The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1867-02-19

sheridan At Lis heals. s oat With book
on the last wear a. the war. IN which be
gives the reasons why be did NOT cap
turo Washington a the time 81 his e.
NOUS demonstration upon Is We
quote
The rapid marching which had
bokcn down q number 81 the mon who
were hcrefooted az Weakened rs rr =
yjous exposure, and had been lcl il tho
Valley and directed to be- collected a.
Winchester. aud the losses 10 kiliel aud
wounded a Harrers Ferry Maryland
Nights aud Manoeaey had reduced nay
infantry O. about eigAt thousand musk
cts. OF these remaining, a very large
number we're greatly exhausted hy The
last two days marching, some having
fallen by suns,roke, and I was sat fled
when We arrived ia front 81 the t1ftf-
cations, that not more ,hln one ihnd
of my force could have been carried i'm
to action had about forty pieces 81
field artillery, Of which tie largest were
twelve Founder Nap0leons, besides O
few pieces % morse artillery With the
cavalry McCausland reported q &
works on the Georgetown pike too
strongly manned for INN TO assault
We could not move to the right or thp
left without its being discovered from 4
signal station on the top of the Sol
,hcrs Home. which overlooked the
country, and the enemy would have
lbepu enabled 10 move In his works 10
meet as.
Under the circuns, ances, TO have
rushed my men bI'ndly against tic for
uiicatious without unders andng the
state Of things would have been worse
/ han folly Ii ve hal any friend H
4 Washington, none Of them came emit TO-
gave us information and this satisfied
me that the pace was not undofcuded.
| kenw that troops had arrived from
Grants army, for prisoners had been
captured from Ricketts, division of the
S lth corps at Mo- o aey From
sharpsburg / had sent message to
Aosby by one of his men, requesting
HIM to cross the Potomac below Harl
er's Ferry cut the railroad and tee
gr phi, and endeyor to find ont The con
drion Of things in Washington; but he
had no. crossed the river, and had re-
celyed no information from him A
northern paper which was obta ned gaze
I the lnformationthat Hunter, after inoy.
1 ing up the OHIO river in steamboats,,
was passing over the Baltimore and
ONO railroad, and / knew that he would
be at Harpers Ferry soon, as Imbod6n
had done very little damage to the road
west Of Martinsburg.
After dark on the 18th held a con
sultation with Major Generals Breclun-
ridge, Rodes, Gordon and Ramseur, in
which / stated to them the danger OF re-
naming where we were, and the neces-
sity Of doing something immeda, ~, rs
the probability was that the passes Of
Of the South mountain and the f0rds OF
The Upper Potomac would soon he clos
ed against as. After interchangiug
views with them, being very reluctant
TO abandon the project of capturing
Washington, / determined to make an
assault ON the enemys works ut day
| Light next morning, unless me inior-
nation should he received before that
time showing its impracticability, and
SO informed these officers During the
night a dispatch was received ON
Gen. Bradley Johnson, from near Ia
more, informing me that he had recciy
cd information from reliable S ur .e
that two corps had arrived from Gen.
Grants army, and that his whole army
was probably III motion This caused
me to delay tho attack until | could ex-
amiie he work again, and as soon MS it
was light enough to see | rode to the
front and found the porape. lined with
troops. had, therefore, reluctantly to
give up all hopes Of capturing Washing
ton, after had arrived in sight Of the
Capitol, and given the Federal author
ties a terrible fright
Some Of the Northern papers stated
that between Saturday and Monday |
could have entered the city, but Satur-
dayI was fighting al Monocacy, thirty
five miles from Washington, force
which | could not leave in my rear, and
after disposing Of that force and NOV
ing as rapidly rs il was possible for me
to move, / did not arrive in font 81 tie
foriiicaiions until afternoon on Mon
day and then my troops were eXhaus-
ted, and il required time TO bring item
up into line. ] bad then made ammcl
over the circuitous route by Charlotts-
vile, Lyuchburg, and Salem down the
valley, and through the passes Of the
South Mountain, which, notwithstand-
ing the delays in dealing with Hunter y,
Siegel's and Wallace's forces, is for its
length and rapidly, / believe, without
a parallel in this or any other modern
war The unopposed maraudinp excur-
SION Of the freebooter Sherman, through
Georga, not excepted. Ny small force
bad been thrown up to the very walls
If the federal capital north Of a RIVER
which could not be forded at anY point
within forty miles, and with n heavy
force and the South Mountain IN my
rear, the passes through which nom
tain could be held by d snail number
Of troops.