Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1863-05-08

louisville. In the meantime StonCman with
a large force of cavalry, was sent by a circuit
tous route to break up the railroads and destroy
the bridges. The plan was daringly conceiv-
ed and from the bold and resolute temper of
| Hooker, and the imposing number and veteran
character Of the troops under his command, it
was believed that, in forcing Lee to accept bat
| tie outside of his entertainments, and on "A field
Of bis adversary choosing, be would be talk
en- at a serious disadvantage ard put to utter
rout. The result Of all this splendid strategy
has disappointed the popular expectation. A
series Of skirmishes took place early in the
week. two great and sanguinary battles were
fought on Saturday and Sunday last, and on
| the evening OF the latter day, the shattered
columns of the Army Of the Potomac re-cross-
| ed the Rappahannock river, and are now upon
! its Northern bank. Whatever may have caused
! this retrOgrade movement on the part Of &C.
neral Hooker, its immediate effect was to ena-
bic Lee on Monday TO throw a heavy force
against the column of Sedgwick The latter
had occupied Fredericksburg the previous day
and had carried the entrenched heights in the
rear by storm, but not until he had suffered
! loss of q thousand men, This large body of
Confederates succeeded in the gray Of morn
| ing in envelopiug Sedgwick S corps, which was
composed Of two dyisons-one being under
his immediate command and the other under
| General Gibbons. Although encompassed by
superior numbers the men are said to have
! fought with great bravery and determination ;
| but the slaughter was awful, and they were
! finally forced to abandon the heights they had
captured the day before at 50 great a sacrifice
Of life, and to retreat hotly pursued and un-
der a severe enfilading fire, across the Kappa
| hammock. Sedgwicks aggregate loss is esti-
mated by the Washington Star at five thousand
men; whilst the loss sustained by General
4 Hooker is put, by the same authority, at ten
/ thousand. All these indications are, of course,
/ loose and uncertain; but they nevertheless
serve to indicate the desperate nature of the
.conllicts through which the troops have pass
ed. 1t is probable that we shall never know
the exact truth in regard to these momentOus
battles. The correspondence Of the Northern
! journals, on which alone we have had to rely
for nothing official has been made public
is now shown to have been perfectly worthless
in consequence Of its gross misstatements Of
many important facts; its Stire suppression
of Others Of equal weight and gravity its eX-
aggregation OF transient successes into fore
shadowing of confident victory and, above
all, from the false coloring which it gave to
the whole series of operations which have
ended in the withdrawal Of every Federal sol
der TO the north bank Of the Rappahapnock.
From the Richmond papers, we at length de-
rive some intelligence of the result Of Stone
three detached corps, one Of withdrawals
went as far as Rapidan station and then re-
turned, Ayerll has since been relieved Of his
command, and ordered to report to the War
Department.
A second -Stoneman's constituting
the main body, went as far as Columbia on
the james river and kanawha canal, for the
purpose Of destroying the aqueduct and locks,
but was there met and repulsed by Gen. W.
H. Fitzhugh Lee, who is said to have killed,
wounded and captured a number Of Stone
man force. The latter is reported to have fall
len back to Louisa Courthouse but has not
since been heard from. The third corps I'M
der Colonel Davis, a native of King George
county, Va, was more successful than either
of the others; but the Richmond papers say
the damage inflicted on the Fredericksburg
road can be repaired in twenty-four hours, and
on the Central in forty-eight hours. Colonel
Davis was subsequently reported TO be passing
| down the peninsula, either in the direction Of
| Williamsburg, or Of Gloucester Court-House
| Dispatches also published in the Richmond
I papers confirm the accounts horetoforereceived
/ Of the repulse OF General Sherman in his re-
cent attack on Haines' Bluff. General Grant
/ has likewise failed in his assault upon Grand
/ Cuff. A telegram Of late date from Jackson,
Mississippi denies that Gen. Banks has taken
Z Alexandria, or that he has been within fifty
miles Of that place.
/ Dispatches from the Mississippi squadron
have been received announcing the capture OF
Grand Gulf, together with five hundred Of the
garrison, and.all the ammunition and stores.
The correspondent Of the New York Times,
writing from Milliken's Bend, expresses strong
doubts OF the success Of Gen. Grants move
ment against Vicksburg by the way Of Grand
! Gulf, and declares that the Duck river canal
the last Of the experiments Of the kind-has
definitely failed, and has been abandoned.