The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-07 00:00:00

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" The heat is intense this efts qug.,.- —**A..,.."'
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soldiers, and horses alike feel the Effect& tlaun hi
la
The movement of the army necessarily must be slow.
The 9th and 6th Corps have just arrived at Guin-
ney's. The men are taking a short rest, but will
move on during the day. At the beginning of the
campaign the movement, was rapid. General Grant
designed to get between Lee and the rebel capita!, --~
but it was not possible, and now the marching is
more deliberate. We shall probably bo cut off hem
communication with the outer world for a few days.
It is also prob Able that, at or near Hanover Junc-
tion, the enemy may again attempt to defeat this
army. If so, a great battle will be four ht during
the week."

and as yet there is no sign of
abatement of determination.

The New York Tribune correspondent with Gene-
ral Butler's command, writing from near City Point,
on the 20th, describes an unsuccessful attempt on the
part of the Federal troops to recapture rific-pit: :
There has' been a fi2roe end sanguinau struggle
to city to regain the rifle-pits, which the rebels
drove us out of yesterday, which so far boo been
unsuccessful, a thergh we have taken the right of
them, which is in the woods. At 9 o'clock the guns
from the rebel position opened on us. The 9th
Maine, with portions of the 4th New Hampshire,
55th Pennsylvania and 97th New York, Were oc-
cupying the rifle pits. The rebels charged and
were met firmly, but the 9th Maine broke and
Led, thus permitting the rebels to flank, and com-
pelling us to retire. Two officers of the 9th Maine
were summarily dismissed from the service by Ge-
neral Butler for retiring their men. The rebels
pursued impetuously, but our guns drove them
back to their newly acquired pits. Shortly after-
wards the 13th Indiana mrde an imprudent charge
on the pits and were repulsed. During this charge
we took Major-General Walker, of South Carolina,
a prisoner. He had his foot torn by a shell, and
says his troops ran off and left him. Soon after
the 97th Pennsylvania charged with no better
success. At four o'clock word Came that Howell's
brigade occupied the right of the rifle-pits. Onr
losses cannot now be estimated. In infantry
they are heavy and probably exceed that of the
enemy. Some shells of the 3d Artillery failed to
explode. On examination they wore found to be
filled with plaster.

"May 21.
"Later.—There was some firing to-day ; other.
wise all was quiet. It is estimated that there are
25,000 rebel troops in our front, The loss of tho
97th Pennsylvania yesterday was 170, and of the
13th Indiana, 60."
The New York World's Bermuda Hundred de-
spatch, dated the 22d, says :
" Light skirmishing is going on. The attack of
the enemy last night was repulsed with' great
slaughter. The picket lines are within 100 yards
of each other. Few prisoners were taken by either
army. Beauregard was in command and Jeff Davis
was on the field. The works have been materially
strengthened by General Weitzel."
The New York Herald's letter from General
Butler's headquarters, dated the 22d, narrates the
repulse of an attempted surprise, in which the Con-
federates were baffled

