son, whose brigade of Kearney's division had come to Hooker's support, had discovered the enemy's departure, and placed his men in the abandoned forts. These works were of the same character as those on the right, fitted for four, six to ten guns each. They had been occupied by light artillery, which, as from the others, had been removed, I believe the siege-gun found in Fort Page the only one of that character used by the enemy during the day. It was about eleven o'clock when the General and his staff, with their cavalry escort, and Gen. Heintzelman and his body-guard, entered the main street of the ancient city of Williamsburgh. Few white persons were to be seen, save those in the uniform of our army. White flags were hoisted on many of the houses, and the yellow bunting freely displayed, indicating what we soon found to be the fact, that the city was filled with the enemy's dead, wounded, and sick. The shops and stores were, with scarcely an exception, closed, and seemed to have been abandoned for some length of time. On several of them were notices to the effect that they had been closed for want of goods, probably a correct announcement. Where Hooker had fought the signs of slaughter were abundant. Though many of the bodies had been buried, there were enough yet exposed to show the terrible effect of his shot. Bramhall's horses were thickly scattered over the ground, a certificate to his precarious position. That he The condition of the streets was such as to managed to escape with his life is a wonder of defy description. Generally lower than the sidethe day. Here, too, we saw where Massachusetts walks, they had been the receptacle of the flood and New-Hampshire men and the Sickles brigade of the previous night, which, with the hasty had met the enemy, and where the Jerseymen, movement of the retreating army, with its artilunder the younger Patterson, had proven worthy their fathers of Monmouth and Trenton. The acres of felled and tangled trees had greatly impeded our progress, and held many of our brave fellows under the enemy's galling fire. This was by far the best defended portion of his lines, and would probably have been held much longer but for Hancock's coup de maître. All over the battle-field our inquisitive troops were exploring the enemy's defences-now examining the forts, now measuring the rifle-pits, and anon surveying the stockades and parallels. Many and original were the criticisms passed upon the enemy's manœuvres. An Irish soldier thought the rebels would never forget the Sickles brigade. A Dutchman, smoking his long pipe, wondered if Jeff Davis expected to escape the halter after such vast and bold preparations for resisting the Government. A brawny Yankee, with his arm in a sling, said the "mudsills and greasy mechanics" had been heard from, and would be again. The sentiments expressed, touching the vanquished, were generally more in pity than in anger, and the wounded rebels left on the field received only the kindest treatment. From the main range of forts, which must be about a mile from Williamsburgh, that old town could be plainly seen. An open but desolate field extended to its leading street, and was in continuation of a road leading from Fort Page. Jameson's brigade, leaving at daylight, entered and garrisoned the city; Gen. McClellan and staff determined to advance and inspect it. Fearing the planting of torpedoes in the road, as at Yorktown, they proceeded across the field, passing an earthwork near to the city, and several rebel cabins, from which the groans of wounded men, who had crawled there from the bloody field, were painfully audible. The most conspicuous building in the city, the State Lunatic Asylum, displayed hospital flags from its tall towers, which are modelled after those of the Abbey of Westminster, and towered loftily among the low white dwellings surrounding them. lery and stores, had made them almost impassable. Prairie roads in spring were never worse. Our horses floundered about as though in an extended quagmire, and the mud flew in every direction. For much of the way, even in the best street, we were obliged to drive upon the sidewalks, and their condition was far from inviting. Negroes of every shade and size gazed at us from the streets and yards, and carefully watched our advent. There was much bowing and scraping on the part of the dusky spectators, and an evident relief at our occupation of the town. I entered into conversation with several of the intelligent, and found their knowledge of the war and its causes very clear and complete, while their confidence in our purpose to do them no harm was constantly manifested. One yellow fellow assured me that he waved a white flag from the window of his cabin a long time, hoping it would induce us to hasten on. He claimed to have told the frightened rebels the night before that he hoped the Yankees would come, as he had been too badly used by his master and was sure of good treatment from the Northern people. When I suggested to him that many of his folks thought freedom preferable to bondage, he replied that "nobody liked to be a slave." He said that needing money and fearing the effects of the war, his master had taken him and two of his brothers South to sell. That the brothers had been disposed of, but he, probably owing to a defect in his eyes, found no market, a