The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-04-14
to b sounded, and at once assumed dirso-
ton Of the frs. department a. As~ - :

to b sounded, and at once assumed direo-
ton Of The fire. department. a. 'h~ - :
two steam fire engines, and four worthless
hand engines, and a large amount OF hose
ruined BY the retrestns ..DelA
ARRIVAL OF GEN. wKITzEL AND STAFF.
Mai. Gen. Weitsel and staff arrived in
the city at about twenty minutes to eight,
and were received with joyful acclamations
by the troops and the pop1lace; the bands
playing and the soldiers cheering. The
entry of the commanding general was
truly triumphal one, and added to the
martial ardor of the soldiers of the ARMY
of the James, to whose immortal credit it
is that they entered and occupied the rebel
capital, whence the far famed nest of trait
ors, with JEFF. Davis at their head and John
Oabell Breckenridge at their tail, had just
fed.
THE REBEL WORKS IN FRONT OF RICHMOND.
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 Gen. Weitzel, con
sist of three strong lines, wholly envelop-
ing Richmond. The outer lines are con-
tinuous lines, the inner one consisting of
series of strong redoubts and bastion forts.
All these works mount upward of three
hundred heavy guns, all Of which we have
taken, and would, when properly garri-
soned, form an almost impregnable series
of defences. As rode along these lines
they seemed, with the exception of the
outer one, to have been most indiferently
garrisoned, and but for the facility with
which they could be reinforced at any
time by bringing troops up the Petersburg
road and crossing them on pontoons, the
lines could have been carried by assault.
The route which I pursued on entering
the rebel capital was that by the Osborn
and Richmond pike, which leads in
nearly north and south direction, and quite
parallel to the James River. After pass
ing our picket line the first rebel work
encountered was Fort Field, forming q
part of the exterior line of rebel defence.
This work, which is a very strong one in
itself, is surrounded by three lines of abitis
and one of torpedoes. The torpedoes
were carefully removed by the advanced
guard of Weitzel. These lines of torpe.
does we're marked out by small flags for
safety to the rebels, which flags they neg
lected to remove in their hasty flight. The
camps of the rebels were left entire-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 Of the edge,
is situated on high ground, and is well
adapted to satisfy the conditions of de-
fence. Each of the detached works form
ing this line sweep portion Of the line in
front of it by its fire, and render that
front line untenable when reached. These
works, like the others, mount heavy guns,
many of which were navy guns, probably
captured at Norfork in the early part of
the war. Communication between these
works and those on the other side of the
river was attained by four bridges, some
of which were pont0on and some pile, in
addition to the three railroad bridges at
and in Richmond.
PARTICULARS OF THE REBEL EVACUATION OF
THE WORKS AND CITY.
The evacuation of the works and city
was not generally understood by the troops
and people till yesterday Sunday after
noon. The necessity of the movement, as
already intimated, was rendered imperative
by Gen. Grants successes on the left. At
halfpast three O'Clock yesterday afternoon
jeff. Davis, while in church, received q
dispatch from Gen. Lee that immediate
preparation must be made to evacuate
Richmond and ito defences at once, as he
was wholly unable to make further head
way against Grants onset on the left. He
added that his Nees) design was to en-
deavor to make Danville, and there fortify
for last grand stand. An effort, how
ever, is to be made to fight at Burkesville,
but it is not thought Lee will be able to
succeed in carrying out this intention.
THE FLIGHT OF DAVIS.
Davis left this city last right at eight
O'Clock by rail for Danville, bis family hay
ing been sent out five days ago. On the
tram he had horses and carriages EN-
barked, in case the road was interrupted,
in order to easily make his way by these
means. In spirits he was very much de-
pressed, and bore the appearance of an ex-
ceedingly haggard and care-worn man, his
ceuntenance clearly betraying the loss of
bic cause. He expressed himself as being
yet determined not to give up, but to put
forth another effort to redeem his hopeless
and sunken fortunes. / think it may be
relied upon that he has not yet altogether
abandoned his cause, though it is positive
ly known that he has but little hope left.
His residence, when this dispatch was writ
ten, was desolate indeed, and everything