Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-07-12
LnrrrR FRom RrcnmoNp.
Correspondence OF tie Daily Appeal.l

eminent of Virginia has the Fourth of July
passed without commemoration of any sort.
Last year a salute was fred ON the Capitol
Square by the Public Guard at the hour of noon,
and Confederate flags were raised on the public
buildings throughout the city. To-day, but one
flag can be seen, that which floats en- perRtaHenee
from the Southern staff on the capitol, and no
soldiers are to be met with at all, except strag-
glers and wounded men from the battle-6elds OF
the past eight days. 1 notice the omission as
striking, because there is no good reason why
we should give up our ancient national anniver-
saTy, which was observed in remembrance of the
triumph OF our fathers in their war of indspen-
dence-a struggle which terminated in the vim
d~ication of the very principle for which we are
now cOntending. the right Of a people to be- free.
But our excuse for permitting the Fourth to 60
by unobserved must be found in the peculiar
circumstances by which we were surrou nded.
In the matter Of the flags, there are probably moi
half a-dozen respectable Confederate streamers
in town. The hundreds which made the town
look gay last year, have long since frayed ont
in the winds and rains to which they have been
exposed, and new ones were not ordered because
of the confident expectation entertained by
every body that Congress would adopt another
national banner. As for the Public Guard, they
have been on duty foy days past in the burial
of our dead, a pious work which has not been
fully discharged. And with the rest of the
population, the attentions which humanity re-
quires from them to the wounded leave them
but little tine 10 think of the glories of the past
in the painful exaciions of the present.
There has been no serious fighting between
the two armies since the bloody encounter Of
Tuesday evening. At the latest advices from
the scene of conflict, which has shifted to
a point on James river, thirty miles by
land and sixty by water below Richmond, Nc
Clellan's army was closely pursued by our
army which was m~archisg upon them in four
heavy columns with the view of preventing
their escape to their gunboats and river steamers.
The gunboats were throwing enoTmous shells
in the direction OF the river road, but without
doing much damage to our troops. 1t is posi-
bic that another battle has been fought to-day,
buDuRA VIC udf5 ~ lALcliAk6ANo " tldk AtiCGLs
The probability is that a considerable number
of the Yankees viii get of by the river, and
that the rest will be made prisoners with the
exception of a few that will elude capture by
taking to the woods, All accounts agree in rep
resenting the Grand Army of the United States
as utterly broken down and discounted, and in
no condition whatever to renew the seige Of
Richmond, even should what remains Of it
escape entire.
There are rumors On the street that Gen Lee,
HavIus OaIIvu uPvH HtoOreIuH ~ uapIuIate, has
received for answer that the Yankees shall lay
down their arms if leave be granted them to
take their transports for Old Point, but that 10
these terms Gen. Lee had refused TO accede.
Another account in the mouths Of the million is
that our generals had surrounded q body of
10000 of the enemy, which would certainly fall
into our hands before night. Intelligence of a
more definite kind has been received to the
effect that Gen. J. E. B. Stuart has taken an
immense provision train of a hundred or more
wagons loaded with supplies, which is now on
its way to town. We hear also that the Yankee
commander, Gen. Sumner, is a prisoner in Gen.
Stuart's camp, too badly wounded to admit of
his being removed to the prison hospitals here.
DR.. Curtis, of Hanover, whose house was for
some time occupied by Mcclellan as his head
quarters, has come into the city since the retreat
Of the grand army. He speaks of tie Young
Napoleon as an intelligent ndsgreeable gentle
man, but as the most detected aad unhappy man
he has ever seen. The cares and difficulties of
the more than herculean labor he assumed Of Ie-
ducing Richmond, had made him appear pre-
maturely old. Frequently, said the doctor, did
be reprOve the levity Of the officers Of his staff
with regard to the terrible work before them
On one occasion, 9 colonel, careful Of his goodly
person, was IamontiDg the want of his daily
bath, when a aippant major said to lin" sh'
never mind, we shall soon be in Richmond and
it will be al right then Don't be too sure
Of that, sir" gaid Mcclellan with a sad smile.
Never did tie doctor hear him give utterancs to
q word Implying a belief. that he wonld take
Richmond. And yet, this csre-worH man, gho
returned to headquarters every evening weary in
body and mind, could assume a confidence he
did not feel, addressing his troops with such
stnf as " holding the rebels ct bay in their last
stronghold" and promising Lincoln by tele-
graph that he should push the enemy to the
wall, " and send to The Northern people the news
of smother and a final brilliant victory tomorrow.
Perhsss tbs most amusing illustration of the
serene assurance OF the Northern people that
Richmond would fall before the Fourth CO JEly,
thst has bsen given at all, was afforded yester-
day by the arrival at the Exchange Hotel of
TIRES New York merchants, who had eo1e on
direct from home, anaer the impression that Hc-
Clellan was already here, for Ike purpose Of col
lectiug esrt2in debts due them from citizens OF
Richmond before the var. They could not be
mistaken about the fact of the Yankee occupa-
ton of the Confederate capital. Had they not
seen a spirited engraving in e geekly pictorial Of
McClellan's triumphal entry and msreA around
the equestrian statue Of Washington The en-
terprising collectors were awakened from their
dream of conquest and settlement by a summons
to appear before Gen. Winder.
We have glorious weather today, a bright,
blue sky, a temperature as cool as October, and
the verdure freshensd and the dust laid by the
recent rains. All is so quiet and &c beautiful
that it seems difficult TO realizs that for eight
days past desolatlon and death have beld high
carnival around us. DIXIE.
II The Atlanta CogJederaey, of the 6ih, pub
fishes the following extract from a letter written
at DonsldsOnville, Ala:
The FedeFals are pouring up the Memphis and
Charleston railroad, beth on foot and by trains,
and we expect to hear of stirring times about
Chattanooga.
Donaldson is in the south of Jackson county,
just beyond he Tennessee river, and to the
northeast of Gunter,s Lapdir0.