The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-03-14

Wan DEpARrxESr,
Washington, Msrch. R3

| WAH DEPARTNtNT,
. Washington, March. % I
To Maj. Gen. Dix:
The following report Of Sheridan pper-
ations has been received BY the Depart-
ment.
(Signed) E. NJ. SrANTbN. .
+ y Headquarters Middle Nil. Diy.,)
|aA Columbia, Va. March 1oI f.
u. Gen. Grant: n
General: In my last dated af Wdynes.
boro, | gave you . brief sccount of the
deteat of Eirly BY Custor's Division. We
psshed ACROSS the Dluc Ridge and enter
ed Charlottesville q p. IN. tho next day
The Mayor and principal inhabitantscare
and delivered up the ksys of pablic build.
ings. had to remain At Charlotte vile.
Two dsyr' time wss consumed in bripg-
ing over from Wsyeesboro onr am mum.
tion and pontoon wagons. The weather
was horrible and r. a incessant. TIE
two divisions were during this time bscu-
pied in destroying the two large iron
bridges over theRowan River, the bther
over Morse's Creek, near Charlottesville,
and the Railroad for . distance or hiuht
miles in the direction Of Lyncbburgl
On The 9th of March / sent sha lst d
vision, Gen. Devon commanding, TO
S:oichsiIie, On James River, with direc.
tons 70 send out light parties through the
country and destroy all nerchs ndise,
mills, factories and tridges on the Rvar-
ma River, the parties TO join the division
at Sco,chsville. The division then proceed.
cd along the canal to Dugardesville, Is
miles from Lynchburg, destroying every
lock and IN many places the bank of the
canal. At DugardesviIle we hoped to se-
cure the bridge 10 cross The river, as our
pontoons were useless on account of the
high water. InR this We verc foiled ss
both this bridge and the bridge at Hard
sicksville we're burned down by the ene-
my upon our appearance. Merrit &C.
eonpsaied tho division. The 81 division
started At the same time from Charlotte
vile aud proceeded down the Lyuchburg
Riilroad to Amherst Court House, des
troyed every bridge on the road, and in
many place, miles of road The bridges
On the road are numerous, and some oi
them 6ve hundred feet 10 length. We
have found great abundance 10 tha conn.
Try for our men and animals. 10 fact the
csnai had been fhe great feeder of R;ch-
nond. At the R,ck6.h River the banks
Of the canal was cut and at Newhamp-
ton, where the dam is across the James,
the guard lock was destroyed and the
james River let into the canal, carrying
away the banks and washing ont The bot
tom Of the canal The dam across the
James At this point was also partially des
troyed. | have had no opposition; every
body is bswildered by cur movemcI Is.
irave hid no news of any kind.
l omitted 10 mention that the bridges
on the raiiroad from Sxoop's Depf,, on
the other side Of S,aunton, to Caadlol.e-
vile, we're utterly destroyed; alsb al
bridges for distance often miles On the
Gordonsyille Railroad.
Tho weather has been very bad indeed.
raining hard every day with the exct p.ion
OF four days, since we started. MY wag-
ons have from the state of the roads de-
tained me up to the present iimc. We
have captured II pieces of artillery II at
Waynesboro ard 3 at Charlottesville. The
psrty that | sent from Waynesboro start
ed with . pieces, tus theg were obliged
TO destroy Of the SIX ior want Of ami.
mails. The remaining 8 pieces were
thoroughly destroyed. Have also cbptur-
ed two canal boats lad q with supplies,
&c.
! cannot speak in too high terms Of
Generals Merriits, Custer and Devon, aud
the officers and men Of their commands.
They wade1 through mud and water
during the continuous rain, and ara all in
Gne spirits am health.
Commodore Killings, of the Con Fsder-
ate navy, was shot near Gordohsville
while attempting to make his escape from
our advance in that direction.
{Signed) P. Fl. SHERIDAN,
Ma,ar Gordral