Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-05-26

s0utheaSteFiy direction, crossed the
York river road at Dispatch Station, and
eamped early in the day at Bottoms
Bridge.
approaching General Buffers Forces
The GHHboats Fire oB Us
It was now necessary to ascertain the
whereabouts Of General ButIer's forces.
For the past three days it had rained in
cessantly; our men were without rations
and horses without forage, and the entire
command fztignad, hzagry, and faded.
An officer of General Sheridan's staE,
with two men, was sent Ia the direction
Of the James River 10 ascertain the
whereabouts of the gunboats. He re-
turned at daylight, and reported that be
could find no sign of them. An escort
Of sixty men was At once dispatched to
Yorktown to have supplies forwarded to
Haxhalls Landing, where the remain
der Of the corps marched, = distance OF
ten miles
Arriving ia The proximity Of Jamts
river the booming of cannon and whist
/ ling OF shot over our heads admonished
Us that our friends were at hand, hut had
mistaken Us for euenies Captain Viii
son, the efficient signal officer OF the %
| division, was sent 10 the front aud made
signals No attention was paid to him,
/ however, and continued firing was kept
up, and one man killed
Captain Wilson was compelled to ad
vance to the bank OF the river. where
| be hailed the feet boat was sent TO
the shore, the officers and crew having
their pistols in hand and fully cooked.
| evidently Bsistrusting Us As soon as il
became known who We were the sailors
gave US three hearty cheers, and our
column advanced 10 near the bank Of
the river, our bands playing The Lif-
cola Gunboat Come.
Major General Sheridan at once sent
out to Communicate Eith Major General
Butler, appraising him OF our arrival aud
keanty state Of our forage ard rations.
Our immediate wants we're promptly sup.
piled, ard dispatch boat iustantly pro.
vided 10 start for Fortress Monroe to
communicate with the War Department.
Our men for three days previous 10 our
arrival at the James river had literary
lived oil the eouuiry. as many poor fam
lies who have lost the shose Of their
seanty supplies can testify. Our provost
marshais used their utmost endeVoFs TO
protect the families OF citizens, bat, upon
rsmonstraiing wiih the men, they would
refer you TO eets Of barbarity CON mitted
ts the rebels at Fort Piilow aud else
where.
General Shsripaa
is emineHtly the right man In the right
[ place. he ia, without exception, the
best cavalry commander the Army OF the
Potomac has ever bad. lie is quick To
perceive apd bold 70 execute. and has
already won The entire con jdence Of bis
command.
Brigadifr GeReral D. ~ Gregg
vas General Sheridan right hand mar.
lie consulted him on al occasions, and
placed 10 him the utuaost confidence
! He knew that where GreRg was, sith b =
fighting division everything was moving
! along smoothly A @
The Command-Jeb Stuart tFeaadsd
4 All officers aud Hsh seemed to vie
with each other in deeds cf gallantry
and daring, aod we're all actuated by
the same feeling OF determination 10
saeescd or perish in The attempt
Daring the hght on the morning of the
18th prisoners captured from the enemy
reported General J Z. y StuaF, mort~lly
sounded.
Our Eafre Lose,
from the time we crossed the RApidan
until We reached Haxhalfs Landing on
the James river is according 10 the state
ment Of the medieal Dlrectore OF the
corps, and about six hundred in killed
! and wounded, Of which two hundred are
estimated as killed. The missing will
! doubtless amount 10 one hundred and
fifty 70 two hundred more. Most Of our
dead and all of our wounded with the
exception Of about thirty mortally woun-
ded we're brought OF BY as Oar means
cf transportation we're very limited.
Having no ambulance train with ua, We
we're compelled to carry the wen nded in
Government trains aud wagons captur-
ed from the enemy The safferings Of
the won nded during the slow and tedious
zarch was necessarily great, baE all Of
them preferred death itself to falling cap
tires 20 our barbarous foe
The Staf 0fiesrs aad Surgeons,
/ Zach and alt the staff officers perform.
ed herculean labors, working day and
night regardless Of PERSONAL comforts,
and only intent on carrying out the plans
Of their Generals Many Of them ex-
posed to great danger while carving OF
dispatches, bat AL providentially esczp-
ed uuhurl Captain II. C. Wier, Assis-
tant Adjntant General Of the ID division.
had his horse shot under him while lead
ing = charge as 8
Il Our wounded received the kindess
care and treatment, our surgeons work
ing night and day, in the performance Of
their painful duty Among those Who
we're most active we're Surgeons Philps,
Rezner, haekiew, Hotchklas, Tut ana
Surgeon Gill, Medical Director Of the
corps Nothing was left undone to al
leviate the suffering Of our wounded Off
GERS and soldiers
The Loss Of tie Enemy
is at least twice as great a. oars, as We had
preponderence of artillery, and as they
we're most of the time the attacking par
~ The ground over which we drove
them, both at Todd's Tavern within the
Notifications around Richmond was lit
orally covered with dead and wounded
Their loss in officers was disproportioual-
iy large.
The Result Accomplished
BY General Sheridan, by his splendid
raid, are Of the greatest Importance and
magnitude It will doubtless compel
Lees army to fan back upon Richmond,
which is an event wholly unlocked for BY
the Southern people, and for which they
are totally unprepared
Both railroads have been destroyed in
such thorough manner ss 70 render their
repair at least the work of two weeks.
The very morning we we're occupying
the road on the 18th, the Richmond uT-
pers state that the roads were only
slightly damaged, and would be in run
ming order on the next day; bat no ons
who saw how completely General Sheri-
dsn had rerfaruaad hsQ warEr ,w,Il -