result with which he was evidently gratified. He asked many questions about the North and the means of getting there, and when I afterward looked for him to make me a hoe-cake he could not be found. I doubt not that, like hundreds of his companions, he has started for a taste of the free air and independence to which he has so long eagerly looked forward. By carefully comparing the various reports, I concluded that the enemy's forces evacuated the forts at midnight and Williamsburgh at daylight, and that they numbered from thirty to forty thousand. The Generals in command during the day were Longstreet, the former Methodist preacher, and Early, who led the brigade which was so decisively repulsed by Hancock. The notorious Joe Johnston reached the field in the afternoon, but it does not appear that he assumed any important part in the conduct of affairs, and his retreat must have been hurried, for he left his personal baggage and papers in the city. Several of the shells from our rifle cannon entered the eastern end of the city, and the inhabitants were much scared throughout the day. Some ladies with whom I conversed had not yet recovered from their alarm, and were quite too nervous to talk with composure. They were disposed to treat our army with respect refused to accept pay for such simple refreshments as they were able to provide, and opened their houses for our officers, but had nothing to say in favor of the old Government or the old flag. Only the negroes uttered sentiments of loyalty. I found it quite impossible to correctly estimate the enemy's loss. Some five or six hundred, perhaps more, of his wounded were left at Williamsburgh, while it is reasonable to presume that many not so severely injured made good their escape. The dead found upon the field and in the hospitals will probably reach five hundred. We have several hundred prisoners. Our own loss, killed, wounded, and missing, will, I think, be less than a thousand, and principally from the regiments engaged on our left. Hancock lost in all but twenty-five or thirty killed and fifty wounded, a very small number in view of his position and success, while he took a number of prisoners. Our own loss in prisoners is light. All the wounded were left in Williamsburgh by the flying enemy, and of course fell into our hands, much to their joy. Gen. McClellan and staff drove directly through the city to the college building, from the roof of which the Stars and Stripes caught the breeze, and our signal corps had already established a station communicating with the several divisions of the army. Entering the edifice, which is of brick and somewhat imposing, though less so than the structure burned some years since, a visit was made to the several rooms, in all of which were more or less of the rebel wounded, abandoned by their fleeing brethren. General McClellan had a kind word for each, and a smile which carried consolation to the pale sufferers, most of whom had not yet received the slightest surgical attention. To the various inquiries he replied so pleasantly, so promptly, and with so much apparent feeling, that we might have thought him an old and intimate friend and companion. Few of the wounded recognised him, and when afterward told who had so generously cheered and comforted them, they were greatly surprised. It had not occurred to them that a victorious MajorGeneral would stoop to tenderly inquire into their casualties and provide for their relief. At noon a dozen confederate surgeons reached the city under a flag of truce, and were given permission to visit their wounded in the several hospitals. Our own surgeons had many of them already engaged in the humane work and were alleviating the distress as far as in their power. I went into several of the buildings-all the churches are hospitals-but only to find them as slovenly as the college. In conversation with the wounded I ascertained that they were from all the rebel States, the majority, I think, from the extreme South. The only Virginia regiment which seemed to have been much cut up was the Twenty-fourth. I cannot forget my first observations in the hospitals. Such sights I never before witnessed, and pray I never may again. Hurried from the battle-field and thrown together in the most reckless manner, the sufferers were just as they had fallen. Neither washed nor dressed, with the blood of their ghastly wounds drying upon them; without refreshment or consolation, they presented a picture of woe rarely equalled. Here and there the stiff bodies of those who had died in the night were lying in utter neglect. In one room I counted a half-dozen such. The floors and cots were red with blood. Many of the sufferers were speechless, and some of the wounds worse than any I had seen on the battle-field. One poor fellow, whose skull was crushed, had slipped from his cot out on the floor, and was dying in dreadful agony. The clothes of all were wet from the drenching storm of Monday, and their plight was melancholy beyond relation. Those who were able to speak begged for surgical attendance and for food, and a hundred times I was asked to dress their wounds. They acknowledged that our troops fought splendidly. Several said they had never known such fighting. One told me he thought General McClellan's army the best in the world. When I expressed my regret that