From the North.
The three months men enlisted by
Lincoln are returning, but only to be caught by the draft.
Three New York regiments returned there on the 3d inst. The following extraordinary dispatch appears in one of the
Northern papers of the 4th.
What ‘"mob"’ is meant does not appear:
Philadelphia. Sept. 3.--The dispatch telegraphed from here on Monday or Tuesday, that the New York
Tribune had been ordered to be closed, had no foundation.
The statement was made with no other purpose than to appease the mob.
The War in Virginia — desperate situation of the rebel army.
[From the New York Herald, Sept. 3.]
Our latest intelligence direct from the army of
General Pope is that he has advanced two miles from
Centreville towards the late battle ground, without any corresponding movement of the enemy.
He is ready for them; but they are evidently beginning to realize their desperate situation.
Their failure to follow up on Sunday morning their partial success of Saturday was a confession that their grand enterprise had failed.
Every day which has followed has been equal to the addition of twenty five thousand men to
General Pope's army, while it is altogether probable that
Lee's daily reinforcements have been less than twenty-five hundred; for between
Manassas and
Richmond, including that city, he had only a few thousand reserves at his command.
We dare say that
Gen. Pope fully comprehends his advantage in this respect, and that he is not disposed to lose his opportunity for a decisive reckoning.
The two armies will not remain very long confronting each other.
As a boss of operations,
Manassas has ceased to be tenable to a rebel army.
Last year it was in the midst of an extensive region, abounding in wheat, corn, rye, oats, beef, pork, and mutton, equal to the wants of a considerable army for a twelve month, but now all that vast region is exhausted, and for military purposes
Manassas Junction is in the midst of a desert.
Gen. Lee, with his great army, even it undisturbed, cannot remain there.
He must advance or fall back.
His direct advance has been arrested.
He must, therefore, endeavor to push across the
Upper Potomac for a raid among the granaries of
Maryland, or move back into the Shenandoah valley, or turn his face again towards
Richmond, or run the hazards of a demoralized army from starvation or a crushing defeat.
The encouraging information received at the War Department from
General Pope and
General Banks, ‘"which cannot now be made public,"’ we accept as signifying that the departure of
General Lee from
Manassas will, perhaps, be precipitated.
It has been reported that the rebels have some thousands of negroes engaged in the construction of fortifications at all the passes of the
Rappahannock, and that river is to be their next line of defence.
We dare say, however, that if decisively routed from their present position, as we expect they will be, the remnants of the rebel army from
Manassas, as in their first retreat, will push on as fast as possible to
Richmond.
Meantime the gunboats from
Com. Wilkes's squadron, which have been ordered up the
Potomac, will doubtless attend to any experiments that may be made by the rebels on the lower river to cross over into
Maryland or to interrupt the passage of our transports.
Let this suffice to quiet the nerves of such timid souls as may imagine that these gunboats are intended to shell the rebels out of
Washington, should they get in by the back door.
The gunboats could shell them out very effectively; but in the rear, as in the front,
Washington is secured by a line of formidable fortifications.
Better than all, however,
General Pope's army would now be equal to all emergencies, without a solitary fort in the front or rear of
Washington.
Under the disorganizing counsels of the Abolition brigade of Congress, headed by the Wilsons, Wades, Chandlers,
Sumners, and Lovejoys, we find the war in
Virginia in the first week of September, 1862, somewhat as it was this time a year ago. But the Administration has learned wisdom from experience, and the counsels of wiser men than our Abolition leaders now prevail.
The removal of
General McClellan's army from the
Richmond peninsula was a hazardous experiment; and but for the good management of that evacuation, and the skill and bravery of
General Pope and his noble army, it would, perhaps, have been a fatal experiment to the cause of the
Union.
We have escaped as by a miracle the danger which menaced our national capital; and now, with our new volunteers coming forward by thousands, the game is entirely in our own hands once more.
In the
West, as in the
East, the daring movements of the rebels towards the free States are exciting some alarm.
But, with the men and the means at our command to punish their insolence, there is no occasion for fear.
It is the last desperate struggle, the last trick of the rebel leaders to save their sinking cause.
An intelligent traveler, just in from the
Southwest, informs us that the rebel army has already absorbed the able-bodied men of the revolted States; that nothing but old men, women, and children are there to be found at home; that there is nothing left in those States with which to clothe the troops of the rebellion for a winter campaign, and that if, in the meantime, the rebels are defeated in a single decisive battle or any moment, the war is substantially at an end.
Let us, then, hurry forward our new troops, and begin the work before us, in the total expulsion of the rebel army from
Virginia.
A letter to the New York
Herald, from
Washington, says the death of
Gen. Kearney has ‘"struck all classes with sadness, for of all the officers engaged the death of none could be more deeply lamented."’ A letter to the Philadelphia
Inquirer gives a rather fuller account of his death than has been published.
It says:
‘
While the firing was in progress
Gen. Birney, who at the time was near to
Gen. Kearney, pointed out to him a position on their right flank from which
Gen. Stevens's division had retreated, thereby leaving a gap. As
Gen. Kearney had previously understood from
Gen. Reno (the latter himself so believing) that the gap left by the retreat of
Gen. Stevens had been filled, as well as believing it impossible that anybody could be driven from so strong a position he at once started off at a full gallop, unaccompanied by either aid or orderly, (they had been sent to other parts of the field with orders,) and rode into the gap.
This was the last seen of
General Kearney alive.
The first knowledge that they had in reference to him was a flag of truce sent by the rebels, and directed to
General Heintzelman.
It came into the camp the next morning, bearing the dead body of the loved but now lamented
Kearney.
It was placed at once under the charge of
Dr. Pancoast, the able Division
Surgeon, and by him taken to
Washington, where it is now being embalmed before being sent to his late home.
