Today in History:

572 Series I Volume XLIX-I Serial 103 - Mobile Bay Campaign Part I

Page 572 KY., S. W. VA., TENN., N. & C. GA., MISS., ALA., & W. FLA.

ernment, has removed from that yard large quantities of naval stores to Albany, Ga., to a plantation of a Mr. MoriNumbers I requested Bvt. Major General J. H. Wilson for orders to have this valuable Government property retaken and sent down the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers, and you are desired to ship it as soon as it arrives to Barrancas for transfer to the proper naval authorities.

21. All the light-house machinery belonging to this post, with several buoys, were taken by the rebels from here to Chattahoochee, 150 miles up the river. I requested Brevet Major-General Wilson to have them also sent down to this post, and you are designed to see that the light-house machinery and the buoys are restored to their original places, requesting the friendly co-operation of the respective naval authorities.

22. Obstructions are reported in the river about fifty miles from here. You will send a proper officer to have these obstructions removed for the safety of river navigation.

23. Having received information that there are more light-draft steamers on the Chattahoochee River than required between New Eufaula and Columbus, I requested Brevet Major-General Wilson to send one for Government use in the District of West Florida. Should such steamer arrive, you will forward it to Barrancas without delay.

24. Captain Budd, U. S. Navy, commanding steamer Florida, recommends Doctor Chapman and Mr. Patrifdge as the two most reliable Union men in this place. On any information of theirs you can rely. John G. Roen, Porter Orman, and C. H. Polman, are reported violent rebels. The names of the villains who murdered in cold blood the two Union men, Marr and Smith, are Charles Marks, William Austin, John Gordon, and Lieutenant Pace, who was in command of the party and is living now in Calhoun County. Doctor Chapman and Mr. J. S. May can give you full particulars; also the family of the murdered Marr, which took refuge at the light-house on Saint George.

25. U. S. Army officers in command in your vicinity are as follows: Bvt. Major General J. H. Wilson, commanding U. S. forces at Macon, Ga.; Brigadier-General McCook, commanding post Tallahassee; Major Dartt, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, commanding post New Eufaula, the terminus of the Macon Railroad, on the Chattahooche River, and Captain Lamson, Seventeenth Indiana Volunteers, commanding post Columbus, Ga. The U. S. Navy officers belonging to East Gulf Blockading Squadron connected with your command are as follows: Commander Ransom, U. S. steamer Muscoota, superintending the blockade; Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Rogers, commanding U. S. steamer Somerset; Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Baxter, commanding U. S. steamer Fort Henry, and Lieutenant-Commander Madigan, commanding U. S. steamer Woodna.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. ASBOTH,

Brigadier-General, Commanding District of West Florida.

JUNE 9, 1865- Explosion of ordnance building at Chattanooga, Tenn.

Report of Bvt. Brigadier General Charles H. Grosvenor, Eighteenth Ohio Infantry.

CHATTANOOGA, June 9, 1865.

A disastrous explosion took place here to day at about 1.30 p. m. The old brick ordnance building blew up by fire from a locomotive on


Page 572 KY., S. W. VA., TENN., N. & C. GA., MISS., ALA., & W. FLA.