The armies below Richmond.
The quiet of yesterday was unbroken by even a roamer from the armies on
James River.
Active hostilities seem to have been suspended, at least for the present, yet the large bodies of troops confronting each other are by no means idle.
With regard to the movements and disposition of our forced we receive an occasional report, to which publicity need not be given, for reasons of a presidential nature.
Although two days age a battle appeared imminent, the indications now are that the event will be postponed for a period, since
McClellan is so situated that he can make no offensive demonstration with his army on land, and if and attack were to be made by the
Confederates it would not be without due preparation such preparation indeed as would ensure complete success.
The excitement consequent upon the recent confects has subsided, and our inhabitants, assured of of the
Capital, patiently await the next of the seen which opens another phase in dreams of blood.
From the tone of the journals, which have at length come to the late ‘"grand strategic movement"’ in the of a disaster, it appears that the present policy of
McClellan is to act upon the defensive — a policy forced upon him doubtless by the nature of his situation.
The check put upon the gunboat operations by our batteries at Drury's Bluff is a source of much annoyance to the
Federal leaders; but whether another attempt at their reduction will shortly be made, or delayed until the ‘"Army of the
Potomac"’ is reinforced and reorganized on the
James, is purely a matter of conjecture.
It may be safely assumed, however, that any movement towards
Richmond will be closely watched and promptly checkmated.
We have later information of a reliable nature that
McClellan and his staff have been ordered in report to the
Secretary of War at
Washington.
The career of the ‘"young
Napoleon"’ has come to an inglorious end.
Fires in the Yankee Camp.
The
Yankees are burning something or other at a great rate.
Huge fires were seen in their camp yesterday and the day before, in the middle of a green clover field.
As
McClellan is not likely to set the river on fire very shortly, it is supposed they must be burning wagons, tents, and stores.
What this indicate?
Do they mean to cross over or drop down the river?
Still coming.
Sixty-seven additional Yankee prisoners of war were brought to
Richmond yesterday and deposited in a place of safety.
As yet we have seen no indication of the approach of the large body said to have been captured and on their way to this city by easy stages.
Since our last report the following offices have been brought in:
Capt. Wm. M. Fiske, company E. 4th New York;
Capt. G. W. Hines, company K. 96th Pennsylvania;
Capt. Robt. Maines, company I, 62d Pennsylvania;
1st Lieut. G. V. S. Robinson, company E. 36th New York,
2d Lieut. S. B. Krumbine, company B. 103d Pennsylvania;
2d Lieut. F. H. Murphy, company B. 67th New York;
2d Lieut. S. H. Bayley, and Quarter-master
Pennsylvania troops, and,
Edward Bentley, brigade
Surgeon, 3d brigade,
Porter's division.
Twelve citizens of
Pennsylvania, composing the ‘"
Pittsburg Sanitary Commission," ’ a self-constituted committee to wait on the
Yankee wounded, and witness
McClellan's triumphal entry into the rebel capital, were, by order of the military authorities of the Department of Henrico; removed on Tuesday evening from their comfortable quarters at
Savage's farm, and brought to this city and lodged in
Libby's warehouse as prisoners of war. They gave the following names:
R. R. Bounot Jeans Brown,
F. Bryant,
W. H. Smith,
John Beltzhooves,
Oliver L. Miller,
J. W. Whiteman,
W. E. Goeling,
Thos. G. Smyth,
John Harney,
Thos. McCanes, and
L. Hart.
Accompanying the above was a committee of one named
M. E. N. Howell, of
Michigan, who was at
Savage's on a similar errand as his
Pittsburg brothers.
In connection with the subject of Yankee prisoners, we may mention that eight
Pennsylvania soldiers, including a Lieutenant, were brought to the
C. S. Prison in this city, yesterday, by two
Virginia youths.
The prisoners, on Tuesday, were on a plundering expedition in
King and Queen county, and the citizens gathering for self-protection, the marauders were attacked just as they were in the act of accomplishing the destruction of several ferry boats.
The attack was not participated in but by three or four citizens, besides the two boys named above.
Two of the vandals were made to hate the dust.
The Yankee Lieutenant showed fight, and encouraged his followers until, being badly wounded himself, the whole party surrendered.
"Contrabands."
Documents found upon the recent battle-fields prove beyond question the complicity of the
Lincoln administration in the wholesale system of negro steading that has been practised upon the people of the
South.
