The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-03 00:00:00

loss of many prisoners on the part of the assailants, AF, if
the anniversary so identified with the nation's hopes •,vas
anpointed to be peculiarly eventful, Lee, who /Ind P.gain
entered Maryland, and passing through the Bto4o had
approached the Susquehannah, threatening Fiarrisburg,
Pittsburg, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, fell back, after
pitched battles continued for three days at Gettysburg, and
resumed his retreat, with an army even worse shattered

tan before, to his accustomed position on the R appahan-

nock.

" On the Bth of July the insurgent garrison ftt Port Hud-
son, 6,000 strong, after enduring a long siege with the ut-
most courage, surrendered unconditionally t.o Gen. Banks;

and thus the United States recovered fro►n the insurgents
the last of the numerous posts by which f or more than two

years they had effectually destroyed the navigation of the
Mississippi. This great river, which i a time of peace con-
tributes relatively as much towardsla supply of the increased

wants of mankind as the Nile did to those wants in the time

of the Roman Empire, is now again opened to the inland
commerce of the country. Steamers descend the river and
its tributaries from the navigable floods to the Gulf of

Mexico. It is not to be doubted that the insurgent losses

in these operations on the Mississippi amount to 50,000 men
and 300 pieces of artillery, a large portion ce: which were of
heavy calibre. Johnstcne's army, which at the time of the
surrender was advancing to threaten the besiegers, at once
fell back to Jackson, and it was again driven from that
capital by a detachment which Gen. Grant had committed
to the command of Gen. Sherman. In retiring, Johnstone
fired many buildings filled with munitions of war, and
abandoned a large quantity of railroad locomotives and cars,
which had been detained at that place by reason of the
railroads north, south, east, and west of Jackson having
been previously cut by the Government forces.
" General Sherman now desisted from the pursuit of
Johnstone and returned to Vicksburg, where a portion of
theear
earned,
army
whileis enj
othersoyinga
rree
engaged
than
the evell
gsea,gnedotinmeoxrepenlleien;sfary
and fire from thence upon passing steamers. reported
Mis-
sissippi
roving bands of the insurgents who infrleotsmtiaits banks
that Johnstone with the troops at his disposal, now said
to number 25,C00, has fallen back to Meridian, on the
eastern border of Mississippi, 120 miles east of Vicksburg,
so that the State whose misguided people were among the
earliest and most intemperate abettors of the insurrection
is virtually abandoned by its military agents.
" In Louisiana Gen. Banks succeeded Gen. Butler. After
spending some months in organising the department and
disciplining the new levies which constituted its force, Gem
Banks made a rapid and successful series of marches and
contests, in which he drove the insurgents out of the Atte-
kapas and Teehe regions, well known as the richest por-
tions of that very productive State, captured Alexandria
and Donaldsonville, the seats of its fugitive seditious execu-
tive and legislative authorities, crossed the Mississippi at
Bayou Sara, and there receiving anadditional column which
was ascending from Baton Rouge, invested Port Hudson,
which, excluding Vicksburg, was the only remaining strong-
hold of the insurrection on the great river.
" It will be remembered that on the 22d day of September,
1862, the President issued a proclamation requiring the in-
surgents to lay down their arms and return to their allegi-
ance, under the penalty that, in all the districts where the
insurrection should be still maintained with the support of
aained which
gva
aw military
siel
tidt
heraldedai rtytom generallyt eh ae s
ruweriaees
et:
insurrectionarydht
euedi
yf ra ene
dd odme
floe fd t, hbon
the people, he would on the Ist January then next proclaim
r oTehl
aernwaat ri
onn-
stlathveesp.
issued . A s
territories,th en as
ltai ovneas I
in armieseon ,
siderable numbers accepted their freedom, and came under
the protection of the national flag. Amid the great prejudice
and many embarrassments which attended a measure so
new and so divergent from the political habits of the
country, freedmen with commendable alacrity enlisted in
the Federal army. There was in some quarters a painful
inquiry about their moral capacity for service. That uncer-
teinty was brought to a sudden end in the siege of Port
Hudson. The newly .raised negro regiments exhibited all
necessary valour and devotion in the military assaults which
were made, with desperate coinage, and not without fearful
loss, by Gen. Banks, This protracted operation engaged
nearly all Gen. Bank's available forces, While it was going
on insurgent troops which were called up from Texas re-
occupied much of the south-western portion of Louisiana
which he had before reclaimed. The surrender of Port
Hudson, however, set his army at liberty, and he has already
made considerable progress in restoring the national au-
thority thus temporarily displaced.
"The complete occupation of the Mississippi by the na-
tional forces has effectually divided the insurrectionary
region into two parts, and among the important features of
this division, one which is of the highest practical signi-
ficance is that the field of military operations of the insur-
rection is chiefly on the eastern side of the river, while its
supplies have been mainly drawn from the prairies of Ar-
kansas and Texas, which stretch away from the western
shore. These prairies can no longer supply the insurgents
with cattle for sustenance and use in the field ; and, on the
other hand, arms, ordnance, and ammunition can no longer
be sent from the eastern manufactories and deposits to
forces employed or in garrison in the west. The value of
the acquisition of the Mississippi in this respect was illus-
trated only a few days since in the capture by General
Grant, near Natchez, of 5,000 beeves and 2,000 mules which
had crossed to the eastern bank, and at the same time many
hundred thousands of cartridges and other stores which had
just been landed at the western end of the same ferry.
"A vigorous blockade has been maintained at Charleston ;
and although fast steamers, of light draught and painted
with obscure colours, occasionally succeed in slipping
through the blockading squadron in the morning and even-
ing twilight, many are destroyed and more are captured.
An attack by the fleet made on the 7th day of April last
upon the forts and batteries which defend the harbour
failed because the rope obstructions in the channel fouled
the screws of the iron-clads, and compelled them to retire
after passing through the fire of the batteries. Those
vessels bore the fire of the forts, although some defects of
construction were revealed by the injuries they received.
The crews passed through an unexampled cannonade with
singular impunity. Not one life was lost on board of a
Monitor. The defects disclosed have been remedied, and an
attack is now in progress, with good prospect of ultimate
success, having for its obj •ct the reduction of the forts in the
harbour by combined sea and land forces. We occupy more
than half of Morris's Island with land forces, which, aided
by batteries afloat and batteries ashore, aro pushing siege
works up to Fort Wagner, a strong earthwork which has
been twice assaulted with great gallantry, but without suc-
cess. On the 17th of June the Atalanta, which was regarded
by the insurgents as their most formidable iron-clad ves-
sel, left Savannah, and came down the Wilmington river.
The national iron-clads Weehawken,Capt. John Rogers, and
Nahant, Commander J. Downs, were in readiness to meet
her. At 454 the Atalanta fired a rifle shot across the stern
et the Weehawken, which struck near the Nahant, At
5 15 the Weehawken, at a range of 300 yards, opened upon
the Atalanta, which had then grounded. The Weehawken
fired five shots, four of which took effect on the Atalanta.
She surrendered at 5 50.
"Our lines have not changed in North Carolina. All
thhaesy hadseen
inflicted been
attempts of the insurgents to recapture the towns from which
upon
expelled
their have
communications,been
repulsed. launcdh
valuableda mag e
military stores have been destroyed by expeditions into the
interior. North Carolina
shows some symptoms ©f disaffec-
tion towards the insurgent league. Similar indications are
exhibited in Mississippi, Alabama,
"The situation on the Yorkdan Arkansas,
James rivers has re-
mained unchanged since to withdrawal of the army of
Gen. M'Clellan from the Peninsula a year ago. Attempts
by the insurgents to retake Williamsburg and Suffolk have
been defeated, but the garrison at the latter place has been
withdrawn for purely military reasons to a snore defensible
line.

