The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-01 00:00:00

General Stuart's 11.. t id Round Irl'Clellan's

Army.

Colonel VON Boncxz's " Memoirs of the Con-
federate War for Independence" have just been
republished from the pages of Blackwood's Magazine,
and recall some of the most striising scenes of the
great American contest. Although we have, poli-
tically, no sympathy with the side into which that
gallant and skilful officer threw the weight of his
sword, we sympathise with the love of adventure,
the earnest and dashing manner in which he pur-
sued the profession of arms to which he had devoted •
himself, and even with the strong bias and true faith
with which he cast in his lot with the noble cavalry,
and that great officer who so worthily commanded
them, J. E. B. STUART. HEROS VON BORCKE is
in heart and soul a soldier. He has the instincts
and feelings, the physical frame and natural cou-
rage, which go to make up a cavalry leader. His
narrative is simple and graphic, partaking of the
earnestness and energy of his character. He writes
as a partisan, as every soldier recounting his own
adventures can scarcely refrain from doing. But
there is no bitterness in his dislike of the Yankee
enemy, as he calls the Federal army. lie is a
Prussian, and when first he reached Richmond he
could scarcely speak English. It was not his
country that was invaded —it was not the
homes of his youth that were being desolated by
war--it was not the companions of his childhood that
were falling on all sides around him. He came on
the scene as a stranger ; he soon showed himself to
be the good and trusty soldier he was ; the keen eye
of General STUART quickly detected his merit, and
rapid promotion and warm friends were the quick
results of his services to the Confederate cause.
The Colonel was most fortunate in the time of his
arrival at Richmond, and circumstances befriended
him in a singular degree. Not only did he arrive
on the eve of exploits which have shed over the
Confederate army. an undying renown, but by a
happy chance he was placed on the Staff of the
great Confederate cavalry leader, who was so
mainly instrumental in obtaining the results the
Prussian officer so well describes. The world is
always sooner captivated by a dashing cavalry ex-
ploit than by a more dull but substantial success,
more taken by the showy and picturesque than by
the sober and laborious performance. The sym-
pathies of the young have ever been with RUPERT'S
cavaliers against CROMWELL'S Ironsides ; a MURAT
excites an admiration that the solid qualities of a
more able general would have exerted in vain to
attain. Thus *hen the news of General STUART'S
great cavalry exploit reached Europe it ex-
cited a burst of applause throughout all circles,
whether military or civil—whether for or
against the Confederacy. Our author tells how
the idea was suggested to the General's mind. It
was getting dark when the General dismissed his
escort at the last of the outposts of the Confederate
army. His Prussian " aide" alone accompanied
him through the deep gloom of the lonely forest,
as they penetrated into the great camp occupied by
APCLELLAN'S army of 150,000 men. After riding
for five miles they reached a small house which was
opened to General STUART'S knock. There they
waited till midnight for the expected spy. Morn
was breaking when the General pushed on two miles
further, where, in the spy's own house, he had the
desh'ed interview, the man being sick in bed. The
dark night and the heavy rain favoured the enter-
prise, and they returned in safety to their lines.
The result of the information the General then
obtained came out almost immediately after, and
on June 12, 1862, STUART, with his 2,500 troopers,
started on his celebrated ride. None, save the
Colonels commanding, knew where they were going,
I but they followed in confidence their trusted leader.
All that thy they marched without halting, and
when the next day dawned resumed their
onward movement. Then they began to feel
the enemy in their front, and cavalry skir-
mishing became frequent. These affairs grew
heavier, as the enemy's patrols were pushed back
on their camp, ending in a hard fight, when the
Federals were driven iu confusion through their
camp, and far into the woods. The half-starved
Southerners found themselves in the midst of luxury ;
but moments were precious to STUART, and the
spoils were given to the flames, while his destroying
legions passed on, leaving a broad trail of blood and
fire to mark the track they had taken. At one
point the enemy's encampment lay around them on
all sides, and the house occupied by M'CLELLAN—
surrounded by a wide field of tents—was visible at
a distance of about two and a half miles. So quiet
were STUART'S movements, so daring his plans, that
the Federal army was puzzled and paralysed. On
went Sruarsr picking up prisoners, and revelling in
dainties captured on their way to the Federal chief.
An entire train of stores was committed to the
flames, and three transport ships laden with pro-
fvisions added to the conflagration. In vain a bri-
gade of the enemy's cavalry attempted to check the
destructive progress of the raiders ; they were
broken by the impetuous onset, and M'CLELLAN s
troops, moving in all directions to intercept the Con-
federate squadrons, came but intinesreetose: theo thatwild
havoc they had caused. Towards
celebratedethe point they aimed at
h
the Federal army with
—the railroad
day they
connectingrea
their base of operations. As they came on the line
a train of carriages, filled with Federal soldiers, was
slowly moving up.es ,
General STUART posted men
ca
on each side of the embankment to stop the train,
or fire. The engine driver acted as became a gallant
Northerner. He met the threat by increasing his
speed, and died by a Confederate bullet. A strange
battle followed. The train rushed on, but not
faster than the Confederate troopers, who discharged
their carbines into the carriages as they rode. The
Federal soldiers, penned in the carriages, offered a
fatal mark, but many of them gallantly maintained
the fight till their unflagging iron horse carried the
few who escaped beyond the reach of danger. All
that night they continued their march, and at day-
break reached the Chickahomminy River to find it
to their amazement swollen, so as to render fording
impossible. The unbridged and impassable river
was before them, and a division of the enemy mov-
ing swiftly up behind them, but STUART was equal
to the occasion. Two frail bridges were thrown
across with surprising speed, and while the bridges
were being formed, the horses were unsaddled and
swain across the torrent. Colonel VON BORCKE,
in this manner, took sixty-five horses over h 177-
self. In four hours the second bridge was com-
pleted, and the horse artillery
guns conveyed
to the other side. Five hundred prisoners,
besides hundreds of captured horses
and mules,
were landed on the right bank, and when the whole
force had crossed the bridges were destroyed, and
the angry flood became an effectual barrier between
them and their pursuers.
Onthe of
fbotnhet
• cr remained
15th they reached their lines, and hi
vmorning
u ck
six miles from Richmond, havin,„
aed
almost
;l, and battling, and
burin
by fighting, drinking,
uninterruptedly in the saddle diversifying the ride
smoking General 31‘CGneral STuansr s name will
brilliant exploit, and -
rsiassals s cigars., It was a
General
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dhnaag os
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so
than
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Of M'CLELLAN's P
mere destruction. Hoesiotbiotaninaeldida complete Generals
of
fedthgee
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WALL
jpAl
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In eleven days after returnL7t sl
Confederate Army did
his
soN's army reached the Federal flank, and the
series of great operations commenced, which rolled
up one of the most powerful armies ever brough t
into the field, and threw it back from its position
with a narrow escape from destruction to the shelter
of an impregnable post on the James River. A
Confederate soldier may well revel, in recalling
these scenes of Confederate glory, ere the bright
dawn of success closed in so dark a night of disaster.
We wish, in recounting the mighty events of the
war fairly and without bias, to record our criticisms,
and we will consider in a future number the series
of actions by which the onward march to Richmond
was frustrated, and the able Confederate leader
foiled. —Anglo- American Times.

THE WRECK OF TIIE CERES.—Yesterday the
Board of Trade inquiry into the wreck of the steamor
Ceres, off Carnsore, on the coast of Ireland, on the 10th
inst., was opened before the Greenwich police magistrate,
Mr. Tram, and Captains Harris and Baker, nautical asses-
sors, and adjourned until this day.