The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-05 00:00:00

AMERICA.

(REUTER'S EXPRESS.)
ARRIVAL OF THE PERUVIAN.

NEW YORK, March 24 (Evening).
No new military movements are announced by
the latest advices from City Point. A heavy storm
had again rendered the roads impassable, probably
for several days to come. A heavy rumbling noise,
as of trains crossing pontoons, has recently been
heard in the direction of Petersburg, and deserters
continue to report great activity within Lee's lines.
The Confederates have recently erected a new
battery to fire on the trains between City Point and
Hatcher's Run. Deserters also report that Heth's
division left Richmond on the 17th to reinforce
Johnston in North Carolina, and that in the western
portions of that State there is a large force of deser-
ters under the leadership of a man by the name of
Kirk, that this force is regularly organised, and is
aiding the people to resist the conscription. Kirk
had threatened to destroy the railroad from Dan-
ville to Salisbury.
It is still rumoured that Lee is about to abandon
Richmond.

A newspaper correspondent estimates the damage
clone in Virginia by General Sheridan at fifty
millions of dollars. Nothing further has been heard
from Sheridan's command since the report of its
being at White House, on the Pamunkey River,
endeavouring to join Grant's right.
Richmond papers deny that Commodore Hollins
was recently killed.

No later Federal accounts concerning the move•
ments of Sherman's army have been published,
Confederate accounts claim a victory near Golds-
borough.

(From the Richmond Examiner, March 21.)
Yesterday was received the following despatch
announcing a brilliant victory in the vicinity of
Raleigh :
" Head-quarters Armies Confederate States,
March 20, 1865.
" To llon. J. C. Breckenridge, Secretary of War.
" General J. E. Johnston reports that about five
o'clock p.m., on the 19th inst., he attacked the
enemy near Bentonville, routed him, and• captured
three guns.

" A mile in the rear he rallied on fresh troops,
but was forced back slowly until six p.m., when,
receiving more troops, he apparently assumed the
offensive, which was resisted without difficulty until
dark. This morning he is in t,renehed. Our loss is
small. The troops behaved admirably well. Dense
thickets prevented active operations.
" R. E. LEE, General."
_ . _

On the 11th Stanton had announced that Sherman
was doing finely. His army was at Fayetteville,
quietly resting, preparatory to another advance
northward. It seems he did advance, but not far.
This [successful attack by General Johnston gives
earnest hope that the redoubtable Sherman has at
length met his match.

A Washington despatch, referring to. the above,
says that the affair is not regarded as important in
Washington, but only as an attack upon a small
force sent by Sherman to cut the railroad between
Raleigh and Goldsboro', while the later place was
being occupied by Sherman's main army. It is
believed that Sherman will vigorously continue the
I offensive.

It has been rumoured in Washington that Sher-
man's army entered Goldsboro' unopposed.
The Republican claims that Sherman's present
command is amply able to confront Lee's entire
army in open field, without any assistance from
General Grant.

It was also rumoured in Washington that Sher-
man had appeared before Raleigh, and demanded
the surrender of that city.
The Raleigh Progress, of March 16, states that it
violates no secresy in assuring its readers that Sher-
man would soon be confronted by a formidable
force.

The Progress states that a little brush took place
between a detachment of Hampton's body guard
and some 200 of Kilpatrick's men, in which the
Federals were driven off, Hampton slaying two
with his own hand.

Newbern advices state that the evacuation of
Kinston by Bragg was quite precipitate, and that
the Confederates failed in an attempt to blow up
the magazine. Citizens of Kinston report that
Bragg had 40,000 men when he attacked Schofield,
that he lost very heavily in the eight charges made
upon the Federal intrenchments, but that the eva-
cuation of Kinston by Bragg was in obedience to
superior orders.
It is reported, and denied, that in the battle of
the Bth of March the Confederate General Hoke
was killed. Richmond papers make no mention of
his death, and the loss of so prominent an officer
could hardly fail to be known throughout the
country if he were killed.

It is supposed that Bragg effected a junction with
Johnston at or near Goldsboro'.
New Orleans dates to the 17th have been received.
General Canby was then with his troops near Mo-
bile, and a grand attack upon that city by the com-
bined Federal land and naval forces was expected
to be made on the 22d of March. Generals Canby,
Granger, and Smith, and Admiral Thatchers went
within four miles of Mobile on a trip of inspection
in the steamer Laura, which vessel drew a heavy fire
from the Confederate batteries that line the harbour.
The forces under Generals Canby, Granger, and
Smith comprise two corps of veteran troops, the 13th
and 16th, besides a coloured division and a division
of cavalry. The Confederates at Mobile are said
to be in strong force, and desperate fighting is ex-
pected, as the Federal forces will probably attempt
to carry the city by assault, in which case they must
encounter strong fortifications. The Confederates
have still above the city two or three ironclads,
but they are not supposed to be very formidable
vessels.

A force of 8,000 poorly mounted but well supplied
cavalry, under Forrest and Chalmers, is said to be
operating in the northern portions of Mississippi
and Southern Tennessee. Forrest himself was at
West Point.

There is no military news of importance from the
trans-Mississippi department. General Kirby Smith,
at last accounts, was at Shreveport, on Red River,
and G eneral Buckner at Natchitoches, Louisiana
Judge Gray, a Texas lawyer, had reached Shreve-
President
port from Richmond, haying been sent by