the work. During this charge we took prisoner Major-General Walker, of South Carolina, who was here temporarily in command of a brigade. He had his foot torn off by a shell, and states that his brigade ran off and left him on the fiel l.

The firing being over for the present, our men could be seen huddled behind apple trees and others in the clearing. The Lieutenant-Colonel of the One Hundred and Fifteenth New York rode airily out upon an elegantly-caparisoned horse, against warning, when down went the horse, off went his rider on foot, and soon after a man was seen to crawl carefully to the animal and remove the trappings, the rebels amusing themselves by firing at him.

few casualties occurred from our own guns.
Not a musket shot was fired from our works.

Some shells of the Third artillery failed to
explode this afternoon. One or two were ex-
amined and found to be filled with harmless
plaster.

Saturday, seven A. M.-Firing on the left continued far into the night. Our batteries have just begun to fire again slowly, and the pit must be retaken to-day at whatever cost, for its loss will be the loss of our position on the Peninsula.

IN THE WOODS BACK OF BERMUDA HUNDRED, }

VIRGINIA, May 25, 1864.

Things are not working nor promising altogether well just now, in General Butler's command. For more than a week past the whole army here has been as good as shut up within its intrenchments back of Bermuda Hundred, and, instead of prosecuting a siege against Richmond or Fort Darling, is itself fairly under siege. Meanwhile the enemy has recovered possession of the Richmond and Petersburg railroad, and is evidently running trains over it day and night, his locomotive whistles being audible within our intrenchments. This is an ugly set-back from the state of things that existed, and from the prospect with which we were cheering ourselves a little more than a week ago. I, for one, am not happy-not altogether happy-in the change. But there is no use disguising the fact, and I can anticipate no good from the loyal public being under a delusion in regard to the matter. The prevailing

For a rarity there was no rain, and the day was oppressively hot. The hot noon steamed away, and at half-past two our guns again began to roar. Word was brought that the left of the pit was empty, and soon the Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania was seen advancing against the left of the rifle-pit, in the open clearing. Their leader had mistaken or not followed precisely his orders, and the rebels had come in, and suddenly they rose and poured upon the Ninetyseventh a murderous fire of infantry and grape, and they seemed to fall in swaths. It was a sad sight, without help, but they ran deperately forward, hesitated, wavered, and ran back, all in the space of a moment of time. Meanwhile our guns were turned upon the spot, and the fire of the rebels rapidly diminished. Thenceforward, for something like an hour, it was possible with a fair chance of impunity to sit upon the para-opinion here is, that General Butler has made pet and watch our shells, although for a time rebel shot flew wildly over us, and the trees flew into splinters. The clearing was now nearly empty of men, but about four o'clock word came that Colonel Howell's brigade was in the rifle-pit on the right. Five o'clock, and musketry crackled vigorously in the woods, showing that Terry's division was contesting there the right of the pit, and the guns were turned in that direction. They fired without intermission until half-past five; then came a lull, during which the rebels could be seen busily spading and throwing the pit over the other way, while our men repaired the embrasures, many of which were too narrow, besides having been torn by the guns themselves.

Evening came, and all was quiet on the front, but on the extreme left we heard heavy firing from gunboats on the Appomattox, or from Hinks' battery on the other bank, shelling the ravine which runs from the river to the rebel position here. The woods have been so slashed that the signal corps communicate between the redoubts, and Terry's headquarters on the banks of the James are plainly visible.

one or two capital mistakes. He is indeed a
strong man, a very strong man, and a glorious
good fellow in the right place; but many a
good and true man among us doubts seriously
whether his right place be to have command of
military operations in the field. I suppose that
nobody will pretend that General Butler was
educated a soldier. And it seems tolerably
clear that he was not born one. Such being
the case, I do not well see how he can be rea-
sonably expected to show much mastership in
a soldier's work. Probably there is no mau
now living in the United States who can justly
claim to have been born a soldier; but we
have quite a number who have been educated
soldiers, and some of these, it must be con-
fessed, are turning out pretty good ones. I must
think, too, that we have had enough of under-
taking to extemporize military leaders out of
civilians, however capable these may be in their
proper walks. And it seems rather unfortunate,
to say the least, that in matters purely military
the judgments of some of our best military men
should still be liable to be overruled and set
aside by civilian commanders.

For a due explanation of certain things already
stated I must go back a little.

Our losses to-day cannot now be estimated. In infantry fire they are heavy, and probably exceed that of the enemy; but our artillery Up to the evening of Sunday the 15th, the practice was good, the rebels being sometimes whole movement of this army, in all its parts seen on the run for the woods, and, perhaps, and particulars, had been a complete success. thus we have restored the balance of death. A The sudden departure of the troops from

old Wagner and Gregg, and known as Serrell's New York Volunteer Engineers, were immediately ordered to the front with their tools, and the siege train was started forward. Monday morning the siege work was to begin in good earnest.

