The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-08 00:00:00

7 HE FEDERAL _RETREA7.

AA. 'special correspondent of the New York Tribune
gig
des a detailed narrative of the Federal retreat on
the Rappahannock, beginning with Wednesday the
20th

" I have just returned from the lines of the army
on the Rappahannock, and bring particulars of the
progress of affairs up to Saturday afternoon.
4‘ By Wednesday noon the retreat of our army
from the Rapidan to the Rappahannock had brought
it to the banks of the latter river, and the rearguard
composed in part of General Hatch's brigade of
cavalry, were just at Brandy Station (the first on
the railroad beyond Rappahannock-bridge) when
the head of the rebel pursuing columns first came
in sight. Thyoughout the whole march from Cul-
pepper to this point the enemy were following
closely upfan the heels of our forces, their advanced
guard IN:ing but a short distance behind the rear,
and thf.,,,ir main body only some six or eight miles
off. &t this insignificant little railroad station, then,
the 'grand armies of Pope and Lee first got sight of '
each other, and a conflict immediately ensued. Our
rearguard, supposing that the rebel lorce was a
mere skirmishing party seri, in advance, and, wish-
ing to check such presumptuous reconnoitering,
'turned upon it, and the order to charge was given.
Immediately tlae three cavalry regiments of Hatch's
Brigade—the Harris Light, Ist Pennsylvania, and
Ist New Jersey—formed in line of battle, and swept
forward with tremendous cheers, but coming sud-
denly upon a broad and deep ditch they were com-
pelled to draw rein, and at the instant a large force
of rebel infantry rose from cover and poured a
heavy volley into the ranks, which emptied many
saddles, and threw our squadrons into contusion.
The line gave way at the centre, but the wings,
wavering and showinrg a disposition to hold their
ground, another volley was poured into them by
the enemy, and our whole force then rapidly re-
treated to the Rappahannock River. The rebel
foreeF3 followed hotly after; but at the moment
wir_in they thought they had driven us pell-mell over
tl',e river, and the capture of the railroad bridge,
must oe an easy affair, the fire of two batteries—
Matthew's Pennsylvania and Thompson's Maryland
—•was poured into their faces with terrific effect.
Their impulsive advance was checked in the in-
stant, and the exultP.nt yells died upon their lips.
In haste they re*,:ired from the exposed situation
where they stnrid to the cover of a thick wood,
which skirted the level plain at a distance of half
4 mile from tie river. Their pieces not having been
brought frJrward they could not reply to our fire,
so their column moved to the left, under cover of
the woods, with the view of flanking us by effecting
a cr.ossing at one of the fords between Rappahan-
Dock-bridge and the Warrenton White Sulphur
springs. Their design, having been anticipated,
was baffled by General Pope, who pushed his
column a corresponding distance along the north
bank of the river, and guarded each ford with three
batteries to command it in front and from either
side. The two armies were kept thus moving all
'Thursday, each of the two able players at this grand
game of war seeking to checkmate his antagonist
without bringing on a serious engagement before
his forces were fully massed. An attempt was
made down at Kelly's FO,-rd—on the left of our line
—to cross, and turn, our position, but this was
effectually foiled 13,:f General Reno, who showed no
force until he brad lured the enemy into the place
he desired, wit then suddenly opened fire with his
batteries, PAnd then followed it up with a cavalry
charge, 'which put the foe to flight, and determined
him tr, make no more attempts that day to cross at
K el 'iy's Ford.
" Friday morning came, and with it a sharp can-
nonade along the whole line, from Kelly's Ford
(Reno's position) to Barnett's Ford, which was de-
fended by Sigel. The first gun was fired at five
o'clock at our centre, and answered by M'Dowell's
batteries; but the answering echoes of the Blue
Ridge had hardly sent back the peals of ordnance
before Sigel also was attacked, and from that on
until dusk the cannonade was almost incessant.
The fact was that the main body of the enemy had
come up, and, in advance of choosing their final
position, they were feeling us all along the line.
At Barnett's Ford, however, their attack was most
determined, as that point was, of all along the river,
the most favourable for their designs. But the
gallant corps of Sigel did not come short of its duty
one iota, for their batteries played upon the rebel
batteries all day long, and even after nightfall,
w'Jrn out and fatigued as men and horses were,
they kept up the fight until the enemy drew up.
" In the morning Banks had occupied a position
to the left of M'Dowell, but when it became appa-
rent that the attack upon Sigel would be the main
feature of the day, his corps was moved up to the
right to support Sigel, and Reno's division was
marched from Kelly's Ford to a point above Rappa-
hannock Railroad Bridge, near General Pope's
head-quarters. The 31st New York was, however, I
left to guard the ford, much to Lieutenant-Colonel
Potter's disgust, who longed to lead his men into
thickest of the fight, as usual.

