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NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1864.
SINGLE COPIES TEN CENTS.
$ 4.00 PER YEAR
IN ADVANCE.
Entered according to
Act of Congress, in
the Year 1864, by Harper & Brothers, in the Clerk's Office
of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
EXCHANGE OF
PRISONERS.
IN accordance with a
special arrangement recently
brought about for the mutual
exchange of all the sick and
invalid
prisoners on either side;
Colonel MULFORD, with fifteen
transports laden with rebel prisoners, arrived at
Fort Pulaski November 11. The
number of rebel prisoners conveyed
South in this first installment was 3200.—The transfer of these prisoners took
place in the Savannah River, between
Savannah and Fort Pulaski. The day after his arrival Capt.
HATCH, the Confederate Commissioner, accompanied by the Richmond
Ambulance Committee and a number of surgeons, left Savannah in the early
morning, taking with him four transports, viz., the
Beauregard, General
Lee, Swan, and Ida— The convalescents, numbering 2000, were first removed
from our transports. Three hundred of the prisoners were very sick, and had
suffered greatly on the voyage.
Our prisoners subject to exchange under this arrangement were to be
delivered on the 15th. The whole
number to be exchanged is ten thousand, but there will be considerable
delay in effecting the transfer, on account of the deficiency of the rebel means
of transportation both by land and water. The rest of the rebel prisoners will
be delivered at
City Point, on the
James River, this measure having been adopted
for the comfort of those who are so ill that the voyage by sea might prove
fatal.
In regard to the exchange the
Times correspondent says :
"The particularly striking feature of the scene, to my eye, was the
grotesque appearance of the rebel steamers, especially the
Swan and the
General Lee. Both
vessels are great slab-sided, flat-bottomed affairs, like unsightly houses
washed from their foundations, having three rudders to
guide them, on account of their lightness of draught.
A spectator at a distance, without being blessed with a lively imagination,
might have supposed these queer specimens of naval architecture to he floating
hearses, the illusion being fostered by the funeral - like plumes of Cimmerian
smoke which waved from their slender chimneys. But the crowds inside showed
uproarious life, instead of death. A merrier set of invalids were never got
together than those freed rebels who were crammed on board the steamers, and
fringed the low guards of the vessels
with dangling legs, almost dipping into the water through the hilarious
carelessness of their owners. They went off up the river, yelling their peculiar
mule-like cry which passes for a cheer, with their ill-omened flag waving over
them, leaving the proud banner of freedom behind, the love of which, for a time,
at least, they have madly rejected."
Little more than a week previous to
MULFORD's
arrival at
Savannah the
Island City had gone to that point to make the preliminary arrangements,
and had delivered nearly 350 boxes for our prisoners, together with clothing and
blankets to the value of $26,000. This was in accordance with the arrangements
entered into by
General GRANT and
General LEE ,
for the benefit both of Federal and Confederate prisoners.
MARTINSBURG.
MARTINSBURG,
Virginia,
of which town we give
sketches on page 781. is
the capital of Berkley
County, and is situated on
the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad. In 1850 this
town had a population of
over 2000 souls. Its situation
has rendered it
a peculiarly undesirable
place of residence, and
especially so during the
last few months, when its
streets have been tram-pled
now by the rough
riders of the Confederate
cavalry, and then again
by the Federal troops of SHERIDAN'S
army. Before
EARLY'S
advance in
the summer Martinsburg
was all important military
depot. It is at present
the depot of General
SHERIDAN'S
army, and
is under the military
governorship of Brigadier - General SEWARD,
son of the
Secretary of
State.
The principal sketch is a view of the square at
the junction of King and Queen streets, the building
with the tower being the Court-house, now used
Is the provost marshal's
office. Opposite to it is a house belonging to Colonel HOGE, of the rebel army,
occupied as head-quarters by General SEWARD.
Every street is barricaded, so that the place is quite an incipient fortress,
and secure against
MOSBY's
and
IMBODEN'S
attacks. The ruins of the depot
buildings, and of houses burned in former at-tacks upon the town, give
the usual air of desolation seen in border towns.
Martinsburg is several miles in the rear of
General
SHERIDAN'S
army, and is situated about twenty miles northwest of
Harper's Ferry.
THE
REBEL FLAG OF TRUCE BOAT " BEAUREGARD," WITH SAVANNAH IN THE
DISTANCE.—[SKETCHED BY WILLIAM WAUD.]
Swan. Fort Pulaski. Beauregard. Ida.
Livingstone. Geo. Leary. General
Lee.
THE
REBEL FLAG
OF TRUCE
BOATS
COMING
DOWN THE
SAVANNAH RIVER
TO
MEET THE
FEDERAL
TRANSPORTS.
[SKETCHED BY WILLIAM WAUD.]
We acquired this leaf for the purpose of digitally
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to acquire the original 140+ year old Harper's Weekly leaf we used to
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