Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1864-07-02

Annas and Washington city, which, togeth-
er with the destruction of the railroads last
above referred to, renders it impossible for
Lee to send any respectable force north
ward.
The rebels in and around Richmond art
there restricted to the use of the Danville
Road, of the destruction of n part which,
by Hunter, we may hear at any moment, we
apprehend. That railroad is of different
(broad) gauge from all other Virginia rail
roads, and, therefore, no machinery adapted
to them can be used upon it. Thus, any
damage it may receive in the loss of cars or
locomotives will be irreparablc for months
to come.
The meaning of nll this is, that Grant, by
his move south of the James, has cut Lees
rail communications in all directions except
via Danville, which as yet are incomplete
and cannot be available for the receipt of
supplies for his army from and considerable
region of country. In achieving this i'm
portant result he has placed Lee in a situa-
ton in which he must not long hence come
out from behind his Notifications and risk
battle on Il fair field, or abandon Rich
mond and Petersburg, where he cannot
much longer obtain supplies.
We have the authority of Assistant Sec.
retary Dana, who arrived last night direct
from General Grants headquarters, for
stating that up to the moment he left there
on Wednesday, our entire loss in killed,
wounded, and missing, since crossing the
james, has not been more than ten thou
sand, while there lis little reason to doubt
that the loss of the rebels there has been
proportionably rs great as ours.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF PoToMAC, June
25-6 A. NJ, Saturday. 1.-The only fighting
that took place yesterday was an attack
made by the enemy on Burnside, but whe-
ther intended as ieint to cover some more
important move or an attempt to break
through his lines, it was failure.
They opened with heavy fire of artillery,
which was returned by our batteries, and
the rebels making charge were driven
back III confusion, upwards of one hundred
OF them being captured. This occurred
about s \. NJ, and the artillery firing was
kept up for an hour, when all became quiet
ut that point.
About the same time battery opened in
front of hospital on the left of the 9TH
Corps, which the rebels seemed desirou3 of
! cleaning out, but they were deferred by our
guns before any damage resulted to US.
Picket firing is still kept up along nearly
the entire line, and in almost every hospital
| are few victims of this species of warfare.
1t is almost impossible for change to be
made in the skirmish line without some loss
from the enemy's sharpshooters, and these
lines have to be relieved always after dark
on that account.
The engagement between the 9th Corps
and the enemy for the possession of the
railroad on Wednesday was quite severe,
particularly in front of the 2d division, com
manded by General Wheaton. Only a short
distance of the railroad had been destroyed
when the party were attacked by II heavy
forco OF the enemy, under General Anderson
supported by Wilcox's division.
Capt Beattlc, of the 3d Vermont, was in
charge OF the party that reached the road,
and he fell back slowly, while the skirmish
llne held the enemy in check, but body OF
them made flank movement, expecting to
| turn the left flank of bis line of battle. They
however, did not penetrate far enough, al
though they succeeded in taking large
number of skirmishcrs prisoners, principally
otthe 4th and 11th Vermont Regiments, of
the Vermont Brigade. The enemy after
wards advanced and attempted to break
through the line at several points, but were
met with such heavy fire from our forces
that they were driven back every time with
heavy loss.
They finally, at dark, gave up the effort,
and retrcated across the railroad embank-
ment, where they took up an advantageous
position.
Our loss was very light in killed and
wounded, while that Of the enemy it is sup
posed, was more than double. We lost quite
a number Of prisoners but the figures can
not be correctly given.
The railroad from City Point to Peters
burg is being placed in order, and an engine
and cars are already procured to put on it
as soon as it is in running condition.
Supplies arrive at the front regularly, and
the troops lack nothing in this respect, but
they suffer some from the scarcity of water