The War News.
Since the memorable battle at
Reams a station, on Thursday last, there has been no fighting on the lines in front of
Petersburg.
The enemy, however, commenced shelling the city heavily yesterday morning, and several houses were struck.
It is in this barbarous practice that
Grant finds solace for his grief over his late defeat; but the army that confronts him stands as firm as a rock, and
Petersburg is as defiant as ever.
In the enemy's several attempts to cut and hold the Weldon railroad he has lost not less than fifteen thousand men. Nine thousand prisoners have been taken, and his killed and wounded, at a low estimate, will reach six thousand.
Thus it will be seen, that while the holding of this line of communication is somewhat annoying to us, it is exceedingly expensive amusement to the enemy.
Again, in the early engagements before
Petersburg Grant lost ten thousand men, according to the admission of war journals at the
North.
At the explosion of the mine, we have the same authority for stating that he sustained a ther loss of five thousand, which, added to the above, makes his aggregate loss during the short siege of
Petersburg thirty thousand.
Nor does this include the loss in
Butler's department, or in the engagements on the north side of the
James river.
If the abolition journals of the
North, instead of publishing lying bulletins of the favorable progress of the siege, were to lay before their readers such undeniable facts as the foregoing, the people might well stand appalled, and they would soon be as clamorous for peace as they have ever been for pushing on the war.
The enemy's works at
Reams' captured by our troops on Thursday, were very strong, and constructed with much ingenuity and skill.
They were built of logs, fence rails and earth, extended on both sides of the railroad, and were protected on all sides, and as they thought, both in front and rear.
They are now in our possession, and the
Yankees have made no attempt to recapture them.
Among the prisoners captured on Thursday are about eighty commissioned officers, including the following:
Lieutenant-Colonel T. A. Walker,
Assistant Adjutant-General;
Major John W. Beattic, One Hundred and Sixty-fourth New York;
Major John W. Byron, Eighty-eighth New York;
Major John Byrne, One Hundred and Fifty fifth New York;
Major Frank Williamson, Fourth New York Heavy Artillery.
No officers of higher rank are among the number, though it was currently reported that a brigadier-general had fallen into our hands.
Another lot of Yankee prisoners, among them between sixty and seventy wounded, were brought to this city yesterday from
Petersburg.
One died on the passage.
The rumor that the enemy had landed in force at the
White House, on the
Pamunkey river, is without foundation.
There might have been a small party in the vicinity on Saturday morning, though this is doubtful.
An official dispatch, received on Sunday evening, states that there was no enemy there at that time.
The Northern Border.
We are still without later intelligence from
Early's command than that furnished by Northern papers of the 27th, and that is of a very unreliable nature.
There had been some skirmishing in the neighborhood of
Leetown, thirty miles west of
Harper's Ferry, in which, as we infer from the admissions of the enemy, the advantage remained with the
Confederates.
Although a report of a victory over the
Yankees is not confirmed, it is evident from the
Yankee accounts that something had taken place which the military authorities desired to suppress.
A dispatch, concerning operations on
Sheridan's line, sent from
Washington to
Baltimore, was smothered by the press censor in the last-named city.
It is not probable, however, that any general engagement has taken place; otherwise, the fact would have been communicated to the authorities here.
The position of affairs in Georgia.
The latest advices from
Georgia show that
Sherman's situation is becoming hourly more perilous.
No army, in the history of this war, has occupied so dangerous a position.
The hope of succor from the diversion made by
Smith has been blasted by the diversion made by
Forrest on
Memphis, which has sent
Smith at a double-quick back to that city, pursued and harassed by that portion of
Forrest's cavalry which was in his front.
The most important intelligence we can now look for must come from
Wheeler.
It is not so important that he should do so much damage to the roads in
Sherman's rear as it is that he should remain on them, giving them a tapping every day. Two weeks (if he can stay so long) will settle the question of the enemy's remaining on this side of the
Chattahoochee, and then the question as to whether his army will ever get home again becomes open to discussion.
Our scouts report that some portions of
Sherman's forces are already reduced to green corn for rations, and we know that the country from
Atlanta to
Dalton, on the
Georgia State road, has been devastated for four miles each side by the enemy gathering provisions.
As far as we can hear from
Wheeler he is doing his work well.
He has not wasted his men in assaults on the fortified bridges over the
Etowah and other streams between
Atlanta and
Dalton, but has thoroughly destroyed the road between these bridges, which he could do with impunity, as the
Yankees remain in their forts at the bridges from fright and allow him to tear up the road within a few hundred yards of them unmolested.
The road between the cities named has been pretty well used up, and now we hear of our forces destroying that between
Dalton and
Nashville.
So timid have the
Yankees in their forts been, that much of their cattle has been driven off almost from under their guns.
The possession of
Atlanta may now be said to be reduced to a cavalry fight about the lines of communication, and
Sherman so recognizes it. The recognition, however, comes a little too late.
The disaster to
Stoneman's raid deprived him of the best part of his cavalry, and now that the time has come for its use, he has only
Kilpatrick to rely on to catch
Wheeler.
This general was started out on that mission directly it was known that
Wheeler had left, but, finding pursuit useless, turned his attention to destroying the
West Point and
Macon lines of railroad running out from
Atlanta.
While at
Jonesboro', on the
Macon road, he fell into the hands of both Confederate infantry and cavalry, got thrashed, and made his way back to
Sherman after losing heavily.
Sherman will have now to prepare for recrossing the
Chattahoochee, and will no doubt accomplish it with little risk, as he has the ground between the river and
Atlanta closely covered with line after line of fortifications.
It is after he is across that the race commences.
Whilst there is no foundation for the report that
Sherman is retreating from
Atlanta, we have high authority for stating that on last Friday night he was engaged in changing the position of his army by the left and centre.
His lines are so drawn back that his left now rests on the railroad bridge over the
Chattahoochee.
There is no change, however, on his right, and he is apparently working his troops in that direction.
On the 26th, the date of the last advices, he had no troops nearer than four miles of
Atlanta.
Prisoners of War.
We understand that the number of Yankee prisoners at
Andersonville, Georgia, is at present over thirty-three thousand, and more are coming daily.
Notwithstanding the prison there has been enlarged, it is still too small to hold the captured
Yankees, and another is to be erected on the Georgia Central railroad, near
Milton.
The prison at
Andersonville measures five hundred and forty yards one way, and two hundred and sixty the other.--That near
Milton is to be four hundred and forty yards square.
It is stated that the
Yankees have a regularly-organized court within the prison limits at
Andersonville, and that not long ago, six of the number having been convicted of stealing, were hanged by their comrades.