" All day Friday General Pope's head-quarters
were on a bold hill, whence a tolerable view could
be had of the line of battle, which stretched for
eight or ten miles along the Rappahannock, and
hither came and thence went mounted aides and
orderlies in hot haste, with reports and orders, ver-
bal and written. The hill top was shaded by a
group of large oaks, under the branches of which I
saw at one time clustered several Generals and
general staffs,

4, When the artillery attack on Sigel had lulled
-a little the brave General determined to feel the
rebel strength opposite his position. Accordingly
be ordered General Carl Schurz to reconnoitre with
his division, and if possible to cross the river.
Schurz'b division comprises two brigades, of which
he took only the first, General Bohlen, for the re-
connaissance. The 74th Pennsylvania Was sent
over first, the men wading breast-deep through the
water, holding their pieces and ammunition above

their heads to keep them dry. The ~Bth Virginia
and 61st Ohio followed after, and some time after
NPLean's brigade was sent to support them in their
engagement with the enemy.
" Schurz's crossing was unopposed. He kept on
up the opposite bank, and out upon the level ground,
and went more than a mile before his pickets came
face to face with the enemy's. s soon as our fel-

lows saw the " gray-backs,' they fired, but the
rebels, instead of standing ground or making a show
of force, fell back, in no very leisurely manner
either, for half a . Sigel followed awhile, until
it was evident they 'wished to entrap him into an
ambush, when he halted and took up a fine position
in the edge of some heavy timber, the approaches
in which were over open fields, Their design
foiled, the enemy had no choice but to face about
and attack Schurz in his own position, which they
did in force. One of the officers who were wounded
in this fight tells me that he counted 25 pieces
of
ordnance on their side which were in action at once,
supported by adequate forces of infantry and

cavalry.
" The flight on this trans-Rapp'.hannock field
was hotly contested, as you may well imagine from
the fact that it commenced at about. 9 a.m., and
lasted until 6 o'clock in the evening. Charges were
repeatedly made by both sides, and the rebels,

seemingly determined to conquer in spite of every
obstacle, even stripped to their pantaloons in many
cases—as our Irishmen are said to have done at
Buii Run. But a.though the musketry was sharp
and the fighting mostly at short ra:,ge, the rebels
seemed to have forgotton their marksmanship for
once, for up to 5 o'clock, when I passed that way,
Sigel had not lost above 50 or 60 in killed and
wounded. But one brave man and true patriot
had gone to his account—Brigadier-General Bohlen
of Philadelphia, commanding the Ist Brigade, 3d
Division, Sigel's Army Corps, ad fallen, while at
the head of his command he, was waving his sword
and cheering on his men. The news of his death
will be received with the deepest regret in Phila-
delphia where his social qualities are so well known.
lies,de him a few officers—very few considering
the number engaged and the stubbornness of the
fight—were killed or wounded, but, except those in
the list annexed, I could not obtain their names in
the confusion of the fight.
"—wards evening, Sigel's object having been ac-
complished, and Schurz's force not being efficient

