The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1885-04-22

ton / have, you wiz find no diff
Guilty in supplying your army until
YOU cross the Roanoke From there
here is but few days march, and
supplies could be collected South OF
the river to bring you through.
Sherman, at Goldsboro, n. c.,
March 81, 1866, to Grant:
Ii Sheridan swings of and is
likely to come down towards me. get
me word that may meet him. /
doubt if he can cross the Roanoke
for a month yet, unless he has pom
toons with him but he cannot be
better employed than by raiding
about Burksville.n
And in another dispatch from the
the same place. as late as April s,
he says:
IF General Sheridan don't run
his horses off their legs, and you can
spare him for a week or so, let him
feel down for me, and / think he can
make a big haul o. horses. Tell him
make him a free gift of all the
blooded stock in North Carolina, in
Guiding Wade Hampton's. whose
pedigree and stud are of high de-
gree"
THE CONFEDERATE RESOURCES.
Although Lee keenly felt the scar
city of quartermaster and commits
sary supplies during the winter and
spring of 1865, this was by no means
his greatest difficulty. He still
held great trunk line OF railway,
the Southside branching out from
Burksville. and at other points fur
ther South and tapping many of
the most fertile regions of the Cotton
States. The James river and its
system of canals was highway, trib-
utary to Richmond, draining a pro-
ductive portion of Virginia. and un-
til in March, 1865, safe line of op-
Grafton for the accumulation of mil
itary stores. 1t was, therefore, not
without reason that President Davis
maintained with admirable self-as-
surance, "that, though Virginia
should be lost, the Confederacy
could and would be preserved below
the Roanoke for an indefinite peri
od." Arms, ammunition, horses,
mules, negroes, corn and bacon, all
were to be had in quantities to sup
ply larger army for months, and
possibly for years.
1t was men that Lee most wanted.
He was justly apprehensive of the
overwhelming left flank OF Grant,
and without them he could not fill
the gaps made in his lines from the
Wilderness TO the James, nor rea-
sonably hope to much longer resist
the forward movement that Grant
would naturally make in aid of Sher-
mans movement northward from
Savannah.
The attack upon Fort Steadman
on the oath of March was well con-
ceived and executed. 1t was in.
tended TO put Grant on the defensive
and assure the safe and deliberate
evacuation of Richmond, if it be-
came advisable in the Judgment of
those in supreme authority.
SHERIDAN AS A scoURGE.
Sheridan left Winchester on the
9th of February, 1865, with two di
visions of cavaly, about 5000 effec-
tives, under orders previously noted.
After the capture of Early's forces at
Waynesboro he entered upon one of
the most destructive raids in mod
ern warfare. Sending his prisoners
of War under Coloner Thompson, Of
the First New Hampshire Cavaly,
with about l 500 men to guard them,
back to Winchester, he destroyed
the iron bridge over the Shenan-
doah, burned the wagons and cap
tured stores. crossing the Blue Ridge
at Rockfish Gap, pushing on to Char
lottesville over roads rendered al
most impossible by heavy rains and
spring thaws. The trains were two
days behind the troops in reaching
this point. Quartermasters, wagon
masters ana teamsters will ever re-
call this mud march, whose nightly
camp-fres were thronged with dis
mounts, presided over by the geni-
US of profanity. The work of de-
struction was general on the Rivana
river and at all points to Charlotte
vile.
IN THE HEART OF VIRGINIA.
On the 9th of March the COM
mand was divided into two
columns and all points along and
near the James river, from Scots
vile to New Market and westward
along the line of the Lynchburg
Railroad as far as Amherst Court
House, were raided, and at all places
where public property was found
it was destroyed, bridges were burn
ed and railroads torn up, canals and
locks rendered useless and boats
blown to pieces. Succeeding days
were devoted to the destruction of
public property along the James to
and below Duguidsville and in the
direction of Goochland. Sheridan
was master of the situation north Of
the James, and his 5000 raiders
were on double duty in destroying
public property and consuming and
wasting the resorces of the common
people amohg whom we were NOV
ing in short. if not easy march
es.
For three weeks this rowing
scourge devastated the heart ofVir-
ginia; then turning eastward and
ncrth of Richmond, our movements
were FASTENED by troops sent out by
Lee, and the corps reached the
White House on the Pamunkey riv-
er on the 18th OF March.
WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED.
Some of the fruits of this move
ment towards Grant may be sum.
med up in the following results i
Three breaches in the James river
and Kanavha canal locks rendered
FIVE acqueducts with forty
road and cana, bridges destroyed.
warehouses, two naval
repair shops. one boundary, one lum-
Der yard, twenty-nine canal boats