The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-15 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

NEW YORK, JULY 2.
The New I ork Times of the 2d says :—" The
.following details will be found of special interest,
a s lanfolding the plans of the rebels in their attack
upon our right and rear, while the concentration of
our troops between the Chickahominy and the
James was being effected. There is no doubt what-
ever that the movement in the rear was conducted
by Stonewall Jackson, as important information
was received from deserters from his command,
brought into our lines by General Stoneman's vi-
dettes. It appears also that the rebel programme
involved an attack next day on our left, and on the
following day on our centre, in order that our
troops might be wearied by continual watchfulness,
when a general attack upon our lines would be
more likely to be successful. This programme was
of course defeated by the strategic movements of
our army, and ere this the enemy may have found
cause to regret the scattered condition of his force."
An example of the rigour with which the prohi-
bition of the publication of news is enforced is
afforded in the following correspondence relative to
the arrest of Mr. Fulton, the proprietor and corre-
spondent of the Baltimore American. It is taken
from his own paper :
"The arrest of Mr. C. C. Fulton, one of the proprietors
and editors of the American, and his committal to Fort
id'Henry by order of the Secretary of War, having been
made public, the publication of the following correspond-
ence in reference thereto becomes necessary. Previous to
leaving the city for the fort, Mr. Fulton addressed the fol-
lowing despatch to President Lincoln :
" To the President of the United States.

" ' Sir,—l find myself under arrest, and on my way to
Fort M'Henry. I appeal to you for a hearing and prompt
release in behalf of my family, who will be in great distress

at the execution of this inexplicable order. The Secretary
of War authorised me to publish my statement.—Respect-
fully, " ' C. C. Fuvrox,'

"To this the following reply was received :
" To C. C. Fulton, Fort irl'lleury.
" Washington, June 30, 1862.
" ' I am authorised to say to you that your arrest was
not made for publishing the statement, but upon your state-
ment that you were preparing a detailed account, including
facts obtained from Washington, having been sent by spe-
cial train to communicate with the President. This is re-
garded by the Ps esident and the War Department as a
flagrant and outrageous violation of the confidence with
which you were treated. The publication of facts obtained
from Washington under such circumstances is a high mili-
tary crime.—Respectfully,
" 4 E. S. SANDFORD, Military Superintendent.'
" The statement' or despatch to which exception was
taken is the following, published in the extra editions of the
New York papers:—
" 6 Baltimore American office, Baltimore,
Sunday, June 29, 9 p.m.
" 'I am writing for the American a detailed account of
events at White House, before Richmond, and on the
peninsula, during the last four days, including facts ob-
tained from Washington, having been sent for by special
train to communicate with the President.
"' If you desire it, I will send it to you. It will make
4,000 or 5,000 words.
" We have the grandest military triumph over the
enemy, and Richmond must fall,
cc c C. C. FULTON.'
" After waiting patiently for the news, as promised above,
until midnight, we were surprised at the reception of the
following despatch :
" ' Baltimore, Sunday, June 29, 11 p.m.
" ' The Secretary of War decides that nothing can be
telegraphed relative to affairs on the peninsula.
"'Have tried our best to get it off.
" ' C. C. FULTON, Agent Associated Press.'
" To the despatch from Col. Sandford, Mr. Fulton replied
as follows :
" Colonel Sandford,—
"'Sir,—The despatch I sent to New York was a private
one, addressed to Mr. Craig for his information as to
whether he desired to receive the report I was preparing for
the press. It was not intended for publication, and would
not have been published if my report had been permitted
to go through by telegraph. I never dreamt of its being
published.
" ' To find myself in Fort M'Henry, the depot for trai-
tors, is a mortification I cannot :express. Having risked
both life and property in defending the Union cause when
our city was in the possession of traitors, and rendered ser-
vices, as editor and proprietor of the Baltimore American,
to the Government in sustaining the laws which no one has
excelled, I ask, in common justice, that I should at least
be released on my parole.
" Respectfully yours,
" CHARLES C. FULTON.' "
The particulars which Mr. Fulton had been able
to furnish previous to his arrest are dated from the
White House, June the 28th, and are intended to
show a great strategical success on the part of
M'Clellan :
" The events transpiring at this point, and in the
army before Richmond during the past four days,
have been of such varied character and thrilling in-
terest that I scarcely know where to commence or
end the record in order to make it at all understand-
able to the general reader. Many who were eye-
witnesses to those movements have fled off panic-
stricken, fully convinced that the whole army before
Richmond has been destroyed, and that General
M'Clellan has been out-witted, out-generaled, out-
flanked, and driven to the wall,' where he pro-
raised to place the enemy. The evacuation of White
House was to them an inexplicable mystery under
any other condition of facts ; but hal they have kept
their eyes open early in the week they would have
discovered that the work of evacuation was silently
and surely progressing before any of the fight-
ing on the right wing, as early as Tuesday, and that
large numbers of vessels had left the York and Pa-
mu.nkey Rivers, and were moving rapidly around
to a new basis of operations on the James River.
They might' also have observed that all civilians
were forbidden to approach the front as
early as Tuesday, under any pretence whatever,
and that the immense stores of supplies at Dis-
patch Station had been steadily reduced for a week,
until the last box of crackers, barrel of beef, and
bale of hay had disappeared, before the great con-
test on Friday, which left the way open for the
enemy to approach that point, which I have every
reason to believe was designedly intended by Gene-
ral M'Clellan to be the mouth of the empty trap
into which they were being led, and, as I hope and
believe, to their entire rout discomfiture.
"Before proceeding to the narrative of events as
they have Occurred in the vicinity of White House
Pas
during the t
few days, I will briefly state ,that
the whole movementeof General M'Clellan, so far
as the changing
i slin. lines are concerned, and in
reality the making
of his
hishis left wing his right wing,
and withdrawing
right wing to rest near Sa-
vage Station, at the railroad bridge across the
Cilickahominy, has been accomplished, throwing
the way open for the enemy to
rush to his coveted
feast at the White House,where
he found nothing
platter. Whether this movement
but an emptyis
good or bad, or what may be intended by General
M'Clellan to be accomplished by it further than
throwing his left on to James River, and
inlPPort-
ing a laud attack ou Fort Darling, it is
impossible
at present to say. A day or au hoar may decide
this point. I will merely proceed to a narrative et
events as they occurred at White House up to
Saturday at noon, embracing such statements as
reached us from the battle-field on Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
“At White House on Wednesday matters were
progressing as usual, with the exception that there
has been a check in the landing of stores of all de-
scriptions, while those on the landings were being
rapidly re-loaded in waggons and moved off to-
wards the left flank. Several steamers with large
strings of vessels laden with forage and subsistence
had also been started down the river with orders
to proceed to City Point on the James River. The
reversal in the course of transportation occasioned
considerable comment and speculation, but was
ascertained to be the fulfilment of an order
direct from General M'Clellan. Some supposed
it to be intended for the supply of a portion of
General Burnside's army, which rumour said had
reached the James River to co-operate with him. An
order Was also received from headquarters early on
Wednesday toprohibit any one from coming for-
ward to
h
sinless the parties nr'' On any consideration whatever,
_nelonged to the army. This
order was so petem
i .oin that even those connected
with the press, sorarroi
whom
had come down to
forward their report by the mail boats, were pre-
vented from returning, and, others who had
promptly sent back.smut,-
. gled themselves through wee©
"On the same day General Casey came down
and took command of the small land force,
not
ex-
ceeding 600 men,, and in the evening Was notifledto prepare at any moment for the entire evacuation

