New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-12-06
@ sustained It severed al, connection by railrosd with

With a view Of cutting the enemy's railroad from
near Richmond to the Anna rivers and making him
wary of the situation Of his amy in the Snenan-
do and the event OF failure In this 10 take adyan
taoo of his necessary Withdrawal of troops from Peters
burg TO explode nine Una, mao neea ptepa,ea 10 Tpn
MACE on the night of the h of July the 81 corps and
two divisions of the cavalry corps and hauTs cavalry
vera To the north bank OF the james river and
in ned the force General Butler had there. On the 9Th
the enemy was driven RON his Untouched position win
the loss Of four pieces OF arn,eIy. on ne In yu, es
but In getin, this position were attacke by me enemy
in heavy force Toe lighting lasted Tor several hours,
resulting in considerable os' 70 go v ~ the very
large force thrown there by the enemy determined 10
take advantage OF the diversion MADE, Dy ausauthg
Petersburg before he could get hs foco pach s one
division of the "a corps was withdrawn on the night OF
the 18Th and moved during the night 10 inc rear ol ne
18th corps relieve that corps In the int lhat hshs
be foot loose I'm the assault TO lie made The otner TWO
divisions of the "a corps and Sherdais cavalry were
crossed over the night Of the 9Th and moved VA IRON.
OF Petersburg On The morning Of the SVtn, pe.weun
four and i've O'clock tho nine sprung, blowing up
battery and mos, OF regiment and the advance OF the
assaultng column, formed of the 9Th corps, immediately
took OF the crater made by tho explosion ana
tho line for some distance the right and LEFT OF It, and
detached line in front Of II, but for some cause aied
to advance promptly TO the ridge beyond iiaa they
burg would have fallen Other troops were Immediately
pushed forward but the time consumed In getting the
IN abed the enemy 10 rally from his surprise twhSh
had been completely and get forces To this point 10, us
defence The captured line thus held being untcnabe,
and of no advantage TO u.s. the troops we're wihdr"wn
but not without heavy oss Thus terminated IN aisser
what promised to be tho most successiu as''uoi ''
campaign. ,,,,t., Co.,
eral Hunter was retrea,ng IRON LynchbuIg oy WY VI
the Kanawha river, thus laying the shehandoah Vaiey
omen Tor raids into Maryland and PennsylVana, he i'
turned northward, and moved down That valley hs
soon AZ this movement Of tho enemy wss ascer'ahoa
General Hunter who had reached the kanawha Hysr,
was directed TO move his troops without delay, ~ river
and railroad to IIarpers Ferry; but owing TO ,ne dI
Guilty Of navigation by reason oil low water anu
in the rairoad great delay experienced III gethg
there 1t became necessary therefore, 10 ma ot,,r
troops TO check this movement oil the enemy roi s
purpose the 9th corps was taken ifoIh we .se 10
M against Richmond, TO which was added me Is.h
oorps then fortunately begnningio arrive IN iahpIon
roads from the Gulf department., under orders keuso
Immediately after the ascerainment OF .e rssu ~ va
Rcd River expedition. The garrisons OF ballhhore nnd
Nash ngton al this tlrno made up OF heasy aru
lery reg ncnts, huldreddays men, and detachmeA's
from the invalid corps One GNirlon uhoer comma
OF General Ricketts, OF the oh corps, was cent 10 ba
more and the remaining two diys ons OF The oth corps
under General Wright, were suOseduehtly sen' 10 ="
inoton On the 81 Of July the enemy approached
Mlrtinsburg General sge, who was in c@nInand OF
our forces there, rctreated across tho lotoinao az
sbepardstown and General Weber, commandins AZ
Harpers Ferry crossed the river aud occupied May
land he shts On the 9th the enemy occupied Hagers
town maying a strong column towards Fredenck CITY
General Wallace with Ricketts, division ana nis own
command the latter mostly new aud undlsciplned
troops pushed out from Baltimore with great prompt
ness and met the enemy In force on me Monocs-',
near the crossing Of the railroad nrdge MS io was
NOT sufficient TO insure success, but ne fought
the enemy nevertheless, and although " Resulted IN
defeat to our arms yet detained the ehemy and there
ty served to enable General Wright to reach Washng'
ton with divisions Of the 9Th corps, aud the advance
OF the 18th CORPS before him. FrUm Monocaey the enc
my moved Oh Washington his cavalry advance reachih
Rockville the evening OF the 10th on the l2h re-
was thrown out in front of Fort Stevens TO
ascertain the cnemys position and force. severe Skin
mich ensued which we lost about go In killed and
wounded. The sagmyS l9ss wes probably greater ne
.i,.ri NO he
exact condit on Of affairs a Washington requested by
telegraph at IL As NJ on the I'D, the assignment %
MAJOR General H. c. Wright to the command OF al ne
troous that could be made available TO operate 10 the
aed against the enemy, and directed that he should ge
ous de OF the trenches with all the force he could ana
push Early to the last moment General wright com
ced tie pursuit on the 10 on The ISM TIE enemy
was oyeriaken at SncAers ferry, on the shehaadoah
when a sharp skirmi-h occurred and on the 2Oth zen
era Ayeri encountered and def at d portion OF TIE
rebel army at Winchester capturing four pieces OF a
l.ry ana several hundred prironers.
