The Fourth of July has come and gone. While there were certainly celebrations in commemoration of the date eighty five years ago, it can not be said that the day was not changed by the current situation. The city of Richmond reflects on the nation’s anniversary with the following:
The day was observed in this city with all the wonted patriotic feeling which hailed it in former days, if anything, enlivened by the reflection that we are now engaged in a great struggle of a second Revolution for the maintenance of the principles of the Declaration of Independence of ’76. The morning and evening salutes were fired and the military paraded. There was not, however, the usual feasting. There is to time for that now.
There have been some interesting updates after the meeting of Congress yesterday. Asbury Dickens, the Secretary of the Senate, has resigned his office. It is unknown, at this point, whether this action was his choice or if Dickens was ousted. We suspect that it is the former, as he has been increasingly unable to attend to business in the office due to infirmities. Dickens has served as Secretary since 1836 and cultivated a reputation as being an able, faithful and upright public officer. There is no reason to believe that he would have been asked to resign his post, despite the seeming suddenness of the decision.
News is just reaching us regarding the destruction of the steamer Cataline. It has been a transport between Fortress Monroe and Newport News. General Butler and his family had just landed from a trip to Newport News, when the boat was set aflame. There is no hope of saving the vessel. It is a stroke of luck that the crew had time to escape.
The carrying of side arms in public is cause for alarm in the South. The dangerous privilege is extended to soldiers, but the public is requesting that authorities prohibit such carrying in, at least, the streets of the city. There have been too many accidental deaths and unfortunate brawls with fatal results. Less than two weeks ago, Mr. Joseph T. Hough, Clerk of the Court of Union County, N.C. died as a result of an allegedly accidental shooting by James Richards of the 24th. Saturday last, a man by the name of William O’Brien shot at John Reisback after becoming intoxicated. Missing Reisback with all three shots, O’Brien succeeded only in shooting a passing lady in the foot. Reisback responded by stabbing O’Brien twice, fatally wounding him.
Such tragedies must be prevented in the future. As one reporter states, “Let it never be said that a soldier of the Southern army has lost his life by an unhappy accident, or taken that of another in the heat of passions, provoked, possibly, by a hasty remark or undue excitement.”
In the News:
- The Philadelphia Inquirer details the accidents resulting from fireworks during the holidays.
- The Richmond Daily Dispatch reports on Confederate Treasury notes.
- The Press discusses the extra session of the thirty-seventh Congress.
- The Philadelphia Inquirer takes note of a slave trade conference.
- The Central Press conveys the latest updates from Washington City.
Commentary:
- The Richmond Daily Dispatch ponders if the North will sue for peace.
- The Pennsylvania Daily Telegraph discusses the intense quiet at Alexandria.
- The Press publishes an interesting narrative entitled, “A Day with the Indians.”
- The Philadelphia Inquirer prints correspondence from the Jersey Brigade.
- The Central Press talks about Independence Day in Bellefonte.
Arts and Culture:
- The Press discusses the grand military display in Baltimore yesterday.
- The Philadelphia Inquirer prints a poem, entitled “Independence Day.”
Military Notices:
- Quartermaster Gen’ls office: “All persons having Claims against this Department are hereby notified to present the same for settlement, on or before the 16th inst., to the officer contracting them, or to this office in duplicate, properly authenticated.”
Obituaries:
- Mrs. Tanguy de la Bossiere died Friday morning last at the residence of her nephew, at the age of ninety-nine.
- Sergeant Henry C. Hanes has met an untimely death through his duty of ascertaining the position of the pickets of the enemy.
- Owen McCarty, of Captain Jackson’s regiment, was murdered in Memphis on Sunday afternoon.
