Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1862-05-08

side Of Williamsburg. A brisk fight ensued.
Just as my aids left, Smiths division Of infan-
try arrived on the ground. and presume, car
red his works though have not yet heard.
The enemy's rear is strong but ! have force
enough up there to answer all purposes. We
have taken thus far seventy-one heavy guns,
large amount of tents, ammunition, &c. All
along the lines their works prove to have been
most formidable, and l am now fully satisfied
of the correctness of the course have pursued.
The success is brilliant, and you may rest as
sured that its effects will be of the greatest i'm
porance. There shall be no delay in following
up the enemy. The rebels have been guilty of
the most murderous and barbarous conduct in
placing torpedoes within the abandoned works,
near wells and springs, near Aag-siafs, maya
zines, telegraph Offices, in carpet-bags, barrels
OF hour, etc. Fortunately, we have not lost
many men in this manner-some four or five
killed. and perhaps a dozen wounded. l shall
make the prisoners remove them at their own
peril. G. b. MCCLELLAN, Major General.
A Fight near williamsburg.
TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
The advance of the forces under command of
Gen Stoneman, with the view of ascertaining
the position of the enemy, reached a point two
and half miles from Williamsburg about
o'clock Sunday afternoon, on the road from
Yorktown. The country in most instances was
laid desolate and but few of the houses are oc-
cupied. On emerging from cover Of woods,
our forces came in view of Wilanisburg and
the enemy's earthwo,ks. At the time no guns
were visible on the enemy's works, but regi-
ment of cavalry could be seen approaching
about one mile off, in line of battle Capt Glib.
bons' reserve battery was then ordered to the
, front, to open en- the enemy's approaching cav
airy, while a portion Of the 9Th cavalry were
deployed skirmshers to the right and left.
The fire from the battery was very effective on
the enemy's cavalry, but never changed their
course. About 200 yards to the right of Glib
hons battery was an earthwork, which had all
the appearance of being deserted, when all of a
sudden our troops were opened upon by
deadly fire from artillery posted b ,hind the
works. AT the same time the rebel cavalry
continued advancing until they were checked
by charge made by portion of the lst and
9th cavalry, which was performed in a most adj
mirable manner. In more instances than one
1t was hand to hand encounter with the enc
my. but strange to relate none cf our men were
made prisoners, while we captured about % of
the enemy, among whom is Capt Frank Lee of
the I'd Florida infantry. Capt Gibbons had IA
horses killed, Lieut. DE Wolf was nortav
wounded; one gun was lost by sticking fast in
the mud. Lieutenant Benton of the LIST cayal-
ry and 10 men of the same regiment were
wounded. Lieut. Mcclellan of the 9th cavalry
was slightly wounded, as were also IL Others
Lieut. Col Kress of the LIST cavalry had his horse
shot under him. while engaged in hand to
hand encounter with two of the enemy. He
escaped with few slight bruises. Private No
bic Qrish) of Major Barker's Mcclellan dra-
goons had his horse killed and was severely
wounded in the leg by the explosion of tor
pedo, while passing through Yorktown. The
rebel cavalry was forced by our men to abandon
their position, but the want of infantry preven-
ted our men from advancing on the enemys
works. 1t being evident that it was useless 10
attempt further operations the troops fell back
about 200 yards to await the arrival of infantry.
Gen Hancock's brigade soon arrive !, but it
was deemed advisable to defer operations until
Monday. There is information that the enemy
are still on the retreat beyond Williamsburg.
The rear guard of the enemy are very strong,
as was shown on Sunday.
OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF THE sPoILs.
HEADQUARTERS army of the Potomac. 4th,
l 100 a. m.-Hon Z. NJ Stanton, secretary of
war An inspection just made shows that the
rebels abandoned in their works at Yorktown
one 3-inch rifled cannon, one 1-2-inch rihed
cannon, sixteen 32-pounders, six 42-pounders,
nineteen S-inch columbiads four 9-inch Dahl