of the p, and the preservation, as far as practi-
cable, of the public property. Similar orders were
also sent to Colonel Ingalls. He immediately com-
municated with the fleet, and a division of men,
armed with axes, proceeded during the night to cut
down the trees around White-house, and subse-
quently all the way along, above and below the
Pamunkey bridge, so as to give them free play for
the use of their guns. On the same evening we
had report from head-quarters that a division of the
rebels, the forces of Stonewall Jackson and General
Ewell, were approaching and threatening to open
the way by the right flank for a raid on the White-
house. In the meantime the trains on the railroad
were kept running night and day, carrying forward
nothing but ammunition and munitions of war, with
siege and rocket trains and field-pieces.
" The down train of cars due at seven o'clock on
Wednesday evening had not arrived, which added
to the excitement among the sutlers and camp fol-
lowers. At half-past ten o'clock in the evening,
however, the train arrived, bringing down about 90
wounded men, it having been delayed for their ac-
commodation, They were nearly all of General
Hooker's division, and had participated in the gal-
lant advance on the left of the centre on Wednes-
day morning, driving the enemy from their rifle
pits, and reporting that they had secured and held
what is] known as Tavern Hill, an important
position, commanding the city of Richmond. This
is the important point alluded to in the despatches
of General M'Clellan detailing the affair. The
entire loss on our side was reported to be about
260 wounded, and 60 killed. A large number of
those wounded were, however, very slight, most of
them being able to walk from the cars to the hos-
pital boat. Thus ended the events of Wednesday.