Gloucester Point and Fortress Monroe; their passage up the James; their landing at Bermuda Hundred; their advance to a position some six miles beyond that place, and intrenching themselves there; their pushing on some three miles further, fighting their way to the railroad, and their thorough, though temporary, disable- Gillmore, having thus firmly planted himself ment of the road for several miles;-all this, within the enemy's works, was clear and decided accomplished within the brief space of six in the opinion that the army should go right to days, was full of encouragement, and the wisest intrenching its position. The line, which had tongues among us were fluent in praise of it. been captured, of course, needed a little engiThe enterprise seemed both judicious in the neering, to give it a practicable front the other conception, and swift and strong in the execu- way, and thus make it available as a base against tion. "A superb piece of work," was the the enemy's other works. He sent an earnest thought uppermost in the minds of all. General recommendation to General Butler in that behalf. Butler received ample credit for the operation; General Butler, who was present, and commandhis popularity among the troops was very ing the army in person, would not listen to it. great; wherever he made his appearance, cheers When it was urged upon him, with not a little and benedictions greeted him full and free. persistency of argument, he set it aside perempWhat made all this still better was, that while torily, saying that the movement was purely an the troops had been thus fighting successfully offensive one, and that he would not stop for with the rebels directly in front, General Kautz, any defensive work. Yet it was clear enough with his cavalry, had executed a grand raid that the proposal did not necessarily involve round to the south of Petersburg, playing the any loss of time; it only required that a portion mischief with the railroads leading from that of the troops should be at work, who would place to Suffolk and Weldon. Nor did our suc- otherwise have a time of rest. General Butler cess stop there. On the morning of Thursday seems to have had an odd sort of fear, lest the the twelfth, the army, after a rest of twenty-offensive character of the movement should be four hours, began another advance in full force; General Kautz setting forth about the same time on another raid, to break up the railroad between Richmond and Danville. This advance of the army was crowded with still more important success.

General Smith, with the Eighteenth corps, held our right, toward the river, and General Gillmore, with two divisions of the Tenth corps, Terry's and Turner's, held our left; his third division, under General Ames, being left in the rear of the main body, to act as a corps of observation against any approaches of the enemy from Petersburg. Slowly and steadily the army fought its way onward toward Richmond, though not a little impeded, meanwhile, by a drenching rain. Before Friday night, Gillmore had succeeded in turning the right of the enemy's outermost line of defences on the hither side of Richmond. This is a strong line of earthworks, its east end abutting on the river, where it connects with the system of fortifications on what is called Drury's Bluff. Westward the line extends upward of three miles, crossing the railroad, and of course commanding both that and also the fine Macadam turnpike, which runs about midway between the railroad and river. Before Saturday night, the whole western portion of the line, for nearly three miles, had been carried and was firmly held by Gillmore, the enemy charging fiercely upon him, but meeting with a decisive repulse. General Smith, meanwhile, had approached to within a few hundred yards of the eastern portion of the line, which being too strong to be carried by assault, preparations were forthwith set on foot for carrying it by siege. To this end, the engineers of the Tenth corps, the veterans of

somehow compromised by stooping to defensive measures. I suppose it is not too much to say that this was a fatal mistake. And it was, surely, a most unmilitary proceeding. For the life of the enterprise manifestly depended on our keeping the advantages we had gained. And the obstinacy with which the rebels had disputed our progress, showed what a high value they set upou the ground whence we had driven them. So that the whole military reason of the case clearly indicates that no pains should be spared, no possible precautions omitted, for strengthening and securing our position.

Monday morning found both armies enveloped in a fog so thick that you could scarce distinguish a man five yards off. Under cover of this tog the rebels, at a very early hour, came upon us in strong force, and were almost literally in our midst before we knew it, their first attack being on our left, which, however, was quickly repulsed, and was probably intended as a feint. Soon after, they came with prodigious force against our right. Heckman's brigade, which held our extreme right, was quickly driven back, thrown into confusion, and a large part of it captured, including the gallant Heckman himself. Following up his success, the enemy completely turned us in that quarter, doubled up a portion of our line on itself, and even penetrated so far as to command the turnpike in our rear, over which a part of our army had advanced. On the whole, matters were drawing into a pretty critical shape. By this time, however, the fog had begun to lift, and General Smith had succeeded in restoring order among his troops and getting them in trim for good work.

