The New York Times Reports Early News of Fort Macon's Surrender: A Question of Conditionality

From the May 3, 1862, New York Times "The Surrender of the Fort Macon Garrison."

"[???] The only accounts thus far received from Fort Macon trickle through rebel channels.  There is enough, however, to discredit the statement that the surrender was conditional.  When the rebel rag was hauled down, the Fort, we are told, was wholly [???] and its garrison at the mercy of our forces.

"There was not the slightest ground for negotiation on the part of the National commander.  It will require, therefore, something more than rebel authority to satisfy as the Gen [???] with the enemy entirely in his power, [???] so far from the fixed precedents of the war as to make terms with traitors.

"It will be only a day or two before our own accounts will be at hand, and we can afford to wait for the truth."

Rag?  Really?  --Old B-Runner