The Portland daily press., 1865-04-07

spohseS TO the preachers prayers. Federal
and Confederate lay together, the bitterness
OF noon assuaged in the common tribulation
OF the night, and all the while came in the
dripping stretchers, to place in this golgotha,
new fecruits for death and sorrow. af :
ASSAULT UPON PETERSBURG. & q
Gen. Grant, ON receipt of the news ol
Sheridan's victory at Five Forks, immedlateiy
dispatched couriers in connection witn the
telegraph leading to his headquarters, TO
each OF the corps commanders, desiring lhem
without loss OF time, to open with both artii-
lery and infantry upon the main works be-
fore Petersburg. 10 5engsa 30
Sheridan attained his success by half past
seven o'clock, on Saturday night. At Line
O'clock the news thereof had been heard OF
by Grant, and before ten our columns had
passed the picket line, and were On their way
to the rebel entertainments. q ie lsdaan 9'l
The struggle first commenced at the rebel
advanced works or intrenched picket posts.
The contest here was of short duration, for
vastly outnumbering our opponents we hurled
upon their skirmish lines such tremendous
masses OF men, SO thoroughly imbued with
the resolution to conquer, that after few aim
less yolleys the skirmishers fell back upon
their main works. s94 Nh 4 r5s.,I. r'e.i s.
Then we met them in the bitches, and
while portions charged by flank upon their
opposite salients, the main column, line after
line, climed the parapets. sfnsi37 sis.,F
All the intense and heroic incidents of an
assault were displayed at this time-the des-
perate sortie, the hand to-hand struggle, the
deadly bayonet lunge, the impulsiVe and fitful
crashes OF musket and revolver, and crossing
of swords where rival Officers met in single
combat, the volley now and then when our
troops poured en6ladiug fires down the inside
Of the parapet. the yeIls and groans kissing
together, and the moving lights of some re-
mote teamsters, as some attempt was made,
even in this awful hour, to ful6l the functions
of humanity by removing the wounded the
galloping Of couriers to and fro from end to
end OF the lines, both within and without the
fortihcations. s1 s ysa ~ ulsa
SCENES AT THE ASSAULT,
In places the bitches were heaped with liv-
Ing and dying contestants, tumbied together
promiseuously; but ever and anon, crisp tell
Ing cheers, in unmistaken northern dialect,
told how at various points the attack had
been successful. These encouraged our men
in places marked by less success; but Wrights
corps was. probably the first to carry the
whole advanced line Of rebel works, because
when the sounds of battle had ceased here we
Still heard the roar Of artillery aad the long
roll of musketry both to our left and to our
right. Opposite Fort Hell the rebels had
constructed rife redoubt, entitled Fort
Heaven, at which they fought like Satan's le-
gons in the most original fortifcation of that
name. ta'19e1c cal4o,sa1eis + asfla.5 ffs.
The time has passed when one Southern
man can claim to be equal 10 three Northern,
men; the time has arrived when one Northern
Is more than the equal of o Southern man.
From what l have seen OF our troops as now
organized and mareuvered, am certain that
fbo7 of
even OF their own countrymen. They are
better officered than ever before, and ALTHOUGH
among the troops there are many mercenary
fellows, who in civil life have very ordinary
status, still war demands men, not character.
CILY PoINT-10 A. NJ, Sunday morning
The steamer in which | am to embark
fer Old Point is about to quit her moorings; /
have, therefore, but time to tell you that Pc
tersburg is ours-ours, not in contemplation
alone, but in facs. Even now soldiers in blue
are fighting in the streets of the city so long
environed, and possibly before morning our
victorious regiments will march into the city
of Richmond, and hoist, for the first time in
five years, the national flag over the rebel
capital. The news / am reciting is not suffi
cienilJ sustained by the authoritative state
ments 70 warrant me in giving it to you in
detiii. / CLEAN from the whole, however,
that after q midnight attack, protracted far
into the morning, the soldiers of the Union
have carried portions of the entrenchments
a. Petersburg, and that the troops on the
north side of the James, taxing advantage of
their successes, have marched straight into
Richmond. There is a rumor that the rebel
capital has been fired, II this be so, 1t cannot
be the work of national, philosophical soldiers
like Lee and his associates, but rather of dis
appointed quartermasters and commssaries,
who, having flched the rebel government and
deluded its people, now seize to cover their
dafections by burning to the ground the city
which contains the testimony oil their frauds.
1t is certain that no city in the South is pop
ulated by more people willing to return to
the ancient Union than this rebel capital.
where Capitalization mars the specious title
of patriotism that has long stalked highland
ed aud unabashed. The dowDfallofthe capital
held by the Davis government is to be attribut-
ed as much to the abandonment by that ad-
ministration of the principles of State sover-
eighty, as to the bayonets of the advancing
Unionists. Both caases have assisted to
crush the rebellion as an organization. Ycu
will receive. probably, before this dispatch can
reach you, fuller accounts of the conquest of
this formidable stronghold. know, as /
write, that Petersburg is ours believe
that Richmond is, or sono will be.
q 3tA