Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1865-04-07


winds and the rapacity Of the piccaninnies,
who. in innumerable swarms-in danger of
falling walls-were diving with their little
black hands into every place that suggested a
| reward for their pains.
| The colored people were extremely enthusi-
| astic over our arrival, and greeted us with the
| heartfest welcome in characteristic manner,
| and s" be Lord bress the Yankees was heard
| on every side.
The whites thus far have treated us with
great cordiality, and on our first entry into the
city cheered us yociferously. A few of the
| loud -mouthe and hasty "rebs" got them sci yes
| into trouble by toe free use Of their tong ues,
| md they speedily found themselves confined
20 close quarters in room in the building &C.
| cupied by the provost martial.
| General Weitzel has taken for his private
| residence the mansion of jeff. Davis. A por-
tion Of his staff are quartered with him, an d
| the remainder In splendid dwelling few
| doors below.
| appearance of having been very hastily evac-
| mated by him. Every thing is in fine order and
| good repair. Many of Mrs. Davis little nick
| nacks and ornaments are yet to be found on the
| mantles and bureaus OF her room.
| The Gordon OF works around the city l nave
| as yet had little time to examine. A glance at
them, however. SATISFIED Pc that their strength
| are mostly of q massive size, and are situated
| in naturally impregnable positions, well
mounted with guns OF the heaviest calibre.
| The number OF guns captured in the works
| around the city are roughly estimated at about
800 They were all spiked, but otherwise left
| unlHlureQ.
| The powder magazines in Fcrt Darling, and
| the rebel rams in the James river below, were
| blown up with a terrific noise. The shock was
distinctly felt Tor miles around.
| All the steamers at the arves-Wlth the
| exception of the William Allison, rebel 1ag-of-
| truce steamer-were destroyed, together with
| new iron. clad upon the stocks.
| The yard around the State Capitol is literally
| covered with the household utensils OF the
burned-out families. The Capitol itself has
not been in iured.
| horo firm l1,h n tha
| bellon has received its death blow, and are re-
| joicing over their release from the tyranny OF
| jefferson DAVIS.
| Our soldiers have conducted themselves in a
| becoming manner, much to the astonishment
of the people, who expected that vengeance
| would be heaped upon them.
The correspondent OF the Herald writes:
| The works in front OF Richmond which
were occupied by the rebels, and wholly
evacuated previous to our occupancy of the
city to. day under General WeitZel, consist of
three strong lines. wholly enveloping Rich
mond. The outer ones are continuous lines,
| the inner one consisting OF a series OF strong
| redoubts and bastion forts. All these works
ali Of which we have taken. and would, Wnen
| properly garrisoned. form an almost impreg-
| nable series of defenses As I rode along these
lines they seemed, with the exception of the
| outer one, to have been most indifferently gar
| risoned, and but for the facility with which
they could be reinforced at any time by bring
ing troops up the Petersburg road and cross.
ing them on poRtoons, the lines could have
been carried by assault.
The route which / pursued on entering the
rebel capital was that by the Osborn and Rich
mond pike, which leads In q nearly north and
south direction, and quite parallel to the James
river. After passing our picket line the first
rebel work encountered was Fort Field, form
ing part Of the exterior line of rebel defence.
This work, which Is very strong one IN itself,
is surrounded by three lines of abatis and one
OF torpedoes: The tSrpedees were carefully re-
moved by the advanced guard Of Weftzel.
These lines OF torpedoes were marked out by
small Aags for safety to the rebels, which flags
they neglected to remove in their hasty flight.
The camps OF the rebels were left en- ntire-tents
standing and furniture within. After passing
this line we came upon the second line, which
was equally as strong as the first, excepting as
to abatis and torpedoes. The third line is Just
outside the edge of the town, is situated on high
ground, and is well adapted to satisfy the con.
d1tions Of defence. Each Of the detached works
forming this line sweep portion OF the line in
front OF 1t by its fire, and rendering that front
line untenable VIXEN reached. These works
like the others, mount heavy guns, many of
which were navy guns, probably captured at
Norfolkin the early part of the war. Comrnu.
nicatior between these works and those on the
other side of the river was maintained by four
bridges, some OF which were pontoon and some
pile, in addition to the three railroad bridges
at and in Richmond.
The evacuation OF the works and the city
was not generally understood by the troops
and people till yesterday Sunday afternoon
The necessity of the movement, as already in.
umated, was rendered imperative by General
IL.
three O'Clock yesterday afternoon jeff Davis,
while In church, received a despatch from
General Lee that immediate preparations
must be made to evacuate Richmond and its
defences at once, as he was wholly unable to
make further headway against Grants onset
on theleft. He added that his (Lse's) design
was to endeavor to make Danyille, and there
fornfy for last grand stand. An effort, how
ever, is to be made to fight at Burkes vilIe but
it is not thought Lee will be able to succeed in
carrying out this intention.
lie lQf aaif q i0hf i0ht tno
by rail for Danville, his family being sent out
five days ago. On the train he had horses and
carriages embarked. in case the road was in
terrupted, in order to easily make his way by
these means. In spirits he was very much
depressed, and bore the appearance of an ex-
ceedingly haggard and care worn man, his
countenance clearly betraying the lOss of his
cause. He expressed himself as being yet de-
termined not to give up, but to put forth
another effort to redeem his hopeless and
sunken fortunes. 1 think it may be relied
upon that he has not yet altogether abandoned
his cause, though it is positively known he mas
but little hope left. His residence, when this
and everything betokened the extra ordfnary
haste with which he abandoned his capital
and home. -if3 It'll srlos
Extra Billy Smith, late so-called Governor
rial mansion until one O'Clock this mornitig,
when he fled, leaving Mrs. Smith behind, and
heretofore threatened to burn. The residence
of the Governor is now the Headquarters of
Gen Chas. Devens, commanding a division in
the oath corps, now here = @ssHoh - tsoWAi
Mrs. Gen. e. E. Lee, wife or the rebel gen
eral-in. chief, is also IN the city, News has
reached here of the death OF her son, Gen. W j
H. F. Lee, of the rebel army Killed in the bat
Ties OF last week before Petersburg! s1J297oE
John Cabell Brecklnr1dge, es.V Vice President
of the United States. and exl rebel Secretary of
War fled the city so late as hail. past six this
morning. rb41aeETEIo3 AT5W sd: fa2td
The bridges leading out OF the city2 namely
the Danville railroad bridge, the Peters burg
railroad bridge, Mayo's bridge, leading 10 NAH
chester and tnet opposite side of the y ames,
were severally b1rned by the enemy p5tf +
Interesting Particulars ef the vacuatlon
nSS2of Richmond. t25s pm. pm
Prom the New York Word; go
Known assssJo lMaY6,hf after, dtstngatsh hing
himself three ears ago. at the TING Of our Hrst
attack or Foft sDafIfng,s BY declaring thatihe
would be the first man tt Are tie ID esfopeIls
Of virgpia y ses tIailinto the hands
meeE fhs Y snkss, als teaeras whoc came
tns hsd of as nsgrs ;, seppss dlgsye up
her. PITT atnga afpsstly for protectionoto