Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1863-07-08
From the Army of the Cumberland.


have had no opportunity since the oc
cupatlon of this place TO telegraph tC
you. The wires are now up to this point
and | send a summary of the movement:
of the last three days. Further develop
ments proved that the rebel retreat from
this place had not been so clean as my
first dispatch indicated. In the haste &c
record the event | was induced to give
but Il superficial examination of the work:
which are much stronger than supposed
Fort Rains. with 4 large bastion, Is the
centre of the series.
The real weakness of Bragg was III
not holding Manchester. and as soon as
Rosecrans occupied Manchester and adj
vanced towards Winchester, he thanked
any equal or inferior force at TullahOma.
As soon as the head of the column got
south of Tullahoma Bragg evacuated. In,
stead of one we nave four siege guns and
instead of no stores we have u large
amount of meal and other provision.
After finding on the first instant that
Tullahoma was evacuated Rosecrans threw
forward his force in rapid pursuit, Gen.
Thomas is moving on the Manchester
road from Manchester, and McCook on
the one from Tullahoma. Thomas moved
rapidly in hopes of striking the enemy,
moving nearly due east, so as to get on
the military road built by Bragg, parallel
with and five miles east of the Railroad.
This Thomas failed to do until the enemy
was well beyond the angle. and when he
was crossing Elk River the Division of
Gen. Negley encountered the Tearof Har-
dee's Division at that point, about four
miles north of Elk River, and skirmished
with it all DIZZY, losing four o. five men
killed and wounded. Among the prison
ers was Lieutenant Pratt, 18th Michigan.
The enemy's rear guard under Vince
Ter made stubborn resistance, delaying
Negley so that rebel trains got beyond the
river during the night of the LIST. The
same process on the part of the rebels I'M
der Gen. Buckner, enabled Bragg with
reserve artillery, 26 pieces, to cross Elk
river at Estelle Springs on the night of
the LIST, and to reach the mountains.
The enemy on both roads burnt the
bridges, and the real guard took up a po-
sition and hastily built up works on the
other side. 1t vas readily understood
that this was for the purpose of delaying
our crossing as long as possible, in order
to enable their infantry and trains to get
into the mountains. Aiding them in this
heavy rains came on, and the river rose
very high. Natives never saw the river
so high as at present
The situation on the night of the LIST,
was, McCook at Estelle Springs, with
Buckner opposite the Forks; Thomas at
a point two miles up the river, with the
enemy on the opposite side. The main
rebel army was in the vicinity of Win
chester, Decherd is in camp ready to
move on a second into the mountains
Department Headquarters were thesame
night established at r~ullahoma. Critten-
den with a full corps was sent by a rapid
march to take possession of the road lead
ing from Decherd via Tracy City TO Chat
~tanooga. This was successful and forced
the enemy to take the roads across the
mountains. On the morning of the I'd,
McCook crossed at the mouth of Rock
Creek, below the enemy's position in front
of our right, and thus hanked the enemy
withdrew to Winchester and the noun
tains. At other places similar maneuvres
were made with little better success.
Gems. Rousseau and Brannon were sent
to the upper crossing and come down in
the rear. The enemy whom Gen. Neg
ley was to detain-not drITe-thought
Rousseau could cross by 10 o'clock a. NJ,
but the swollen state Of the river proven
ted. and only a few troops got across in
time. Meantime the cavalry brigade came
in upon the right flank; the enemy's FIR
ing was mistaken for that of Rousseau.
and Negley opened with two batteries on
the rebel position one thousand yards dis
tant. The first fire dismounted one gun
and killed several rebel gunners. They
were taken completely by surprise, and
rl,au rnaIa h,,f taur ra,,lia- arra.t ipr NM
cipitately. Meantime Gen. Turchin had
engaged the rebel right, and after Il fight
of two hours, drove it and the entire force
from the field, killing 35 of them-the
battery escaped. The principal fight was
around the house of Pennington, Quar-
termaster of rebel force engaged, and
which was sacked by Turchin's men.
The fight only ended at , p. m. and
the troops were unable to cross until morn
ing. They moved only u short distance,
Negley encamping on the battle field and
Rousseau and Brannon on the bank of
the river.
Gen McCook meantime advanced to
and occupied Winchester, Decherd and
Cowan. The whole force proceeded to
the foot of the mountain, at Cowan, to
find the enemy gone. We have lost not
over one thousand men by casualty. All
kinds of troops suffered much by alter
native rains and heat. The sun now
shines brightly amidst heavy rains. We
have 1900 to 1000 prisoners, many of them
deserters. The enemy is entirely out of
Tennessee, and our communications in
tact.
The Railroad will be running to this
point tomorrow.
THE BATTLE OF THURSDAY.
The following is from the New York
Herald's correspondence:
BALTIMORE, June 3, 1863.
During the night of Wednesday Gen.
Meade arrived and commenced fortifying
the heights by the construction of abattis
and throwing up earthworks for a distance
of over a mile, in the form of a crescent,
his left resting upon the Emmettsburg
pike and his right upon the hills east of
the town. There was no fighting on the
morning of Thursday. We occasionally
threw shell into the woods north and
west of the town as f~eelers, but devel-
oped nothing but pickets and skirmish-
ers.
General Meade, however. knew that he
had a cunning enemy, and relaxed none
OF MS vigilance or caution.
About twelve o'clock skirmishing COM
menced on our left centre, and was kept
up on both sides quite briskley by the
sharp shooters.
General Robson remarked that this was
only a feint of the ~enemy-that he would
soon appear in force somewhere else
True enough, about four o'clock cannon
and Smelling commenced moder-
ately on our extreme left, where the
Third corps, General Sickles, and Second,
General Hancock, were posted, and in
course of an hour increased to the
most terrific degree. accompanied with
~onslaughts from their infantry,
who yelled like so many hyenas.
Their intention was undoubtedly to
u left, TO accomplish which pur
pose they had. as usual, massed their full
force upon our extreme left. General
Lee conjectured that our ammunition