Evening star., 1923-07-08

either side of the fort. and the la,tar
were held in reserve behind the for,
X x
A BOUT noon on the succeeding dav
(Tuesday) McCook received the
following order by telegraph: Mai.
Gen. Gilmore. L. S. Vols. with a por
ton of the 18th Army Corps is as
signed to command the line from
Fort Lincoln to Fort Totten. Eris.
Gen. NJ. c. Meigs, ON. general to
command the line from Fort Tottent
to Fort De Russy. Brig. Gen. NJ. u
Hardin. U. S. Vols, to command the
line from Fort De Russy to Fort Sum
mer, inclusive. The 9Th Corps. under
command of Maj. Gen Wright. 10 be
heid In reserve, and the entire line
ana troops to be commanded by Mai
Gen. Alexander Med. McCook."
portion of the 9th Corps had al
ready been placed on the line. and
instead of holding the corps in re-
serve, 1t was necessary to give il the
leading part in what followed The
enemy, after retiring his skirmishers
on Monday, still held on the follow
ing day several important points
These were the houses owned by
Mr.. Rives and Mrs. Lay and others
From these points the Union Arm,
was annoyed very much A brigade
OF the 9th Corps commanded by Brig.
Gen. Frank Wheaton attacked the
ehemys line at o'clock in the even
ing, and after a sharp contest. in
which the enemy threw in one or two
fresh brigades. gained the desired
points. This was done only after a
loss of ESQ men. who were either
killed or wounded. During the ensu-
ing night the Confederates withdrew
in the direction of Conrad's ferry.
1t will be recalled that while these
exciting events were transpiring Lin
coin, with the Secretaries of War and
State, accompanied by many officials
of high positions. were to be seen al
Fort Stevens and Reno. intensely in
terested in the scene before them.
The rapid marching which had
broken down a number of the Con
federates, who were either barefoot =
ed or weakened by previous exposures
and who had been left in the VALLEY
and directed to be collected at yari-
Gus points. had reduced his infantry
to about 5000 riflemen One Of his
men had reported that the works on
the Georgetown pike were too strong
ly fortified for him to assault. He
could not move to either the right
or left without being discovered from
signal tower on the top Of the Sol
diers' Home, which overlooked the
country. and the Union forces would
have been able to move in his works
to meet Early.
Early received word from Gen.
Bradley Johnson, who was near Bal
timore, that two corps had arrived
from Grants army, and that his
whole army was no doubt in motion
This news caused Early to delay his
attack until he could examine the
works again, and as soon as it was
light enough to see he rode to the
front and found the parapets lined
with troops. He had. therefore, re-
luctantly to give up all hopes of cap
turing Washington after he had ar
rived in sight of the dome of the
Capitol and had given the Union off,
cials here terrible fright.
The average reader of this will be
caused TO wonder not why Early
failed to take the city, but why he
had the audacity to approach the city
as he did with the small force at his
command. 1t has been said by some
that Early delayed longer than he
should have in the valley But
every moment was put to use. and
he made the attack as soon as he
could complete his organisation.