the garrison, by newly raised levies, and by portions of the 6th corps and of the 19th corps, which had by this time begun to debark at the wharves. A force of 2,000 men sent out from Fort Stevens on Tuesday evening assaulted the enemy with spirit and decision. They retired to their main line. In this engagement each party lost about 300 killed and wounded. That night the enemy's sharpshooters were replaced by cavalry pickets, and on Wednesday morning, the 13th, their cavalry disappeared. At the same time, the insurgents withdrew from the vicinity of Baltimore, and a column of considerable strength was despatched on the afternoon of the 13th from this city to pursue the enemy across the Potomac. Telegraphic connection was promptly restored, and the railroads in all directions, although not altogether repaired, are carrying their freights and passengers to and from Philadelphia with almost their customary punctuality.

Doubtlessly the enemy thought, when he found the valley open to him, that a raid into Maryland would yield him supplies of provisions and horses to compensate the risk and cost. Doubtlessly he thought it possible that he might surprise the government in a defenceless condition at Baltimore and Washington. Doubtlessly, also, he reckoned upon some political effect to result from a panic, to be excited by even the menace of Washington. Finally, it is well established that he expected through that panic to oblige the general government to raise the siege of Petersburg.

General Grant is still persevering in the siege. The news that General Sherman has at last pursued the enemy from all his mountain fastnesses, and is now between the Chattahoochee and Atlanta, is confirmed. His communications still remain unbroken, and the forces which protect them have suffered no discomfiture. He is now advancing upon Atlanta.

We are preparing to call out additional forces, in the hope of closing the war with the present campaign.

Insurgent emissaries have appeared on the Canada frontier. They are ostentatiously making it known to the timid and the treacherous that they have come with offers of peace. Credulous persons believe them. But thus far, although there are channels. enough for any overtures, none have been made to the government. It is not unlikely that the real object of the pretended commissioners is an intrigue, with a view to effect upon the annual election.

The Florida, making Bermuda her base, has been committing depredations off the capes of the Chesapeake. A proper force has been sent out to find her.

July 26, 1864. During the past week public attention has been concentrated upon Atlanta. When General Sherman had fully crossed the Chattahoochee, the insurgent General Johnston was replaced by Hood. On the 22d instant General Sherman was disposing of his columns with a view to an advance. On the other hand, the enemy, after manoeuvring with skill, fell upon the column of McPherson with great vehemence. That able and magnanimous commander fell by the ball of a sharpshooter before the battle began. His command was assumed by General Logan. The battle became general, and was fought with great tenacity. The enemy was repulsed at every point and our forces held the battlefield. Our whole loss was about two thousand. We found one thousand of the enemy's dead on the field, and their aggregate loss was seven thousand.

A large part of the city of Atlanta, although now defended by Hood's army, lies within the range of our guns. The city has four railroad military communications. The road to Chattanooga is held by our forces. The road to Augusta has been destroyed by General Sherman, throughout a distance of fifty miles. The road to Montgomery, in Alabama, has been effectually broken at Opelika. The road leading to Macon alone remains. It is probable that it will not escape the attention of General Sherman.

I have just returned from a visit to General Grant in front of Petersburg. His army is in excellent condition. While he has no fear that the enemy will attempt to assail him, he is at the same time neither idle nor embarrassed concerning a plan of operations. The insurgent raiding force which lately visited Maryland retired up the valley before General Wright. He returned to his camp near Georgetown. The enemy then retraced their steps, and are now again advancing towards Harper's Ferry. Our military authorities are on the alert.

The insurgent political agents, Clay and Holcomb, who, as I wrote you last week, had appeared in Canada, attempting to practise upon the American people by protestations of a readiness on the part of the insurgents at Richmond to make peace on compatible terms, were last week brought directly to an explanation, which re

sulted in showing to the whole world, what was already well understood here, that the rebel military cabal indulges no thought of peace, except through the dissolution of the Union. How could it be otherwise? Propositions for peace must come, not through the conspirator's council chamber, but behind it.

July 28, 1864. Now, when General Sherman has Atlanta under his guns, when General Grant commands the avenues to the socalled insurgent capital, and when the nation's credit is reviving under the fiscal conduct of Mr. Fessenden, it excites a smile to read in your despatch that the latest telegraphic advices you have concerning affairs at home, were that our army was harmless at Petersburg; that Sherman, with a starving army, had been repulsed on his march into Georgia; and that the resignation of Mr. Chase had unfavorably affected American securities.

