Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-05-21

YoRKroWN, VA. Nav 10 I8Go


YoRKrowN, Va, May l2. 1862.
Among the prisoners of war taken in
the pursuit of the enemy after the evac-
uation of Y OrktOwn, were Captain w. G.
Conner, company A of JEFF. Davis Le-
gion of Cavalry" from the vicinity of
NatcheZ, Mississippi; Captain w. B.
Newton, Of the Fourth Virginia Cayal-
ry;" and Captain Frank Lee, Of the
"Ihrty-second Virginia Infantry."-
These officers were sent to the headquar-
ters of tho Forty-fourth New York State
Volunteers, Peoples Ellsworth regt-
ment,) which regiment was assigned to
the duty of garrisoning the town, where
they have remained since the date of
their capture.
CONVERSATIONS WITH REBEL OFFICERS
THE BATTLE OF BULL HUN.
These officers are men of education,
courteous in their manner and gentle.
manly in their department. Captain
Conner was graduated ut Yale College in
the class of 1S45, and believe was dis
tinguishcd for his ability as u scholar
At the same college the writer of this
became acquainted with the brother and
family of the captain, and while residing
at Natchcz during the year 1855, often
had the opportunity of partazing of their
kind hospitality. To renew this ac-
quaintance, under such circumstances,
was Mt first embarrassing, but cmbnr-
rnssmcnt soon gave way to military cour-
tesy and kindness, and college tics, oven
amid the fortunes of war, were not en-
tirely forgotten. With these officers l
have spent some very interesting even
ings, and gained much interesting infor-
nation. This information may be CON
sidered worthy of record, and therefore
L propose to give to the readers of tho
Evening Post the details of an evenings
conversation with these officers, which
was as follows:
Question.-'Why was the official report
of the battle of Manassas SO long withheld
from the public by your generals2"
Answer -"PrincipaIly because Generals
Johnston aud Beauregard did not consider
it expedient TO disclose the strength of our
force at that battle. Your official and
newspaper reports had greatly exaggerated
the strength of our army at that battle. It
was not the policy of our commanders to
disclose the true strength of our force, as
our army of the Potomac was designed as
an army of menace merely, aud not of at
tack. The design of our President was not
to attack Washington, but to SO Continually
threaten it that you would be Obliged to
hold large army in the vicinity to protect
the city, thus obliging you TO Withdraw
your troopsSfrom other points of attack at
the South orWest, or preventing you from
reinforcing those points. Again, the battle
was SO dearly won that the official report
of it an early day would have given your.
troops more encouragement than. .ours."l
Q.-''why did Mr.. Davis reject the poll.
icy of General Beauregard ia regard to
the attempt to take possession of o Wash!
ington2" st
A.-"Because we could not have held
the capital, SO long as you had the possess
sion of the Potomac. 1t was the policy of
General .Beauregsrd and other Of our lead
ers to capture that city and llberate Mary
laud:3, Sts
Q.-"whsF regiment of our army fought
the mos9 gallantly at Manassas r" (.
A.-@Che Fourteenth of Brooklyn iand
Grifhn's aud Ricketts, batteries fought by
far the most CALAMITY. This is the opin-
ion of all of our officers"
Q.-"What errors do your officers think
We committed at this battle that caused us
to lose the day %
A.-''lf yo1 had fought the battle on
Thursday or Friday, you would have won
it. The delayat BlaCkbnrn's Ford WAS ia
tai to you. Yon made great military err
ror in allowing Johnstonto reinforce Beau
regard. You fought the battle by regi-
ments, while we fought it by brigndes and
divisions. There were many times before
one o'clock in the aftcrnoouof that day in
which you might havewon the battle if you
had vigorously attacked our centre, since
the centre of our line of hattleihad become
very weak by reason. of the continual rein
forcements General Johnson was obliged
to send to the left, which was. SO fiercely
Epressed by your right. It was a severely
contested battle on your side. Your sol.
disrs fought .gallantly, but they were not
coInmauded rE4i B. p .zsitn.. ezs1 s'ii w.
Q.-"why did yoFq not f0llGQEy up our re-
A.-,.we had no idea of the complete
ness of our victory at the time, aud besides
we Werein no condition TO fellow-up the
retreat"
WHY MANASSAS WAS EvACrATED.
o.-"wby did you eyacuate Manassas7''
A.LttBecause General Mcclellan had 50
strongly fortified the city of Washington
that fifty thousand of his troops could as
well have held the position as stwoAhuu-
dred thousand. Our generals kHEtO that he
dssi0nsd, as early as february, to send a
Lar9e part Of. his force By tCater to some POINT
near Riehmond 70 tqks that city, It was y The
desire OF our commanders, during oil the
winter that Mcclellan should attack Ma
nassas, bur as he avoided 70 do SOL it be-
came. necessary for us to secretly with
draw our forces, SO that we could concen-