Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-21

from military hospitals, and veteran re-
serves. the latter clad in the dishearten-
ing. sickly uniform Of pale blue, which
was the distinctive dress OF that corps.
The Confederates aptly characterized
these disabled soldiers as condemned
Yankees
these soldiers boosted Of their deter
mination to hold the rifle pits at al
hazards. I smiled sorrowfully as
thought Of the ease with which the Con-
fedrates, veterans Of twenty pitched
battles, would drive them out of their
earthworks. The next morning Dody
of Confederate cavalry rode aimlessiy 10
and fro along the edge OF wood about
flve miles from our fort. We saw their
artillery gIIsten. That afternoon the Con-
federate infantry came in sight, and
formed a battle line. Portions OF that
line were within range OF some OF the
forts, and heavy guns opened on 1t away
off to our left This artillery practice,
marked by the bursting Shells was the
poorest I ever saw. It was evident that
the departm ent clerks or the To-day men
were serving the guns
GREW ANXIOUS.
1.-THE Confederates did not pay the
slightest attention to this fire. Their
skirmishers, a cloud Of them, advanced a
short distance from their main line and
then sank out Of sight. We grew anx-
ious knew that Early, who had about
1900 veteran soldiers with him, could
break. our limo whenever he saw fit to
strike it. knew that he could capture
Washington in two hours If he determined
to take the National Capital.
How we fun1ed and fretted! Before
sunrise on July 18th we saw that Early's
men were in motion They moved slowly
towards our entertainments. with heavy
line Of skirmishers preceding their battle
line These skirmishers drove our pick
cts before them with great ease: The
Confederate battle line advanced until
they were within long cannon range OF
the forts. Their skirmishers were within
rife range, and Confederate bullets oc-
casionally sang above us. Many heavy
guns opened on the battle-line. It halted
and the men lay down in the grass,
among bushes and behind buildings. We
saw that his troops were not formed in
charging column; saw that there was
no preparatory hustle; saw, that though
the Confederate slirmishers were far in
advance of the main line. they were not
pushing our, pickets. Evidently there was
to be no serious fighting that morning.
We continued to shell the Confederate
line without a particle Of effect unless to
excite the contempt of veteran soldiers.
During the evening General Anger sent
body of troops from our line, to feel Of
Early's men. Naturally, the latter OBJ
jected to be felt of. SO they promptly
killed and wounded 800 Of Anglers men.
These having had enough of dallying
with savase-tempered and veteran, Con-
federate einfa ntrS,7 II skurried back to- our
entertainments Viewers told the next
morning that the Union people Of. ASH.
ington had been panic-stricken; that the
masculine portion of the entire city had
got wildly drunk and kept So and that
the Sixth Corps was coming up the Po-
tomac river to the defence Of Washing
ton. AS the Sixth Corps marched on the
battle ground, formed line, and preceded
by hundreds Of skirmishers, advanced.
Alas, too late! The last Confederates
had hasteped after their leader, and were
well on their way to the Shenandoah
Valley. Could Early have captured Wash
ington on June 18th, 18th, 1864? 1 TN
hesitatingly answer. yes
MY opinion IS that he could not have
held the city had he captured it.