The missile which caused his death was a Minnie rifle ball, and was doubtless fire by some one of the enemy's sharpshooters, he being concealed at a point in some gully or rifle pit lower than the
General, as the shot entered his body just below the hip and came out through the left lung.
He probably did not survive long after being wounded.
’
A correspondent writing from
Cumberland Gap, on the 19th ult., says:
‘
We continue to have pretty good evidences of a heavy force in front, and at least a body of eight thousand men in our rear, in addition to the parties crowding into
Kentucky some distance west of our communications with
Lexington and
Cincinnati.--This evening we learn that all our wagons and supplies between here and
Barboursville are safe.--Large trains have just arrived.
The enemy may surround us and worry us at will, for at least thirty days with fifty thousand men, without doing us serious injury.
Our batteries, rifle pits, and sharp-shooters are in such a state of readiness and efficiency that all the army feel that they are ready for the conflict; and the opinion is next to universal that the rebels cannot bring an army against our
Gibraltar of sufficient strength to do us much injury.
We think they are after our food.
If the Buckeyes and Cornerackers bestir themselves they may wreath their brows with many honors by hastening in this direction.
A week's rapid marching and efficient fighting would cut off the retreat of the rebels in our rear, and forever extinguish their hopes of the blue grass region of
Kentucky.
In deed, the right way to protect the towns and cities of
Ohio and
Kentucky is to push an army through the latter State, and on to the line of railroad between
Memphis,
Knoxville, and
Richmond.
Until that is done, small armies in this region will always be a prey to guerrilla bands and bushwhackers.
General Morgan has never had an army here large enough to guard this point and his rear, when he should have had, in addition to that, troops sufficient to march on without hesitation to
Knoxville.
Two months ago this could and would have been done with less than half the force now requisite.
Delays are dangerous.
’
The Cincinnati
Enquirer thus explains the condition of affairs in
Kentucky and
Tennessee:
‘
The number of the enemy on the south side of
Cumberland Gap is computed to be 75,000, in command of
Generals Floyd and
Kirby Smith, while at
Chattanooga there is a reserve of 30,000, under
Gen. Bragg, to hold in check
Gen. Buell, who is marching up with his entire division to confront
Gen. Bragg, who is believed to be moving toward
Kentucky or for
Nashville.
Buell and his army passed through
Decherd, forty miles northwest of
Chattanooga, on Saturday, and on Monday was within ten miles of the enemy.
As communication with
Nashville is cut off by railroad and the river, and the troops around
Nashville are subsisting on half rations, the transportation of supplies to
Buell's forces will cause considerable anxiety, as hitherto they were forwarded via
Memphis.
The indications are that an immediate engagement will take place between
Buell and
Bragg, and the forces on the other side of the
Gap and
Gen. G. W. Morgan.
Scott's army, in front of the
Gap, is being reinforced; but
Gen. Wright, who is in
Frankfort, controlling in person all Federal movements, will undoubtedly, through
Gen. Nelson, drive
Scott out of the
State, and open up the road between
Lexington and the
Gap.
Many
days cannot elapse without a formidable retreat of the enemy from
Kentucky and
East Tennessee, or a terrible battle.
’
Confederate postage stamps captured.
The unloading of the prize steamer
Bermuda, now lying at
Philadelphia, is progressing.
Another discovery has been made by the prize commissioner superintending the unloading — that of 26 boxes, each about one foot square, banded with iron, and sealed on the edges.
Each box was marked ‘"P. O. D."’ This excited suspicion, and one of the boxes was opened and found to contain four tin cases; and these being opened, there came to light sheets of Confederate postage, stamps--five cents. The engraving is well executed.
The box contained $10,000 worth of the stamps, and if the others contain the same quantity, the whole value (to the
Confederates) will be $260,000. There have also been found coils of a submarine telegraph cable.
How Jackson got into Pope's rear — Strategy of the Confederate leaders.
The
Alexandria correspondent of the Philadelphia
Press vouches for the correctness of the following statements:
‘
Of course the principal topic is how
Jackson managed to get around the right wing of
General Pope's army, and make his raid upon
Manassas Junction, for the purpose of operating in the rear of
General Pope's army, while
General Lee made the attack on the front.
All the six days fighting of our army on the
Rappahannock is now known to have been merely a feint on the part of the rebels, and their supposed retreating towards
Sperryville via Little Washington was also intended for the same purpose.
Instead of the whole rebel army moving back,
General Lee carefully concealed his main force along the banks of the
Rappahannock, while he sent
Jackson to
Warrenton with 40,000 men, 5,000 of whom were cavalry, under
Colonel Lee, to march along the country between the
Blue Ridge and
Bull Run range of mountains.
Jackson concentrated his forces at
White Plains and
Salem, and sent his cavalry through to reconnoitre.
Soon he followed with his infantry, and coming through Thoroughfare Gap he made a forced march until he reached
Centreville.
From this place he was within striking distance of
General Pope's rear, and he improved it, no doubt thinking that he could annihilate the army of Virginia before it could have any succor from
Washington.--The cavalry dashes of
Col. Lee were thought by some to be too daring if he was not confident of having infantry to support him in case of an emergency, but so far as I could hear our officers did not share the same opinion.
The rebel cavalry, by their attack on our forces on Tuesday night, created such a panic among our troops that the rebel cavalry had it all their own way, and during the night they held high revel in our camp.
The battery of artillery they had captured they placed in a favorable position and drew their cavalry up in line of battle, so that it could be concealed from our forces.
Some of their guns were placed in a fort, and the others were planted so that if our forces should make an attack on their position they could concentrate a cross fire upon us. The best riflemen in the command were picked out and posted in the rifle pits, which are very numerous in that locality.
’
