Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-04-11

nad ntlOIc.
The young people OF Richmond ought
10 form organizations to study local MS
tory and explore our battle-helds. There
| should be suitable lecture on each
branch OF the subject delivered just be-
fore visiting n field. or may be the lee
ture might be delivered upon the heid
Itself
Bloody Run" would be good
starting point IT'S history Is interviewer
with one OF the earliest OF the battles
! near here--a battle between colonists'
under Colonel Hnl. and the Indians.
Then benedict Arnold's troops, In
Richmond" would furnish another inter-
| esting subject. IN this latter study we
would receive an insight into the con-
dltion OF our city during the ReVoiu-
tlonarv war when after some trihing
skirmishes with the British. our troops
abandoned the city. and the Governor
and Legislature retired TO Charlottes-
VILE.
II memory rightly serves us, II was
during this foray that the town OF war
wick was burned. How many of our
people know where Warwick stood? III
was in Chesterfield county. on James
river. about four miles from this city,
and at one time had more shipping than
RicNnond itself-the river in those days
not having been cleared Of the rocks
and shoals which prevented large YES
sells from coming TO our wharves
| The first battle fought before Rich
nond in the last war was at Drewrys
Bluff. There the Federal fleet of iron
clads attempted 10 pass our batteries
| and come to Richmond. but were sig
nally defeated. From that day to the
hour of the evacuation Of Richmond,
! Drewry's Bluff was fort, and rendez-
vous for our James river fleet
1t was a busy place at all times. and
as a tug-boat made hourly trips be-
tween the Bluff and this city. it was
visited by nearly every stranger who
came TO Richmond in those days. The
young ladies of our city. too, were fond
OF visiting the Bluff to see the middles
on duty upon the ships. and to witness
| the dress-parade OF the soldiers ashore.
But nowadays the Bluff is seldom visit
| ed. Yet. some vestiges of its occu-
pancy as a military position remain, and
| the view there and thereabout is very
picturesque And bicyclists may reach
IT in an hour or less, after crossing the
river here.
OF all our battle-felds Seven Pines.
or Fair Oaks. is most visited. This is
because it is connected with Richmond
by an electric line, which is a part Of
our street-railway system.
The people of Richmond received their
first real baptism into the horrors Of
war when portions Of the armies of
Johnston and Mcclellan met at Seven
Pines. The carnage there was dreadful.
The capacity of the military hospitals
here proved hopelessly inadequate. Near
ly all OF the wounded men were
brought into the city. and many Of them
lay in the streets and fields until ac-
commodations were found for them in
private houses. But never did the pa
triotsm of Richmond shine out more
| gloriously than during these two dis
tressing days. Some Of the poorest OF
our families took into their houses and
cared for as many as four or five wound
ed. 1t was at Seven Pines, too. that
General Joe Johnston was wounded. and
soon afterwards General r. e. Lee be-
came his successor in command.
Seven Pines has nothing like the
beauty of situation that Drewry's Bluff
has, but it is far more accessible. either
by wheel or by public conveyance, and,
therefore, it is visited by many more
persons.
And then, there are the fields Of Me-
Gainesville and Cold Harbor, etc. The
former is reached by turnpike, and is
little more than five miles distant. Near
there the heavy fighting of the Seven
Days battles began, and there our
troops, charging the enemy in an mac
cessible position, met with heavy losses.
Cold Harbor, nine or ten miles out
by a road east of the Mechanicsvile
pike was fought over twice-in 1862, by
the armies Of Lee and Mcclellan. and
in 1864 by the armies of Lee and Grant
Both were bloody battles. In the first
|
evenly divided, but when Grant assault
ed Lees lines, in 1864, the Federals were
defeated, with fearful slaughter, while
our losses were comparatively small.
General Horace Porter, in an article
recently published I'm the Century Maya
zine states that Immediately after the
second battle Of Cold Harbor Grant told
him that that was the only order for 9
charge that he regretted having given
Well he might; for in very shor
time he had lost 10000 Of his men. Ant
the lesson that he received there induced
4 him 10 throw the main body of his arm,
across the James, to besiege Petersburg
Many other "foughten fields there art
east Of Richmond-Frazier's farm
Gaines's Mil, Malvern Hill, Fort Harri
son. etc, etc.-but we shall not enume
rate them now.
North and west of the city the best
remembered fields are those of yellow
Tavern and Green's farm. Upon tn
former. Jeb Stuart won victory an'
received his death-wound. On the lat
ter. on the Westham road, the 'local-de
fence troops of Richmond confronted
Dahgren and checked his progress to
wards this city.
Sweet peace now reigns over all thes
fields. Instead of the shrek Of the shell
we hear the loving cali of the bird TO
its mate; instead of the ping of tn
minie-ball. we hear the restful murmu
of the brook. Where the regimen,al
flag was planted. and men fought for
until there was a breastwork OF de@
about II. we see the ploughman at hi
peaceful toll. Over the trenches, In whicl
we buried our uncoffined and unshroude'
dead, the wild peach-tree is blooming
and filling the air with fragrance