New-York daily tribune., 1862-05-15

the Captain was found to be dead The bullet.proof
vest was gone and there were bayonet WOUNDS
through the officers breast. That case is made out
certainly.
Second. Orderly Sergeant Pease, Company f, oil
the same regiment, slightly wounded, was taken
prisoner, in company with two boys On the night
of tie evacuation of Williamsburg, all three were
tied to the tail of loaded wagon and started for
Richmond. The lads in the first mile of the retreat,
came up with Lieut.. Nelson, Company +, lst Reg''
rent, Sickles Brigade, badly wounded, and prs
oner He became unable TO walk. The bruies VINO
had him in charge bsyoneted him twice. and LETT hui
upon the road ride. Our troops found him there next
day, Just alive, but not able to speak. One OF the
bows paroled on account Of bis youth, says that he
saw the wounded officer bayoneted to get iid oi hiin'
That case wonld seem to he made out also. -.
| Proof % conclusive this of the Sepoy brutality
Of these Rebel troops in numerous other cases Is III
process Of collection. OF course, when our regi'
ments took possession OF Fort Magruder and IFS
sister works, they foond torpedoes thickly Plauteu
20 be exploded by the accidental touch OF The fcrt
the sane cowardly and diabolicsl contriyance when
disgraced their evacuation OF Yorktown.
/ Williamsburgh was city without life when our
army entered il. The men aud the women and the
children, whose ideas of war were fashioned IN the
Rebel school bid tbemselves 10 the recessss OF ter
hcuses Only the slaves came into the streets. For
two days the population concealed themselves and
]
when through the cracks and crcvices Of their hld-
/ ing-plac.s, tLey saw the Northerners actually
mounting guard for their protection at their front
gates and doors and heard from their slaves that not
n glass in a window, nor picket oil fence had
/ bceu broken By our troops; that we took not the
slightest thing by force, bu. paid gold and silver for
everything and unmurmuringly submitted to the
high prices ostabii-hed by the deprecated Rebel
currency, these people found tie courage TO come
/ out and tcowl upon us.
Diligent inqniry could not establish the existence
of more than one Union man in " lliamsburg. Aud,
inasmuch as he made one oi our officers gut o. Il
small Damask table-spread, from which hagraier
had drank wine three evenings before. IT. ID lar 10
presume that his proio Of tnionhm ure
swindc. This ride OF Williamsburg, upon the line
OF our march, no scrutiny with candles by day time
could possibly discover one Union INN or one Lnion
woman. The article does not exist IN this country
I OF slightly higher physical tyre, the men ana
women who have sbded their farms, are the
sane in error ignorance, obsiinscy, and hefoent.
rs the Rebels ia the ranks. Ii 10 not sarprsing
that they should be transcendantly mean,
for race bred TO whipping women aud
selling babies and whore foundation idea OF social
life IL the robbiug labor of ite wages sineyitaby AS
base fierce. These people, everywhere on tue
road. demand OF our Ceneras guards Of protection
for their property They rush TO Headquarters with
coinpaiurs Of chickens lost and corn taken, and arc
not "A whit abasbed at being confronted with the
evidence that their mouths yet bot with cuIseeo OF
the damned Yankees" Ono Eankins, who had
thirty rlayee in lis swamp. snd three sons IN the
Rebel army deliberately told Gen. StoneInan, IN re
ply 10 IN inquiry, that bis banis contained one hun
ared barrels OF corn and one hundred dollars worth
II fodder "I take Possession Of II for tic uitcd
states Government aud viii give YOU receipt Tor
it, which, 10y and by, you can get cashed IN W ash
ington." And dragon guard Was q..ft.red In tue
barn and upon tie distant front gate " Corn' was
The porch Of the Rankins mansion this morning
WA tie valley of desolstion. on, s'r, wa,
Iadf tca nueH nd
have "a way of joking about my crops Ihe ie,
male lament, between a snari Of bagled wolf and
the grief that loss Of property perccs the feminine
bosom with. " Bayoneting the wounded ion
starye the living. Gen. StOneman m going TO Kill
my children with want Of corn" ioi be bought
ycpr corn on vour own term 2" The implacable
erk AT the shawl on the shoulders and the compress
son Of the thin, fierce lps fully characterized the
bate Of mother who had ihree SONS IA ihe army We
were pursuing, and whose hu,band had Just over
reached himself in II transaction III corn.
The line Of the Rebel retreat-the streets Of VIII
liamsburg quilted into canals and holes. where wag
ons were abandoned and the mired soldiers
commenced 10 throw away their buId,ns-a
total di,aprearance OF fences from William
and MARY College onward, all bumt for
camr.fres-the regular road n canal Of bog, and
deposit bank Of ruin wherever the ground was low
II. swsuips "A scene of horror "Salled artil-
lery cai.sons-overtuned baggage. wagons-broken
md r1ed trunks and boxee-dead horses-mues
buried in the mud under the weight OF their packs.
and killed there, to prevent their falling into our
hauds-mired ard abandoned runniDg-gear Of every
description, the epokes half chopped through with
ayes in every case, and most OF the tops burned
and the never-ending dirt gray uniforms OF the
drtie,t ru,iaus that ever carried muskets. Where
tLey eemped 1T night u curse fell on the plain.
They took first tho nearest fences 10 make hus and
cann.iiros; then they foraged all over the farms,
and killed ard cooked cattle, sheep, and poultry,
with the cIuelest irequenty cleaned
the houses Of every element OF food-destroyed not
merely to supply their own wants, but TO deprive
of win, they considered our means Of pursuit.
The farms on the line Of their retreat ruined for
tis wear They must be re-ieDced. The wheat
crop les been most trampled and grazed down from
Williamsburg north 10 this point.
Here we got the iirst Philadelphia newspaper
which proesses to publish accounts from the ground
Of the recent battle near Williamsburg. II i. eston-
isbing that even American history can be written
,o falsely and 30 unjusty. The reader Of the
norris IN The PhiiddelphiG Mguirer would certainly
co, pose that Gen. Iancock's tight ON our night was
The p.ncipal battle. How easy 1t Is to correct ;hls
erroi. Hancock had only be,ween twenty and tir-
" killed and wounded, and oriy four regiments
engaged. His affair was bet u ekiimish. On the
l.6, lieiGlzehaan was compelled 10 heht great
battle Of vastly consel luen, o than Bull Run,
and he won IT, too lie had seventeen regiments
engaged from first TO lRst-twoive Of Hoohers and
i've o. hearneyr and lis loss in killed, wounded aud
lnissing yvas t,cO Mousdqd and Jo,ty-siT! | have
told the story of this blJocy battle that the courge
of our men enabled HeinizelmIn to tight for fix
hour against the Oids Of three " one, anu against
other aud greater odds than disciplined troops
before encountered. And wider and wider spreads
the opinion through the army every hour thn; II
only needed that Sumner should have spared llcEtz-
elnnn third or hnlf of his force standing idle in
the woods, only mile off, TO have enabled him to
crash the enemy right at Williamsburg, and have
taken dispersed the great force which we may