The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1863-05-14
Great cavalry Raid.
Do,.;I, from ahe Richmond Papers

The New York papers contain llper4l eN
tracts from the Richmond papers, giving d
account of Stoneman's great cavalry Iapo'-
We make some extracts:
From the Richmond Examiner, May 4th.
F.. On Saturday morning the belief became
oaneraJ in the city that Hooker had succeed
Cd in throwing the main body of his army
across the upper waters of the Rappahannock
and had established himself on a line runnlns
from Charlottesville, ON the Orange plahR
road. ten miles west of Fredericksburg, te
Spottsylvania Court House, a point I"elVt
miles southwest of the latter place. Ihou8II
it was clear that our position had Deeh Iutneu
NV tb;s movement. and our army deprived OF
the immense advantages 1t enjoyed IN the IA
mona battle of the 18th Of December, 1867,
the admission gave rise to no uneasiness. En-
fire confidence in the skill Of our generals and
the indomitable valor of Southern troops pre-
cluded any feeling of painful anxiety. Still
the public eagerness to hear from the army
was very great. Nothing was talked OF but
the situation" and the demand for the Ia
test news was universal. The morning, how
ever, wore away without anything transpir-
ing beyond a vague rumor that a desperate
moonlight fight had taken place somewhere,
iii which the enemy had been driven from one
to ten miles, acco riding to the fancy Of the
account
But about II o'clock the city was e%lectrii-
ed by the report that the Yankees, IN immense
force, had taken possession OF the Central
Railroad at Louisa Court House, fourteen
miles southwest Of Spottsylvania Court House,
and sixty miles from the city, and, being I'M
interrupted by our troops, were tearing up the
track for miles. This statement being made
on the authority Of the telegraph operator at
Louisa Court House, who had only escaped
capture after performing prodigies Of pedes
trianism, was currently believed and gave
rise to vague but grave apprehension. On
every hand the question was asked, "Where
is Gen. Lee ?' "Where is orr army In
the course Of half an hour the above story re
ceived an addition, in the shape Of a report
that a heavy detachment of the enemy had
appeared at Columbia, and. and after cutting
the canal at that place, were making their way
to the high bridge on the South Side Railroad
At 4 O'Clock pm. a city paper issued an ex-
ira containing the following
The telegraph operator from Louisa Court
House arrived at Frederick's Hill Station.
twelve miles this side of the Court House, at
a quarter to twelve to-day Saturday. He
walked from Louisa Court House to Frede-
rick's Hall, bareheaded and without a coat
he reports that the enemy, about one thous-
and strong, came into Louisa Court House at
3 o'clock this morning, and have since that
time torn up the railroad track for a distance
of four miles in this direction, and are still at
the work.
Their first inquiry at Louisa Court House
was for the operator, who made his escape by
the back door while they were searching the
house for him. He states that endorsements
were coming up very rapidly, and presumcs
that by this time their force must be greatly
augmented.
At Trevillian's, five miles higher up the
road, they appeared, it is reported, ten thous-
and strong. This, howeve, may be an exag-
Grafton. The report comes, we understand,
from GordonsvilIe, via Linchburg, and was
brough to the former place by a courier.
The mail train on the Central road is now
at Hanover Station. and will return to the city
The freight train which left Richmond this
morning, at four o'clock, is at Beaver Dam,
and will also return, we learn, Jas soon as some
stores there can be loaded.
All the trains at and west Of Gordonsville
have been stopped, and none are between
Beaver Dam and that point. So the enemy
cannot injure us much by destroying cars
We have also the gratifying information that
all the stores that were at all the railroad sta
tons accessible to the enemy, have been re
moved, in anticipation of this raid. 1t will
therefore prove to them a ~fruitless movement,
except the injury to the track, which can be
repaired i'll less time than it will take them
to tear up the rails. There are no bridges
nearer than those over the Rivanna River and
Moore's Creek, which are about two miles
east Of Charlottesville, and nineteen west of
Gordonsville.
The above, cody translated, seems to mean
that the Yankee cavalry, no doubt in consid-
cradle force, left Spotsylvania Court House ON
Friday night with the intention of tapping
the Central Railroad at Louisa Court House
and Trevillian's, and arrived at the former
about three o'clock i'll the morning; that the
telegraph operator, being aroused from his
slumbers by the announcement that the Yam
KEGS were upon him, slippingon his pantaloons
(or did not slip them onl and fled wildly for
the next station. His statements of the force
Of the enemy and the damage done by them
to the Railroad are worth nothing, as it is very
clear from his own account that he didn't ev-
en- wait see whether the report of the advent
Of the Yankees was true or false. He said he
walked to Frederick's Hall. 1t is more likely
that he ran the whole distance. We believe
that the Yankees reached the railroad, not
far from the telegraph mans story, but, be
cause being near Spotsylvania Court House,
there was nothing to obstruct their raid.
From the Richmond Examiner, May 4h
The Confederacy has never received an in
suit so notifying and provoking as that which
it suffered yesterday and the day before. The
Federal army had reached and taken possess
ion Of Spotsylvania Court House. From that
point they have not only attempted and ex-
ecuted the vancouver suggested as probable
III our last issue, but a great deal more. Leaving
the body OF the army stretched in line from
that point to the Rapidan, their cavalry I'm
der Gen. Stoneman, has pressed on to the
Central Railroad and cut it at Trevillian's;
then penetrated to the roads between Rich
mond and Fredericksburg, and cut that too
at or near Ashland, and at the moment we
write is believed to be careering unframed in
the open country ten miles from Richmond.
IN the rear of Lees army, having passed his
communication with the city and shut off for
the moment his source of supply.
That this audacious raid will have any Sc
rious effect on the greet battle or battles now
lighting, or fought, in Spotsylvania, is not
possible. The tritling damage which these
cavalry have Zone to the railroads can be re
paired sooner than it was effected. But the
event throws an unpleasant light on the i'm
providence of those who control the military
powers of the country. It's success shows
that they are blind to the character of the
man now in command of the Federal forces.
He is no longer an able, prudent officer, max
ing war according to the rules of the science,
but a reckless gambler, who has nothing to
lose and is ready to play on any chance, how
ever desperate. Such adventures as these are
precisely what might have been reasonably
expected of him. But further, in the inves-
tigating committee of the Federal Congress
General Hooker, while stating what he thop chit
should nave been done by Burnside, laid down
in so many words this Identical cavalry cam
paign, as part of his programme The South
ern Government and GenereII was forewarncd.
yet would not be forear~ned.