Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1863-05-30
Letter from, the Army,

CAMP NEAR kELLY's FoRp, May llth, 1869.
Ny DEAR FRESD-You have, l suppose this
heard of General Hookers temporary repulse. |
shall now endeayor to give you the particulars of
General S.Oneman's brilliant cavalry raid, which
hope will be both interesting and cdiiying. We
fordcd the Rappahannock at kcllys Ford the
29h Of April. The cavalry force that made the raid
was composed Of General Bcauford's Brigade of Re-
gHlars, and General Greggs Division Volunteers.
The former composed of the lst 2nd 9TH and 9th
Y $ Cavalry. After crossing felt our wHy to-
wards Rapid Ann, Bcautord : Brigade in the van !;
lst L $. Cavalry in tho cttreme advance. At 10
O'Clock our column was fired int we charged and
drove the rebels took possession of Brandreth cross
roads, thon halted tOr the balance Of the night whils
the rain fell in torrents On the morning OF he Both
VT again moved. the 9TH L. :. Cavalry in advance
We forded the Rapid Ann at Norten's TUrd, il was
five feet deep at this point the 9TH took some
20 rebel prisoners. On the morning of the Isl May
we again moved forward fepidly 9Th Us. Cavalry
in advance Oar cUlur,n wac again fired into, near
the Fredericksburg and OrangeyillC plank road We
soon disposed the enemy, and took some prisoners
among whom were two officers At 10 =. NJ, we
furdcd the South Ann River and halted. lprc Grcgg's
Division came up with us and on the morning Of the
md the column was again in motion, moving in di-
rection of louisa [. H., point on the Virginia Cen
trail Railroad, fifteen miles east Of Gordonsville.-
Gen. Gregg took the advance. We took Louisa q.
Ii, at Il Nj e. destroyed the rail road and telegraph
at this point Cen Gregg now al taGced in direction
of Hanover c. IL. ON the Richmond and Fredericks-
burg Railroad The LIST L. ; Cavalry was detailed
to destroy rebel public property on the railroad
far as Frederick Hall Statibn, distance Of fifteen
miles. We destroyed three water stations ono bridge
two depOis, many commissaTy stores and took some
twenty prisoners J. with my company captured
rebel Gen. lrmblc sprivate horse saddle aad btidc,
also his servant sGc) and his orderly "a rebel sol
dier1 both mounted His servant, fine young ne
gro is now waiting on me the horses | turned into
tho company and ON his saddle 1 am riding.
IN the mean time a column detailed under COM
mand of Col. Wndham, to cross the james river at
Columbia destroy the canal and some important
bridges He returned with few hundred captured
horses but failed t. carry out bis orders The 9TH
L. s. Cavalry, was i'm mncdiGtcly detailed to perform
this duty which delayed the main column q hours
and frustrated the original plan Of our whole column
connecting on the Peninsula with Gen Keys, The
st L $. Cavalry again Joined the main column near
Yanceyyille on the eve otthc Sd. On the 4th pUT-
ton of the 9th 4. 5 Cavalry attacked by fettl
br radc of cavalry under Cen, Wm. Lee. We hai
some N N and two officers, Capt Owens and Lieut.
Beaulord captured. Oar command moved up rapid
w. saved the 9th, drove the rebels wounded fourteen
Of the enemy and captured number, among which
was one Major. We then formed a line of battle at
Davis Crossroads where remained till the morn
ing of the 9TH We had now cut of all communiea-
ton with the rebel army of Va by railroad, tee
rraph and turnpike. We also captured upwards of
2OO1 horses, all OF which We required afterwards 10
mount those ot our men whose horses gave out. All
this time both men and horses lived OF the enemy
Meat fresh, bacon and ham, composed the mems
diet much of which was eaten raw, were not
allowed to build fires. On the morning OF the 5th
the retrograde movement commenced, 1000 OF the
freshest men and horses were detailed an advance
guard under Gen. DeHuiord. was Of the number
We were also To make fent on GordonsVille, in
der to have the rebels concentrate their forces there
then move north via Louisa {. ii. CARVED with.
in two miles Of Goydonsylo at dusk in The evening
found The enemy thero draws up in force when We
wheeled about and moved rapidly in the opposite
direction. The fent worked admirably. 1t was
now dark aud il rained rapidly tlii No urged our
iaded horses forward through mud and W nd ut
day-break in the morning We lorded the Ann
River which was So much swollen that the water rsan
over tho horses back Ianny Of them had 10 awim
Luckily Il only about 80 yards vide After cross
ing the column halted, and my squadron was i'm
mediatey detailed 10 reconnoTe the road TO hAee0on
ford the Rapid Ann River distance Of 10 miles
On We dashed through ram pud aud water Oh
my way captured tho rebels There were no iorees
holding the ford. A. soon - retained with the IN
formation, the whole column moved forward, We
again marched all night whilst dreichins rain was
continually fnlling, aud the country u vns' ocean
of mud and water, Hundreds OF horses dFpppcd
dead in the road Men Toll ssloep on their h'r'cs
and some fell on, ulisdy exhausted sud we're Va az
pfobsblllty esplIFei;
We s,cs.4 Rseo'as Fo'i o, a,dsyiisA, in she n''FI.