LATER AMERICAN NEWS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XII, Issue 611, 16 April 1864, Page 1 (Supplement)

LATER AMERICAN NEWS.

By the 'Mary and Edith, 1 which anived yesterday from San Francisco, we (Daily Southern Cross have Californian papers to the 11th February, giving three weeks' later news from the seat of war. | We make the following extracts from the Califori nian papers: — Head-Quarters, Army of the Potomac. Feb. 2.— lntercepted letters from rebel ladies show that of the three thousand cavalry sent into the valley during the recent cold weather, not over five hundred have returned. Many were frozen to d.eath, and many of the others who had beeu frost- [ bitten, sought refuge in farmhouses and villages. The entire movement was a total failure. I New York,' February 4,— We learn from South Carolina that at Columbus a disastrous fire on Tuesday destroyed three millions worth of cotton, a large portion of which belonged to the Govern--ment and Messrs. Gibbs & Co. It is understood 'there were only six hundred and fifty thousand dollars insurance. , A large number of refugees are entering our lines, in order to escape conscription. They state that the night after the passage of the act conscripting all persons liable to military duty, ninety refugees were caught by the rebel pickets along the Chickahominy. Hartford, Conn., Feb. s.— Colt's pistol factory is in flames. The loss will be immense. Several lives were lost by the falling in of one of the buildings of the factory. The loss, it is believed, will exceed half a million of dollars. The factory was insured for 250,000 dollars. The new building in which the minie rifles are made was saved ; but the original building, with all the machinery, &c.,- is destroyed. Halt' the workmen employed are thrown out of work. New York, Feb. 6.— The Tims letter from Chattanooga says that deserters are pouring into our lines by hundreds, and an open mutiny is feared by the rebel leaders, in consequence of the late conscription. The gunboat Flambeau, from Charleston on the Ist, reports that Gilmore keeps, up a regular fire of the city, averaging three shells every live minutes. The rebels have mounted five guns on Su inter. Gilmore keeps a good surveillance of it, aud the garrison is enabled to do but little harm. The attempt to raise the Weehawken will probably prove a failure. Charleston does not yet show many marks of our fire. Charleston, Jan. 30. — The bombardment of Sumter ceased after dark last night. Of one hundred and fifty shells thrown one hundred and twenty nine struck. It was renewed this morning with eight two hundred pounder Parrotts. The firing continued all day, and was mostly directed against the western wall. Only three persons having been wounded since this bombardment commenced. 31st. —The enemy's bombardment of Sumter keeps up all day, and closes at night. New York, February 9. — Times' despatch saj;s it has been ascertained that the main body of Lee's army is between Gordonsville and Orange Courthose. Citizens residing within the enemy's lines say that Lee expects to have forty-five thousand conscripts added to his army by new levy, raising it to eighty oi ninety thousand men. Washington, Feb. 9.— Accounts from the South state that the rebel armies embrace, to day, more men than at any moment since the commencement of the war, the conscription having beeu ruthlessly enforced. Before spring the military authorities here believe much of the advantage gained the last twelve months must inevitably be lost by evacuation of territories which we have not sufficient troops to garrison. An officer just in from Grant's headquarters, says that all through the country to the rear of the Union lines, Union officers in uniform can ride unmolested to nnd portion of Mississippi. Richmond papers publish as follows from Charleston Feb. 5 :— ' Eighty shots were fired at the city to-day. The Monitors fired 10 and 12 inch shells." Geiu Grant telegraphs the expedition sent against Thomas and his band of whites and Indians, at Quallowtown, was completely successful. They surprised (he town, killed and wounded two hundred and fifteen, captured fifty prisoners, and dispersed the remainder of the gang to the mountains. Editor Bulletin.— Santiago has just had one of the most frightful calamities befall the community that was ever heard of in the known world, and sines its occurrence nothing else is thought of or talked of. On the night of the Bth, (the day of "La Pur. isima Conception de Nuestra Senora,") the cathedral in which the great function took place having a great many thousand lights, many of which were of the liquid fluid that is so very dangerous, the altar took fire just as the ceremony was about to commence, and over 2,000 persons— mostly ladies, and of the best people here — were burnt up. Perhaps 2,500 is nearer the real number, as they have counted up to 2,200, and still more names are ascertained as being lost 1