The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-16 00:00:00

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

BATTLE BEFORE RICHMOND.

Newspaper reporis state that during the engage-
ment Professor Lowe in his balloon was hovering
above the eeene, and communicating information by
telegraali as to the movements of the Confederates.
It is alleged that Gen. Casey's troops were mostly
rearuits, and that his force was reduced by disease
to 6,000 men. The Few I ork Tiles' correspondent
describes the engagement as follows :
" The position held by Gen. Casey was on the
Williamburg stage road, .withinaix or seven miles
of Richmond, and on a line so extended at the front
that the troops required to keep picket guards of
sufficient strength made no slight draught on his
weakened forces. The right of the line was held by
his first brigade, under Gen. H. M. Naglea, as brave
and vigilant an officer as is to be Band in the army
of the Potomac. Gen. Naglee's pickets extended
across the railroad. (running parallel with the Wil-
liamsburg-road, about a mile to the right) to near
the sixth milepost from Richmond, and so on fur-
ther to the right and a little to the rear until within
a shart distance of a point on the Chickahominy,
where Gen. Sumner had thrown a bridge across the
stream, and was hourly expected to cross to com-
plete the line of pickets to the river. The centre of
Gen. Casey's position was held by the 2d Brigade ;
Gen. Wassell's (formerly Gen. Keims's) extended
from Gen. Naglee's line to the left a short distance
across the Williamsburg-road, where it joined the
3d Brigade, Gen. Palmer's stretching some distance
further to the left, and joining the lines of General
Couch, who guarded the left flank, the main por-
tion of his force being a short distance to the rear
of Casey, on the Williamsburgh-road. The position
occupied b 7 the suala sada7 at tenca, +ayn aaeisions
was a clearine4 of about one mile square, surrounded
on the left and the front by a belt of forest, in which
Gen. Ca;sey's pickets were stationed. On the right
a wceaded swamp divided the clearing from a similar
opening in the forest along the railroad, which was
Occupied by General Naglee with his brigade.
Just beyond the woods to the front were similar
clearings with woods on their further side, where
the rebels lay concealed, their pickets occupying'the
edge of the forest, and separated from our pickets
by the width of the fields, forming a sort of neutral
ground between the two armies, over which each
kept close watch lest his neighbour should take pos-
session. Step by step General Casey had pressed
on to this point, overcoming such opposition as met
him, until it became evident that the rebels had
'reached the limit of their retreat, and farther ad-
vance could not be ventured without the risk of a
general engagement, for which the plans were not
yet ripe. Our proximity to the rebels was evi-
dently annoying to them, and on Thursday, and
again on Friday, they made an unsuccessful at-
tempt, with a force of a few hundred, to drive in the
pickets and discover what mischief was plotting be-
hind the belt of woods sheltering Gen. Casey from
their view. Their attack was resolutely met by the
pickets, who tell back on the reserves and held their
ground,
defeating the purpose of the enemy. Mean-
while General Casey was actively at work securing
his position, a large force of men being busy, under
the skilful direction of Lieutenant E. W. West, of
his staff, digging rifle pits and felling trees for
abattis. A similar line of defensive works had been
commenced and partially completed at General
Casey's former position, at the Seven Pines, three
miles further to the rear, and just back of these was
a line of earthworks, constructed by General Couch
and more carefully finished. Failing in attempts
to gather information by forcing back General
Casey's pickets, the rebels apparently resolved upon
an advance in force against the left wing of the
army, doubtless determined to drive it beyond the
Chickahominy, should the opportunity offer, and
put themselves in a position to turn Gen. M'Clellan's
left flank. Daring the afternoon of Friday a terrific
thunderstorm arose, continuing through most of the
night with uninterrupted severity, deluging the
oarth with rain, converting the spongy soil
into a nearly impassable bog, and raising the
waters of the Chickahominy so as to carry
away one of two bridges General Sumner had pre- ,
pared for his passage, and somewhat disturb the
