Movements of the Confederate Army
--
Serious Destruction of Railroad Property--The Southern army under
General Johnston, lately occupying
Harper's Ferry, is reported as being posted, 20,000 strong, in the vicinity of
Martinsburg and
Winchester.
Martinsburg itself has been occupied for several days past by
Brigadier General Jackson, with a force of about five thousand men, a goodly proportion of whom are cavalry.
On Friday and Saturday last a general destruction of the locomotives and cars belonging to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at and near
Martinsburg, was made.
Our reports state that over forty locomotives, of the largest and best description, with several old and less important ones, were almost entirely demolished, by heavy fires of wood and coal being built under them.
Some three hundred cars in all, including several passenger cars, and about one hundred wooded box and platform cars, (which might have been adapted for the carriage of troops,) were burned up completely, while the round iron coal cars — some two hundred in number — were emptied of their contents, and a portion of them run down the neighboring embankments, or into the bed of the streams whose bridges were previously destroyed.
Our informants state that the immediate reason of this wholesale destrustion was a hand-bill, (since discovered to be a forgery, having been entirely without their authority or knowledge, yet purporting to be issued by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, and said to have been posted at
Harper's Ferry and other places in
Virginia,) to the effect that the company wanted two thousand men at once, at two dollars a day, in order to restore the bridges and put the road in order for the use of the
Federal Government.
This movement is believed to have been a ruse by interests hostile to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company to deceive the
Southern authorities, so as to lead to the destruction of its property.
General Johnston,
Commander-in-Chief, believing that such a repair and use would seriously operate against his cause, is said to have given the order to
General Jackson for this additional damage to the road, thus putting it on the ground of a military necessity.--There are many rumors in circulation with regard to this affair, but we believe the foregoing to be its true phase.
Our information satisfies us that it is the intention of the
Southern authorities to spare no effort to prevent the road from being worked for the use of the
Government in any part of the
State where they can maintain sufficient force to defeat it. It is stated that the passage of the
Potomac river by
General Cadwallarer and his command, subsequently followed by his retreat across the same, were among the causes which induced this action by the Confederate army.
It is further stated that the vacillation of the movements of the
Federal forces for so long a period after the evacuation of
Harper's Ferry by the
Confederates, led to their return to its vicinity, and also to the re-occupation of
Martinsburg.--
Baltimore Sun, 25th. 
