The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-01 00:00:00

AMERICA.

(REUTER'S EXPRESS.)
(Per the Arabia.)
NEW YORK, Feb. 16.
The news from the army of the Potomac indicates
no immediate active operations. Oa the 14th a

portion of General Crawford's staff fell into a rebel
ambush near Brentsville, and Major Lorimer, chief
of the staff, was killed. General Meade is still in

Washington.
A portion of Gilmore's band of rebel guerillas at-
tacked a passenger-4Elin on the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad, near Cuthberland, on the 13th iust., and
robbed the passengers. Federal cavalry started in

pursuit.
General Early is still at Harrisonburg, Western
Virginia; a portion of his command is reported to
be at Woodstock. Occasional skirmishing takes

place between the Federal and rebel scouting
parties in that region. Jackson's rebel command,
having been recently supplied with fresh horses, is
expected soon to make a demonstration in the direc-

Lion of Harper's Ferry.
It is reported that large additions have lately
been made to the cavalry force in General Lee's
army. Deserters report that some of Lee's troops
have been sent recently to Longstreet, but their
statements are generally disbelieved.
There is no news of importance from Chattanooga
or Knoxville.

General Logan, with the 15th Army Corps,
started recently from Huntsville, Alabama. It is
understood that his force is intended, in conjunction
with the command of General Smith, which recently
moved from Memphis, to cut off the retreat of the
rebel forces, under Generals Polk and Forrest, from
Northern Mississippi. _ _

A Nashville despatch states that General Sher-
man's army, after an unimportant skirmish with
the rebels, occupied Jackson, Mississippi, on the 7th
inst. It was believed that the rebels, who had

fallen back over the Pearl River, were receiving
reinforcements from Dalton. The entire line'of the
Memphis and Charleston Railroad has been aban.

doned by the Federal®.
Various objects are assigned to General Sherman'a
expedition. A correspondent of the New York
• 7imes believes that its purpose is to flank the rebel
position at Dalton. The Memphis correspondent
of the World thinks that its operations will be
directed against Selina and Montgomery, Alabama,
and, finally, against Mobile, in conjunction with a
powerful naval force said to be concentrating at
Pensacola and Pascagoula, in the Gulf of Mexico.
The rebels at Mobile are reported to be receiving
heavy reinforcements, and making vigorous pre-
parations to stand a siege.
A fleet of Federal transports and gunboats in the
Yazoo river were attacked recently by a force of
3,000 Texans. The rebels were dislodged from their
position and driven off.
Colonel Phillips, commanding in the Indian ter-
ritory, reports that he has driven the rebels en-
tirely out of that region.
A despatch from General Butler announces that
Colonel Straight, with about one hundred Union
prisoners, escaped from prison in Richmond by
digging a tunnel under the walls of the jail. Seve-
ral of them had arrived at Williamsburg, including
Colonel Straight, and Federal cavalry was scouting
the couitry as far as the Cnickahominy to aid the
escape of the remainder.
The Richmond Examiner publishes a list of the
officers who escaped. It includes the names of
eleven colonels and six majors. One colonel, three
captains, and seventeen lieutenants had been recap-
tured by the rebels on the 12th.
The guards of the prison were placed under arrest
charged with aiding the prisoners in their escape.
Advices from North Carolina represent the rebel
force under General Pickett to be still at Kingston.
The recent demonstration against Newbern is be.
lieved to have been only a reconaissance in force.
The Commander at Newbern was preparing to re-
sist a more formidable attack, which, it was thought,
the rebels would soon make.
A Charleston correspondent of the Boston Ilera'd

states that the rebels have made several ineffectual
attempts to reinforce the garrison of Fort Sumter.
Calcium lights upon Wagner and Gregg play upon
the fort and harbour all night.
The same correspondent states that a rebel ram,
accompanied by an infernal machine, proceeded
down the bay recently with the intention of attack-
ing the Federal fleet; but the infernal machine
suddenly sank, carrying down eight of her crew,
and the ram returned to her position above Fort
Johnson.
Four blockade runners are reported to have been
destroyed off Wilmington between the 3d and 10th
inst. They were the Nutfield, the Dee, the Emily,
and the Fanny and Jenny.
Southern papers announce that eighteen gun-
boats and transports arrived at Jacksonville, Florida,
on the 702 414., and the troops were reported to be