The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1863-10-29
&ifbmunh qispattb.
THURSDAY MORNING ocToezR


THURSDAY MORNING. OCTOBER 20. lss;
A Federal View of the Late Cam.
palgn Of General Lee.
The New York Times has n ,e,ter s,yins a his
Tory OF the recent campaign Of Gen. Lee, and ths
light In which the Yankees view it, II ia NOR
connected and iu'slligihie than any we have ye.
seen published. After Meade had ascertained 10
his satisfaction that Gen. Lee was endeavorins ie
flank him. there commsncrd-
RACE sRTwECS rHE TWO ARMIES.
On Tues sday both armies were pushing forward
as tast as they could, parallel To each other amt
separated hy but half dozen miIes or less.
The rebels passed through Warrcnton, and cI,l
SeIs mere tell Re that they occupied the whole o.
tuesday In doing this. iheir trains being extremely
long.
We passed some miles 10 the right, crossing Cs
dar Run al place uamsd Auburn, tive miles due
east OF Warfentom.
osN. LEE FORMS A PLAN
Al Warrenton Gen. Lee formed the bold des,an
OF sending one of his corps (liIl's) by il rapid de
tour 10 seize the heights Of Cenreyilc while hi,
other (Ewei's) should fail upon our hank and
rear
Ii was on Wednesday morning, when our Who'll.
army passed Cedar Run at Auburn, Cen Warren.
corps (Second) bringing up the rear To this com
mander was assigned the duty Of covering the
trains oi the army, which were much dclaye,, in
the crossing by the pontoons.
---.---s-~- CRITICAL MOMENT.
The occasion was now an extremely critical one
EWelI had begun pressing severely on our raar.
and already on Wednesday, MOI ming, at Auburn thu.
rear guard became engaged with 4 portion OF his
force. A double necessity was upon Gen Meade:
iirst, he must move with extreme ceierity to reach
Centrevill. IN advance of Hin, who had the starr
OF him, and was on the shorter line secondly, he
must keep bach the enemy from his trains in the
rear
Hlii'. corps had reached R.is,ee about smu.a
neously with WarreR--in fact, had just got abe at
OF him sufficiently to form line Of batilr, which
he did perpendicular To the railroad.
nEsATrLK OF BRtsToE.
The position was The most perilous one In which
column can be piaced-marching by the flank
aud met by the enemy in line OF battle. Gen. War
ron was equal to the emergency. The troops were
brought up at rlInthe first division fCaldweli's)
having come up thus for Il mile and a half, laden
with eight days ratiOlis.
The troops which had been marching on the ien
of the railroad were brought quickly 10 the
right and Gen. Warren, seeing that the enemy had
neglected to occupy the cut and embanknent OF
the railroad, on the instant jumped bis men. un
r-en, into il, More prudence on the part Of the
rebel commander, or less sagacity on the part of
the Union commander, would have proved the de
stfucli0n OF that corps
The rest of the army had all gone ahead. The
ist corps (Nawton's) had already reached Mahas-
ras. The last one but Wnsreh'S-nameiy, the 3th.
lSikes'sl-passed beyond BrIsioe simultaneously y
with Warfens coming up, and jus, as he got en-
gagged with the enemy he received from Sykes the
comforting Intelligence that he ''wa- moving on
slowly and in good order.'
Gen. Warren had formed his troops under cover
OF the cut and embankment OF the railroad, cOnsti
iuting ready made bfaasiwOrks. On the left he
placed defensive erochet. Down Tuhed the
enemy, charging on this flank, when suddenly the
troops under cover rose up, and NJ close range
poured voIley AFTER yoIIey OF deadly ire Into the
.f,-.n and rot akals
After twenty minutes fight the enemy We're glad
10 make of, ,eavit q Thousand dead and wounded
and five hundred prisoners in our hands! IL was
we'll that night came on as II did. for lust as the
sun set Eweil, who had been following IN War
ren's rear came up, tut had only tie 10 form line
of battle when the darkness interrupted further
operations, and the guard was abe 10 pass on
and join the main body OF the army.
LEES PLANS D.scoyCERrEp.
The repulse at Bfstoe completely disconnected
Lees plans, 40 far rs they embraced the view OF
getting on the communications of Gen. Meade on
Seaching C.ntrevilie before him. Lee had nc
longer with him that unmatched executive officer,
stonewail Jackson, uneQualied al rapid march.
