The New York herald., 1862-08-26
The Opposing Armies on the Rappahan-
nOck-LiveIy Skirmi shinE.

hock-AhVeAy
Gen. Halleck's reported expulsion of news
paper correspondents from the Army of vir
ginia has left us to the chances of stray passen
gers for any information from the opposing
armies on the line of the Rappahannock, until
We shall have had an engagement of sufficient
Importance to command an official report
The letter which we publish this morning
from the Philadelphia Press gives the results
of the observations of the writer at the Head
quarters of the Army of Virginia" down to
Friday last, and shows that, although the enemy
had been making vigorous efforts at various
points to cross the river, they had been uni
formly repulsed, and in one instance, at least,
with pretty heavy loss But the Philadelphia
Bulletin, from passenger who left the Kappa
hammock on Sunday morning, says that the re-
port of the capture by General Sigel of two
thousand rebels lacks confirmation. The Press
correspondent in this matter may have picked
up one Of the idle rumors Of the camp, or he
may have had the first confused report Of some
sharp collision, the facts of which have yet to
be ascertaiRed.
There is one skirmish, however, reported by
the Press correspondent of which we guess
there can be little doubt, inasmuch as he was in
the midst of the fray We allude to the rebel
attack upon a railway train at Catletts station,
from which it would appear that at least one
detachment Of rebel cavalry, on Thursday even
ing last, had not only got to the north side Of
the Rappahannock, but within six miles Of Ma
nassas Junction, where, if we are not mistaken,
there is o very valuable depot Of army
supplies. We presume, however, that, as the
rebels were repulsed in this night attack at
Catlett's, they fell back towards the main body
of their army, and that in the meantime Gene
raj Pope has provided for the security of his
supplies and trains at Manassas. According to
the report of the aforesaid passenger, who left
the Rappahannock on Sunday morning, our
troops, up to that time, had still successfully
resisted all attempts of the enemy to force .
passage over the river, and ''will be able to
maintain their position until junction with the
other army corps shall enable them to resume
the offensive"
We conclude, accordingly, that everything is
working well on the line of the Rappahannock-
that General Pope has bafiled and checkmated
the rebels successfully, and that he has thus
gained the invaluable time needed to bring the
forces of Burnside and Mcclellan within sup
porting distance. We do not anticipate, there
fore, battle in Virginia Of any magni-
tude for some time to come. The rebels
having evidently failed in their desperate enter
prise to catch the army of General Pope by
forced marches, and crush it before he could
reach the supporting columns Of Burnside and
Mcclellan, it is not likely that the rebel gene
raj in command-Joe Johnston-will rashly try
the fortunes Of a general battle. Meantime,
having failed to capture the commissariat trains
OF General Pope, or any Of his stores of sup
plies, Johnston will probably be mainly occu-
pied for several days in hurrying up from
GordoDsville the subsistence demanded by his
half famished army.
The extreme point Of danger is passed.
Our several armies in Virginia have doubtless
ere this formed junction, and we may thus as
sumo that the rebels have reached the extreme
limit of their advance, and that soon we shall
hear of their retreat along the whole line vo-
UNFAIRLY. as q measure Of safety, or by CON-
pulsion.