Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1865-03-19

the telegraph station. T.ie operator HAVING
eeen lrightened alInost CIut OF his wlts by the
Whereabouts OF shetiIGn's cavalry had made
MS eaeepe-f Ap esri that he could hear Of
tho ubiquitous shet tidAn In every direction,
put no One could Yell him exactly In which
ulreeuon the msin column wAs moving.
Among tho origipal telcgrAms csptured wSs
one In EATly's own hand writing and directed
70 General Lee dated the day before, telling
him that the Yankees were reported "a
Goooh sndj tllSt he should stsrt with about
2Oo men the heNt morning and sbdeAvor to
sirlhe The e9emy 10 flank. The terrible Yam
KEGS had bqsn some twentv.fOur hours wheii
Early rea6hed G1oohlAnd. hut what a
humillattng spcotaolei A L,euten ant General,
who iew months ago a. the head Of sJOl0
me save man when he proposed TO Strike in
nanh 40 the despicable comm snd Of only two
hundfed miHorAbly armed and worse clothed
IolloHeT.. Fallstatf's army could only 10
compared to 1.-THE parallel commenelpS
with the commander himself
a portion Of two days WAS oobGumea In the
thorough destruction OF the Ccntrs.i road, be-
tween saxtAt6 Junction aud Gordonsville.
Ihe next move was 20 Points on the FFed-
eneEsburs roAd, below me junction. Devin
marched his cnluD. TO the bridges on both
roads aeross toe south Anna, one Of which
was deiendec by dotaehment OF infantry
posted behiOd earthwotks, with three pieces
o. sfol.ery. The 9th cavalry, DeVin's escort,
Gagged the pobitio' :, supported By the ri
nna.. as,sasnnHehs, l, capturing number Of pris-
on our side was scout, and only three were
Ig.tss At the same time moved .sward.
hihland station. On the road Fs.iy turns ar
again, like Mr.. BterTymAp g. the ring -.
Iquadron OF the sth New York had - DiI,,s ShS
before exchanged Eh"tb with > ~..,.ohmensk ~
gscE'on roC = nn msn unaer o." OF the Coloneis
ran t. make sTs- NV" : as soon IS the sth be-
tsid ,b.. o." ,urtd at this time, and deserters
won' all the cavalry north fthe Potomac
- be concentrated at Ground Squirrel
Sridge, acrosI the South Anna. AZ this was
on the road 10 AshlAud, constant vigilance
was kept up to obtiin infoI m alton and Pre-.
vent surprise, and 1t was while doing this
Suster received iniotmstion that Early was
just ahead Of him with about I6O men.
Lieut., Col. Whitaker was Immediately
| ordered to edvAncsa as rapidly As possible with
detasbmenta OF the lat Connecticut and "a
| Ohio. AZ the men gallopcd p'st Gen. Custer,
he announced that the mGu who captured
| Early and the commander OF his company
| should rtCeive thirty days iurlough. The
| boys rushed on with cheer, and every staff
officer asked and Obtliued per mlssien TO JOiu
| IN the pursuit. The chase eommehctd when
within about six milCs OF Grand tquirrel
Bridge, and 80 unexpected was the appTOlch
| OF our troop in thAt direction to Early that
| he wss rOut Ard his command forced 10 dis
| perLe for safety when within two miles OF tho
| bridge. 1niS movement nCce1sitAt-d cor.
| responding movement on the part OF our men,
and thus each separate detachment was i0l.
lowed through dCDEe pine woods, over streams
and m mAFHhyB, uutil late hour 10 the night.
Capt. Burton, Of the staff, having the f'Btest
hOrCe, at one tine ordered EATly's Adjuthnt
General to surrender, under the HunpOsition
| tha, he was the General himself Early Was
within three yards nf the Acjutaut at the
| time. Burton being alone, the ds IN nd 10 sur
| reIder was re1pOnd d 10 by n shot which
wounded hts horse causing him total, fasleo.
log the captain by one leg to the ground.
| This oppoTtuue moment WAB improved by
| Early, aud ho Hgain plunged into the piuery,
| At u 10 time clOs"ly pursued by Capt. Hazel.
| tine, of the ist VcrnORt.
| EArIy was finally fstced to swim the South
Anna two miles below tho bridge, at poinI
where, under different circumstances, no man
would have yentured TO crOasi and here, TOO,
he was eloaely so followed that,to distract his
putsuefs, he divided his cOmpAnles into three
parties, and made his e,oape on foot, accom-
panied only By an orderly. The nuTSutt was
Kept up, however, for ten miles further, but
night coming on the hero Of the Valley, by
the mnrest accident,' escaped. Perhaps this
was the hAbk mOyenent referred to in the
dispatch Il J. ID.
