The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-08-17
ADDITIONAL FROM THE NORTH.

FnE AMMUNITION EXPLosIoS Al CITY soINr-TERRi-
EFFECrs.
Fifty-eight Yankees were killed and one hundred
and twcnty-six wounded by the ammunition explo-
sion al City Point the 9th instant. A cores
pondent OF the New Yolk Tribune, who witnessed
it, says:
Every fraire- house i'll the town was Jared by the
uoncussion alone to the extent OF having Its inside
pastering knocked oil, beside other damages by ms
sizes, &c. Against the houses and other obstric-
tons near the wharf, and even upon the hill, hum
droda, and perhaps thousands OF broken twisted and
splntered muskets, and such debrs, lay III drifts,
like straw drifted by the wind and all over the
ground for at least quarter of a mile from the
scene Of the explosion she'll solid shot, grape, can
niser musket and MIME balls, pieces OF Shells nails
screws bolts and bOt-headS, and fragments OF
almost everything wooden, iron and leaden-you
can think Of strewn and df1fted like hail ana
chunks of ice Immediately after dreadful hail storm
Eyerywhele are seen the rents, dents, deep abra-
sions and SCARED furrows of the iron and leaden
STORM The thousandth part cannot be told.
NV first thought was that an ammunition car had
exploded just ahead OF the one was on, and that
II would be Of little to try to escape the storm
that had gone up and would come down-that one
was about as safe i'll place as another; and oh
how it did rain and hail all the terrible instruments
of war. -.
II was not railroad car, but the ammunition
barge j. Z. Kendrick, that had exploded from the
careless handling OF percussion shells or some other
kind OF ammunition, 1t Is supposed NO one tnat
her destruction. The splinters that streW the river
may be hers, they may be not. The section oi
the twisted ribs of keel that lie IN the most ne,
guented part OF the town, on the hull, TWO hundred
wards distant may be hers, they may belong to
one of her disappeared consorts
| You have read Of eruptions Of Vesuvius, such as
| buried Herculaneum and Poinpei lou nave seen
illustrations of them in the books. This mus,
have been such explosion as one of these, exeePt
that instead Of lava and dust and ashes 1t rallied
oven the circle Of mile, III whole packages ana ny
| aepot Entire boxes vi fixed ammunition cs,hie
| down among the tents i'll the town, a quarter OF
mile distant and scarcely tent, or house, or Doa
can be found within the circle vi mile that Is mol
riddled by shell, solid shot, or small ammunition.
1 How many were blown III atoms into the river
from Kendrck, never to be heard 0i, Is NOT KNOWN
/ The captain Of the Kendrlck Is sale, having peer
absent at the time Of the explosion on aotief Ooav
/ The other boats entirely destroyed and sunk weft
the General Meade and the ]. c. Campbell.
The massive pine wharf in front OF where theS.
] boats lay, which bolted down upon piles aiio
sleepers Of pine trees is brushed aside for about
third of its length, if it had been made OF tbs
paper write on while the substantial plank ware
| house, with massive beams, built for at least
| quarter of u century, has been crushed nearly it
entire length, if it had been ladys band-oox- =
The freight train that just ready to start wheel
the explosion happened. is shattered III neaiy ever
| car, though not past repair; aid had the uinhtet
| esstng satisfaction Of seeing where my feihs.ll
would probably have lain, on the heads OF the whis
key barrels, If had remained in the car nrs1 oc
| cupied. a.
ihc pine-board row, in which were the post -oihee
| Adams Express Office, and quarterTastefs 9 Once
was also crushed by the conclusion and tho heavie
forces brought against it, like baid-box, tut ior
tunatcy OF rather nairacnloasly, none OF It's oeca
j panta were seriously injured.
i Various theories afioat as to the cause oi IN
explosion. Some say the careless handling u nm
msinition Others an oldtne torpedo; some suiinis
rebel spy IN the matter while others astraont
the disaster To rebel shell shot from across %
river. The matter will be thoroughly inyest'gass
| to-day. The Government stores in the big ware
house were considerably injured by water and otei
| wise but to no very great extent