I to hold his extremely advanced position, our troops
were withdrawn to the north bank of the river.
They were hotly pursued to the very w er's edge
by the enemy, and during the passage t rough the
ford the rebel volleys were as sharp a any I ever
heard. All of our killed and wounded , ere brought
safely across, and a small number of prisoners (not
five whole regiments, as one report has it). That
General Sigel should have come safely through the
day himself is truly remarkable, for he exposed
himself in a most reckless manner wherever he
thought it necessary to do so, and in the final grand
fusilade he was in the midst of a real storm of bullets.

" With night came a cessation of hostilities. The
enemy had been foiled in his attempt to flank us,
and we had gained another day—worth everything
to our army and the nation.
"On Saturday there was an artillery duel all
along the opposing lines. The ball was opened at
our centre, and the firing extended not only up the
river toward Sigel, but down toward the railroad
bridge, where we occupied two hills across the river.
It had been raining the evening before and almost
all night, and the red waters of the Rappahannock
had so swollen as to carry away the bridge over
Barnett's Ford, and the debris lodged against the
lower one in such masses that there was a great
danger of its being carried away. Our advanced
position had become very insecure, and, it was ac-
cordingly determined to abandon it. The move-
ment was executed in perfect order. Matthews's
and Thompson's Batteries, supported by the 12th
and 13th Massachusetts and 11th Pennsylvania,
were safely withdrawn to this side of the river,
while a company of Pennsylvania riflemen and a
section of Matthews's guns held the position until
the last man and last gun were safely brought over.
New positions were taken on this side, from which
the old ones could be enfiladed, and on the rebels
appearing in strong force a terrific can-
nonade was opened upon them by Mat-
thews's, Hall's, Thompson's, and Leppier's
Batteries of Riekett's Division, which caused
great loss to the enemy. Every, attempt to
plant a battery on the abandoned eminence was
repulsed with great slaughter, and the enemy
were fairly driven back to the woods when I left
the ground.
" The topography of the ground about the rail-
road bridge is most favourable for defending the
northern bank, there being on that side a chain of
hillocks stretching away towards Warrington
Springs. At the opposite shore there are two of
these eminences, and a level plain beyond, bounded
by thick woods. On the edge of these woods the
rebel infantry could be seen all Friday, and once in
a while squads of their mounted videttes would ride
out from cover and reconnoitre us until driven back
by shot or shell from our batteries. On Thursday
night I slept on the wet grass of a pasture-field,
rolled up in a thin woollen blanket, and when
morning came was wet to the skin ; and, from
having involuntarily fasted the day previous, was
hungry enough on Friday morning to have eaten
preserved tenpenny nails. Imagine, then—but
none of you comfortably housed-np towners can
imagine—how welcome was the invitation I got
from the colonel of the 13th Massachusetts to share
the breakfast he had laid at his open-air headquar-
ters on the hill-side, behind Matthews's Battery.
Our table was the wet ground, our table cloth an
India-rubber blanket, but we had coffee and hard
biscuit, and a bit of Scotch roast pig, and if that
wasn't a meal fit for the gods, what could have
been ? Fcr our sauce we had appetite, for our
relish the delicious uncertainty whether or no the
rebel batteries would drop shells on the meat-platter
between us. From the crest of the hillock we could
see the grey-coated cavaliers and musketeers de-
ployed in full sight, and, while we were watching,
every now and then there would come a little puff
of smoke and a sharp, cracking noise, and one of
the rebel horsemen would either flinch or fall as the
bullets of our sharpshooters grazed or hit him.
" The positions of onr batteries near the bridge,
on this side of the river, were chosen in ad-
vance for enfilading those opposite in case
they should be abandoned, but when our
guns had fairly got to work and driven
the rebels away, our men found that on their