they had been wounded in a bad cause, they usually made no reply, or said that they had been forced into the service. Many repudiated the idea of our success, and bore their pains with striking composure. A man with three ugly wounds smoked his pipe and appeared as happy as a lark. But not a few owned the desperation of their cause. One handsome boy, covered with wounds, remarked that we would soon have the whole Southern army in our hands, and I thought rather liked the idea. I observed that not a few of the wounded-and the same is true of the prisoners-were men advanced in years. There are more of such in the rebel army than in ours, doubtless the result of the inexorable system of drafting. I talked with several grey-haired men who were wounded and exceedingly forlorm. They were inclined to reticence, but intimated a thorough disgust with the fortunes of war. One of the number had been shot through the tongue, and presented a most revolting spectacle. The blood streamed from his mouth, while from some cause or other his cheeks and eyes were swollen in an extraordinary manner, and the latter were blackened as though he had been in a prize-fight. His nearest friends would have difficulty in recognising him, and I am sure that he will never again enter the army, even though he should quite recover from his frightful wound. In an upper room of the college our wounded of the Excelsior brigade were found. The enemy had not time to carry them off, and very fortunately, for the journey to Richmond must have proved painful, if not fatal, to many. Colonel Dwight, of the First regiment, was stretched upon a cot in the centre of the room. His wound in the leg had been partially dressed, but he was by no means comfortable. In response to the General's commendation of his conduct on the field, he stated that he would not have given up, but for the severity of his wound, and that the approbation of his commanding officer more than compensated for his suffering. By the order of the General he was at once removed to a private house near at hand, and attended by a skilful surgeon. The appearance of the college hospital was not at all creditable to its rebel keepers. The floors, the stairs, the walls, and even the windows, were covered with filth, and we had only to open the pantries, or stroll in the yards, to detect as many distinct and well-defined stenches as Coleridge counted in the dirty streets of Cologne. Medical stores and implements, fragments of furniture and clothing, broken crockery, cooking utensils, and kindred rubbish, was strewn all over the building, while the grounds, heretofore so picturesque and well-protected, which for their historic associations, if for nothing more, should have been jealously guarded, were a complete waste. The fences prostrate, the stone gate-posts overturned, the sod and trees destroyed, and even the marble statue of Baron de Botetourt disfigured and begrimed with mud. The houses lately occupied by the professors, and situated on either side of the college building, had been used by rebel officers, and profiting by their example, Gen. Jameson, now made Military Governor of the place, had made one of them his headquarters. The General was highly complimented by the Commander for his prompt detection of the enemy's retreat and his early movement into the city. The Ninety-third and One Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania regiments were placed upon patrol duty. Every house in the city was promptly guarded, and there was soon an air of order and quiet in the streets which must have satisfied the people that the stories of the plundering and rioting of our army were but foul aspersions. Victors were never more charitable and forbearing. After looking well about the town, Gen. McClellan, having chosen for his quarters a large brick house on the main street, said to have been recently occupied by General Johnston, he there established his staff, and himself returned with one or two aids to the battle-field. Graham's brigade and others soon arrived, and before evening thousands of Federal troops were encamped in and about the city, while a reconnoissance as far as the Chickahominy Creek, some eight miles beyond Williamsburgh, made by the energetic Averill, discovered no signs of the enemy but an abandoned magazine or two, several guns, many muskets and some straggling soldiers, An official letter from Gen. Johnston states that "a handsome affair" took place at Williamsburgh on Monday. The enemy attacked our rearguard in great force, and were driven back to the woods about a mile. Our latest information is complete upon the main points of the result of the engagement. Our loss in killed and wounded was two hundred and twenty. The Federal prisoners captured by our forces numbered six hundred and twentythree, and the number of field-pieces eleven. The extent of their casualties is not correctly known, but it is believed that their loss amounts to upward of a thousand in killed and wounded. They numbered six thousand strong, and were deployed in a skirt of wood opposite our position, from which they were driven, subjected to a disastrous fire from the right, left and front. The prisoners taken were yesterday on their way to this city, and were expected to reach here last night. They were but a few miles from the city late in the afternoon. They