Hin proved slow and feeble, aud instead of striking
The he ad Of the Union column he struck its rear,
and got badly handled In consequence.
Tue REBELS HALT.
From this moment Lee abandoned all purpose
of giving battle, and never advanced the main
hndy Of his army much beyond Bristoe. Delach-
ment. were, "'~evHr. saLi 10 fniinss APP ,hA Ionn
force and make demonstrations. On Friday at u
O'Clock A. NJ, the enemy appeared IN front OF
E,ac burns and Mitch.ils fords, and made 4 vi
ci0us attack our skirInisiiers, hut were promptly
driven back. Stuart's cavalry, meanwhile, was
sent by il deIOur round nOfthward ana westward,
bur. bcing checked aud rspulsed in all their ef-
forts they gave up The attempt. The rebel army
was now set to Worb 10 destroy the railroad, and
the et1.ctuai manner iu which they did their work
has already been mentioned Thursday, Friday,
and Saturday seem TO have been employed In thir
manner and then Lee began his retr0grade move
ment--the rebel army passing through Greenwich
on SUNDAY, aud Warrcnton on Monday, and thence
down acrass the Rappahannoch, their rear covered
BY the cavalry.
MEADE AWAITS FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS.
In the meanwhile the Union army lay at Black
burns ford, Bull Run, Chantiliy and CentrevilIe
awaiting the Development OF the enemy's plans
Headouarters were the Old Bull Run hattie feel,
Itself, by the woods through which the regulars
ulaie ,heir charge
FORWARD MOvEAESr.
On Monday, the l9lh, the forward mov rnsnt wa
besun, the army crossing hull Run on pontoons
Tie I'd corps took the road toward Auburn, the Gil
toward Wauenton, the 3I toward Catlet's, the Is
aud o,h toward New Baltimore. Tuesday. A'th
found the army on the iine indIeaied-ihe line o
Cedar Run.
IL had been expected and hoped that We shout.
meet the enemy, but they were far ahead, and no
thing but small cavalry parties appeared. On Wed
nesday cavalry returning, gave the Intelligence
that the rebels were all across the Rappahannoei
and the Rapidan. In this situation pursuit. was, %
course hopeie aud has for the present been Etver
Mp.
MEApE's ANXIETY TO GIvR BATHS.
As 10 the impuiation that Gen. Meade was. du
ring the TetrOgrade movement, trying To get away
from Lee, and manBuvring throughout 10 avoid q
hattie IL Is utterly false. lie tried repeatedly 90
get battle, and would have fought the rebels al
SperryvIe, al Winchester, at CenireVille, Or any.
where else in which he could have brought his
iuen Inn M
Lee, aud his own exceedingly defective infcrn,a
don as to the position OF the enemy, banked his
designs and desires Referring last night, as W.
sat around the camp fire, 10 his disappointment al
no, having been able TO get battle oat o! Lee, be
said 10 report literally his own puhgent expression
that it"vas like pulling out his eye-teeth not to
have had fight" Whether man Of differen,
st.mp " ouid not have beeu able 20 compel 4 battle
! know no.; but Meade was not only willing, hut
eager 10 bring such result about, and did all he
could in this view.
Our losses In men during the campaign havebeen
tnron siderable, aud In material very slight; buI
fha horses have suffered severely. Cen, Pie asaD
ton. chief Of cavalry, tells me- that the number Of
killed, wounded, and broken down horses dnfins
this campaign will reach thirty five hundred.
PROSPECTS.
tremalns 10 be seen what action the miliiar,
au,,,vrities at Washington will take In regard Il
,ha a vay of the Potomac, In view Of the pass le
which affairs have been brought by The late can,
naiqn every one In the army here agrees that ae-
i've oneratfons against Richmond by this line are
over for thfs year. ! may say, further, that every
hndv i. nersuaded that nothing can ever be done
ayainst kiclmond by this line. The map is against
our ever beirE able 10 do anything effective In this
way BY any such force as we now have: Evsr'
General in the army agrees that the south side o.
the James river is the only line on which to Ope
rate directly against Richmond. IT, therefore, lhs
Army of the Potomac IL for the present TO do moth
ing. we shohld at once abandon the barren wilder
ness, fortify the fOrds of the Potomac, man th'
or three Of our best corps to the decisive theatre
of waY In The Southwest. When the business there
A. ouce well done up, II will be no longer cues