Important from the Rappahannock.
the enemy Crossing in force!
fight at Deep Run.
The advices from the Rappahannock, received yesterday, leave no doubt as to the fact that the Yankee army has at last commenced a movement in the neighborhood of Fredericksburg.
A gentlemen who left Hamilton's Crossing yesterday morning.
Informs us that the enemy, on Tuesday night, under cover of a dance fog, succeeded in laying down two of their penteon bridges, over which they crossed a force, variously estimated at from 5,000 to 10.000.
At the time of the crossing the 18th Georgia regiment were on picket at the mouth of Deep Run, and a brisk fight ensued, which lasted from daylight until 10 o'clock, at which time the Georgians were relieved by the 6th Louisiana regiment.
Our picket force had fallen back from the river to the road running parallel with the Rappahannock. A general fight is anticipated within the next few days, as it is believed that the movement is a general one.
In the fight yesterday morning, it is reported that there were two killed and some half drown wounded.
The mouth of Deep Run, at which this morning was effected, is about one and a half miles below Fredericksburg, and is the same point at which that portion of the enemy's forces crossed that engaged the right wing of our army in the battle of the 13th of December. The land on this side in the immediate vicinity of the river is a level plain of nearly two miles in width, across which the enemy must advance to attack our position on the hills in the neighborhood of Hamilton's Crossing. It was as they advanced over this plain in December that they suffered such terrible loss. On the opposites or Stafford side of the river the country is hilly, and affords admirable positions for the batteries of the enemy, under cover of which they have successfully thrown their forces over the river.