A small pocket diary before us then from a Yankee soldier who was slain in one of the battles, gives an account of daily arrivals of encamp at
Aquia Creek, where they were kept waiting for transportation.
On Sunday morning, the 4th of May, he notices the departure of a cargo of ‘"contraband"’ women for
Washington, and at 4 P. M. of the same day, he says: ‘"Contrabands still coming in large numbers."’ This negro-stealing has been kept up since he first entrance of the
Yankee army into
Virginia, and with the immediate sanction of the
Seward Government.
How can honest men tolerate association with such unscrupulous robbers?
Furloughs.
A considerable number of soldiers, wounded in the recent battles, who are able to endure the of a journey, have received furloughs and are repairing to their respective homes.
By the adoption of this system, the hospitals will be to some extent thinned out, and the chances of a speedy recovery increased.
It was remarked two or three days ago that the ‘"circumlocution"’ regained to procure a furlough and transportation ticket was sufficient to discourage a soldier; but now, in accordance with a request of the
Inspector of Hospitals, the
Surgeons' certificates are sent to him by private hand, and the necessary documents promptly returned in the same manner, thus relieving the wounded men of much trouble and vexation.
Yankees attacked by farmers.
We learn that six Yankee troopers appeared at Walkerton Ferry, in
King William county, on Tuesday, and after awaiting to assure themselves of the absence of any armed Confederates, proceeded to take the various liberties common to such persons when no hindrance is interposed.
As soon as their presence became known, the patriotic farmers in the vicinity assembled with their shot guns and other weapons of defence and made an attack on the marauders, who, soon after receiving the visitation, decamped in great basic, leaving one of their comrades, who was too badly hurt to follow his fugacious companions.
The prisoner has been brought to this city.
"no mercy."
A Yankee letter, picked up on the battle field, says that the determination of ‘"the boys"’ in the engagement before
Richmond was ‘"to show the rebels no mercy" ’ and give no quarter.
The writer is particularly severe on the ‘"niggers,"’ who, he says, maltreated their wounded at
Williamsburg.
He says that not a negro will be spared if captured — the boys have sworn to ‘"annihilate"’ them.
Yankee deserters.
A muster roll of
Capt. Tim O'Meara's company in the New York Tammany regiment shows that out of 7th men enlisted in New York,
twenty-nine deserted before they had served six months.
The Federal are stationed at
Meadow Bluff, in
Greenbrier, to the number of 3,000.
Parties of 100 and 200 cavalry visit
Lewisburg weekly.
From the South-side.
The Petersburg
Express, of yesterday, says:
‘
Intelligence from below represents
McClellan's army unusually quiet yesterday, so far as could be ascertained from observations made on this side of the river.
The enemy's gunboats continue to pay up and down the
James, endeavoring to create the impression, doubtless, that they are intent upon something desperate, but they have been doing this ever since their signal repulse at Drury's Bluff.--Our forces have ascertained that they can shell the forests and marches which alternately line the banks of the river, but as number is abundant, and marks
grass not especially desirable, such demonstrations excite no other emotion than those of contempt.
’
We have what would be considered by most persons good grounds for believing that a fight is imminent.
We believe, too, that when it does take place the
South will have no cause to complain of the result.
But we do not intend to make public what has come to our knowledge, and any further comment or speculation at present is unnecessary, not to say indiscreet.
Some four or five additional prisoners were captured yesterday by our pickets near the river, brought up and lodged in jail.
These all repeat the statement of their predecessors in substance, and say that they are utterly disgusted with camp life, and will, under no conceivable circumstances, return to the army if released.
Another member of
Sickles's brigade was among the captives of yesterday.
He says this brigade has suffered indescribably.
The regiment to which he is attached left New York a few months since one thousand strong; now they number but seventy-six, all told.
An effort had been made by
Sickles to merge this fragment into some other regiment, but the bare mention of the matter created such intense dissatisfaction among the men, that
Dan Sickles was compelled to abandon his project.
The prisoners say that the river bank would swarm with deserters, but the officers now regard all their men with suspicion, and a vigilant watch is kept over all their movements.
The gunboats ply up and down the river for miles to prevent the passage of men across, and it is only under cover of darkness that any succeed in effecting their escape.
The prisoners report the losses of the
Federal in the recent engagements around
Richmond as terrific, and the hundreds of shockingly wounded who have been left by
McClellan to perish, or at the mercy of the
Confederates, has tended very greatly to demoralize the men remaining.
The prisoners state that
McClellan cannot again get such fighting out of his men as he has done recently.
