Camp Jones. — Rained all night; weather cold. Water
must again be abundant. Gradually cleared off about 3 or 4 P. M.
Dispatches state that McClellan has swung his right wing
around and pushed his left towards James River, touching the river at Turkey
Island, fifteen miles from Richmond. Is this a voluntary change of plan, or is
it a movement forced by an attack? These questions find no satisfactory response
in the dispatches. Some things look as if we had sustained a reverse. (1.) It
is said the move was “necessitated by an attack in great force on Thursday.”
(2.) All communication with Washington was cut off for two or three days. (3.)
We have had repeated reports that the enemy had turned our right wing. (4.) The
singular denial of rumors that our army had sustained a defeat, viz., that “no
information received indicated a serious disaster.” (5.) The general mystery
about the movement.
It may have been according to a change of plan. I like the
new position. If we are there uninjured, with the aid of gunboats and
transports on James River, we ought soon to cripple the enemy at Richmond.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and
Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 295
No comments:
Post a Comment