foundations of the other. The broad sheets of
lightning that night, and the eamp fires of unusual
size, gleaming in the pitchy darkness, seemed to
illuminate our position, and may possibly have
assisted the rebels in getting an idea of the bearing
of things. just before the storm had reached its
fury there was some skirmishing between the artil-
lery on both sides. This commenced again in the
morning, several shots flying over our camp, indicat-
ing that the rebels had in some way gained a more
correct idea of our position. Shortly after noon the
grand attack, commenced, General Casey's pickets
being driven in all along the front, after a spirited
resistance, the rebels advancing in force along three
roads—the Williamsburg road, to our left, the rail-
road, in the centre, and the' Ninemile-road,' as it is
called, on the right. With his feeble division
greatly weakened by extension, General Casey had
no backbone to oppose to this sudden attack. But
no thought of yielding his ground entered the mind
of the old soldier; scarred with the wounds of Mexico
*and disciplined to danger by a hundred fights. His
troops were immediately formed into position, the
three brigades maintaining their relative positions
on the right, left, and centre, and as thorough pre-
parations were made for resisting the attack as its
suddenness would admit of. Regan's New York
battery was stationed just to the right of the Wil-
liamsburg-road, Bates' battery of Napoleon guns
further to the left across the road, and Fitch's bat-
tery 300 or 400 yards to the rear, the last sending
its shell over the heads of our troops at the enemy
beyond. The fourth battery was near the railroad,
further to the right. The vigour with which the
:Len pressed forward to the attack indicated the
'alma() of superior strength. A battalion of two
regiments pressed against General Naglee on the
rigtit, another fell on General Wessell at the centre,
"II third on General Palmer to the left, pouring
in at once a tire h
ot and heavy, and advancing with
great resolution
face of the steady fire of
canister and
grapefufrom the guns in front, and
Bhell from those
further to. the rear, mowing down
di
their ranks in all owns. The rebels bad
but little artillery, and
Were evidently disposed
to make good the deficiency by
pressing to close
quarters with their superior. forc
e, to Sear down at
once by weight of numbers the feeble skeleton
(4 "wru reg i-
d
melts of 500 ur 400 men Who composed the
e advance
thrown,,
division. Most of .ac truo
forward to the edg© of the woods in front of his
position to meet the advance of the rebels, a few
regiments being left behind the partially completed
rifle-pits a shirt distance to the rear. Thus a di-
vision, nearly new to warfare, was suddenly ea.
posed, in an open field, to the heaviest of fire from
an enemy covered to a considerable extent by -the
woods through which they were advancing. Ter-
ribly the tempest raged, the air almost growing
thick with musket balls; officer after officer fell, or
was borne from the field a wounded man ; the men
dropped by scores, and the usual number of weak-
jointed ones were falling to the rear. But in spite
of the rapid thinning of their ranks the regiments
generally held their ground until the enemy sue-
ceeded in rushing around on the left flank, and
poured in an enfilading fire from that direction,
against which the rifle pits were no protection. The
GO rounds of ammunition with which they entered
the fight were nearly exhausted, and no more was at
band. Meantime one of General's Couch's brigades,
aomtnanded by General Abercrombie, was ordered
up to the support of General Naglee on the right,
General Devens, of the same division, sustaining
General Wessell on the centre, and Gen. Peck, with
the rema; • remaining brigade, supporting General Palmer
on the left. When General
Casey's troops were forced
to give way the rebels fell on these brigades of Couch's
division, who disputed every inch of ground, until
e
sustained by General Kearney, pressing up the W*l
-
liamsburg road with
reinforcements to meet them,
supported by the division of General Hooker in his
rear. Pressing rapidly forward, General Kearney
advanced along the Willianssburgh road to within a
short distanee of our original position, where he
bivouacked for the night in front of the enemy. It
was along this Williamsburg road that the main
attack was made, and here our troops were forced
back for half a mile or wore, before the arrival of d