"Shortly before midnight, after nearly every one,
worn out with the fatigues of a hard day's work,
had gone to rest, a volley of musketry; resembling
the distant rumbling of an earthquake, startled all
hands, and before the echo died away the heavy
booming of canon took its place, and continued for
fully thirty minutes. Some time before 10 o'clock
General Butler received a message from the front
that the enemy were massing on our centre, and ho
in his cool manner replied, Let them mass, but
guard against surprise.' This message somewhat
prepared us for what was to come, and also keep
our valiant troops thus menaced on the alert. Sure
enough, as was expected from the enemy, he did
mass his forces for one grand :assault to pierce our
line, and had we not discovered his in•
tendon the attempt would probably have
succeeded. As it was it resulted in a
most disastrous defeat to the foe. Oar
pickets in front of General ,Vthe's line re-
ceived the rebel fire with great stetdiness and never
flinched. They returned volley for volley, and
gradually retired in the reserve. When the rebel
column approached it was received with a most
witherihg fire, and our men dropped to allow the
artillery to play on the enemy. The Cit gO guns and
light batteries then commenced their v,ork. The
advance of the rebels was mowed down Eke s-;$
but, as usual, they came up to the breach like vete-
rans, filling up the gaps as the men fell. Another
and another murderous fire from our batteries at
last checked them, end the confident foe at last
halted in his mad career. Captain Langley's bat-
tery, the Ist United States' Artillery, played on the
rebel force with great effect. About 20 minutes
after the fight had commenced a 20• pounder Par,
rout shell struck and exploded a rebel caisson, scat-
tering death and destruction all around. At this
sight the most deafening cheers went up from our
lines, to the discomfiture of the rebels. The gun-
boats on the James and Appomattox rivers also
opened their batteries and shelled the woods around,
making them decidedly uncomfortable for the rebel
reserves. At last, when the enemy found that we
were well prepared for his advance, and having
already lost very heavily, he thought it hest to with-
draw, which he did, after giving our mettle a fair
and impartial test. The fight lasted about 35
minutes, and as soon as it was over our men proceeded
to bury the rebel killed on the field. I learn from
good authority that 263 were interred by our forces.
Oar loss will not be more than 10 killed and about
59 wounded, as we had all the advantage on our
side, constantly on the defensive, and the enemy
marching boldly up to our entrenchments. Our
defences are almost impregnable. Should Lee's
entire rebel horde pounce on General Butler the lat-
ter could still hold his own. The fleet in James and
Appomattox rivers is a great auxiliary to our army.
The sortie of the enemy on our lines last night is by
no means the first instance of the kind made by the
wily rebel General Beauregard. It is his style of
doing business ; but it has never as yet succeeded.
Thus far, in every engagement he has fought with
our troops he hasbeen worsted and will be again. The
pleasant weather of four or five days has worked
wonders in the state of the roads. A few more
days without rain will dry up the mud completely.
Yesterday forenoon the rebels made a movement on
Fort Powhattan, to attack and capture, if possible,
some coloured troops stationed there for its defence,
and also to keep the enemy from obstructing our
navigation of the James River. Colonel Baxter,
in command, notified Brigadier-General Hinks of
the rebel approach and asked for reinforcements.
General Hinks, commanding the first division of
coloured troops, at once despatched two regiments
night.
i
to the relief of Fort Powhattan, and arrived there
the
Hinks telegraphed in due time to particiiipaotevock last engagement,gh
General which
in
ensued at half-past
to General Butler that the rebels
were badly repulsed at Fort Powhattan, but stated
no particulars.
The rebel General Wm. S. Walker,
whose capture by cur troops on the 19th inst. has
hospital for medical treatment. His
been already stated, was yesterday removed to the
generalee douns are severe, but with great care he may ree
visper s nd
iv:
eacst
ifound i thera t
o rn
make following
ke amoor
move.
ee.:
from e r.
On
Generalhis
Hoke,
merit on Newbern at the beginning of this month,
co
promising the assistance of the rebel ram Albemarle.

" ' May 3,
G, eneral,-1 have jast learnt from Captain
Cooke,
commanding the ironclad Albemarle, who
writes that he feels satisfied that the boat can stand
the Sand and will be with us. I will move at 6
o'clock to-morrow morning, and will. communicate
with you at Pollocksville, on the river bzuk, as soon
as I reach that point. I desire you to move at 6
o'clock to-morrow morning, and proceed to Polio( ks-
ville, and /voile your column is resting there you
will construct a bridge over Mill Creek. You will
have two miles less to march than my column in
going to Pollucksville.—Respectfully yoars,
" R. T. HOKE, Major-General.
" General Walker, commanding troops.'"
" This, with many other valuable documents
giving important information not calculated for
Yankee soldiers to know, tell into the hands of
General Butler by the capture of General Walker.°