Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1875-01-01
Letter from Gen. Jubal A. Early.


| Correspondence OF the Baltimore Gazette
LYNcHBURG, VA, December IA, 1874.
! find in your paper Of The 9th instant an
account OF The refinement Of the Confederate
soldiers who fell in front of the Notifications
of Washington, July 1864 taken from Wash
ington paper 10 which occurs this passage;
I" Near Silver Springs on Monday and
| Tuesday, July 18th and 18th, 1864, an attack
was made upon Fort Stevens, on the north
side Of Washington, by a column of Conieder-
ate troops Of General Earlys corps, under
command Of General Gordon, now Senator
| from Georgia"
| AS the account in which this paragraph oc-
ours seems 10 be going the rounds of the pa
pers, and as very many people receive their
| know ledge of historical events connected with
the late war solely from what they read in the
newspapers, desire to correct The said state
| ment.
No attack was made by my troops, either
upon Fort Stevens or upon any other portion
OF the Notifications of Washington, nor did
General Gordon's division get under fire at all
at the lime stated. My command, moving from
its camp four miles northwest OF Rockville
arrived in front of the Notifications on the
Seventh street road, on Monday, the ] lth Of
July. My infantry column was preceded by
Imboden's cavalry, then reduced to three hun
bred men, under the command OF Colonel
George H. Smith. of the Sixty-second Virgin
ia Regiment. This command Of cavalry drove
a small body Of Federal cavalry into the works
near Fort Stevens, and dismounting, ad-
vanced to within skirmshing distance of the
works. While ny infantry column was NOV
ing up, about 80 P. M, what appeared 10 be
he a full regiment of Federal troops (stated by
General Barnard in his report on the defenses
of Washington to be six hundred dismounted
cavalry from the Army of the Potomac),
moved out of the works, deployiDg as skirmish-
ers as they advanced, and Smiths command
retired before them. This body Of Federal
troops burned number OF houses in front Of
the works, and then retired as skrmsheIs
from the advance Of my infantry, now thrown
forward. Rodes' division constituted the ad-
vance of my infantry column and | ordered
him to move his division mp as rapidly as pos
sble and endeayor to carry the works. While
the brigades ofhis division were moving mp,
he threw heavy skirmish line 30 within a
short distance of the works, and, after recon-
noitering them in person, reported that they
were too strongly manned to be carried by as
saut. | then proceeded, 10 company with
Generals Breckenridge and Gordon, to recon
noitre works further to our left, TO see If they
were practicable there. but without any salts
factory result. On the morning of Tuesday,
the 18th. il was very manifest tina: the works
were go strongly manned that it would have
been madness to attempt an assault, and
therefore determined to remain inactive in front
of them until night and then retire.
1t has since been developed, in the 9 Report
on the Detenses of Washington" by General
Barnard, OF the United States Engineers, that
there were over 20. 600 Federal irools within
the defenses Of Washington on Sunday morn
ing, the 10th of July, the day after the
fight at Monocaey, besides 5000 employees of
the Quartermaster's Department who were
armed and brigaded; and that two divisions
Of the Sixth Corps, from The Army Of the Po-
tomac, and the advance OF the Nineteenth
Corps arrived al 2 P M, on Monday, the llth,
which was simultaneous with the arrival of
the head of my infantry column in front of
Fort Stevens. General Barnard also shows
that very considerable portion Of the troops
that were within the defenses had been con-
centrated on the front of which advanced
during Sunday, and the force so concentrated
must have greatly outnumbered my entire
force, though Federal officers appear very in
crednlous when informed ofmy real strength
An assault by me at any time on Monday or
Tuesday must have been disastrous to my COM
mhnd, and none was made.
just before night on the 18th, a heavy re-
connoiteripg force WAS thrown out from the
works. and Rodes moved up one or two OF his
brgades TO the assistance of his skirm sh line,
when quite brisk engagement ensued.
portion OF my troops had then commenced the
movement to The rear, and no part of them be-
came engaged except the portion OF Redes' di-
vision mentioned. 1t was in that affair that
nearly my whole loss in front of Washington
was sustained, and General Rodes reported
his loss at about eighty killed and wounded.
The number of bodies reinforced would cores
pond with his report, as the proportion of
killed to wounded was not nfrequently as one
to four, that is, one 9th OF the entire loss be-
ing killed, and we brought off none of the
killed The member OF the Sixty Vir-
GINA Regiment, whose body was found was
doubtless killed when his command was de-
ployed as skirmshers in front of the works,
General Grant reports the Federal loss at two
hundred and eighty. ! will add that General
Lee did not expect that would be able to cap
iure Washington with my small force; his or
ders were simply to threaten that city, and
my only chance of capturing it depended upon
its being found without any garrison. The
object of the movement was to cause the with
drawal of large part of Grants army from
the vicinity Of Richmond, and the eventual
abandonment of the siegea General Lee, have
no doubt, would have been gratiied if could,
| have taken Washington, but when suggested
to him would take il i'll could he remarked
that it wonld hardly be possible to do so.
| Respectfully, j. A. EARLY.