ad enlisted without
the consent of his parents, and was only sixteen years of age.

J. R. Anderson & Co. (having drawn $500,000 recently on the contract)
have failed to furnish armor for the gun-boats--the excuse being that
iron could not be had for their rolling-mills. The President has ordered
the Secretaries of the Navy and War to consult on the propriety of
taking railroad iron, on certain tracks, for that purpose.

NOVEMBER 24TH.--Fredericksburg not shelled yet; but the women and
children are flying hither. The enemy fired on a train of women and
children yesterday, supposing the cars (baggage) were conveying military
stores. The Northern press says Burnside is determined to force his way,
directly from the Rappahannock to Richmond, by virtue of superior
numbers. The thing Lee desires him to attempt.

The enemy are landing troops at Newport News, and we shall soon hear of
gun-boats and transports in the James River. But no one is dismayed. We
have supped on horrors so long, that danger now is an accustomed
condiment. Blood will flow in torrents, and God will award the victory.

Another letter from Gen. Whiting says there is every reason to suppose
that Wilmington will be attacked immediately, and if reinforcements
(10,000) be not sent him, the place cannot be defended against a land
assault. Nor is this all: for if the city falls, with the present force
only to defend it, none of our men can escape. There is no repose for
us!

NOVEMBER 25TH.--Fredericksburg is not shelled yet; and, moreover, the
enemy have apologized for the firing at the train containing women and
children. Affairs remain in _statu quo_--the mayor and military
authorities agreeing that the town shall furnish neither aid nor comfort
to the Confederate army, and the Federals agreeing not to shell it--for
the present.

Gen. Corcoran, last year a prisoner in this city, has landed his Irish
brigade at Newport News. It is probable we shall be assailed from
several directions simultaneously.

_No beggars can be found in the streets of this city._ No cry of
distress is heard, although it prevails extensively. High officers of
the government have no fuel in their houses, and give nearly $20 per
cord for wood for cooking purposes. And yet there are millions of tons
of coal almost _under_ the very city!

NOVEMBER 26TH.--No fighting on the Rappahannock yet, that I hear of; and
it is said the enemy are moving farther down the river. Can they mean to