Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-07-16
THE REBEL RAID.
The Siege Of Washington.

Especial Dispatch TO The Cincinnati GazetteJ
WASHINGTON, July IA.
The absurd and ridiculous, and yet dis
graceful, siege of Washington Is over.
| Telegraphic communication with the North
was renewed last night, but the Govern
ment required the wires for its uses, and
this is the earliest time at which we can
present connected view of the transac-i
| tions since communications were cut off.
On Sunday night dispatches from Balti-
| more announced that the rebels were NOV
| ing in this direction. On Monday morning
| a small force of them appeared In front of
our Notifications beyond Georgetown, and
near Silver Springs, on the Seventh street
road. They took possession of the houses
| in the vicinity, established sharpsho0ters,
and began picking off our exposed men.
This state OF affairs was substantially kept
up until Tuesday night. When they de-
camped early Wednesday morning, their
retreat was discovered, but no pursuit was
permitted for several hours. 1t Is under
stood, though not definitely known, that
the whole rebel force crossed the Potomac
at Poolesville and Balls Bluff, about thirty
five miles up the river from Washington,
and that they are now well on their way to
Richmond, with long trains of wagons laden
with supplies and droves of cattle, and that
large proportion Of them are now mount
ed on horses stolen throughout Maryland.
The bulk of their force must have been con-
centrating at Poolesville, while their rear
guard was besieging Washington. A .crlti-
cal inspection Of their camping ground, will
convince any one at all accustomed to such
matters that they never had more than
eight hundred, or at the very outside
thousand, men on the Seventh street road,
besieging this city.
The following article, from this mornings
National Iatelligencer, fairly represents the
general understanding and feeling on the
whole ridiculous subject:
wThe military demonstration on the out
skirts of the National Capital, within the
last few days, has come to an end. This
demonstration did not take the form ofany-
| thing like an attack on the city, except In
| front of Fort Stevens, where some skirmish-
| ing disclosed the presence of hostile force
on Monday and Tuesday last. The number
| of the enemy's force at this point, or at any
| other, was ut, ,erly unknown to ourmilitary
authorities; but 1t has been subsequently
developed that at this locality it never much,
| if at all, exceeded five or six hundred men.
| We have received information to this effect
| from officers who have traced the marks of
| the encampment of besiegers since their
evacuation during the night of Tuesday last,
after the recon- 0issance which, late in the
evening Of that day, was ordered by Gener-
al Wright for the purpose of feeling the
strength of the enemy. 1t is moreover con-
firmed by the testimony ofpersons who have
come into the city since the siege was
raised. Some slight demonstrations were
made by the enemy at two other points on
| our north and northeastern front, but the
number engaged in them, or in the dash
made on the railroad between Washing
| ton and Baltimore on Tuesday last, is, of
course, unknown, though from the paucity
of their achievements, their cooperative
detachments must have been small. The
reconnaissance on Tuesday evening in front
of Fort Stevens, resulted IN a smart brush
with the besieging party, who were easily
driven by the small body OF our troops sent
out on the scout, until darkness put an end
to the pursuit. Our troops lost not three
hundred men, killed, wounded and missing,
in the attack. The insurgents loss was not
so great, from the paucity of their num-
bers. They left upward of ninety of their
wounded at the house of Mr.. Blair, and a
few of their dead on the field. At day
break Yesterday morning the enemy was
no longer visible; and SO for The present
ends what will pass into history as the two
days siege of Washington, which termi-
mates as mysteriously as it began.
"The location, number and distribution
of the other forces engaged in the invasion
of Maryland, during the siege of Washing
ton, are unknown to our military authori-
4 ties. Further information on all these
points may probably be elected by the pur-
suit of the enemy, which is now being
pressed by the experienced and gallant Of
ficers of the 9Th army corps. $500
ssWe regret to state that before decamp-
ing from the city the raiders burnt the
country house of Hon. Montgomery Blair,
the Postmaster General. ,,
How it is Viewed i'm Washington.
Especial Dispatch to The Cincinnati Gazette.
| stEs WASHINGTON, July IA.
The best opinion is that when the rebels,
having collected all the plunder they could,
sent their main body with it toward Pooles-
vile, to cross the Potomac, they left rear
guard of 1000 men to lay siege to Washing
ton, and possibly to Baltimore. This force
divided itselfinto parties which burned rail-
| road bridges, penetrated to the suburbs of
| Baltimore, secured the country between the
two cities, and laid siege to Washington. 1t
is of course unnecessary to say that the
general feeling here Is one of Indignation
4 that anything of the sort should be permit
| ted. Every man feels that we have been
insulted, defied, and spit upon by beggar-
ly array, for the whole of whom we could
easily have found room in the Old Capitol
Prison. No reason is known why they
should have been permitted to cut us off
from the North for ten minutes. The whole
of the fighting, If 1t had occurred on the
Rappahannock or James, would not have
ELECTED passing remark from the COM
manding General, much less dispatch TO
the Government about It. Up to Tues
day afternoon it was absolutely moth
! ing but the slightest skirmish, in which the
; rebels managed, by aid Of telescopic rifles,
to pick off quite number of our men. The
!, little charge then ordered by Gen. Wright,
: was the only fighting of the whole affair,
J and it mostly goes to show that the rebel
, force attacking us and laying siege to the
/ city, was the flimsiest of skirmish lines. In
, Washington nobody was alarmed or excit-
| ed. From the most careful estimates Of one
of our correspondents, sent out from the
: Washington offices, who has been through
the whole affair, from the first fight on the
, old Antietam battle-ground, the following
: conclusions are reached concerning the
strength of the enemy: The rebel force In
the battle of Monocacy, under Tarly and
Breckenridge, 10000 Johnson's cavalry
1,500; Gilmores marauders, operating main.
Il ly about Baltimore, 30G in all, 1880, and
J to be sure of making 1t large enough, IL,
= 600. Gen. Wallace estimates the force he
l fought at Monocacy at 1900 more than the
! figures given above, but other circumstan.
? ces lead to the conviction that $4,000 Is al
l there were there, This was nearly double
, his strength.