The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-10-28
RICHMOND IN GREAT DANGER.
DECIDEDLY DEsPoNDENT LETTER


Below IS letter Of the Richmond
correspondent of the Mobile Advertiser
It bears date Oct T. =.
Truly, this has been week Of un-
precedented excitement in the Confede
rate capital What with Earlys re-
treat down the Valley, and his sturdy
stand ut Browns Gap-the furious can
nonade "Wednesday night--the passage
Of the large body of the enemy to the
north side of the James-the capture
Of Fort Harrison, Che keyrof Chatin's,
which is the key OF DreWTy's,) our vain
attempt to capture back this important
work, and today's hard fight in the
middle line OF delences, We have had
such a time as we never had before
since the war began and such "a, i
trust, we will never have again. We
are accustomed to foolish and long
continued bell-ringing, Kept up, / be-
lieve, out Of mere mischief, and we are
used to the general turnout Of citizens,
and clerks and Government employees,
but the incessant thunder of big guns
only three miles from town, is a new
thing to US entirely. 5s
From dinner time until dark the
houses in the suburbs Of the city farth-
est from the scene Of action, have liter~
ally been shaken by the conclusion Of
heavy artillery, which roared and reveF-
berated under the dark canopy Of heavy
clouds As sat listening to the uproar
I was often reminded Of the opening
lines to TennysOn's Morte d Arthur
"All day long the noise Of battle rolled
Among the mountains by the winter sea,
and ever and anon, as a moment Of de.
spondency would seize me, | thought
of what King Arthur said 10 bold Sir
Bediyere:
a am ruined by this people which made"
Richmond is certainly in great danger
greater, perhaps, than ever before
but the people do not reslizeit Neiih
er did the people CT Atlanta or Yieks-
burg realize their danger after they
became used to the noise of battle az
their doors. The divine hand may
again interpose in our behalf, as it has
so often done heretofore, but the present
state of affairs makes me wish most
heartily that the Government stores,
the archives, the machinery and mate.
rial of war were safely away. The loss
of Richmond would be a hard moral
blow, bat we could bear il well enough
if our machinery and munitions were
saved But these are 50 enormous and
our transportation 50 limited, that there
is little OF DO chance Of getting them
away. lta sfL
Never was the fighting material Of the
city 30 thoroughly got together Yes
terday The guards spared neither age
nor condition, liam almost tempted 70
add SEX aud to-day they have forced
their way into the gambling hells, which
in times ike the present have always
been the private hiding-places Of skulk-
ers. This evening when the firing was
At its h0ttest ! found, in the crowds
upon the hill~tops aud houses, only four
white men, three OF whom were over
fifty, and the other an Invalid: the rest
were children andnegroes One o. the
group Of little girls, who were seated on
a house.top, with zha1ls over their
heads TO protect them from the rain.
was asked By q playmate on another I
house-top where her father was ~Last /
night be sent as word that he was three |
miles from town, in line Of battls in the
trenches, was the little mailleu's re-
ply. And in these trenches are ali the
able-bodied fathers, sons and brothers
Of Richmond, with the heavy autumn
rain pouring down on them--the mud
their only mattress, the slSy their only {
eoyerIid
If Richmond should fall, how fortu-
nate the absence OF The President for
BE- his faults what they may, his cap
.ure would have 8 serious effect upon
.he people, who still cling 70 him with
} strange confidence There are those
Who predicted that bis visit 10 Georgia
would be attended with the usual IN
happy results, and II must b. confessed Z
hat his speech az Mar0n. as reported
y the papers--1nd q gentleman who
a ard il says the papers hardly do jus !
ice 10 It's violence and ili-nature-eoes
~ TO sustasn the credit Of these pro- I
,heta Of evil His allusion 10 thaWsak-