Washington telegraph., 1864-03-16
Miss. RIVER. March Sd, 1864.


MAJOR: - has ju>, returned from
Grenada. He did not get any mail mat
ter, as all the mail was stopped. and wha,
was at Granada was run off Sherman ha-
| retreated back tn jackson without frhr
of much note. We capiurrd nearly all
Of his wagons Gen Polk j. in hrt pnr-
suit. The cn.va'ry are trying 20 impede
| his progress nncli a. possible Gen
| Forrest las gone down n try t. cut him
| off from Nick>burg Forrest dcfaarei
| Grier~on ~ 4 scatr.r q III f,rcn~ il III H.
rectious, running i'm sky miles. saw
a man to-day direct from Memphis. lie
says Gen. Smith came 10 town by himself
He saw the command when they reachei
that place. lie represents them ~ com,
pletely demoralized They came il IL
small Sounds. Giierson's los about $50
killed aud wou"ded. and tiye guns Onr
loss heavy Col Foust was killed, al~o
Lieut.. t.-Col Bark>dale They tonight three
days understand the Yankees pre send
ing some negroes up White river, ultho'
the nuu Der | cannrt ascertain N
\ dispatch from Washington 1T. SAYS:
Since he disastrous retreat Of Girirr>un
and S NTH npou Memphis, Tie mo>t seri-
ous appreheusions are fcit il oficial and
political circles. The retreat in.errmrf.
Sbermans s communcati ~ III! a,on. The
Mobile and Ohio road and deprivcs biz
army f an imr ortnni source Of supplies.
with, ut W lich it IL believed he cannot
maintain his ground
Worse s,i !, It deprivcs him Of tie cav
airy force upon which he relied to prose
cnte his operations Military men belie,.
Sherman wi now be obliged { rctrace his
steps aud return to Vick-burg A private
letter dated Feb 2Oth, says Sherman had
reached Meridian, but, h,a' ing of the cav
airy retreat, he dared not proceed. and had
erected earthworks around the city Tie
report Of the Occupation IT Selma has
been discredited, that city being 100 miles
from Meridian. News finm tie Spnrh
reports Polk between Selma and Tumbig-
bee river, watching Sherman, ard pre-
pared to dispute Hi as>age Of II river"
We come now 10 D very curious docu-
ment, which assures N tnat the object ot
Sherman's movement has been wholly de-
feated, aud leaves The fate Of his army ID
doubt. |: is is from The New Orleans True
Delta of the ID, and later than the news
from the Mississippi bank II i printed
ip double-leaded Tyre, and i evidently
meant to alay the cissa 2pointmcnt Of its
Federal readers. Many Of it, statements
we know to be false, and portion Of them
ridiculous Who ever heard Of raid Of
5000 infantry, and % cavalry, for
the purpose of burning stores and captur-
ing provisions Here is an extract:
The city was startled about piphtfall
yesterday, by the announcement that Ma
jor General Sherman aud staff had arrived
10 the Diana, one Of the ma rine brigade
steamers. All sJrts Of rumor. were quickly
flying from one end Of the town 70 the
other. and conjeciures Of all sorts were
made the base of reports most industri-
ously ei culated. One had it that he came
to command forces from this department,
against Mobile; : second, that the CITY
had actually surrendered, willis the fac,
that the General wore = SUIT of citizens
clothes was Iroof positive that he had been
captured and came as > psroled prisoner.
we need not pause 70 say now much that
is ridiculous. false and absurd, was { on
taiued in these idle tales. The facts are
briefly these The expedition which, un-
der the command Of Gen. Sherman. left
Memphis and vicksburg about the first Of
last month, was never intended to Be any
thing more than gigantic raid " diver.
sion to draw attention from other ;mpor.
tant enterprises, and to effect the destruc-
ton of supplies, munitions Of var, aud the
machiaery Tor the manufacture ef arms.
The march vas . rapid one and The column