Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1862-07-25

Eight miles below City Point, July B.
have had no opportunity to write
you since my last letter, Of June 20.
The scenes | have passed through since
then are such as | never expected to
witness, and such as | pray may never
be my lot to see again. The War De-
partment at Washington, as | learn from
papers received to-day, has suppressed
all the material facts, and has had the
.brazen effrontery to trumpet to tho World
! che assertion that VIC have cal sis.sts /. al
victory before Richmond. The fact is
exactly the reverse. We have met with
defeat which will prove the utter ami
hllatlon of the Army Of the Potomac,
unless we are reinforced by 100000
disciplined troops in the course Of the
present month. For seven days past we
have been fighting with the enemy every
day and retreating every night. For
seven days our heroic troops have fought
like heroes, as they are, with the cour-
age inspired by patriotism, and without
once turning their backs upon the foe.
For seven days we have given ground
only step by step, blowing up the bridges
behind US, burning up all the stores and
ammunition which we could not carry
with us and compelling the enemy to
pave his way in our wake with the Boz
dies of thousands of his best officers and
soldiers. But all this has been of no
avail. Wherever we brought brigade
of four thousand men into the field, the
enemy met it with division of ten
thousand troops Wherever we drew
up division in line Of battle, it was con-
fronted by whole Confederate army
corps, thirty-fiye thousand strong. When
our troops were drawn up in line of bat
tie, they had to fight until both their
ammunition and their strength were ut
teri y exhausted. Not so the Confeder-
ates. As fast as the ammunition of bri-
gade became exhausted or the men be-
came weary, they were withdrawn and
their places filled by fresh troops. In
every fight that we have been engaged
in during the seven days, the enemy has
outnumbered us three to one. Still, in
the face of all these unequal facts, the
retreat has been conducted with perfect
order and discipline The baggage wa
gons and transportation have all been
saved. We have lost ninety pieces of
field artillery, which have been captured
by the enemy; but all the other guns
have been brought off safely. The loss
which will be most severely felt is that
Of the baggage and personal effects of
the officers Of many Of the regiments,
packed away in trunks and carpet bags,
which were necessarily left behind for
want Of transportation, We left behind
at Savage Station, also, $500 wounded
and sick soldiers. Twenty-three sur
geons who volunteered to stay and take
care of them, and 30 nurses selected
from the ranks.
We were obliged to release all the
prisoners we had taken and, more hu-
initiating still, we had to leave upon the
battle field, to the tender nercios of the
enemy, thousands Of our dead and dying
soldiers. In riding through the woods
on each side Of the road, | have seen the
ground strewed for miles with blankets,
oyercoats, knapsaeks, cartridge boxes
filled with ammunition, and even with
muskets and bayonet in capital order
OF muskets alone there must be thou
sands thus thrown away. The woods,
too, and by-roads and lanes, were filled
with stragglers and skulkers, who al
ways had the same tale TO tell. They !
had fought with their regiment until Or
dered to fall back, ard had then become
separated from it, and had been unable
to fnd it since The number of these
skulkers all Of them without arms, was
estimated to-day by an army officer OF
high rank at 20, 900.
The retreat proper commenced on
Friday night, june 81 II was contin-
ued wilhoutintermission until yesterday, !
at which time the army reached the po-
sition. It is thirty-Gve miles southeast
Of Richmond in a direct line, but fifty |
miles by the course Of the James river.
As we we're only four miles from Rich
mond when the movements commenced,
it can readily be perceived how much
nearer we are TO our object now. As our
troops crossed the bridges over the
Chickahomny and the White Oak
Swamps, the Engineer Brigade Of Gen
eral Woodbury., who had built those
massive structures, blew them up with !
gunpowdor, and obstructcd the road with |
abatis and folled trees The New York |
papers Of Monday, which / have Just
seen, say that this would be done, and
boast that the Chickahominy and those
swamps would prove a barrier between
US aud tho enemy which the latter could
not pass. Yet they have passed IL.
Their progress was not retarded great
ly by those obstacles. formidable as they
were. They have engineers as well as
VIC. They constructed bridges and
cut new roads, and continued
10 press US hard Our losses during
these fearful seven days have been enor-
nous, aud must reach, in killed, wound
ed and placed "horse dc combat, - 900 |
men per day, or 10000 men at least in
all. !