Rained all night;
clear and cool this morning.
The government
publishes nothing from Georgia yet; but it is supposed there is intelligence of
an important character in the city, which it would be impolitic to communicate
to the enemy. .
All still remains
quiet below the city. But the curtain is expected to rise on the next act of
the tragedy every moment. Gen. Grant probably furloughed many of his men to
vote in Pennsylvania and Ohio, on Tuesday last—elections preliminary to the
Presidential election—and they have had time to return to their regiments.
If this pause should
continue a week or two longer, Gen. Lee would be much strengthened. Every day
the farmers, whose details have been revoked, are coming in from the counties;
and many of these were in the war in '61 and '62—being experienced veterans. Whereas
Grant's recruits, though greater in number, are raw and unskilled.
The Medical Boards
have been instructed to put in all men that come before them, capable of
bearing arms ten days. One died in the trenches, on the
eleventh day, of consumption!
There is a rumor of
a fight on our extreme left. It is said Field's division (C. S.) repulsed three
assaults of the enemy. If the battle be still continued (4 P.M —the wind from
the west prevents us from hearing guns), no doubt it is the beginning of a general
engagement-decisive, perhaps, of the fate of Richmond.
We have many
accounts of evasions of military service, occasioned by the alleged bad faith
of the government, and the despotic orders from the Adjutant-General's office.
And yet Gov. Smith's
certificates for exemption of rich young Justices of the Peace, Commissioners
of the county) Revenue, Deputy Sheriffs, clerks, constables, officers and
clerks of banks, still come in daily; and they are “allowed” by the Assistant
Secretary of War. Will the poor and friendless fight their battles, and win
their independence for them? It may be so; but let not rulers in future wars
follow the example! Nothing but the conviction that they are fighting for their
families, their sacred altars, and their little property induces thousands of
brave Southerners to remain in arms against such fearful odds as are now
arrayed against them.
Mr. Kean, the young
Chief of the Bureau of War, has come in from “the front," with a boil on
his thigh. He missed the sport of the battle to-day.
Mr. Peck, the agent
to purchase supplies for his starving fellow clerks, confesses that he bought
10 barrels of flour and 400 pounds of bacon for himself; 4 barrels of flour for
Judge Campbell, Asassistant Secretary of War; 4 barrels for Mr. Kean, 1 for Mr.
Cohen, and 1 for Mr. Shepherd. This has produced great indignation among the
200 clerks who sent him, and who got but 73 pounds each, and they got 13 pounds
of bacon each; while Mr. P. bought for himself 400 pounds.
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