Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1862-07-16
THE BATTLES BEFORE RICHMOND.
Nc Clelian Changes his Position II, the
.foce Of the E'ae0ay-.Seren Days Tey7if-
&C Fighting, aud Great Loss Of Lite
Our Present Position Inculneradle.

The following summary Of Mcclellan 5
movements before Richmond, commen-
ees on Wednesday, june 25th, and " i'll
be found very Ineligible and interest
ing sketch OF matters in that Department
The prospect of the terrible defeat Of Me-
Cleilan seemed for several davs. immin-
ent and certain, but now the clouds begin
to lift, and the public mind again begins
to be hopeful of the complete triumph of
our gallant army now before Richmond !:
The events transpiring the past four
days in the army before Richmond. have
been OF varied character, and Of the most
thrilling interest The evacuation bv Me
Cleilan, Of the white House" has seem
ed to many who were eyewitnessee Of the
movement, that the whole army before
Richmond has been DESTROYED and that
Gen. Mcclellan has been ontwitted oat.
generated, ont-flanked and driven to the
wall, where be promised to place The en-
emy. The evacuation of White House
was to them an inexplicable mysterv. un-
der any other condition of facts but had
they kept their eyes open early in the
week, they would have discovered that the
work OF evacuation was silently progress
ing before any of the fighting on the rieht
wing, as early as Tuesday They might
also have observed that all the civilians
were forbidden to approach the front as
early as Tuesday, under anv pretence
whatever, and that the immense stores Of
supplies at Dispatch Station had been re
duced for a week, until their last box of
crackers had disappeared, before the great
contest of Friday, which left the way open
Tor the enemy to approach that point, that
/ have every reason to believe was design
edly intended by Gen. Mcclellan to be tha
mouth Of the empty trap into which they
were being led, ana rs hope and believe
to their entire rout and discontinue.
At the " W'lte House on Wednesday
matters were progressing as usual. with
the exception that there nad been check
in the landing of stores of all descrin
tions, while those on the landings were
being rapidly moved off in wagons
towards the lett which was closely fol
lowed up until Friday when the whole of
our vast stores-amounting to several
millions, had ! cen safely remoFed .--
This maneuver transferred the base Of
operations and center of supplies from
Iork to James River and shifted the lie
OF Mcclellan army in such manner
that the LIT wing became the right and
that instead of living upon line north
east Of Richmond diaeonallv CROSSING the
Chlckahominy. about from northwest to
southeast, with its extreme right much
exposed, it now lies ON d north and south
line east of Richmond thus leaving both
hanks and the rear efectualy protected
IhIs new position enables our army TO
cooperate with Commodore Rogers fleet
in the James; and gives room for a sue
cesslul attack upon Fort Darlington and
to clear the river of distractions, SO that
the gunboats can 90 up and shell Rich
mond. The new position and the advance
from 1t are, it IS said parts Of Mcclellan
original plan Of attack, which was preven-
ted by the Monitors operations The
length Of our front is now only about 9
miles instead Of thirty
Having thus given . correct view Of tho
army, under It's new base OF operations,
we Will now give brief sketch OF the sue
cession Of events, and the terrible fight
ing which has ensued-commenci June
10Th, and continuing, with slight inter
vals, up to Tuesday, July lst
On Wednesday, General Casey and Col.
Ingalls, at White House, occupied their
small force Of some 500 men, with cutting
away the trees near the river, so as to
clear a range for the gunboats Mean
while, the rebels, concluding that they
had It good opportunity to attack our right
flank, which had always been the weak
point Of Mcclellan line, sent troops cut
of Richmond to cross the Chickahominy
above our lines, and turn Onr right flank
During that day there was sharp fighting
by Hooker 5 division in another part of
our lines, the left center, resulting in an
advance by our troops, and the occupa-
ton of an important height reported to
command Richmond
Thursday powerful attack was made
upon our extreme right by rebel troops in
great numbers, said to lie commended by
Stonewall jackson and Gen Ewell, in the
afternoon. This was, however, repulsed
by the steadtast bravery Of Gen NcCalls
Pennsylvania troops.
On Friday morning this attack was re
sumed and McCalls and Porter's troops
having kept the enemy back until the re-
movai Of stores. etc, from White House
and the railroad was complied, at last fell
back in good order, in obedience to com
mands from headquarters, but not without
remonstrances from the soldiers who wan
ted to stand their ground Porter divis-
ion three or four times drove tie rebels
long distance back towards Richmo1d, in
taiS ihote'iAN CO 90 a. iiiiAS DSAphS -"
firing.
During Friday night the whole Of the
Union forces north OF the Chickahominy
passed safely across to the new position
south of it without loss and while there
was some artillery firing on our left, to-
wards James River Saturday morning, the
intended movement was complete. and the
fighting over The Union army was safe
in its new position, and tha rebels although
occupying the ground between the Chick
ahominy and Pamnnky, have gained no adj
vantage by doing so, while our troops are
safe on both fanks, and the rear, occupy
ing Tavern Hill, said 70 be within shell
ing distance Of Richmond
On Saturday there was comparative
lull in the fighting on Sunday, Mou-
day and Tuesday-June 29th Both and
July lst, the battle ragged along the lines.
These last three days constituted the fifth
sixth aud seventh days. and thus almost
constantly for week, were our brave
troops subjected to the fierce assaults oI
overwhelming numbers. Of these last
named engagements, we CLEAN the follow
.rr avpopSic from tho tolerra rhic dis