Later from the North.
Combined attack on the Arkansas — from Pope's army-- progress of robbery and out- rage by his troops — from McClellan's army, &cWe have received Northern papers to the 31st.--An attack was made on the ram Arkansas, on the 22d ult., by Commodores Davis and Farragut. A dispatch, dated the 23d, says: ‘ The fleet from below was to engage the lower batteries, and the fleet from above to engage the upper ones, the gunboat Essex and the ram Queen of the West in the meantime to attack the Arkansas and tow her out. In consequence of some misunderstanding, only a few shells were fired from the mortars below, which are known to have had no effect to divert the fire from the Essex. This vessel attempted to run into the Arkansas and jam her against the levee, but the latter swung round and the Essex only grazed her side. As she passed she gave the rebel craft her three 11-inch bow guns. Finding herself unsupported, she dropped down the river. The Queen coming to her aid, ran into the Arkansas, making her tremble from stem to stern. Recovering herself, the Queen ran on again so forcibly as to strain her own works badly. Both boats then returned up the river. During the engagement the Essex received several shots, and had one man killed and two wounded. The Queen was also shot through several times. ’ A dispatch from Memphis, July 28th, says: ‘ The Grenada Appsal, of the 24th, has a special dispatch of the same date, stating that Commander Davis and the gunboats had attacked the batteries and the ram Arkansas, and had been repulsed, with the loss of five boats sunk or disabled. The dispatch is replete with the usual rebel bombast. The Appeal, of the 25th, has a dispatch announcing the occupation of Coldwater by the Union troops. Jeff. Thompson had destroyed the bridge at Hanson to prevent a further advance. ’
From Gen. Pope's army — Arrests at Luray — Suppression of guerrillas.
Warrenton, July 30.
--Col. Lloyd, of the Sixth Ohio cavalry, commanding at Luray, yesterday, in pursuance of General Pope's order, arrested all the male inhabitants of the town and lodged them in the Court-House preparatory to administering the oath of allegiance.
This course was rendered imperatively necessary from the fact that several of them had left their houses, and it was supposed, for the purpose of joining the guerrillas who infest the west side of the South Fork, and, in one instance, captured our river pickets.
A prominent Secession farmer and his son, residing near Little Washington, left home yesterday for the mountains, taking horses, equipments, and arms.
Last night our pickets were fired on by two guerrillas in that vicinity, supposed to be the farmer and his son.
All was quiet at Culpeper at the last advices.
A letter to the Philadelphia Inquirer, dated Madison Court-House, July 29th, gives a description of the ravages being committed by Pope's army, and the thefts committed by his order.
It says: ‘
One plantation, an old lady told us, had a hundred and seventy women and children, and but eleven men fit to work in the field; most of them had run away.
In another case was eighty-five women and children and seven men. Here, however, the proportion is not so great, and several thousand able-bodied men can yet be gathered up in Madison, Culpeper, Rappahannock, Fauquier, Rockingham and Page counties. One of our trains, which has just come in from Warrenton, has nearly all the drivers contrabands from Prince William county. One of them says he, in company with others, had come into Warrenton ‘"to see the sojers,"’ and the Provost gathered them up and put them into the service; all seemed pleased at the change.
As we were marching down here one of the mules gave out; on the side of the bill was discerned a darkey ploughing; over goes a cavalry man, and soon the ‘"dark"’ wagon his mule, coming across to the road; his mule now has his mane and tall cropped, the badge ‘"U. S."’ upon his shoulder, and the darkey was not to carrying the knapsacks of some weary and feet sore soldiers.
Last night when we encamped here our wagons went out to get some forages, and about a mile out found some 36 men cutting and binding cats.
The teams commenced to load it, and in about half an hour had it all on. The overseer rode over and demanded pay. He was asked if he would take the oath of allegiance, but refused.
He commenced to utter a tirade against the thieving Yankees, but on one of the drivers making toward him with a good
sized sapling he suddenly recollected that he had business in another direction.
