From the Army of the Potomac

From the Correspondent of the Associated Press.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,

May 2 – 2 P. M.

The rebels opened this morning with their rifled Columbiads, 68-pounders, placed on the heights of Yorktown.  Our No. 1 battery of 100 and 200-pounder Parrotts, was then brought to bear upon the only gun that has given us any trouble.  Our shots were falling over and around it with every prospect of its being very soon dismounted, when, on its twenty-third discharge, the enemy’s gun burst into a thousand pieces, tearing up the parapet and making havoc with the crowd who collected around it at the time.  No less than ten persons were standing on the parapet within six feet of it, besides those who were hid from view by the works.  The destruction of life must have been considerable.  This was the only gun which the rebels have shown capable of doing our No. 1 battery any harm.

All firing on their side ceased, while our guns were manned with renewed vigor, directing their shells into the town.  About one hundred shots were fired by our guns up to 2 o’clock this P. M., when all firing ceased.

A rebel steamboat came down the river and attempted to land at Yorktown, but was prevented by a few shots from our 100-pounder Parrott.  The rebels kept up a continuous fire all last night on our men in the trenches.  The only casualties were the wounding of two.

The weather is again pleasant.  If it should continue, you can look out for startling news from this quarter.  The work laid out is approaching completion.

Jos. Docker, Co. G., Berdan’s Sharpshooters, was wounded last night and taken prisoner.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, May 5, 1862, p. 1