"The fact that the gunboats had taken position
in front of the landing with their guns out and
shotted, and the sweeping away of the trees,which
was still progressing, gave renewed activity to the
rush of the camp followers for passes by the mail
boat to Fortress Monroe, and our population com-
menced to be rapidly depleted.
" The down train from the front reported all
quiet, with the exception of certain mysterious
movements within our lines that were not under-
standable to civilians. The immense stock of stores,
and forage at Despatch station, 11 miles from
White-house, were being carried off with great
rapidity, and subsequently we learnt that an im-
mense train of waggons had been running from that
point all day with forage and stores, and that the
greatest activity in their removal was being ob-
served. In the evening it was announced that not
a bale of hay, a bushel of oats, a barrel of beef, or a
box of crackers was left.
"Throughout the day at White-house the great-
est vigilance was observed in and around the head-
quarters of General Casey, who had pitched his
tents on the beautiful lawn in front of the White-
house, the building itself being occupied as the
private quarters of the Sisters of Charity ; and here
let me add that it is quite a small building, having
not more than six small rooms in it, the outbuild-
ings and servants' quarters being separate from the
residence. General Washington himself could not
complain of the use of it by these ministering
angels of the sick and wounded soldier. An im-
mense train of waggons was also moving forward
from the subsistence and commissary departments
throughout the day, and the immense stocks on
shore were being rapidly diminished. The trains
on the railroad were still steadily moving forward
with ammunition, and continued throughout the
night. Cavalry scouts had also been sent out in
various directions during the day, and preparations
were made for obstructing the roads.
" At dusk a new panic was occasioned by the dis-
covery that bales of hay had been piled over and
about all the large masses of subsistence stores on
the landings, indicating the probability that it
might become necessary during the night to apply
the torch to them to prevent their falling into the
hands of the enemy.
" While all these preparations were going on,
indicating the probable intention of evacuating the
landing on shore, the numerous steamers and tugs,
probably 50 in number, had been busy towing
down the river to West Point, a distance of 50
miles, through its tortuous windings, long lines of
brigs and barques laden with stores. The vessels
that were scattered about in the vicinity were also
collected together in separate groups and anchored
in the stream, where they could be easily and
rapidly taken in tow by the steamers when the time
for their removal arrived; and in order that the
reader may imagine the scene here presented it may
be proper for him to understand that not less than
700 sail of vessels were two days previous at anchor
at the White-house and landing and stream along
for eight or ten miles down the river.
"In the meantime the work of the construction
of the railroad bridge over the Pamunkey, just
above the landing, was steadily progressing, a large
force of workmen being constantly at work. This
fact, in conjunction with the evident movements
towards a speedy evacuation, bewildered the specu-
lations of the uninitiated ; but Colonel Ingalls,
under whose directions the evacuation was progress-
ing, moved about as coolly as a summer's morning.
" The morning train brought down the gratify-
ing news that the forward movements General
Hooker had been entirely successful, and that he
held the enemy's camp and rifle pits. About one
hundred more of the wounded arrived, and were
removed, with the others, to the hospital steamers,
where the Sanitary Committee, with their large
corps of surgeons, and the many Sisters of Charity
in attendance, did all in their power to render the
poor fellows comfortable. There are also a large
number of volunteer female nurses in attendance,
who are unremitting in their attention and kind-
ness to the sick and wounded.
" The reports from the front on Thursday even-
ing continued favourable, heavy skirmishing hav-
ing taken place on the right, resulting in the repulse
of the enemy, and a few more of the wounded
arrived, who reported everything progressing most
satisfactorily, while all the indications were that
a general battle along the whole line would take
place the next day (Friday). Tho trains were kept
in motion all night, carrying forward munitions of
war, while the waggon trains were still lining the
roads with commissary stores.
" On Friday morning the first item of news re-
ceived by telegraph was a gratifying announcement
that Stonewall Jackson and Ewell, in attempting to
turn the right flank, were repulsed by General
M'Call with his Pennsylvania Reserves, and driven
back with great slaughter. This attempt of Jack-
son was made at three o'clock in the morning, and
had closed at six o'clock, with a signal victory.
This repulse is said to have been one of the most
decisive and destructive of the war, the enemy
being put to a complete rout, with very light loss
to our forces. Although at night, and intended for
a.. surprise, the gallant Pennsylvanians were found
to wide awake. There was, however, every
ener„in-
dication of a general battle along the whole line,
"a (len. 1
Colonel M'Clellan, in order to be ready for all
Imo, gave directions to General Casey and
to make every preparation for the
instant removal
White House,
should
destruction of all the supplies at
athe result of the impending
battle render each a
his force
being deemed too small to necessary,
Io render the successful de-
fence of his position a certainty against such a
movement of the enemy as night en
" The steamers and tugs were
early requi-
sition, down --c river with long
and were moving the in
trains of transports in tow. The
vessels nearest
the landing were also stowed full of commissary
stores and munitions, and moved out in the stream.
The immense piles of boxes of crackers, barrels of
pork, and other stores along the landing were again
covered over with bales of hay, so as to be ready at
moment's notice to apply the torch for their destruc-
tion, if it should become necessary
"There was also great commotion among the
crowds of contrabands, who have been found most
efficient labourers, and who have been used to gre
advantage in the commissary and munition deparat
t-
ments. They soon understood that danger was ap-
prehended, and, on being assured by Col. Ingalls
that they would not be left behind to meet the ven-
geance of their masters, went t 0 work with re-
newed energy. Stores and mun itions everywhere
disappeared from the landings
with great rapidity,
and were being packed on the wt;erg boats and ves-