erate notes for one in
gold! That is bad, and it may be worse.

The enemy are advancing from Corinth, and there are not sufficient
troops to resist them. Gen. Johnston says if men are taken from Bragg,
his army may be destroyed; and none can be ordered from Mobile, where
there are only 2500 for land defense.

MARCH 20TH.--The snow is eight inches deep this morning, and it is still
falling fast.

Not a beggar is yet to be seen in this city of 100,000 inhabitants!

Hood's division, mostly Texans, whose march to the Rappahannock was
countermanded when it was ascertained that the enemy had been beaten
back across the river, were all the morning defiling through Main
Street, in high spirits, and merrily snowballing each other. And these
men slept last night out in the snow without tents! Can such soldiers be
vanquished?

Yesterday Floyd's division of State troops were turned over to the
Confederacy--only about 200!

We have no further particulars of the fight on the Rappahannock; we
know, however, that the enemy were beaten, and that this snow-storm must
prevent further operations for many days. Several Eastern Shore
families, I learn, are about to return to their homes. This is no place
for women and children, who have homes elsewhere. We are all on
quarter-rations of meat, and but few can afford to buy clothing at the
present prices.

MARCH 21ST.--The snow is nearly a foot deep this morning, as it
continued to fall all night, and is falling still. It grows warmer,
however.

But we now learn that the Indianola _was_ destroyed in the Mississippi
by the officers, upon the appearance of a simulated gun-boat sent down,
without a crew! This was disgraceful, and some one should answer for it.

Col. Godwin writes from King and Queen County, that many of the people
there are deserting to the enemy, leaving their stock, provisions,
grain, etc., and he asks permission to seize their abandoned property
for the use of the government. Mr. Secretary Seddon demands more
specific information before that step be taken. He intimates that they
may have withdrawn to avoid conscription.

MARCH 22D.--It was thawing all night, and there is a heavy fog this
morning. The snow will disappear in a few days.

A very large number of slaves, said to be nearly 40,000, have been
collected by the enemy on the Peninsula and at adjacent points, for the
purpose, it is supposed, of co-operating with Hooker's army in the next
attempt to capture R