Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-09-04

The positions Of our baftens near the
bridge. on this side Of the river, were chosen
in advance for onflading thosoopposlte in
case they should he abandonet but when
our guns had fairly got TO worl and driven
the Rebels away, our men fond that on
their part the enemy had, dtng Friday
night, constructed their batteies SO as to
command our new positions; ad so,. after
suffering some loss in iuen and lorses, and
having two Of Matthcwss guns dis
mounted, Gen. Ricketss gave the order to
timber up and file off little more to the
right to get out of range, Prior to this,
Lieut.. Godbold Of Matthews1 Battery, while
teaching the fuse man I'M g. at u gun
how to cut his fuse, was strsck by q shell
which came from battery two miles of,
exploded as it strutk him, and shattered his
left leg, 80 as to make amputation necessary.
I saw the brsye fellow aiteywsrd, and Ionnd
/ him doing 80 well, that he made light OF his in
jury and jestingly talked oil dancing waltzes
again
As on Thursday and Friday, so on Satur-
day, the enemy kept working up toward
Warrenton White Sulphur Spiings, on the
south side Of the RappahannDk, with the
view Of fanking us, and we moved further
and further away from the railroad to battle
their dosign. A. on preceding days, so on
Saturday, the grand artillery duel went on
/ from right to left and left to tight, the can
nonade being heavier now al Mcdowell 5
position, now at Sigels, now at Bankss. We
were guarding, and successfully guarding,
the whole river bank, and all the fords from
Kelly's to Warrenton and the enemy, with
any army of 100000 to 10000, had been
held in check by Gen. Pope with much in
ferior numerical force Their great game
was to turn our position, take us in the rear,
whip us and then rush on with streaming
flags to Washington. Ours the desperate
task of showing fight, and yet not fighting
of playing with our monstrous antagonist
until he lost his golden tina and until oul
endorsements from Fredericksburg, the
Peninsula, and the North would so strengthen
us that we could crush his armies and cap
ture his Capital. If we could save ourselves
until Saturday night, we would be safe
And Me greatest crisis of this toar occurred
betDeea Thursday morning and Saturday
night. 1t is passed, and we are safe. Wash
ington is safe, the nation is safe. For Pope
artillery is now guarding the line Of tn
Rappahannock, and Fitz John Porter witt
/ very heavy force, Joined Pope on Frida
evening, and host of regiments have join
. ed and are joining him now, by way of Alex
andria. And now lookfor the grand move
ments of the war within thirty days. Il
, not forget that Burnside has massed larg
! army at Fredericksburg, and. Pope is nearI
, or quite as strong as Lee and Jackson, an
, Mcclellan is freed from the net which
whether self-woven or n6t-held him III |
] meshes on the Peninsula.
a Some stir was caused in camp-and
q thousand times more in Washington, | find
!. BY a snaaen raid Of $50 ansfri!as upon Gu
n lett $ station, under cover of the night. ~
:. devoted baud dashed in upon our small &C
~ lection of men and wagons, and stampcdil
!, a lot of suffers and servants and teamstel
:, burned seven wagons ran off number
horses, and took about hundred prisoner
i The most serious part of the business is tn
+. they took Gen Pope's personal baggage al
n moneys, and all his official papers, core
" pondence, etc, which happened to be
> one of the wagons which had been sent
., the rear. The particulars of this affair ha
VI already been sent you by another corr,
!. i pondent.
, " In the attack at Catlett's Station, twer
ul supply trains were destroyed, or their &C
VI tents Injured, by the Rebels. Many wage
y, VI were too wet to burn. Capt. Willard, t
~ Commissary in charge, escaped, remain
"a all night in the woods and reached Man
~. ,o sas on Saturday.
rs 'as The skirmi shes on the Rappahannock
' ,os tended over such long line that it was
~ II possible for our reporters to compile
JSe list of the casualties. The whole mum
.y of our killed and wounded up to Stature
~. 'ne is computed by high authority at less Il
: six hundred, of which not more tn
oy one hundred are killed This small los
IN attributable to the fact that the fight so
MS III has been mainly an artillery duel at IL
nj range