part the enemy had, during Friday night,
constructed their batteries so as to command our
new positions; and so, after suffering some loss in
men and horses, and having two of Matthews's
guns dismounted, General Ricketts gave the order
to limber up and file off a little more to the right to
get out range. Prior to this, Lieutenant Godbold,
of Matthews's Battery, while teaching the fuse
man ' No. 6' at a gun how to cut his fuses, was
struck by a shell, which came from a battery to o
miles off, exploded as it struck him, and shattered
his left leg, so as to make amputation necessary. I
saw the brave fellow afterwards, and found him
doing so well that he made light of his injury and
jestingly talked of dancing waltzes again.
"As on Thursday and Friday, so on Saturday,
the enemy kept working up toward Warrenton
White Sulphur Springs, on the south side of the
Rappahannock, with the view of flanking us, and
we moved further and further away from the rail-
road to baffle their design. As on preceding days,
so on Saturday, the grand artillery duel went on
from right to left and left to right, the cannonade
being heavier now at M'Dowell's position, now at
Sigel's, now at Banks's. We were guarding, and
successfully guarding, the whole river bank, and all
the fords from Kelly's to Warrenton, and the enemy,
with an army of 100,000 or 150,000, had been held
in check by Pope with a much inferior numerical
force. Their great game was to turn our position,
take us in the rear, whip us, and then rush on with
streaming flags to Washington ; ours the desperate
task of showing fight, and yet not fighting, of play-
ing with our monstrous antagonist until he lost his
golden time, and until our reinforcements from
Fredericksburg, the Peninsula, and the North would
so strengthen us that we could crush his armies
and capture his capital. If we could save ourselves
until Saturday night we would be safe. And the
greatest crisis of this war occurred between
Thursday morning and Saturday night. It is
passed, and we are Gate. 'Washington is
sate, four army is safe, the nation is safe.
For Pope's artillery is now
guarding the line of
the
Rappahannock,and Fitz John Porter,with a very
heavy force, joined Pope on Friday evening, and a
way of Alexandria. And now look for the
host of regiments have joined and are joining him
now, by
grand
movements of
Burnside hasthewar massed a large within 30 days.are Do
not forget thatarmy
at Fredericksburg, and Pope is nearly, or quite,"as
strong as Lee and Jackson, andlllsClellan is freed
from the net which—whether self-woven or not—
held him in its meshes on the Peninsula.
" Some stir was caused in camp—and a thousand
times more in Washington I find—by a sudden
raid of 250 guerillas upon Catlett's station, under
cover of the night. The devoted band dashed in
upon our small collection of men and waggons, and
stampeding a lot of sutlers and servants and team-
sters, burnt seven waggons, run off a number of
\ horses, and took about 100 prisoners. The most
serious part of the business is that they took Gen.
Pop'''s
personal baggage and moneys' and his offi-
cial &
papers, correspondence c
to be in one
offhe par
ti
waggons whichwhich happened
had been sent
to the rear. T
affair have al-
ready been sent
yopubticulars of the
yanother correspondent.
" In the attack at Catlett's station, 20 supply
trains were destroyed,
'
or their contents injured, by
the rebels. Many waggons
Captain Willard, the Commissary in charge,
escaped, remained all night
in the
reached Manassas on Saturday.
°' The skirmishes on the Rappahannock extended
we et 'ode , b ua
rnnd.
over such a long line that it was impossible for our
reporters to compile a full list of the casualties. The
whole number of our killed and wounded up to Sa-
turday is computed by high authority at less than
600, of which not more than 100 are killed. This
small loss is attributable to the fact that the fight
so far has been mainly an artillery duel at long
range.

4‘ All the private papers and letters of General
Pope, copies of despatches and reports, memo-
randa relating to the campaign and to the army,
copies of telegrams sent, all despatches received
from the President, Halleck, and the War Depart-
ment, orders issned to Generals of corps and
divisions, all maps, and topographical charts, con-