Litchfield enquirer., 1865-02-23
Nems of the fueck.
The War News.

THE EVACUATION OF CHARLEsros.-The| Charleston have been the conspicuous events of the week The fall of Inc cradle and hot bed of the rebellion is announced in q dispatch from Gen. GRANT to the War Department, and in ons from Admiral DAuLGREa 10 the Navy Department. The Richmond papers of the 20, h inst, contain the following details of military operations aud the condition of affairs to the rebel states:
 we now know that Charleston was eyacu- ated on Tuesday last, and that 0n Friday the enemy took possession of Columbia. It is r.-1 ported that our forces under Beauregard, are moving iu the direction of Charlotte
 Otfic:al intelligence was received at the war office last night that Shermah was on yesier- day morning advancing, and was near Wins boro, point on the railroad ieadingto Char lotte, and thirty miles north of Columbia. Charlotte is thronged with refugees from Col. umbia. who report that some uf " heeler's cav airy plandered he city before the evacuation. Up to Tuesday last i, was uncertain whether Columbia would come within the immediate :: .nge ot Sherman's purposes and consequenl- Iy the public mind was nOl prepared for such
 
 rrnmeni had, h"wever. just two weeks ago. taken the precau,ion to remove it's specie de posted there. amounting 10 seve' al millions of dollars. ani within the past few days all ot the dies and plates belonging 10 the treasury department, together wiIh the supplies of treasury notes on hand, were safely conveyed away. The enemy being in posession of Branchville, Orangeburg and KingsvilIe, pre- cluded movements on the roads leading to Charleston, and an unfortunate accident upon the Cha. lotte road from Columbia. prevented ,he authorities from making use of that aven- ue to save other valuable materials in ina, city A large quantity of medical stores be longing to ihe government were there, one halt of which was saved. and lhe rest for waUt of time aud transportation was destroyed. The presses and Ix ures for printing treasury notes in the est ablishmenis of Evans & Cogswell. and Kingsley and Balls wers necessarily sban d0ued, together with other extensive machIn- cry of those well known ti, ms. The hr't named establishment had one hundred and two prini- ing presses, and was unquess ionably the iarg est and beat equipped publishing house in the Suuih
 The enemy's forces operating west ofColum- bia reached iLe banks of the C0ngee, opposite tue city, on Thursday evening, and ln CIV number of shells. 10 which our batteries res bonded. A lortion Of ihls column moved up the river during the night and c, ossed the Saiuda and iirca rivers, the main tributaries of ihe Con. .aree, which meet near Columbia. q few miles above the city. During tue move. ment, Gen. i;eauregard evacuated the city. and on Friday morning the enemy entered and took possession without opposition. Our troops were withdrawn to position some twenty miles from Columbia, where they re mained O., yesterday. .....-z
 Y.,... sisted of Sherman's main army, a larger p0r- ton of which immediately moved up the Char lo'te road. while another portion moved down in the direction of Charleston. The latter city has doubtless this been evacuated
 CHARLESTON, Feb. l4ih-The enemy's gun. boats and one monitor have been smelling our picket lines on James Island all day All q iiet on our front, nntiing definite from above The enemy keep up steady smelling of the city. ... Tftf 2
 CHARLESTON. Feb. l5th-All qulet along our 10 be moving in force hear Coiimbia on the Lexington road It is reported that they cross ed the Congaree to day.
 WILMINGTON, Feb 18th The enemy sbelled Fort Anderson furiuusly yesterday. nearly all mig [ and this morning It. is reported that d land force also attacked our forces at Anler- son. but xe 6 repulsed. Conuona ling is still going on ai P. NJ. We have no particulars
 A dispatch ha. been received here stating that force of the enemy 4oJo strong. 20oJ of it cavalry were advancing from Knoxv4l,e and reached Gr"enviile which is about j54 mile- from Bristol. Thi. ,xpidition supposed 0 be anoth ;t raid on the v..g.nla aud Teune ssee r.. lro d.
 Tue telegraph operator at Weldon reported yesterday, that a raid from Washington or Newborn. N c., was in progress. the supposed destination of the raiders being Rocky Noun, Station. on the Washington road. in Edge ,mb county The wires continued to work during yesterday evening through to wiIm ngion how ever, from which II would appear that they had not struck the road
 A movement of the enemy was reported yes terday Tn heavy force upon Kingston, N. C |, and it was supposed in official quarters that Fosters forces had been moved up to New bern
 A cavalry raid was also reported in the di. recIion of Tarborr. the force moving from Newborn. It has fifty or sixty pieces of ar tillery. We shall hear more of these move ments in few days. We are quite certai. that they are in progress us we write.
 'ol. lIatch one of our commissioners of ex- change. has g"ne to Wilmington. at which place he will. during the week, exchange IO,- 900 prison rs We may remark here that the
 
 the same time, go on uninterrupted.
 A desperate affair occurred last Tuesday, in Lavenburg county, between some deseriers from ihe confederate army, and some of the 9,h Virginia cavalry aided by citizens Sev cal on both sides were wou..ded. The deser- ,els were finally captured.
 Gen Eweil. commanding the department of IIenrico. reports a wholesale robbery of nearly 100 paroled prisoners on Saturday night, be tween Camp Lee and ihe city. Other robber- ies of returned prisoners are reported as occur ring in the SIT eets of Richmond"
 CHARLEsToN.-The following additional pa,- t;culars ot the evacuation of Charl.st ,D. were r.cei.e'l by the steamship Fulton, from Port k val, aud Charleston bar, 18th inst. .:
 Charleston was evacuated by the enemy on the night of the l7th. leaving the several for liticatitns uni"j ju ed, be. id-s 200 gus which they spiked. .:H }ss5
 The evacuation was first discovered at Fort NJ ,ulirie. in tn, morning at 10 X NJ. Part of tll. troops stationed at James Island crossed over it bo It's and took p,sspssiun of the city without oppositl"n. Tho upper part of tue city Was on fire. Previous to the enemy ev.icu,,iug thy fired the upper prt 0i the city by which six thousand bales of cutton were burned and it is supposed that before they could sul,du. it two ihris of the city will be des, royp.i. A fearful explosion occurred in the Wilmington. depot. by which several hundred ci,iz.ns lost their lives Cause unknown. The building u,, psod fur c.,n,n,i,s..ru vu,,,a,.,, o,.l