To-day we have a large force out making bay.
The men are in the best of spirits, and the issuing of the recent orders by Gen. Pope have cheered up the drooping heart of many a weary and foot sore patriot, who has been tramping around the country for months, and, when worn out, been compelled to mount guard over rebel commissary stores, while Jackson's crew were refreshing themselves with sleep, ready to spring upon them at some unexpected moment.
Among the luxuries for the sick and faint now taken from rebel garners and fields, are flour, ice, potatoes, sheep, poultry, &c. Along Hedgeman's creek, Carter's run, and other streams, ice houses were found well filled.
The country is flooded with bogus Secesh money; it is impossible, in many cases, to tell the good from the bad. We went into a small store at ‘"Orleans "’ one day, where they were selling ‘"fip calice"’ at 35 cents per yard, and the whole contents of the store you could carry in a bushel basket, and found the proprietor was taking all the paper offered.
On looking over his ‘"pile,"’ we found four different kinds of Richmond ones, and two of fives.
Many were the most worthless imitations.
He was very indignant at ‘"Banks men,"’ whom he alleges passed it upon him.
Among the contrabands who have found their way into our camps is one ‘"Ned,"’ now with General Ricketts division, who used to wait upon the General while he was in the tobacco warehouse at Richmond.
He seemed highly elated to find the General escaped, and in a position where he can go soon again to Richmond.
Near Hedgeman's river is a tract of land, several miles square, known as the Marshall Place.
It beings to the widow Marshall, who has three sons in the rebel army and one at home.
There are over 3,000 bushels of wheat in the garners and fifty cattle, besides hundreds of acres of hay, corn and oats.
The son at home says he was a Union man while there was any Union men, but now there was none.
He admits that Virginia is ruined, and that she can not recover from the losses she has sustained in 25 years. He says that slavery in Virginia is practically abolished; that the few they now hold will never be of any value, no matter if the war were ended to-day.
He is a religious rebel; believes in foreordination, and says, ‘"it seems to be the will of God that slavery shall be wiped out;"’ but for all, his hatred of the Yankees is bitter in the extreme; he thinks that Virginia, or the South, will never submit to the North, and he will leave all — home, property, and all — before taking the oath.
We have occasional arrivals from Richmond.--The rebels, it appears, are moving a large force across the James river to operate against Suffolk and Norfolk, and prevent McClellan from crossing the James river. ’
From M'Clellan's army.
Letters from McClellan's army are to the 29th.--They do not give much news. One says: ‘ The Daniel Webster, with one hundred and eighty two sick and wounded, from Richmond, for Philadelphia, anchored off the Fortress this morning. She left City Point yesterday forenoon and stopped at Harrison's Landing, where General McClellan visited her and spent a couple of hours. He went around among the wounded, pausing at the side of each one, and having a kind and cheering word for all. Dressed plainly, with a blue blouse, void of strap and star, many of the poor fellows were at first unaware of his presence. Stepping beside the stretcher of one who had lost his leg above the knee, the General asked him how he felt, in a gentle tone that aroused and touched the heart of the feeble sufferer. He replied that he did not feel well at all, and expressed despondency in the course of his conversation. The Assistant Surgeon then remarked, ‘"Don't you know who this is?"’ ‘"No."’ ‘"Why, it is your General--General McClellan."’ Another one said, ‘"General, I belong to you."’--‘"No,"’ replied McClellan, ‘"we all belong to one another; we belong to the army of the Potomac, and to our country."’ Those standing by say the tears ran down the checks of the brave boy as the General held his hand; and the eyes of our young commander were dimmed, and his utterance checked, as he gazed through his tears upon the devoted and gained form of the youth, who felt a pride in ‘"belonging"’ to him----‘"to you, General."’ The visit cheered the men wonderfully. ‘"Did you ever see a General like ours?"’ said a boy from Brooklyn, with seven wounds in his body. "He goes about and speaks to us privates, asks how we get along, whether we are well attended to, what we want, and all about us. Now, I don't believe any other General ever did that!" and he looked at me with an air of triumph, as if there was no gainsaying it. The rebels are sanguine that their new Merrimac will do us an immense amount of damage, and reinstate the prestige lost when old Tatnall blew up the Elizabeth river bugbear. They claim that the new iron clad is of greater power, will be more easily handled, and of much more availability than the old vessel, whose wreck lies above Craney Island. They also boast of two other iron crafts as being nearly ready to pounce upon Com. Wilkes, and capture or sink him and his whole James river fleet. As this is the week in which the Norfolk rebels swear they will make their descent upon the Federal gunboats, we shall wait and watch, believing that we ‘"shall see what we shall see."’ Stonewall Jackson is being heavily reinforced from Richmond, although the rebels are too wary to give his whereabouts. Our Generals must keep a sharp lookout for the marauder, or they may find him in their rear ere they expect him. All the railroad cars were in use last week up to Saturday, transporting soldiers from Richmond to some point where they could be made available. Our wounded were brought down on the common freight and lumber trucks, as none of the passenger cars could be spared. Since Wednesday last and until Saturday morning following not a gray uniform was seen on or near the bank of the river opposite us. Upon the last mentioned day, however, they again made their appearance, and are occasionally seen peeping out from behind some rock or tree. At times can be seen upon the top of the house owned and occupied by the celebrated Dr. Ruffin, (whose father had the distinguished honor of firing the first gun at Fort Sumter, which house is distant perhaps a mile and a half back from the river,) persons who appear to be signalling parties still further inland, which fact goes to prove that they have either forces in considerable numbers stationed thereabouts, or that they are making feints and endeavoring to make us believe that such is the actual fact. We have it from good authority (and from whence it comes we are not at liberty to state,) and, at the same time, the extent of the smoke arising from the camp fires make us positive, that their forces directly opposite here and up to the railroad are scattered, hid in the woods, and that in round numbers they would not amount to more than three thousand men; while just beyond the railroad they appear to be in great numbers, and, from the convenience of access, it is safe to say that within four or five hours they could concentrate a force there of thirty or forty thousand, and yet not materially impede or impair their other operations, or in any degree weaken their surrounding positions. It is, however, known to a positive certainty that, commencing about ten miles above city Point, and reaching all the way up to Fort Darling, both sides of the river is one grand map of masked batteries. These our gunboats will, at some future time, pay their respects to, and no doubt will cause them to be evacuated. ’The contrabands in M'Clellan's camp.
The contrabands at and around this point have been mustered together and placed in a village. From the number of wedge tents they occupy, there must be at least 2,000, if not more of them. They are well fed, and the tents give them the proper shelter. For all this, the manager of them has to deal with them as though they were animals, to keep them in proper trim. They are up to all kinds of dodges to keep from work. Yesterday I saw the guard unearth one fellow who had hid himself under a pile of old clothes. How he got along without being smothered is a mystery to me. He finally marched to work with a shovel over his shoulder, grinning at his success in soldiering for a time. This one darkey is only a type of all I have seen here. They imagine they should do nothing but eat, drink, and sleep. There is no disguising the fact, they want the whip badly. The fear of the whip would act like a charm. The negro women seem to have more energy than the men, and are very expert in carrying heavy loads upon their heads. I have seen them daily carry buckets of water on their heads up the side of the bluff without spilling a drop of the water. The negro women look cleaner, in a measure, than the men, and on a Sunday sport pink and sky-blue chintz dresses, with immense hoops. The colored cooks and servants of the camps seem to be in great favor with these colored lasses, and on Sundays do immense promenading with them around the various camps.Escape of prisoners from Alton.