Col. Whitaker kept the main road to Mich. |
mOnd ami ntruok the Fredericksburg railroad |
near Kelly's Station, and thon followed II up |
to Ashland, where the 81 New York was met, |
AID both parties returned to camp.
Dlby this time II was known In Richmond
that the northern detehecH of that city were
threatened, and the troops were hastily
brought hack from Lynehburg, when Long.
street, with the whole OF Ploketts division
and come other troop, moved up to within
five mites OF Ashland On tho following moro.
Ing, when detachment Of the 10th New York
entered Ashland as an advance guard, the Ad.
vAnoo OF L1nTStroers column was encoun-
tered and driven back. Several tat officers,
entering the place a. the same time, Euc.
eeedsd IN cutting of AtiutAut August, OF The
sth Nirginia iniantry. Custer Immediately
prepared for action, 40 ~ to compel Long
street TO show his fore, The ID New YORK,
Col. Fitzhu h, was thrown out towards the
Hook pike, and the lat Connecticut, Col
whitaker, was moved down the rAilroau
During the day the 81 drove the enemy's iine
back upon the reserve, and IN turn was forced
10 retire, with the loss OF one m an, aned Jas
$. Waterman, killed, and three wounded.
whitaker, with the lst Conn Dcotiout, not being
pTeAsed on HE front, obtained permission to 20
out on q Artconuolssance. He pressed forward
Tor four miles, whoa he struck the enemy in
force at Kelly's bridge, and WAS compelled to
fall back. In the skiFmiah that took place
ret 10 state that First Lieut.. John W, Clark
WAS killed,
At nigh,-fail the whole com m and CT crossed tho
South and North Anna, the Eighth New York
deStrOying the bridge over the hrst.uamed
stream as the lsst OF the column passed. The
enemy did not press the rear guard.
On Thursday last, General Sheridan msVeh
east, crossing the FrcderlckBburH Railroad ht
Chesteiiield station, and ensampsd at Mon.
gahiok Church. LnDcbiTeet on the same nj ght
enoAmPcd at HADOvertOWn, both armies piek.
citing The PAmunkey.
This real value OF the work done by General
SheridAn'H oOmmApd, during the laIt nineteen
days, cannot be estimated in dollars ap cents,
and yet the money value when aeeufably CON-
putsd amounts tG such a fabulous sum that =
person with no personal knowledge OF the
Iaqts could hAtdly credit the statement when
say that S2,OOn,OO0 worth of provisions aAd
materials OF war were destroyed by one little
command ia one day, II ia no exEggerAtiOni
ana the same work was repeated At different
points.
The kanAwhA and James River canal cannot
be repaired In the next two years, provided
| the facilities, materials ard woTkmen were
| At hand. The banks were not only cut and
| levels drained, but this was done frequently
| at points where, OwiUg to ths recent rains,
rapid streams wAsh IA ana wAah out the very
bsd OF the cNnaI itself At one point near
sCOttEYllle the bed, bPOre our troops lcft had
been washed out to the depth OF at least ten
feet, and powerful mountain feeder wAa |
mAklng II deeper every hour. From DuquidS- |
Vile TO GOOehland every lock and every level |
was destroyed, 30 thoroughly that every por. |
tlon wall have TO be n butt
Thea As - the railroads between WAynsR. |
bOto' aud ChArlOtteSvillr, O. AFlOtteLyllle and |
Amherst q. H., and Louisa G. X. ADD the
South Anna, ana between Chesterfield station
and the ChieAAhomlny river, every bridge |
nearly every outVCFt, and scores Of miles Of
the rail ttEeIi have been completely DESTROYED
OHe of these bridgcS wFs I,OLJ feet, another
75J feet, another A3O feet in length, and quite
numbeF between one and three hundred feet
long. These straotures weEe made IN Alex.
sndrla, and no duplicates are on hand to 10.
place them.
The destruction OF these lines Of communal.
cation, draining - they have done one OF tue
most prolific grain growing sections In the
United States, aud which has more thAn sun.
piled LGe'P army with hog and hOminyn STAGE
the war began, very naturally Great . panic
In hiuhmOnd such ~ never existed there he