"I now return to the Army of the Potomac, which was
' left resting and refitting alter putting an
Ite,ncd to the first
lbllan recrossed
e
in-
surgent invasion of Maryland. Gen.
,a
the Potomac and entered Virginia in Nevem d
the invading forces under Lee to fall backwaredr to n
obliged
Gordons-
ville,
south of the Rappahannock. When the Army
oof h
Potomac reached Warrenton it was placed under
n commandte
of General Burnside. He marched to Falmouth, in
cross the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, and to movepg to
at
once upon Richmond. Delays,resulting from various causes,
without fault of the General, permitted the insurgents to
occupy the heights of Fredericksburg; and when at length,
in December, General Burnside crossed the Rappahannock,
his assault upon Lee's well-fortified position failed. Re
skilfully recrossed the river without loss. Gen. Hooker suc-
ceeded to the command, and it was not until the beginning
of May that the condition of the river and roads permitted
a renewal of offensive operations. The General crossed the
Rappahannock and accepted a battle, which proved equally
sanguinary to both parties, and successful to the army of
the Potomac. The height of Fredericksburg were captured
by Gen. Sedgwick's corps, but the whole army was com-
pelled to return to the north bank of the river. After this
battle Lee, in the latter part of May and in June, withdrew
his army from Gen. Hooker's front, and ascending the south
bank of the Rapidan, towards the sources of the Rappahan-
nock, entered the Shenandoah Valley, and once more
tempted the fortune of war by invading the loyal States. A
severe cavalry engagement at Beverly Ford unmasked this
movement. The army of the Potomac broke up its camps
Baltimore, 11,11i:ere:A.
marched thed encounter. The militia of Maryland,
I IN:
le7
,w a Yorknd th 0
lflewine
of
ro
tairremss,uasqnudeobcacnunpaiehd.
after a fierce
slaughter on 131;t11
el
omet at Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania, and
The two ar
contest of three days' duration, and terrible
position held by
days in command of the
Gen,
the insurgents recoiled from the
eade, who had 'then been only four
army of the Potomac. On July 4,
the day of the surrender
n attackg t
lae 8
jog through Chambersburof Yiel'sburg.'
proper
dispolEitanndliagertowu to Williamsport,
Deceived concertnoi Lee retreated, pass-
laim
state was
oft
the
made
river,by
N(vil:zei,.,iteltiede.
supposed to be unfordable, Gen. Meade,
reinforcoments, del,yed the attack a day, hourly expecting
ineurgents pertly by fording and partlyh toon long, and the
succeeded iu withdrawing across theriver byynrthing bridges,
artillery and a great part of their baggage. Mugc.bt 0, Wif
th their
gage, as well as of the plunder which Lee had collected,
bag.
destroyed by cavalry, or thrown out of the waggons to m, wask
room for the wounded whom Lee carried off from the batatlee
field. He hod buried w oi4t of his dead of the first day's conflict
at Uetty eburg. The remainder, together with those who
fell on the second and third days of the be'ele, in all, 4,500;