Daily national Republican., 1863-02-14
visit OF the President 20 the RortIhe a
tIOnS In Virginia.
An EIpsrLmsnt and Explosion.

Taking advantage of the exceedingly pleas
ant weather Of yesterday, we rode over into
Virginia, and visited several OF the numerous de
fenslve works there. On our return, we thought
we discovered something Of u novel character. II
appeared like new work In new place, and pre-
sented formidable appearance. 800 LAE .. d
Seeing Aumber of carriages, and some thousand
or two people, citizens as well soldiers, In the
vicinity all looking, with great Interest at some
object directly in front Of them Our curiosity was
excited to ascertain the hich had drawn to-
gether so large an assemblAge OF our citizens.
Arriving on the ground, we soon learned that
His ENcellency the President was there, Aecompa-
MED By the Secretary Of War, Gen. HeintzelmAn,
Gen. Barnard, Cen. AbercrOmbie, and many ether
officers Of less note. Before we had time to pass
the compliments Of the day to our friends, OF In
quire the object of the meeting, there was great
explosion Immediately in our frontj the earth
opened and vomited forth stones shot and shell
vertically, horizontally, and In fact in all dlrec
tlons. The suddenness Of the explosion the smoke
the bursting shells, and the missiles falling around
pAralyzed US with fear, for a moment, and we In
voluntarily took refuge behind our nearest neigh
Dor. We were fully persuaded that the magazine
In the adjacent fort had exploded.
AZ soon as we could realize that we had not been
injured, rushed forth to ascertain the cause Of
the accident, and TO render such assistance as
might be In our power 10 the killed and wounded
| But as we approached the spot where the explo-
sion had taken place, we were halted by sentinel
and told not to advance. Gathering up our senaes
| as well as we could, we looked around and to our
amAzement, the crowd had stood unmoyed. Im-
mediately around us were a number OF the Officers
of the signal corps busily engaged In connecting
the wires OF . feld-telegraph to Its support, and
among them we saw Prof Deardslee, the inventor
Of the telegraph apparatus now used In our armies
From him we learned that he was exhibiting the
application ofhis new electromagnetic machine to
the explosion OF mines, and that he was now ready
to fire another. Calling to SOme officer In authoFl
ty, the word was given 20 "hrep
Quick as the wires could carry the spark there
was another explosion even greater than the first
and the air wrs again tilldd with earth and smoke
stones and exploding shellsi some of the latter
falling in uncomfortable proximity to our person
Athird mine was exploded in the same manner
Ia fact, should Judge from appearances that the
ground in front OF our forts had been ex
Mined and that It is only necessary for Professor
Bcardslee to connect his apparatus with them, past
the word, and they will be exploded.
An order was now passed from Col. Alexander
OF the engineers, who appeared to have charge o.
the operations, for the crowa TO fall back TO 4
greater distance, AS tougasSe was about to b.
fred.
Taking up our position close to the President
who appeared sufficiently bold 10 suit the state o
our nervous system at the time we watched fol
the GOugdSIe. We cannot be sure that we saw II
and, IL we did, we sure we cannot describe II
but we heard a deep, heavy, and angry explosion
AZ n some of the internal fires of the earth werI
escaping, breathing forth earth and smoke, stones
and exploding shells even fearful than before
What the fougasse iS, the engineen and the elec
trleians must explain. We can only say that Il
was a successful application OF science TO thu
means Of auxiliary defence. 1t rained stones fol
a res around and In front of 1t, and must have
carried AnnihilAtion to any RssAulting column II
the neighb )rhood.
Immediately after this explosion, there was I
rush Of the soldiers 10 the fIgdSse, but a heal
of ruins only showed where II had been placed
We advise all our friends who may be fond Of thI
terrible, and who would realize the scenes-With
out the blood-through which Assaulting column
will have to approach this city, to go over to Vir
ginia when next tugdsse Is exploded. For ouI
selves, we road away cOngratulating OurselveI
that we had seen so much of war, and realIzInI
the force OF the congratulations OF the President
when he exclaimed that nobody was hurt"