The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-17 00:00:00

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ICA.

LIVERPOOL, Saturday.
The royal mail steamship Persia, Captain E. G.
Lott, which sailed from New York on the sth inst.,
arrived off the port at an early hour this afternoon,
but owing to the low tide could not enter, but sent
up her papers by tender.
The New York Herald of the 4th gives the fol-
lowing account of the movements in Gen. Grant's
army :
" The despatches which we give this morning
cover the operations of Saturday and Sunday on
both sides of James River. On the left of General
Grant's lines the enemy made two attacks on Satur.
day—one on Ayre's division of the sth Corps,
which composes the extreme of the infantry in that
wing; and one on Gregg's cavalry, guarding the
flank of the infantry. Both assaults were hand-
somely repulsed, with considerable loss to the
assailants, though made by them with a great deal
of energy. On Sunday the rain storm prevented
movements to any extent. Oa Sunday evening
the army of the Potomac held all the ground it had
wrenched from the rebels in the recent sanguipary
engagements, and was strongly entrenched
,on its
new territory. In the army of the James, under
Butler, composed of the 10th and 18th Corps, there
was no fighting of consequence either on Saturday
or Sunday; but the men were busy strengthening
the position they have so fiercely wrenched from
the foe, within six miles of his doomed capital, and

so strong have they made these defences that their
dislodgment is rendered impossible. Not only this,
but on Saturday, not content with the proximity
of his lines to Richmond, General Birney, com-
manding the 10th Corps, sent out a reconnoitring
force, consisting of two brigades of infantry, a
brigade of cavalry, and a section of horse artillery,
which penetrated to within two miles of the city,
and drove the enemy into its inner defences. Though
these were found to be very strong, as they were
only garrisoned by raw militia and exempts hastily
scraped up in the streets, our men were perfectly
confident they could have marched into the city
without much difficulty. But as this part of the
programme is deferred yet a little while, after gain-

-
ihg much valuable information the gallant party

returned to their lines, having sustained a loss in
killed and wounded of only 30. During the pro-
gress of this reconnaissance the rebels made pre..
parations for an attack on the left of the 10th
Corps, but discovering this movement towards their
capital, and another further on the right, which
was made merely as a feint, they retired without
executing their design. About 500 of the rebels
were captured by our men in their unsuccess-
ful assault of Friday on the Tenth and
Eighteenth Corps. Prisoners and refugees repre-
sent that the greatest excitement prevails in Rich•
mond, and the people expect soon to see the Yankees
marching through the streets. Every one who
can by any means escape is leaving the city, and
fugitives from it are constantly pouring into our
lines at Bermuda Hundred."

The Herald of the stia gives the following as the
position of affairs at that date :
" The wildest rumours in regard to military ope-
rations were afloat in Washington yesterday, among
them being:one that General Butler had been killed.
The capital was thus kept in a state of great excite-
ment during the entire day, but when these alarm-
ing reports came to be investigated they were all
found to be without the slightest foundation in
fact. Our special despatches, published this morn,-
ing, from the armies in front of Petersburg and
Richmond, are very interesting. Oa Saturday our
lines on the extreme left, west of Petersburg,
were advanced three-quarters of a mile farther
than the position we hold after the gallant
capture of works from the enemy on Friday, and
at the date of the latest accounts our troops were
strongly entrenched close to the Southside Railroad,
that most important line of supplies to Lee, leading
from Lynchburg to Petersburg. On the same day
a reconnaissance was made by a division of the 2d
Corps as far as the Boynton Road, over which the
rebels waggon their supplies brought pp by the
Weldon Railroad around that portion of it held
by the Union army. A formidable line of works
was found there, and other valuable information
was gained, after which the reconnoitring force fell
back, with the loss of only a few wounded. On
Sunday our cavalry recaptured, as they were being
escorted South, 600 of our men belonging to the
9th Corps who had been taken by the rebels on
Friday, owing to a gap occurring between the sth
and 9th Corps when they were moving on the works
of the enemy, which they subsequently captured.
On the north side of the James River, on the ex-
treme right of General Grant's immeneely-extended
lines, the rebels on Sunday afternoon made a furious
attack on the pickets of the 10th Corps, with
the apparent design of executing a flank movement,
but they were entirely unsuccessful, being quickly
driven back with the loss of some of their number
niptnred. We have no accounts of the operations of
Monday or yesterday on either side of the James.
There is no later news from Gen. Sherman's head-
quarters, though the telegraph is working through
from Nashville uninterruptedly, as far towards the
front as Chattanooga. One of the city papers yes.
terday, in an editorial, reported Gen. Sherman
moving from Atlanta upon Hood, in position on the
Montgomery Railroad and about 20 miles distant.
This is probably a mistake. Gen. Sherman is engaged
in reorganising his army and restoring his commu-
nications with Nashville, Gen. Newton's division
of the 4th Army Corps lately moved north from
Atlanta, and in conjunction with the force under
Gen. Steadman, is now operating in Forrest's rear,
defending that part of the Memphis and Charles-
ton Railroad north of the Tennessee River.
General Rosseau, with such cavalry as he can cols
lect, is engaged in pushing upon Forrest from
Nashville, driving him into the net held open by
Newton and Steedman. General Rosseau has twice
offered Forrest battle ; but the wily rebel, who
comes not to fight but to destroy, has wisely de-
clined. Sherman vfiil hardly move before he has
reestablished his communications, which he will
probably have done before a great while, though the
guerillas are still making raids on the railroads in
his rear. On Monday night they captured two
freight trains of the Nashville and Louisville Rail-
road, and burned 19 of the cars, which, however,
contained no Government stores. General Gillem,
who it will be remembered a short time ago defeated
and killed John Morgan, is doing good work in
clearing out the prowling rebel bands in East Ten-
nessee. Ou Friday last, as he announces in a despatch
to General Scholefleld, he
,defeated the forces of
Gon. Vaughan at Carter's Station in Greene county,
East Tennessee, driving them out of a strongly-ino
trenched position which they held on both sides of
the river. The rebels retreated towards Zollieoffer.
General Gillem says he is determined to prevent the
resources of East Tennessee being used to support
the rebellion, A party of Forrest's men, who re.

cently demanded and were refused the surrender of
Athens, Alabama, after throwing some shells into
the town, retired. Another party of Forrest's men
appeared before Dalton, Georgia, the day before yes-
terday, and demanded its surrender. What followed,
the telegraph does not inform us."

The New York Times of the sth says :

"The latest intelligence from the army of the
Potomac reports no more fighting. A despatch,
dated Sunday evening, says—' The rebels fell back
this morning to their main line of works, which
runs from the lead works to the Southside Road, or
near it. The positions of the rebels is a very strong
One, and cannot easily be carried. A division
of the 2d Corps advanced to the Boynton Road,over
which the enemy waggon their supplies to Peters-
burg- Two lines of works were found unoccupied,
only a skirmish line opposing the advance, and
falling back an our troops went forward. Near
Boynton Road a very formidable line of works was
found, bahind which the rebels were posted in heavy
force. It was not deemed advisable to attack, and
our men fell back to occupy a safe position. They
lost a few wounded in the advance. Our loss on
Friday was greater than at first stated. The total
in killed, wounded, and missing will foot up not far
from 2,000, more than half of vs
v.-.oin were taken
prisoners. This occurred in consequence of a
gap
being left between part of the sth and 91,11 Corps
through which the enemy charged, and flankedthe
21 division of the 9th Corps."

Despatches state that on the 29th ult. General