From the Alton (Ili.) Telegraph we learn that 35 prisoners escaped, on Friday night, from the military prison in that city. It is supposed that numbers had been for several days digging the tunnel though which it appears 35 found agrees. The Telegraph says: ‘ Chas. H. Fulcher, one of the number who escaped, returned this morning and gave himself up. He states, that after reaching the outside of the prison they scattered like sheep throughout the vicinity. He, with two others, went about two miles below the city, when he determined to come back and give himself up. Among those who escaped is Col. Magoffin, who has been confined in a cell, having been sentenced to death for breaking his parole. It is supposed that, with outside assistance, the lock on the door of his room was picked, and thus he gained access to a flight of steps leading to the yard. He had to pass a sentinel in going toward the sinks, but the prisoners always pass without hindrance, and the sentinel, not knowing but what Magoffin was safely locked in his cell, doubtless supposed he was one of the privileged ones, and for that reason did not stop him. ’Arrival of deserters.
Two cavalry deserters from the rebel army gave themselves up, yesterday afternoon, to our cavalry pickets, out the New Market road, near to the Baptist meeting house, known as the St. Mary's Church. They rode up near our pickets, and one dismounted and advanced to our men and gave himself up while the other approached, leading the two horses. They claim to be New Yorkers, and had been pressed into the Tenth Virginia cavalry. They were armed with the cavalry carbine, but had no other arms. One of the horses rode by them was branded with ‘"U. S.,"’ and had a United States Government blanket under his saddle. Both the men were fine looking fellows, although not dressed very fine or soldiery. They were taken to Gen. Averill, as it was a portion of his command they gave themselves up to. The two rebel deserters are named Frank Osgood and Michael Conner, and were taken from Richmond and forced to serve. Osgood was born in Massachusetts, although he claim to be a New Yorker, from his long residence there. When he left New York he resided on Bleaker street, near Broadway.The Guerrilla war at the west.
Dispatches from Louisville, July 29th, say Russellville, Ky., was taken by Confederate guerrillas on that day, under Col. Guano, two Federal lieutenants being killed in the action. It was occupied two hours after by a large Federal force. Governor Magoffin has called the Legislature together to consider Lincoln's emancipation proclamation.--The Mt. Sterling (Ky.) Express has been suppressed for favoring rebellion. A party of guerrillas in Boone county, Ky., were defeated on the 28th, with a loss of 8 killed and 48 prisoners.The rebel Merrimac, no. 2.
There is a rumor in Norfolk, which is believed by some, that the Merrimac No. 2, and a new ram which the rebels have at Richmond, intend to run through the fleet in the James river and attack the Minnesota and other vessels at Norfolk, and take that city. It is also said, and is believed by the Unionists, that the Secessionists there have a full supply of arms in their houses, and that they are ready to strike a blow simultaneous with the approach of the rebel steamers. On the way up quite an unusual number of boats were seen on the bay, crossing either way, which the Captain thinks are in the employ of the rebels, and is of the opinion that as most of the gunboats are elsewhere employed, the Secessionists in lower Maryland and Eastern Virginia are in constant communication with each other by this means.Important rebel news.
[special to the New York Herald.]
Nashville, July 30.
--A rebel mail from Chattanooga has been captured.
The letters contain valuable information.
Beauregard has resigned and gone to the Springs in Alabama.
Bragg is at Vicksburg with 20,000 men, but is scarce of horses.
An artillery company from Georgia could not be supplied with guns or horses, and parties are out stealing horses wherever they could be found.
The rebel letters seized were from Tupelo, Miss., fifty miles south of Corinth.
The writers anticipated an early occupation of Tennessee by the rebel troops, and every rebel warlike indication favors the supposition.
The rebels are reported to have evacuated Lebanon, with the intention to cross their troops at a given point for a sudden dash on Nashville.
All the clergy prisoners not sent hence to Louisville are on the way South.
The war in Arkansas.
Memphis, July 30.
--Passengers from Helena report that Jeff. Thompson was at Austin yesterday, with a body of men, an ammunition train, and two or three field pieces, endeavoring to find transportation across the Arkansas.
It was believed that he intended to stop and seize one of Gen. Curtis's transports, A cavalry force was sent up from Helena, but failed to find the rebels, who had fled in different directions in the interior.
