October 1, 1861 – Sent to Richmond

Loreta Velázquez (AKA Mary Ann Keith) as herself (right)
and disguised as "Lieutenant Harry T. Buford" (left)

A lady who gave her name as Mrs. Mary Ann Keith, of Memphis, Tennessee, was arrested in Lynchburg on Wednesday. When arrested she was rigged out in a full suit of soldiers’ clothes, and had registered her name at the Piedmont House as Lieutenant Buford. She said she had been married twice—her first husband having been a member of Sherman’s famous battery; her second was in the Southern army; but she stated she was separated from him, for some reason she did not make known. She declared she was all right on the Southern question, and scouted the idea of being a spy. She said her reason for dressing in soldier clothes was, that she had determined to fight the battles of her country, and thought such disguise more likely to enable her to accomplish her object. She was sent on to Richmond for a further hearing on Thursday morning.

September 27, 1861 – Southern Account of the Battle of Carnifex Ferry

Map of the Battle of Carnifex Ferry, 1861

From the editorial correspondence of the Lynchburg (Va.) Republican, of Sept. 11th, we extract the following statement with regard to the late engagement at Carnifex Ferry :

On Tuesday morning Col. McCauslin’s regiment, which had been down at Summerville as our advance, was driven in, and the enemy encamped 14 miles distant from us. We expected him to drive in our pickets on Tuesday night and attack us on Wednesday morning, but contrary to these expectation he forced his march and drove in our pickets at 2 o’cl’k Tuesday. Our line of battle was at once formed behind our breastworks, and scarcely had all our forces been placed in position, before the enemy was seen swarming in the woods from one end of our lines to the other. He approached with great deliberation and firmness, and his central column emerged from the woods and above the hills, 200 yards in front, just 16 minutes after 3 o’clock. He approached us from this point in double-quick time, evidently intending to force our works at the point of the bayonet. At the first crack of our rifles, the gallant Colonel, who led in front of his men on a splendid black charger, fell dead to the earth, while the head of his column recoiled in utter confusion. The Colonel’s horse, as if unconscious of the fall of his rider, dashed up to our embankments around them into our camp, and, from the inscriptions on the mountings of his pistols, proved to be Col. Wm. H. Lytell’s, of Cincinnati. I saw the daring officer fall from his horse, and he was certainly one of the bravest of the brave, for he sought “the bubble reputation” at the very cannon’s mouth.

September 17, 1861 – From the Potomac

A general rumor was brought down on the Central train Thursday, of renewed heavy skirmishing on our lines. From what we can learn, however, there bas been no movement of consequence, outside of the usual brushes between the pickets.

Reconnoisances of the banks of the Potomac show that the enemy have perfected a line of works from the Chain Bridge to four miles south of Alexandria, having accomplished, for a distance of about fifteen miles, a line of well-constructed earthworks.

September 14, 1861 – Latest News

The U. S. gunboats Conestoga and Lexington, on Tuesday, attacked a rebel battery of sixteen suns, on the Missouri side of h Mississippi river, near to Lucas bend, and, after an action silenced the battery, and disabled the rebel gunboat Yankee.

Charles H. Foster, a loyal member of Congress, from North Carolina, called on President Lincoln, and tendered to him a full brigade of loyalists from that State.

The lower house of the Kentucky Legislature yesterday adopted, by ayes 71, noes 26 resolutions directing the Governor to issue his proclamation ordering the rebel troops to evacuate Kentucky. The Legislature also refused to receive a resolution directing a proclamation to be issued for the departure of both the United States and rebel troops.

August 14, 1861 – From Fortress Monroe

Fortress Monroe, August 10—The steamship Quaker City arrived this morning with the prize schooner George G. Baker, of Galveston, and her confederate crew of four men in irons.

The schooner was captured by one of the United Slates blockading fleet off Galveston, and sent to New York, with a United States crew on board. She was captured yesterday off Cape Hatteras, by the rebel privateer York who put four of her own men on board. In the meanwhile, the York was seen by the United States gun boat Union, who gave chase and burnt the privateer, but not until the crew had beached her and escaped.