Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1862-04-21
EV ENIHG STAR.
a pe,erIrticn Of ,he York,swn Ba,,.ri,,.


The special correspondent Of the New York
Toms gives the following d. scriptIon Of the re-
bel works at Yorktown and Gloucester Point:
Breakfast being disposed Of. nv host inforue ed
me that there ives point on York river bank,
mile or so from Our camp. from which l could
re- a good view Of Yorktown and Gloucester
Point, On the opposite shore, and gladly accept
cd his pilotsgeto visit ,hespos. II was considered
e very little bit hazardous, Is the point was In
essY range Of the snemy's shells. Whether for
this reason or not, do not know, but the surgeon
of the Grimm Battery volunteered to accompany
us. thought he mtg 1T he useful, rs we'll IS an
agreeable member OF the party. we headed two
creeks IN cur ride before we could make our de-
sired position, which was a large frame farm
house on the shore CT York river, not more than
mile ard a bali from the rncst formidable redoubt
Of the Yorktown forti acaticns, and not more than
half A mile from our camp, though we had nd
den three miie. TO reach 81. On rearing the house
VIC were directed by our leader 10 approach sing
w. and 10 tie our bnrses in separate places. A
" solitary hcTsemaL inisy be an important feature
in a novel Of Hr. James, but IT takes several men
and horses 10 be worth q shot from battery The
farm house bClCups to n SIR. Fatmhot He had
taken refuge In Yorktown, from which we In
1CrTCd his 70 bel politics.
From the second story windows Of this house,
by the aid CT glasses, we got views OF the i'm
TnenSc esrthwoTks Of Yorktown. They seem to
tie wonderfully strong. The walls are high and
Thick, surrounded by G noat, and having sally
ports and draws i. seemed impossible that any
army could carry the Notifications by assault.
They must be reduced by siege guns and NOR
tsrS-rnaking them, by the flight Of hot shot snd
shell over the anpa-ts, too hot TO hold their de-
Tenders. There are the usual defcnces of masked
batteries and rife pits outside Of the works
Heavy Il or ~ pound coluDbiads, placed BAY
ICtrs, command the river and sure approach,
while a water battery can rake tie watars In any
direction. Yorktown stands on a bluff 81 or 10
feet high, apparently. Gloucester Point opposite,
IS about on the same level. IL has lately been
crowned with strong eaithworks and has on the
beach, immediately opposite the Yorktown
wharf, beautifully constructed water battery
with seven embrcEures. The river just here il
only about three quarters OF a mile wide.
fiouce ter was the first place seized BY Gen
Washington. IN his celebratrd seige ard capture
OF the British army, at Yorktown, in the Revou-
ZION. IL was part OF Gen. McClellaa's plan to
have SEIZED Ii also; but the remarkable change Of
the limits 81 his Department, ard the diversion
Cf the troops TO another field after he went forth
Ia consumatc his campaign. is said here TO have
Inverted his purposes. With cur glssscs, from
the F2rmh House, we could easily trace the
old ca thwcrks built by the British, now covered
with the smooth, green sod. We could see the
soldiers and cohtraband lsZily l0ungng the
sand bags OF the waterhattsTy, lOiieTlng on the
wharf, gazing down the river at four OF our gun
boats lying Ike black watch dogs below. There
Were tVo schoOnerS at the wharf, that had ap-
pareHtly just been discharged. whether OF men
or food we could not tell. 4 here were, in all,
twenty five s,hconsTs and other watcr-cTaft in
SiShtibe majority Of which had no doubt been
used TO bring TeinforCemeHts of rebels to York
town.