Learning that Early was retreat ng soush towards
Lynchburg or Richmond directed that the ttn and
10Th corps be got back TO the armies operating against
Richmond, 30 that they might be used In movement
agans, Lee before the return OF ,ny rocps sc y ,a
Shenandoah valley, keeping between any force Oh we
enemy and WashrS,o sst4g on Tine SnS sny uo
ton OF rsurnins the fact would be developed before
the Oh ard 10Th corps could leave washington. suose
quently the 18th corps was excepted from tho oiuer
return TO the james.
About the 25th became evident that the enemy was
again advancing upon Maryland aud fennsy ana
the eth corps then Wash ngton was ordered back to
the vicinity OF Harpes Ferry Tho rebel force moved
down the valley, sen, rsaag Psry in,o ana
then retreated pursued By our cavalry towards Cum.
berand They were met and defeated by General
Kelly and with diminished numbers escaped into the
monn,ans of West Virginia From the time Of the
first raid the telegraph wires were frequently down be-
tween Washington and City Point, making 1t necessary
TO transmit messages part OF the way by boat Ii took
from iwenty.four 10 hrtysx hours TO get dispatches
through aud return answers back so that often orders
would be gwen aud then Information would be received
showing different state Of facts from those on which
they were based causing confusion and apparent con-
tradc,ion OF orders that must have considerably emoar
rassed those Wit had To execute hem and rendered o
erons against the enemy less effective than they 9TH
erwse would have been To remedy this evil, 1t was
evident, TO my mind that some person should nave the
supreme of all the forces in the departments
OF West Virgins, Washington, Susquehanna ana the
middle department, and 50 recommended
on the 2d Of August I ordered General sheridan 10
report In person to Major General iiaieek, chlei oil
staff Mt Washington, with view 10 his assignment 10
the command Of all the forces against Early. AT TINS
time the enemy concentrated In the neighooThood
Of Winchester whilst our forces under tenera
were concentrated the Monocacy at the crossing OF
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, leaving open TO the
enemy western Maryland and southern Pennsylvania.
From where was, hestated to give positive orders
for the movement OF our forces nj Monocacy lest BY 20
doing should expose Washington. Therefore on the
4th left City Point 10 visit Hunters command, and de-
termine for myself what best To be done On arr
val there and AFTER consultation with General Huhier,
issued TO him the following Instructions
MoSocAcY BRIDGE Nd,
august 8, ls64-2 ?. IN.
"GRsgeAL: Concentrate oil your available force
without delay 10 the vicinity of Harp.r- Ferry leaving
only such railroad guards and garrson for public proper
ty as may be necessary Use, In this concentrating, the
railroads II by doing time be saved From ilar
pers Ferry fit IL found that the enemy has Moved north
Of the Potomac In large force push north following him
and attacking him wherever found follow him n driven
south Of the Potomac long II is safe to do Iii
II il a-cerainei that the enemy has but smah force
north of the Potomac, then push souh with the main
force deachrg under n competent commander sum-
Gent force 10 look after the raiders and drive them
their homes. In de,aching such force, the brigade OF