The Washington herald., 1915-03-21

! Richmond and the interior. and the
| Virginia Central Railroad. that had
/ connected Richmond with Gordonsville.
Charlottesville and LynchburG. import
ant towns in rich section of sup
! ply.
| There was left to Lee now only one
! raiIroad-the Southside road out of
Petersburg TO Lynchburg and Danville.
| This was the road he was destined to
| follow in his attempt to escape Grant
! by retreat.
| Sheridan's troopers had also struck
hard at precious supplies, and at mills
and storehouses. along the route of
| their march. In his report of the
| raid Gen. Sheridan stated that his
/ men had destroyed. among other
! things. twenty-nine canal boats and
six fatboats laden with stores and am
! munition. 1900 bushels of wheat. 500
barrels of -four. eighteen wagon loads
of grain and stores. 1000 pounds of
bacon, scventy-fve beef cattle, twenty
seven warehouses. $50 sacks and 500
/ bushels of salt. seven flour and grist
! mills a cotton mill and a tobacco
factory worth 100000.
| The effect Of the raid. and the gem
eraI situation Of tn" confcdcrat"s.
were summarized in these words by
Cen. Leo appended to a dispatch dated
March :. regarding resistance to Sheri-
dams raid: The want of forage and
/ provisions paralyzcs us
Rewards of Hard Service.
: Further destruction by SherIdan's
. men had included fifty canal locks,
! forry-one miles Of railroad. sixty-three
( bridges. ten railroad dcpots. twenty
seven miles of telegraph. 400 feet OF
tr.stIe work and large quantities of
military supplies found at railroad
stations. These included 500, 900 rounds
/ of rifle ammunition.
The captures OF tho raid included
500 prisoners and ".li5 horses and
mules.
Sheridans march had been hard. and
not rapid. His men had been three
weeks on the road when they crossed
the broad Pamunkey at White House
{ and went into camp in the security of
a base protected by the guns of naval
/ vessels.
, Their first week had carried them
up the Shenandoah Valley, had Wit
messed their Cap.ure Of the remaining
J parts of Gen. Jubal \. EarIv's com
mand at Waynesboro. ana had seen
them on their way as far as Char
| lottesviIIc. in Rivanna County.
! Thence they had marched south tn
the James. tearing UP the railroad
and wreckinG the canal. They had
. halted a day al columbia on March II.
! and resuminG their march, had skirt
. ed Richmond. halttng at Ashland on
| March u. and thence crossing the
North Anna to Carmel Church. There
! they camped. TO pursue their way the
next day across the country desolated
in Grants campaign of the previous
spring.
An effort by Cen Longstreet to
nm IiFkptIS division
of infantry and Gen. FitZhugh Lees
/ cavalry had failed at the North Anna
ana i,dving their enemy Chatng on
the south hank of that stream, with
out a bridge TO cross 10y. they had
turned eastward. following the north
bank of the Pamunkey down TO tide
water.
Natures Obstacles.
As the long column. stretching back
nearly ten miles on the road. neared
! White House the spirits of the sol
diers rose to holiday pitch. Plenty al
food and forage was sure TO he on
hand at White House and letters from
home, perhaps.
The weather had turned fine on the
18th. and the troopers set TO work
/ with alaCrity 10 plank the old railway
bridge across the Pamunkcy in order
to cross 10 the Federal base.
The next day the crossing was ef-
feCted. and pitching rneir shelter Ienrs
in sight of the fleet of Federal gun
boats and transports in the stream
Sheridan's tired men lay down for
their first good sleep in three weeks.
They had marched more than 800
miles in that time. over-or rather
.throuch-roads incredibly bad. and
had arrived at their destination with
not more than 100 of their number
( absent. These men whose
strength was not equal to keeping VI
with the command.
In his report of the raid Gen. Sher-
idau wrote:
There perhaps never was march
where nature offered such impediments
and shrouded herself in such gloom
as upon this; incessant rain, deep and
almost impa ssabl streams. swamps
and mud were overcome with a con-
slant cheerfulness on the part of the
troops that was truly admirable. Both
officers and men appeared buoyed up
by the thought that we mad completed
our work in the valley of the Shen-
| andoah and that We were on our way
to help our brothers in arms in front
of Petersburg in the mar struggle"
| Twenty-Five regiments We're engaged
in this raid. In the first division I'M
der Gen. Thomas c. Devin. were these
brigades: First. Col. Peter Stage. the
First. Fifth. Sixth and Seventh Mich
igan: second. Col. Charles l.. Fitzhugn
Sixth, Ninth and Nineteenth New
York. Seventeenth and Twentieth
lPcnnsy lvania; third. Brig. Gen. Alfred
IGibbs, Second Massachusetts. Sixth
| PENNSYLVANIA and First. Fifth and
lSixth United States. The third division
under Custer. was composed of these
brigades First, Col Alexander G. NJ
Pennington, the First Connecticut
Third New Jersey, Second New York
Second Ohio: second. Col. William
Wells, Eighth and Fifteenth New York
First Vermont; third. Col. Henry Cape
hart, First New York and First, Sec
!ond and Third West Virginia.
| IL was Sheridans purpose after q
brief halt at White House to put his
column once more in motion. to join
Grant for the final scenes in the Pc.
tersburg campaign. He was destined
to resume his march on March 25. and
on the closing day of the month t.
plunge into the fierce fighting thai
was to result in the capture of Lee.
army.