were marched by land under guard. Among others killed or wounded we have the names of the following officers: Killed-Colonel Ward, of the Fourth Florida regiment; Major William H. Palmer, of the First Virginia regiment, (and son of Mr. Wm. Palmer, of this city,) and Capt. Jack Humphreys, of the Seventeenth Virginia regiment. Wounded-Col. Corse, of the Seventeenth Virginia regiment; Col. Kemper, of the Seventh Virginia regiment, and Col. Garland, of Lynchburgh, severely. Another heavy battle took place yesterday near Barhamsville, in the county of New-Kent, but with what result was not known, as the courier who brought the intelligence to this city left at twelve o'clock. The enemy landed their forces from gunboats (twenty-four in number) at or near West-Point. The number engaged on either side is not known, but that of the enemy was supposed to be very large. A general engagement of the two armies is expected. The loss on both sides in the fight of yesterday was very heavy, ours believed to be not less than one thousand up to twelve o'clock. The enemy had up to that hour been driven back three times to within range of their gunboats. LATER. a heavy fire from our skirmishers, killing two of At a late hour last night we learned some fur- the enemy's cavalry and capturing a carbine and ther particulars of the fight on Monday. Gen. Early is mortally wounded. Gen. Anderson, of North-Carolina, we believe, killed. Col. Mott, of Mississippi, killed. Capt. Echols, of Lynchburgh, slightly wounded. Capt. Irwin, of Scales's North-Carolina regiment, wounded. The First Virginia regiment was badly cut up. Out of two hundred men in the fight, some eighty or ninety are reported killed or wounded. Colonel Kemper's regiment suffered terribly, though we have no account of the extent of the casualties. We learn that Gen. Magruder has been for several days quite sick at Westover, on James River. The enemy had not occupied Jamestown at six o'clock on Tuesday evening, but were in large | force at Grove wharf and King's mill. They are also understood to be landing forces at WestPoint. The Virginia (No. 2) was passed on James River yesterday, and will be at Richmond to-day. We have conflicting reports of the fight at Barhamsville yesterday, and prefer to wait for an official statement before giving publicity to ru mors. Doc. 8. sabre. At Somerville I posted companies A, F, G, H, and K on the heights on the left of the road, and taking companies B and I, pushed on to the burned bridge about two miles up the road, to the right of and distant about two and a half miles from Dogtown. Here I rested my men about half an hour, when Captain Conger, Co. B, First Vermont cavalry, came up and reported himself to me. I told him that it was our intention to attack the enemy at daylight, consequently it was not our policy to pursue the enemy any further at that time, and ordered him not to follow the enemy, but to bring up the rear and follow me back to camp. I withdrew all my skirmishers, and started back to camp. Stopping at Somerville I called in the companies that were posted on the heights, and proceeded about one mile, when I halted to await the cavalry, which I supposed to be directly in my rear. Up to this time not one single casualty had occurred on our side. Here I received your despatch per courier "not to pursue the enemy; to beware of a surprise," and immediately after I received your despatch, I received one from the cavalry, "We are surrounded-come to our assistance.' On inquiring of the messenger I learned that the Captain of the cavalry, in direct violation of my orders, instead of following in my rear, had gone some four miles up the river, and encountered the reserve of the enemy, and was surrounded. I caused my com BATTLE OF SOMERVILLE HEIGHTS, VA. mand to "about face," and hurried to their as FOUGHT MAY 7, 1862. REPORT OF COLONEL FOSTER. HEADQUARTERS 18TH IND. REG'T, Brigadier-General J. C. Sullivan, Commanding seventh. The enemy having attacked and driven in our outer pickets, you ordered me to take six companies of the Thirteenth, holding the other four in reserve under Capt. Wilson, and meet and engage the enemy, and if possible drive him from his position, and if I found him in any considerable force to report the fact to you immediately. I accordingly took companies A, B, F, G, H, and K, and proceeded beyond Honeyville about two and a half miles, where I found the enemy's advance-guard, posted on a hill. I immediately deployed companies A, B, and F on each side of the road, taking companies G, H, and K, and going up the road directly in their front. We found the enemy's force, or advance-guard, to consist of two companies of cavalry and two companies of infantry, with one piece of artillery, which I afterward learned to be under command of Major Wheat of the Louisiana battalion. We drove him from this position, and continued to drive him through Somerville to Dogtown, under sistance. I at the same time ordered Captain Wilson to bring up his reserve. We took position on the heights above the road, and to the left of Somerville, with companies A, B, E, F, H, and K, Captain Wilson being immediately in the rear with the reserve. Here we engaged two regiments of infantry, and three companies of cavalry, at a distance of one hundred yards, and drove their skirmishers back two or three