The Portland daily press., 1863-12-31
COMMUNICATIONS.
Letter from the Army OF the Cumberland.
HD.ogs. liTH CORPS D'AIMEE.
CHARLESTON, Ton Hiawassee River Tenn.
Dec. 18th, 1868.

Dec. 18th, 1868.
To The Editors or the Press.
The telegraph will have announced the i'm
portant movements, the battles and the grand
successes OF our armies here in the West. long
before you see this. la fact cannot tell when
this viii reach maitroute. We have received
no mail since we started in pursuit of Bragg
Nov 18th (Thanksgiving day,. II IS new the
third Sunday and we have not even seen n
newspaper tall within two days aud that dated
Dec. "a from Cincinnati) We also saw a
rebel paper of Dec lst. Since we cannot hear
from the rest Of mankind nor cvcug read the
chronicle OF our own doings, I will eudeavor
TO communicate to you some recital of what
we have been about OF late. shall not
dwell upon the magnificent operations about
Chattauooga which resulted in the greatest
victory ever attained by the Union arms.
All were gratihcd to ind in the newspaper
we saw, so correct aud graphic though neces-
sarily brief account of their operations. written
by Quartermaster Gen. Meigs. / hope you
have treated your readers TO a COPY of the
same since it is both reliable and in measure
explicit.
On Saturday, Nov. 20th, Gen. Howard's COM
mand constituted the left OF the combined ar
my. The day before, he had sent two brigades
under Col. Orland Smith, TO Red Clay on the
Dalton and Knoxville X. H., TO destroy the r.
r., the intention being to pursue Bragg no
farther; and the destruction of this r. would
render IL impossible to reinforce Longstreet
from that direction. This was successfully ac
complished and some prisoners were captured
in the expedition. Rcd Clay may not be found
on ordinary maps. 1t is on the boundary liue
between Georgia and Tennessee and about
half way between Cleayeland aud Dalton This
force OF Gen. Howards therefore fauked Dal.
ton on the very day Hooker was fighting the
enemy's rear guard at Ringold This might
have contributed to the retreat of Bragg not
only to, but below Dalton, as it was ascertained
at Red Clay, that his forces were pressing
back in all haste past Dalton and towards
Atlanta.
On Sunday, Nov. 10Th, Maj Gen. Sherman,
commanding Department of The Tennessee.
and having under him besides the troops he
had brought, from Memphis, the lh Army
Corps and Davis's division OF Thomas's army,
started for the relief of Barsile. They did
not wait for supplies to come from CLattanoo-
ga. The troops were without knapsacks. and
the ii til Corps had already been absent from
their camp an entire week. Some bfigatles
had left even their blankets behind on going
into battle in font of Chattanooga, and had
not yet been able TO return to get them. de-
string not 10 lose moment in the pursuit of
the retreating enemy.
There was supply train and no hope of
having any, as we were to move directly away
from our base, not attempting 10 keep any
connection with the same. II was the uiid
- r.V.s. y ~ .yeo1oy ~. ouse, 30 riucnious y.
wy ~ ~ X efoseu y vpe ~ siuia, ana
espap'e, ,ol oe'ns succsssiuiiy executed only by
slI iios' lesoin'o stiu is.liie oi couhanaefs,
eou1ay my en's' Sto"nea Win an
quire d OF Gen. Howard on Saturday whether
he would be willing to undertake the expedi-
.lon VIII niS coa'niaho Without waiting or re-
.urn'LS ior snppnes. zen howard replied
sna. ne Wa ieaay 70 uo !. at once. Ii was
Hnomn ina. puInslus was hsiu pressed, ana
nunuieu ui,ies va ~ pc,oie ". 60 tne mafcn
was olueicu ea'iy .hoay morning uen. HOW
sa su ha'lns 'he iisne coiuuih, DAVIS DiFisioc
S,eo ni'r,ns ~ eonl unstion Win ule ilen
SorPs. De,oie sunset We feashed Cleapeland,
haslls maui ,wehey ihhes, cnasing aiew rebel
ea'any ou. VI 'owh ana capturing captain
Au a.ons ,n's uay nuen we met Win earn
est on,on people, some OF wnom came mile
or tMoto ge.s siSne OF tne ankees," as they
acnoui''laoe ali VI the reuerai iolces- ana
SUM- eohecscu 70 us sainaoie iniorma,lon'
oe . sesn s.sss sui,eniy Niulh uocfs, scowiing
.n.oush inc winuoms o' hoe ueighing TO look
QUA ali Aeoiea'eianas some rev ilags were
nyhs. leat Fina2e, and peiore the
war was nourisnins business place at the
- = - -,
lloni o'ea,elanu one gong 10 Chattanooga
anu Tue o'ner 70 Dditoh.
We heard OF small force at Charleston
this place but hoped to prevent the destruc-
ton OF their pontoon bridge across the Hi
wassee ia river navigable for light draltyes-
sells to this point. Soon after noon OF next
day we reached them. Our skirmishers rushed
forward into town aud we saw the rebels run
ming away like rats on the Opposite side of the
river. lhey had cut loose and swung of the
pontoon-pfidsc destroying some OF the boats.
iney had also maze oreak 10 the X. Hs
Ur,.uSc, oVeitntowihg TWO OF tne hish Iestles
. win our artillery we drove them away from
= .raln " cars around whioh we saw them
nosefns ~ some Instance from Vie opposite
s Sank, c'iuenuy Tying 10 extract something
from tue cars OF perhaps set lire to the train.
bricade across Inv hoa,s s,d .n,,,,,rod "a ,i,o 'o
Contents Of the cars VIZ eanr onapoi e., ,he e
whole corps fo,. three d.rs ali e,a,, g., =
Iopger nerna aud som. a,i,.r y. T."
;mnortauce seyar,l casL. - 49, IL e...
sc;Los ,yo,a .,,,o,,c ,I,a a,,;s,s III @ ,' !, "a
~ re,,,,;sit;,n ~ o5ea /, anu eaais =
Lr;dgc wb;c,, n was tounJ nrs,,;s,.,ia ,a - ~
n.re far The nassago of ,y,anns III a,.,;,,ppr..
Roaes ,s,t wore slsn csn7nrod aua NV ,,,sa
rere ,sod y, no;s,n ,o 'aa'' ~ snIse .a,s
by emnloving All The n,;<ana,s and cnr,,s "ia io.
tails ~ mon ,Iran ,l,,,t ,h -, ~
az one NJ tIc san ,,ti;.ar. ~ ,,a Gor,a tSe
bridce was comnIs,ed AMI ,l,a cross;nd com.
meneed at daylip;f All ~ sherman,s e,rans
crossed unon this br;daa Mai Con cordon
Granger. who had moi foliowrd IN ,l,a ,,s,rS,,ii