August 1, 1864. — Vigorous activity has been displayed in the campaign, but no great change in the military situation has occurred since my last notice thereof. The insurgent expeditionary force which visited Maryland a short time ago, then retired before our pursuit into the valley, and again assumed the aggressive when the chase was relinquished, have during the last week been operating on the south side of the upper Potomac, west of Harper's Ferry. On the 29th a cavalry detachment of that force, 400 or 500 strong, marched into Chambersburg, burned a considerable portion of the town, and then made their escape before a government force, under command of General Averill. Measures have been taken to repel any further incursions without weakening our army on the James River.

On the morning of the 28th ultimo Lieutenant-General Grant, by way of diverting the enemy, sent a column, under Major-General Hancock, across the James, and took possession of Malvern Hill; an engagement ensued, in which he drove three insurgent brigades from an intrenched position, captured four guns and many prisoners, without any serious loss. On the night of the 29th this column returned to their accustomed position unobserved by the enemy. On the morning of the 30th the mine which had been prepared under the portion of the enemy's fortifications, in the centre of the circumvallation of Petersburg, was exploded, and thereupon an assault was made over the breach produced by the explosion. The breach and a considerable length of parapet on the right, together with a

fort in front, were taken and held by our forces. Some 300 prisoners were captured, and a large portion of a South Carolina regiment were buried under the débris of the explosion; but the assault upon the main line failed with considerable, though not very great,

loss.

No important event has occurred at Atlanta since the battle of the 22d, in which it now appears that our army, although surprised, as I have before reported, was completely triumphant, yet the enemy, nevertheless, for a brief space, claimed a victory.

August 8, 1864. The military campaign has, as a whole, been very successful; but it has also been attended by disappointments, accidents, and reverses. It has not yet ended, and it either is, or to the public mind seems to be, alarmingly protracted. Judging from the language of the press and of those who engage in debates, one might well believe that the people are deeply despondent, that their resolution is failing, and that new and menacing distractions are imminent. I am not altogether able to dispel this popular gloom from the region of my own mind. Nevertheless, I think it wise to remember that the country is in that peculiar state of agitation which is inseparable from the canvass preliminary to a presidential election that all the faculties of the public mind are necessarily wrought up to a high pitch of excitement, and, owing to the gravity of affairs, a higher pitch than they ever attained before. Misconception and exaggeration color every opinion on every subject, and individuals and masses are thrown into that political condition wherein faction is so often allowed to begin the work of anarchy. I hear alarms on all sides, but as yet I hear of no formidable movements of disorganization. In such a case I should despair for the safety of free government among any other people. The American people are peculiarly intelligent, thoughtful, and virtuous, and the conditions of their life are especially favorable. We may surely place much reliance on the force of habit among such a people. They have resisted violent revolutionary tendencies and stringent reactionary interests for three years with so much prudence and sagacity, that I think it reasonable to expect that they will preserve their proper temper when they provide, in a constitutional manner, for the continuance of the government, which it is absolutely certain that in their thoughtful seasons they hold at its inestimable worth. If they can do this, there is no reason to

apprehend that they will be unable to carry this painful civil war to a safe conclusion. The advantages of resources and means, as well as the logic of reason and morals, are in their favor. The course of events is liable to be much affected by vicissitudes, and these are not to be expected to be divided between the parties disproportionately to their relative advantages and merits.

August 9, 1864. The failure of our assault upon the fortifications at Petersburg, which I mentioned in my last military summary, proved to be more complete and more disastrous than I had then learned. We retained none of the ground gained, and our loss was 3,500 men, which greatly exceeded that of the enemy. The result protracts the siege, but is not otherwise discouraging. The enemy recently sprang a mine in front of our works, but absolutely without effect.

You will find in the public papers very full reports of the operations of General Sherman. They have been eminently successful and very injurious to the enemy. It seems reasonable to expect a consummation of the siege of Atlanta in a few days. Our cavalry have met with severe losses in cutting off the military communications of the insurgents, but it is understood that these losses are counterbalanced by the strategic advantages gained.

The public mind has been kept highly excited by the recent movements of the insurgent column which lately visited Maryland. It is understood, however, that their operations have been chiefly cavalry movements, and that the damage they have done is confined to the destruction of a considerable portion of Chambersburg. What is believed an adequate force is now advancing against the enemy in the valley of Virginia, under command of General Sheridan. There is at least a significant cessation of the aggressive operations of the insurgents in that quarter, and at the moment I am writing we have official information that the force which destroyed Chambersburg has already been, in effect, destroyed.

We have information, through the insurrectionary press, that Admiral Farragut, after a successful naval battle in the bay of Mobile, has passed the two lower insurgent forts and gone up to that city. We expect decisive news from that quarter without delay.

August 15, 1864. The insurgent force which, under command. of Early, threatened Washington and Baltimore in July, and then