The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-06-17
The Rebels Reverse at stauntOn-Ds
tails OF Jones' Defeat.

From tie Richmond Examiner, Jnne 2.
The news OF the day yesterday was
the report that noised around the city
Of a reverse 70 our arms west of Staun-
ton The rumor was soon caught up
and greatly magnifed The facts of
the case, as we were able to collect them
yesterday morning, seemed to be these:
On Sunday evening the enemy, in very
heavy force supposed to be about ten or
twelve thousand strong and consisting
of infantry, cavalry and artillery Thirty
pieces( made an attack upon a detaeh-
ment Of our troops, then near Mount
Crawford, twelve miles the other side
Of Saunton, under the command Of
General William T Jones. At the
time of the attack & large portion Gen
eral Jones command had been detach-
ed to operate in another direction
where il is not prudent to say-and had
not come up when the enemy made
their appearance. Our forces made a
gallant fesistancef but ia the face Of
the overpowering numbers Of the enc
my, 10 whom our forces we're but as
mere handful, q defeat was inevitable.
Al this point where the fight occur
red, there are two roads diVerging-one
leading to Staunton and the other to
Waynesboro q small town on the Cen
trail railroad, on the other side Of the
Blue Ridge Mountain, Immediately at
its foot-both points equally distant
Fealing to fall back upon Situation, lest
the enemy might cut them of by NOV
ing on Waynesboro, our forces retreat
ed in the direction of the latter place,
saving their artillery and wagon trains
There was a Fumor on the street that
our forces had been routed, and had
sustained considerable disaster IN their
retreat but this is not so A dispatch
received yesterday morning by the Sec
rotary ofSWar, stated distinctly that we
had saved our artillery and wagon trains
"a pretty good evidence that our re-
treat was conducted in good order.
The worst news Of the whole affair
is that General William E. Jones was
certainly killed in the fight This is
melancholy news indeed, for he was de-
cidedly ore Of the best cavalry officers
in the service, and one whom the coun-
try can i'll afford to lose at this iuncture.
He was an officer in the old army, if we
mistake not, where he left a record OF
much distinction, and was as brave and
fearless a spirit as ever drew q sword.
His operations in this war have been
mostly confined to Western Virginia,
and are too fresh in the minds of the
public to need any review at this time.
Since his demise the command deyolves
upon General Vaughan, who, we be-
ieve, is Of Tennessee.
The enemy, we learn, was under COM
mand Of General Hunter, the successor
of the vanquished Dutch General SigeL
The dispatches received yesterday by
the Department were confirmatory of
the facts stated above. 1t was under
stood that a dispatch had also been re-
ceiyed last evening, reporting that the
enemy had taken Staunton. Fortu-
nately for us, if this even be true, they
can do us but little harm, unless they
burn the town, which We think they
hardly will do, all our stores and sup
plies having been removed from there
as much as two weeks ago.
Rumors were flying around the city
last night, reporting that the enemy
had also reached Lexington, burned
the Military Institute, DC, but we be-
lieve this report entirely destitute Of
truth. Certainly no such information
had been received by our authorities
up to last night