hundred yards on to their main body, which we engaged for a half-hour under a most terrific fire from the enemy. Seeing him attempting with another regiment to turn our left flank, I ordered Captain Wilson to move with the reserve at "doublequick" to our left, which order he obeyed with promptness. Seeing the enemy were likely to reach there before he did, and seeing their superior numbers, I ordered my men to fall back, which they did in good order, disputing every inch of ground as they went. While we were engaging the enemy, the cav alry escaped by swimming the Shenandoah River. I find our loss in killed, wounded and missing to be 29, among them Sergeant-Major Vance. The enemy's loss in killed and wounded is greater than ours, and mostly of the Seventh Louisiana, they being in close column, and directly in our front. Most all of our wounded were brought off the field, and some of our missing, I think, swam the river, and may yet report themselves. Too much praise cannot be awarded to the offi cers and men engaged, they having withstood a half a mile southward from West-Point. The most terrific fire from not less than two regiments reason why we landed here is obvious. Had we of infantry, together with cavalry, and bravely landed on the other side of the river-West-Point stood their ground until I ordered them to fall-where it was at first intended we should land, back, which they did in excellent order, fighting we should then have had a considerable stream and disputing every inch of ground as they went. of water between us and the rebels, and would Our forces actually engaged were 180. All the have had considerable trouble to reach them, as prisoners taken by us were from the Seventh all the bridges have been destroyed. Our gunLouisiana regiment, all of whom have been re- boats have taken undisputed possession of the ported to you. point, the rebels having disappeared at the appearance of our forces, and the American flag of our Union now floats from one of the most prominent buildings in the village. I have yet to see a white man among the original inhabitants of this place. Enclosed you will please find a list of the killed, wounded, and missing. I am respectfully your obedient servant, THE BATTLE OF WEST-POINT, VA. THE correspondent of the New-York Herald gives the following account of the battle: BRICK HOUSE POINT, NEAR WEST-POINT, VA., With my eyes full of burnt powder and my ears filled with the ringing of musketry and the screeching of bomb-shells, I sit down to endeavor to give you an account of a fight that has raged here since ten o'clock this morning, and which is still continuing, although I just now heard the cry that the rebels were retreating. The first of this division of the grand Army of the Potomac arrived here yesterday afternoon, under command of Gen. Franklin, and by dark most of the troops were landed on a beautiful plain, which is surrounded on three sides by dense woods and on the fourth by the river, on the south side of the Pamunkey River, and about Immediately on the landing of our forces from the transports, pickets were thrown out to the edge of the surrounding wood, and our tents were pitched on the banks of the river, and up to that time not one of the chivalric sons of the sunny South had made his appearance, and our men became anxious to know why they had been brought to a country where there was no foe. About dusk a part of the division of Gen. Sedgwick, under the command of Gen. Dana, arrived in transports from Yorktown and remained in the centre of the river, while some of our light-draft gunboats took a trip up the rivers Pamunkey and Metaponey to capture a portion of the rebel mosquito fleet, which were brought into use for carrying our men from the transports to the shore, as the river here is too shallow for vessels drawing over six feet of water. During the night some of the rebel pickets made a sortie on one of our advanced videttes, and shot him through the heart. The news soon spread through the camp, and by daylight this morning, the plain, which takes in about a thousand acres of ground, running south-west from the York River, presented a scene such as I have never before witnessed. Long lines of men extended from left to right across the centre of the field, and squads of skirmishers stood marking, in dim outline, their forms against the heavy woods and underbrush which presents an unbroken front to us on every side, except that bounded by the river. Here the men stood for some time, ready to march at a moment's notice; but no foe appeared, and the men were permitted to return to their camps for the purpose of getting their breakfast, and, perhaps, some sleep. A strong picket, composed of the New-York Thirtysecond, Ninety-fifth and Ninety-sixth Pennsyl vania troops, were left at the edges of the woods to keep a sharp lookout for the enemy, who were now believed to he in close proximity to our lines. About this time, one of our gunboats discov ered a regiment or two of the enemy on the west side of the river, who dispersed in great confusion after having received some half-dozen of our heavy shells in their midst. This was communicated to Gen. Slocum, who immediately made strenuous efforts to get the brigade of Gen. Dana on shore, that we might be able to give the enemy a warm reception should he make his appearance. |