The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-12-19

aioUR SPECIAL ARMY CORRESPONDENCE.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE PoToMAo,l
~ Dec. II, 1862.
To-day has witnessedone Of those rare,
grand spectacles of war-the lombard |
ment of the city. For days the attack |
had been looked for with anxiety and |
with each successive evening the morrow |
was prophesied and the inaugural occa-
sion of the much talked of winter cam
paign; but weeks slipped by, and yet
ridges just across the river batteries
nightly sprang from the earth, as il by
magic, and the increasing smoke of the
enemy's camp fires wrapped hill and
valley in undistingusihable gloom. Wild,
exciting rumors were greedily accepted
for--facts and thousand statements, as
ridiculous as they were contradictory,
few like wildire from camp TO camp.
| Throughout the week there had been
indications that the crisis was rapidly
| approaching, and each night the troops
retired at tattoo fully confident that the
roar of artillery would be their reveille.
Last evening, at snndown, the move
ment commenced. Batteries fastened to
the front, wagon trains were removed
/ from the vicinity of the anticipated bat
| tie, the ponderous pontoons joined the
current hurrying riverward, and night
closed down upon us bright and beauti-
full, with our pulses throbbing quick with
eager expectations. Artillery never
seemed TO rumble so noisily before, and
the sharp cluck of the iron axles echoed
far and near, as if in league with the
enemy Down by the river everything
was as quiet as peace. Our pickets,
composed of the Fifty first Pennsylva-
MIA regiment sat hstlessly about their
fires watching the. rebel sentries and
crunching hard tack. The river swept
smoothly by, placid as the sky above,
and just over there, so close one almost
wished to tell them of their error, stood
the rebel sentries, while a soothing move
ment Of rushing waters in the rapids up
stream swelled softly down the valley
From the thresholds of the city the sharp
yelp of ours rang now and then discor-
dantly upon the ear but with the bat
teries in position the cause of their out
cry would be removed, and silence again
settle down upon the town, broken only
by the tones of the town clock tolling
the midnight hours. And so the time
slipped along The moon climbed higher
up, aud the falling dew whitened into
frost npon our ponchos, while the horses,
restless in the chill night air, moved to
and fro uneasily in their harness.
AT two o'clock our pickets were with
drawn, and al three the pontoon train
drove down to the water. Lumber was
noiselessly piled upon the ground, and
the huge boats slid from off their trucks.
Then we hear splashing in the water
a dark pathway lengthens out upon the
silver surface, shadows fit here and
there along its track, the lusty blows of
> hammers re-echo from side to side And
yet no sound comes from the enemy.
"Haye they evacuated the place p "Are
) we not to fight here after all ~ is asked
Suddenly Crack crack crack from q
hundred muskets tells us the ball il
| opened. A cry of pain comes up the
3 bank from tue gallant engineers, mules
dash of, with pontoOns laundering after
across the plot; the musketry grows loud
er aud the whiz Of bullets more frequent
frightened teamsters fly, panic stricken
and the artillery horses plunge at IN,
. caissons. Suddenly, boom goes a gun
another and another, until thirty pieces
are pouring shot and shell upon tie de
! voted city. Graham, who did so glori
+ ously at Antistam; Kirby, with Ricketts,
old Bull Run battery; Miller, Durell, Ty
Ter, Smith, Hazard, Kinsey, and Dickson
all join in the uprOar, and musketry i
lost 10 the ear in the mighty roar tha
7, re-eohos again and again from hill 10 hill
:. Gradually the fire slackens, and the engi
a. neers again attempt the completion of tn
bridge, but in vain; and after tbir,
! trial they fall back, bearing in their arm
n their wounded, dead and dying.
7 ltwas designed to lay down two bridg
s es at once, one at the lower aud the othe
g. at the upper end OF the city. The enc
my, posted in the houses and cellars
upon the bank OF the river, we're sal
a. from our infantry, and maintained con
. tinuous fire. Our infantry returned "a
fire spiriiedly, but, finding il impossible
A 10 drive the rebels from their cover final
"A Withdrew, leaving the disposition Z
the enemy 10 our artillery.
ls BY this time IL was sunrise. The en-
gineers (Fiflieth New York; and ts