Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-01-19
TIVE DAILY SPY.



The War News and RumOrs.
We have rumors of important military
movements in Virginia, North Carolina, and
in the southwest. How much reality there is
to warrant such rumors it is at present i'm
possible to say; but there is without question
an expedition on foot in North Carolina
There are unmstakable signs that great bat
tie is about to be fought at Wilmington.
Gunboats, iron-clads, artillery, and men,
have been moving in that direction and
the report is well founded that predicts an at
tack on the rebel works at Wilmington. They
on their side have undoubtedly made prepara-
ton for a desperate struggle. The fight there
is likely to take place before this week is out,
if all the reports may be trusted; and we pre-
sumo our troops and gunboats are now on the
way to Wilmington, if they have not already
arrived there.
tits also not unlikely that the army of the
Potomac is in motion seeking an encounter
with Lees army concerning which OF late we
have had no very definite account. Such
movement against Lee would interfere with
his sending reinforcements toward Whining
ton, and the more so because he has already
sent Longstreets division to Tennessee. If
Gen. Foster is moving toward Wilmington,
Gen. Burnside's army ought to move against
Lee; therefore the report that the army of
the Potomac is in motion, and that a battle
may be fought in Virginia, unless Lee retires
rapidly to Richmond, is not improbable.
There are signs (they may be deceptive that
the present week will not pass without some
exciting occurrences in North Carolina and
Virginia.
And there will be another attack on Vicks-
burg it is said, under different leader and
with larger army. This time, probably the
attack will not be premature, and the leader
ship will be d good deal shrewder and more
skillful. General Sherman was never fit
to lead such an enterprise. He rushed to
Vicksburg determined to have the glory of
capturing the place before McClernand could
get there. He would not wait even for the
gunboats to get coal and therefore could net
have much assistance from them. 1t is
said that he was amazed to find the
rebel works much stronger and their
troops much more numerous than he had
supposed. He had not taken pains to I'M
deTstand his task. He failed to secure GER
tain necessary information, and seemed not
to have any appreciation of its importance.
OF course he was repulsed. 1t would be no
loss to the army or the country should he be
cashiered. Gen. Grant is not likely to initiate
Sherman's example; and, if he really attacks
Vicksburg with one hundred thousand men,
he will capture the place.
Meanwhile, another report says, Longstreet
now in Tennessee, is preparing to attack
Rosecrans. Let him do so, for it is nowise
likely that he will have a good time of it.
Rosecrans, too, has been largely reinforced,
it is said; and he has both the means and the
capacity to teach Longstreet the military exer-
else to his full satisfaction. The report that
Longstreet will attack Rosecrans seems to lis
much more apocryphal than the others; new
ertheless neither party in that quarter is like
ly to go to sleep and dream at present. The
rebels have too much at stake there, and their
present positions are too seriously menaced,
to allow them to be inactive. week
or fortnight hence we shall know how much
these reports mean; and soon we may see
rather more clearly than now whether we are
to gain the great successes so greatly desired,
SO earnestly promised, and so indispensable
to the restoration and security of the Union.