Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1862-1865, 1864-06-25

many fugitive accounts which continue to reach US
from the Valley
SrAUSTOS, Juue l6, 1854.
| To ths Editor of ths Wig:
Our beautiful Valley has been desecrated with the foot
Of VsDdal, brutal, iEsOsut foe It may seem too
sie TO inquire into the causes that have led to this de-
plOrAble result and yet il criticism of the oonduc! of
those who responsible for such an unmixsd evil will
serve to teach them wisdom, the time may not be mis-
spent The cause was the withdrawal frem the Valley
of General Breckenridge, and the valuable troops who
aided in the cha,tisemen of See at New Market Who
directed it' Was it General Bragg or General Lee
Was il in any way necessarily think not. 1t is said
that the President in an interview he sought with the
Representative Of this district alleged that be did not
know the Valley was left in go 6efenceless q condition
Why did he not know its Yves it not notorious that
toe very small force OF General Imboden, exceeding
400 effective men, and reserve force Of say, 500
to 1000 men, constituted al our defence the former at
New Market the latter a. Shenandoah mountain, Sky
miles apart Colonel VIM. L Jackson's small bad, Of
II or l4OO men, were al the Warm Spring, over one
hundred miles from Imboden. Was it expected that
these handiGls Of men could even do picket duty
an extent Of country hundred and fifty by seventy
Ave miles in extent? Any sane man will tell you if
General Breckenridge had remained, the enemy had
never advanced Oensure is attached to General limbo
den for not having pickle ed the North river TO Port Re-
public fom Mt. Crawford, where no had been for some
fortyng aad hat although informed it is alleged,
by Captain McNei several tines that they NOV
ing in force to PoF; Republic from HarisonbGrg, and
commenced it Thursday, YET be didpot heed the
warning and only aroused on Saturday night
esry Sunday morui by the intelligence of their be-
leg at Mount Meridian in sight Of the battle-ground of
Piedmont Our infantry had then TO be marched at
doub quick rapid speed, some seven milo, al pd
into the hgb an eXA let c1ll ~. Another cause
Of nsorunes is attributable to the indifsr
ence or csress1ess mulsh obst macy of the officers
at Siaun.on whose duty to distribute among our
reserve forces OF this aud adjoining counties,
There luge lot Of the most approved arm
in the OF these oficers many Of them
earbiaes aud other guns suitable for cavalry
and when reserves, tie best men Of
our country, many OF them, we're ordered up 10 be
armed instead OF furnishing these arms, they put
OF with the cd long musket, iusted and Indifferent,
and in Consequence of their lergh, entirely unfit for
cavalry. These protes ed, and yet in gracious
manner their wishes were disregsrded. They were
| ordered out on the pressing emergency. They re-
sponded promptly, nobly. Wish unframed fiery horses
for the first time bearing SIGHT OF a discharge Of
arms, ineumbsrad WITH baggage after the FIST dig
charge it was mp,s3ble tor them to control their
horses, much less load and all because of being i'm
posed upon with this gun. Thousands of fae eGrbines
aud other suitable gus in the armory at Sauntcn,
headed officers were The direct Of the STAN
pede OF this cavalry and Of the death of many
gallant and good ma1, and in part of the disaster OF
the day. With the carones sung around their neck,
these men have tod me, they could have controlled
their horses eudsred efficient service perhaps changed
the fortune Of the day aud taVed from the hands Of
Ihe enemy and coIhlgation, many valuable arms.
One OF our bes; me1 who fell in that days hght sri
Outd the stampede of the cavalry he belonged
TO- 10 Ihe uum ana geable awkward musket mentioned.
Thah nf Ia hn al
II not Offended with the length OF this comnunics-
ton, l viii have more TO say. AUGUSTA.
srAUSToE, 18th June, 1864.
Editor Wkig-The reverse to our arms at New Hope
has been the Pandora box of ills to beautiful Val
ley. Such crop of grass and wheat, and promise
for corn aud vegetables of kinds, your eye never
rested o. al the way from Winchester to Sllem. Tais
vandal horde equal 10 the YigOths, have swept and
sweeping oyerit carrying away negroes horses
cattle and ell provisions Of sv,ry kind and destroying
mills furnaces Oundares, factories priyso property
of all kines and laying waste as much as they can our
grass aud grain fields All this is TO be traced to the
shameful errO Of withdrawing Breckenridge from the
Valley. Pages might be flied in enumeratiug all the
destruction carried GU. By them. We uuw are il, the
dark as to the they have taken. Gen. Vaughn,
stranger to the country, did not discover the mpor
lance OF seea;og the several gaps in the Blue Bdge
until was too llte Had force beef sent in time to
NJ Torrey esp the furnace Of that name mi ht have
been saved and rad made BY 10 Yankees across into
Nelson in which they succeeded with mpunity 10 rob
bling ouy many Of the citizens, but quite number
of refugees from Augusta, the Messrs McComb ard
hers OF their neg -oes, stock, Sc So also Reed Gap
I've YER Gap and White Gaps could all have been de-
Tended ils tine with email force and their designs
thwared in reaching Lyneh6urg. Some imposing dem
onstration agaEst them in Stanton would have sent
them away in haste. On Tuesday, the day after they
entered town. they in panic and ready to leave
Our forces sheltered themselves in the Blue Ridge and
seemed afraid the enemy would attack them. The enc
my left at p Il, Friday and cur fcrees cid not |
move after them until late Saturday when the cav
airy set of and the inaatry not until l,e on sunday
So imperfect our system Of scouting that up to
late hour on Monday evening General Breckenridge
ignorant of the direction the enemy had taken. OF |
course in all this time we're grouping in the dark,
and the enemy with impuniy, sweeping in three
columns through the upper cod Augusts through
the lower end of Rock odge They occurred every part
Of it. and collected negroes horses cattle, sheep and
provisions without any one to raise q hand against
them Amorg The msny outrages they have per. |
petrated in almost every part Of our State none
oeed5 in hoTrd cruelty the cold bloeded murder of
the universally knoEn and mu loved DR.. Thomls
Cregh Of Greentrier county. To escape the hieving
pundsring h0r Of Averl and Crook, that was making
finish Of al that could DO stolen and destroyed in
GreenbTier the Doctor escaped with his wife and adopt
ed daughter TO Rock5rdge, and icund a safe and COM
Portable asylum he fordly hoped with friend near
to Brosusburg Sal delusiOn, the sequel will show
As the Vsncals we're pass from Saunton towards Lex
inR Or Tie Doctor who had been away for ashort time
from the hou.e returned ard found Two Yankees in
sulting aud abusing bis wife and daughter. He shot
one on the ins;ant, the other gaPpsd with him and
for some time the contest doubtful but be succeed
ed 10 dcspatching the other villain. Before he could
dispose of their bod,s, the Yankees came upon him,
and carried bimo the fam Of Rev. Dr'Morrson, close
by ard delse ely lung him, snd left him pended.
Me- Morrison, she could do So had the body
deeenly inferred in New Provdence church yard Tbus
has been add 10 TIE loDg list Of marty 2, on OF toe
purest and beat men OF tho Common Eealth unver-
sally and favcrably knowa as any Of s citizens May
his cruel death be speedily aVeIged.