Still our left, under Gillmore, stuck fast to its

muda Hundred, which is on the point of land formed by the junction of the James and Appomattox rivers, so that the space now occupied by the army is of a peninsular shape. Most of it is covered with thick woods, though we find which appear to be slovenly and lazily cultivated by a sort of third or fourth rate farmers, or, in the Virginia dialect, planters. I have made a little acquaintance with some of the natives. The first thing I learn from them generally is that they have a pedigree.

place within the enemy's works, and showed no disposition to budge an inch, though the enemy was assaulting it with great vigor and resolution. Gillmore was of opinion, that if he held his end of the line firmly where it stood, the enemy would soon be forced to relinquish the advan-here and there openings of considerable extent, tage he had gained at the other end; especially as, in the meantime, Smith might make, as indeed he did make, the place too hot for him; insomuch that his very advantage was likely to become his adversity. Things standing thus, or moving thus, General Butler sent to Gillmore ordering him to withdraw. Gillmore was very reluctant to do this, as he saw in it nothing less than perdition to the whole enterprise; he, therefore, still lingered, hoping the commander would see cause to waive or suspend the order. But it was not long before a second and more peremptory message reached him, ordering him to retire immediately. This, of course, left him no choice; and he, therefore, withdrew slowly and in perfect order, bringing off everything except some of his killed, and took up a position on elevated ground, some three fourths of a mile this side of the place he had left. Here he effectually covered the retreat of the army, which was gradually withdrawn, and before sleepingtime all were back within their intrenchments at Bermuda Hundred.

The railroad is about three miles in front of our main line of intrenchments; too far to be reached by our guns; besides, the woods are so thick that we cannot see it. The enemy have a considerable force in our front; how large I cannot say. Well, our intrenchments are pretty strong; so strong, indeed, that, well manned as they now are, I think we may safely laugh to scorn almost any force the enemy may pit directly against us, for the ground all along our front is anything but a lovely place to manoeuvre an army in. Some half a mile in advance of our breast works we have a line of rifle-pits. The rebels have made several pretty fierce attempts to oust us from these and turn them against us. Last Friday morning they did force us from a considerable portion of them.

ever saw, who commands a brigade of General Terry's division, Tenth corps, was thrown against the intruders; and his brave boys soon cleared the rascals out. Several prisoners were taken, and among them Brigadier-General William S. Walker, of Mississippi, was brought in, badly wounded. I had an interview with him the next morning; found him a good-looking and well-spoken man; his age, I should think, about forty. He told me he was a nephew of Robert J. Walker, who was his guardian from the age of twelve years. He said that the day before he would have preferred to die, but that he felt much better now, as everything was done, that could be done, for his health and comfort.

Meanwhile, information came, by a Richmond In the afternoon, Colonel Howell, a regular old paper, that General Kautz had succeeded per-war-horse, and one of the finest gentlemen you fectly in his undertaking, making havoc of the Danville railroad at a place called Coal Mines, and also blowing up the bridge over the Appomattox, an iron structure, upward of three hundred feet long. So that thus far the movement was a success, the enemy having been thoroughly occupied while Kautz did his work; which was doubtless one of the leading purposes of General Butler in ordering the advance. As to the rest, the movement was a failure, and a bad failure too, inasmuch as it put the enemy in full possession of the Richmond and Petersburg railroad, from which there seems little prospect of driving him again for the presGeneral Gillmore, and other pretty good military heads, thought at the time, as indeed they still think, that apart from the Commander's positive order, there was no necessity of leaving his position within the enemy's worksthat those works might be held, and, with proper engineering, made effective against the fortifications of Drury's Bluff, which, no doubt, are the key to Richmond on this side, as the reduction of them would open the river to Ad-age and fierce, but when I saw him he was very miral Lee.

ent.

I told General Walker that I believed there was no disposition among us to treat otherwise than with all kindness, any wounded and suffering man who might fall into our hands. His eyes filled with tears at these words. He told me he was a member of the Episcopal Church. When first taken, his behavior was rather sav

gentle and subdued. I felt no little interest in him. His leg had been amputated, and he expressed himself confident he should recover. This, however, I understand, is rather doubtful. While talking with him, I could not help thinking whether he knew, what I had been well assured of, that right here, in several instances, the rebel bloodhounds had been seen murdering our wounded men whom they found lying help

For the last eight days, the army, when not at rest, has been inainly occupied in finishing up and enlarging the defences of this place. The principal work is a huge line of intrenchments, composed of earth and logs, and extending nearly from river to river, a distance of about three miles. Both ends of the line are covered by gunboats. The line is not far from six miles back of the landing-place called Ber-less before them.