, 1863-07-13
lFfom Our 8pecial Co.resnnndent

1
Speech-Frogress OF tie siege. &c.
Prom Our Special Correspondent
Fon7 1-1unD DAT m REAR or y,crea1aa
June 30, 1868.
There have beeHa1ust enough Of rumorf
aud speculations, yesterday and to- day, to e1
cite interest and relieve the ennui of this pro.
longed siege. These, though they may be Of
dtsagreeab'e nature, are often relief to the
mental depression incident to inactive camp
Life.
The Inevitable deeerter appeared agaIn yes
terday morning, this time from Johnston's
army, and reported that quite an extensive
raid upon some point ut the rear of our line
was in contemplation BY a body Of rebel cay.
airy, for the ostenstble purpose Of DESTROYING
large amount Of ammunition, Quarte1nas.
ters', and Commiseary stores, known to be
stored ut some distance to the rear, out Of
range Of shells. To make things secure, the
commanding officers ordered all ammunition
and stores moved to q line in front of the
hospitals, and, until late IN the night teams
were running back and forth, and more COM
motion Tae visible than for some time be.
fore. Up to this writing, no mid has been
attempted, and cannot believe 80 foolish an
experiment will be tried. We Get from the
same prolific source, aud from other sources.
more reliable, perhaps, that Johnston has
Iecsised the reinforcemcnts from Bragg, of
l0,0 men, thA: he has SO long waited for.
and is to advance Immediately Upon us. Ha
is said to be threatening our forces on the
pig Black BY strong demonstration, and that
he VIII make m attempt to raise the siege
within very few daya: His avallab1s force
is estimated yariously ut 80, 900 to 45, 600 men.
nsde xfe he hfgs fggs9PRsgns spPRg of asfS
Information that something important Is. ex-
pected about "these days;n and II anything
can be Judged correctly from present Appeal
ancee, It IL very certain they hive need Of re-
LEI soon, md no one knows that fact better
than Johnston, perhaps. The majority be-
lieve that be Is acting on the suppoeition m Of
i" now or never" and y I'LL make one desperate
effort. Whether it is the information eaiued
from the sources named, or from reliable
agents that outsiders know nothing Of. II
matters not. Something has s' come over the
spirit Of the dream''' somewhat fnduiged In.
Of Late, BY our commanding officer.
at ~ o'clock this morning, all the corps
commanders were summoned 10 Gen. Grant's
Headquarters fur " council Of war" A nv
man would suggest TINT it was for the purposo
Of taking into CONSULTATION three things, one
Of Which must be adopted, The suggestion
whatever touching the objects OF the meetIng.
From my own standpoint, three th1ugs pre-
sent then, selves for grave consideration First,
whether this army shall march back-br SO
much OF 1t as IS not absolutely necessary to
occupy tne trenches as IN Investing force
and an attack Johnston wherever he; may
b. found, or second; whether we will alloW
Jehnstou to attack us in chosen position,
or third; adopt what might be By some con-
sideted de7nteT Tcs0,t-assault the ciicmy In
front and carry the works. Our experience
since VT hare been here would indicate the
adoption OF the third e4pedie1t.. A man with
that an assault judiciously made might, and
probably would be successful Our advances
are SO near the enemy now that We wou!d
lose very few men before reaching The fortlf-
cations. On the ed ult, We Sustained the
greater part If our loes while passing: over
and approaches:: Only few days ago tho
guns, clothing, cartridge boxes, ammunition, |
etc, That are always so peculiar to a hard
fought batle field, were observed, By my
ser In large amounts at the rear Of our |
works, while hardly any was seen In front.
could safely gather them up. Our advance
works are beneath the range Of the enetny's |
artillery. and the rebels must expose them t
selves II. they rise. up to get etIeo-
tive rnnge With 1nuskets. Fortta-
cations do not educate men to |
TINT the rebels are 10th to expose themselyea
ie fnrhisled In the tact that 60 few Of our
Men were wounded on the ground in front of |
our advances. Other considerations, not ne
cessary to name, induce the belief that our +
commanders Will adopt the third expedient
as the most practicable and most decisive In
results. By assaulting the line at one, two
or three points viii massed forces, md
trusting to our forces at the rear to prevent
Tie enemy from escaping over Blask River.
success must be quite certain. ThatBome i'm
portant movement is about being made be
nag no doubt, what that may be ii detail can
It Is to be deyoutly hoped that the material
viii coon be furnished Tor q brilliant and sat}s.
actoFy record of events from the great theatre
of this gigantic war.
= On p. 15s 53 ssth inst thirteen men we're taken
Escape to their homes from the rebel afmy
within the fortidcations. They report Gen.
Mart Green, commonly known as stMissouH
Green" killed on the eth by shell We
[oook @ his brigade prisoners at Black Rtyer
61idge, but not him. Like Gen. Floyd at
EofsDpnelEon, he took good care Of himself
allssouh troops are considered their most
Feltable men; much Of the bitterness Of feel
pg and effectiveness as soldiers displayed by
hem, Is the result OF the efforts Of this man
iteen- It is to be hoped, not on principles
7 = humanity, but for the good Of our cuuntfy
hat the report may prove true, and the man
6ho once enjoyed the confidence of the public
may hereafter grace a traitors tomb.
From the same source ne learn that Penn
'erton has perpetrated another speech some.
chat more wild than his published effort
omc time ago; less carnirerous In his animal
'ropenslties, more imploring in manner. He
It'd not eay any thing about eatin mules and
logs, but directed lis efforts more particu-
arly to quiet spirit Of mutiny arising
mtpg his gallant hosts Of armed men. He
mplored them to befaithfu1 INTO the end. In |
to Distracted, grooming country,
nd named the 4th Of July as day IN which
elief would appear. One man expressed
'imself that he e'hoped we would hang Penn
ather let the men 60 to natural decay than
They do not think he means to
ur7ender, but will be forced to do 50 rery
oon by the man, who will demand it.
PARTRIDGE.