a box of toys under his arm, had dropped a few houses and men as he was going home from school, and that the accidental settlement was called Annapolis. Through the town we marched, the people unsympathizing, but afraid. They saw the Seventh for the first time, and for the first time they realized the men that they had threatened.

Local Boys Return from Service

postcard showing ruined buildings, titled "The School and Belleau Woods"

Arthur Kief and John Shea, recently returned from overseas service, have received their honorable discharge, and arrived home yesterday. Kief wears a wound stripe. At Chateau Thierry, on July 18, in the battle of the Marne, he was blown up by a high explosive shell, and laid for thirty-six hours unconscious in the shell hole where he fell, supposed to be dead. It was a week later that he regained consciousness in a hospital. He spent seven months in different hospitals, and when be returned to his company in January last, the fighting was over.

Bursting in the Thames Tunnel

Water breaking into the Thames Tunnel

The water broke into the Thames Tunnel with irresistible violence last night, about twenty minutes before seven o’clock. Some doubts of the soundness of the roof being entertained, Mr. Brunel, a week or two ago, made numerous borings, from which it was ascertained that the superincumbent soil was at the thinnest part about seventeen feet thick. At the moment that the water burst in, last night, there were luckily no persons in the tunnel but the workmen. The first indication of danger was a tremendous noise, and the rush of the water immediately followed. The men employed in the archway escaped with difficulty, but they did escape, and it is extremely gratifying that, on being mustered as soon after the accident as possible, not one was found missing.

French Aviator Is Now at Agra, India

Portrait of Georges Pelletier d'Oisy
Portrait de Georges Pelletier-Doisy devant son avion à Villacoublay

PARIS, May 3.—France’s effort to win long distance supremacy in the air advanced another lap today when Lieut. Pelletier d’Oisy arrived at Agra, British India, from Karachi at 1:30 p. m, according to advices to the air ministry.

D’Oisy is attempting a flight from France to Japan in record time.

Wire Trolley — The Progress on the Haiku Sugar Plantation

HAMAKUAPOKO, Maui, May 4. — Haiku Sugar Co. are putting in a wire trolley to transport their cane from the upper fields to the mill, and expect to have the same in working order within a month. This has been found necessary owing to the scarcity of water, coming just when most needed, and will leave them a greater supply for irrigation on the maufka fields.

May 6, 1861 – Something Afoot!

Union soldiers at Relay House.

Washington, Sunday Evening, May 5.  

Yesterday, Gen. Scott forwarded dispatches to Gen. Butler, at Annapolis, placing the Massachusetts Sixth Regiment and other troops at his command, and giving him three days to take possession of the Relay House, at the junction of the Baltimore and Ohio and Baltimore and Washington railways, nine miles from Baltimore and thirty from Washington. Butler responded that he would hold religious services there today. The Sixth Massachusetts Regiment went up early this morning. This movement is made to co-operate with the Pennsylvania troops now advancing upon Baltimore on the other side.

The Grayson Dare Devils

There is a universal feeling of sympathy with these gallant fellows in their mortification at not being received here. They number one hundred men, all six feet high, and unfailing…