by John Beauchamp Jones
JUNE 23D.—Clear and warm.
The news of the capture of 1600 Federals, 4 guns, etc., yesterday atPetersburg, has put the people here in better humor, which has been bad enough, made so by reported rapes perpetrated by negro soldiers on young ladies inWestmorelandCounty. There has been talk of vengeance, and no doubt such atrocities cause many more to perish than otherwise would die.
A Mr. Sale, in the West, sends on an extract from a letter from Col. ____, proposing to the government to sell cotton on the Mississippi River for sterling exchange in London, and indicating that in this manner he has large sums to his own credit there, besides $100,000 worth of cotton in this country. Col. ____is a commissary, against whom grave charges have been made frequently, of speculation, etc., but was defended by the Commissary-General.
Mr. Harvey, president Danville Railroad, telegraphs to Gen. Bragg to send troops without delay, or the road will be ruined by the raiders. Bragg sends the paper to the Secretary of War, saying there are no troops but those in the army of Gen. Lee, and the reserves, the latter now being called out. Ten days ago, Mr. Secretary Seddon had fair warning about this road.
