The War news.
There were indications on the north side yesterday that the enemy were preparing for the attack which it is pretty generally agreed he is soon to make.
Yankee troops, reported by deserters to be
Sheridan's, were being massed on the lines between
Fort Harrison and
James river.
If
Butler's canal is completed, or anything near it, this will be one of the points of assault; but if, as we believe, the canal will not for months, if ever, be in a condition to admit the passage of the
Yankee fleet,
Grant must repeat his attempts on our flanks.
We have previously given it as our opinion, that in his next effort he will throw his weight upon our left, on the north side.
Our chief reason for this opinion is founded on his signal failure on our right, south of
Petersburg, on the 27th ultimo.
In that advance he discovered he could not hope to turn our right except by making a detour of fifteen or twenty miles. If he is prepared to make this march on speculation, he may renew his effort on this wing; but not otherwise.
Of results on our left, never having tried it except with the Eighteenth corps, he may be more sanguine.
If it be true he has drawn
Sheridan's mounted, infantry to him, we may expect here a repetition of some of those flank movements that they practised with considerable success in the
Valley.
Sheridan's men will here, however, encounter an army of veterans, who have grown old in meeting and defeating flank movements; who, indeed, have done little else since
Grant crossed the
Rapidan last May.
The lines south of
James river and between the Howlett battery and the
Appomattox, in front of
Bermuda Hundred, was on Thursday night the scene of a successful raid upon the
Yankee picket line, which was as handsome an affair as has occurred since
Mahone swept the
Yankee pickets in front of him a month ago. About ten o'clock,
General Pickett made a sudden sally out of our works, and, taking the
Yankees entirely by surprise, killed or captured their entire picket line.
The number of prisoners taken was one hundred and seventy-five, including a colonel.
We lost only one man.
General Pickett established himself on the new line he had taken, fully prepared to resist the attack he expected the enemy would make to recover their lost ground; but at eleven o'clock yesterday morning we still held undisturbed possession of the advanced position.
Nothing of importance occurred at
Petersburg yesterday.
Last Wednesday the enemy made a demonstration on
General Butler's lines, but were easily driven back.
During Wednesday and Thursday a brisk fire of artillery and musketry was kept up on the lines south and southeast of the town, but it amounted to nothing more than picket practice.
We have nothing from
Georgia in addition to the reports stated yesterday morning.
We have no doubt that
Sherman, with an army of at least thirty thousand men, has moved south from
Atlanta, with the design of attacking
Macon.--If the Georgians are true to themselves, they, not being prepared to undertake a protracted siege, must hurry past the city to open communication with some new base of supplies.
The country cannot support him, and it is impossible he should carry more than ten or fifteen days supplies.
During the Revolution,
Burgoyne, meeting with an unexpected check and delay in attempting a movement very similar to
Sherman's, lost himself and his army — a consummation which, more than any other one thing, led to the recognition by
Great Britain of the independence of the Colonies.
From the Valley.
The military
status in the
Valley has assumed altogether a new phase.
The
Yankees have assumed the defensive and fallen back to the line of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and drawn in their lines everywhere in that vicinity.
Those Vandals who remain are said to be the veriest thieves and robbers alive.
They mask their faces, force their way into the houses of citizens, and, without respect to the female inmates, plunder the rooms, trunks, and possess themselves of everything valuable.
The people are in continual terror, as they have no protection and no redress.
On the 10th instant, it is reported, ten of
Kinchelo's partisan rangers attacked a squad of fourteen scouts, belonging to the Fourteenth Illinois cavalry, killing three, wounding ten, and capturing several horses, without the loss of a single man.
