Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1862-03-29
GleaaiBgS from Manassas PlaiIS.
CENTERyILLE, March IL


ridges and pure atmosphere of this desert.
ed stronghold, let me bundle you a shcaf
of two day days minor cleaning 1t will
have a certain significance in making past
ex xperiences fruitful, although Of less inter
est than full harvest of matters instant
which have reaped but am forbidden to
as yet offer your readers.
No matter what movements are going
on right and left. In due time the public
will hear of them. But Centeryille itself
has been Intentionally almost unoccupied
since its occupation. Though pickets ex-
tend in every direction beyond it, the vii
lage is without provost guard, and scores
of curious soldiers, struggling from doz
en- regiments, wander throughout the day
from house to house. They don't exactly
behave themselves; and though they don't
pillage-becausc there is nothing to pill.
lage they ransack with good will evin.
cling the pillaging malice aforethought.
Queer, old desolate, quaint specimen Of
wornout Virginia village. What drea-
my ntcrludes of action have CHANGED to
mark out possession Of its long plateau
Along the corduroy road, slashed
through swamp and forrest for seven miles
to Manassas junction, stroll groups Of the
rank and file, searching village after yil-
lage of huts in vain desire for lote, and
sauntcring in and out of farm-houses with
that self possession copyrighted by the
Yankee. bread. When they reach the
Junction, however, a rich harvest awaits
them. The returning groups are laden
with blankets, Floyd stolen muskets, huge
Mississippi "clcagers," lances, shirts, and
what.not. Meantime, she poorer local far
mers, 50 long harassed and plundcred by
the rebel army, are now reimbursing them.
selves by driving such mangv horses as arc
eft them to the smouldering Junction,
hitching on to some Of the hundred Vir-
ginia wagons there left behind, loading uE
with the spoils of the camps, as who shal
say them nay, These borderer sufferer!
hope never again to see the faces of the
state rights army But the retreatins
hordcs seemed 70 have determined to pur'
sue the policy of the Russians vanishing
beore the French advance. Smoking ru
ms, barren granaries, deserted villages
and silence vast and heavy, mark tn
region through which they have fed
!, Like the grasshoppers, they have left n
, green thing behind them. I have won
o dered that they should have spared, i
their otherwise strategic evacuation, tn
huts for 50 900 men which, as has bee
said, cover the open spaces on every side
= But &c day learn from farmer that, in
. tending to keep US still longer in ignoranc
p of their departure, the leaders forbade til
extensive condagration which their buruiu
it would involve.
If To-day / again visited Blackburn's For
in company with Capt. Upton C"Reg
n Art", who SO distinguished himself c
If Tyler's aid at the battle of the 18th July
It Mr.. Wand the talented leading artist
l. Hurper'S Wfekty, who was my conrad
= throughout the Mcdowell campaign, an
e Mr.. Charles Q. Webb, were also of th
l. party. The two latter gentlemen and my
e self, by the way, are probably the onl
n representatives ofthe New York press VIII
= have this week roamed at large over tt
v interesting ground. For some reason t
/. unusually numerous press brigade hay
y generally missed the van of this advanc
T. although saw Bayard Taylqr accompc
is nying yesterdays brief cavalry reconnoi'
1t sance of the battle fields, While the a
y tist was sketching the ruined bridge In
is "Stone Bridge" but the one six miles bC
at low the rest Of Us have forded, lalf swa
r the stream, in order to more thorough
IL examine the position Of the rebel batteri
n. in the famous ''arti ory duel" Fordil
le Bull Run u. this season is no joke. 7
Sc banks are fail of quagmiro and quicksau
n Mr.. Webb horse lost his footing, becar
= badly mil cd and for moment We thong
he it all over with the noble animal, but t
io united efforts of the party, including hat
on ings, sword pricks, and shoutings, saw
n him from the impending fate. Aftcrwa
u a careful study of the field confirmed
he in our opinion of the madness of sendi
r. infantry into the forest lining the ere
NJ valley, and of the ease and certainty vi
'le which Richardson could have maintain
i'll our position en- the heights and routed
he enemy by plunging fire. If this pl
n /,,I;oh Gan ID ,,,,,adl bo1 hnnn odopff