Contrasts --- Gen. McClellan --- Somebody Blundered at Williamsburg – Our Advance – Military Jealousies – The Commander, The President, and the Secretary of War – Battle of York River – Obstruction of the Pamunkey – Maps.
CAMP AT ELTHAM, NEW KENT CO., VA,
SUNDAY, May 11th, 1862.
Last Sunday the army was convulsed with excitement. Thousands of armed men were plunging onward in pursuit of a flying enemy. Away off in the distance there was a sound of angry tumult, arising from the swamps and forests. To-day, how serene and placid the scene! Beautiful fields arrayed in living green, a calm, blue May sky, fragrant breezes from the Sunny South cooling the heated atmosphere, and the voice of praise and of prayer rising from the midst of embattled hosts. But all this is the calm which presages the dreadful storm. * * * The word comes that Gen. McClellan is coming into camp, and there is a grand rush to see him.
GEN. M’CLELLAN HERE.
The General paid this army a flying visit, halting temporarily at Gen. Sedgwick’s headquarters. The troops greeted him with the heartiest enthusiasm. I believe I commit no impropriety in stating that I am satisfied that the great battle is almost at hand. It may take place before this is printed. The enemy have evacuated every point connecting with Richmond, for the purpose of giving battle on the Chickahominy. Their central point is at Bottom Bridge and the Chickahominy, on the perimeter of a semicircle formed by the meandering of the stream. They are supposed to be protected from blank attacks by the creeks and deep swamps. General McClellan did not express an opinion respecting the numbers of the enemy, but remarked “they are on the Chickahominy in force.” The lowest estimate of their numbers, by careful commanders, is one hundred and twenty five thousand, but there are sound reasons for placing the number at one hundred and fifty thousand – of whom, perhaps, fifty thousand are new conscripts. Our videttes are already in close juxtaposition with their outposts.
Yesterday afternoon two of our gunboats ascended the Pamunkey to White House, some seventeen miles above this camp, and about seven above and to the right of New Kent Court House, at the point, I am informed, where the Richmond and York River Railway crosses the Pamunkey.
OUR ADVANCE.
Gen. Stoneman also advanced to that point last night, meeting and driving before him a considerable force of rebels, killing five, wounding a number, and taking some prisoners, two of his men being killed and three wounded. – Our troops have gone forward to-day, and the whole army is disposed within supporting distance of the front. This general fact would be presupposed. I state it to calm any apprehensive inquiry that might be made. I may say, likewise, that the General seems cheerful and confident, and since the battle of Williamsburg, he relies upon his volunteers to obey orders and emulate their leaders.
CABALS.
In infer from certain mysterious expressions among military men, that somebody blundered at Williamsburg, but the utterances are so cabalistic that I doubt the propriety of venturing an opinion. Decision of character and consistency of purpose seem to have been the deficiencies of which compliant is made. I am not competent to decide whether such insinuations are justifiable or whether they are the utterances of military cabals. I sometimes fear that Old West Point and Young West Point do not agree. As Young West Point has done so well, generally, in this war, my predictions are rather favorable to them. Yet, I would rather not know so much about military collisions among our own officers. While I dwell upon this point the reader will pardon me for submitting that the Secretary of War does not appear to be sustaining Gen. McClellan as he ought, otherwise he would not send exhausted or incompetent Brigadiers to the Commander, when he deserves a more vigorous and better qualified class of officers. Just here, I would also remark that the special friends of Gen. McClellan are striving to widen the breach between the Secretary of War and himself, by representing that it was the former who subdivided the army into corps, for the purpose of crippling the latter. Now, I think that my authority for saying that this was President Lincoln’s work is indisputable. You will have observed, probably, that the N. Y. Herald is prone to couple the President and General McClellan as fides achate, and to mention the latter and the War Secretary as bitterly antagonistic. Here are wheels within wheels. I shall not be accused of an attempt to widen any breach or of puffing anybody who does not merit praise, but I shall be as just as I can to all concerned, no matter who is hurt.
BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG.
I do not know whether the casualty list at Williamsburg will be published or not, but I know that our loss was about 2,500. The rebel loss was greater. They captured some of our pieces, and we recaptured all but four of them, and some of theirs, leaving a handsome balance in our favor. This bloody victory ought to satisfy the public that the evacuation of Yorktown was a fortunate event for us, and that the rebels are not irretrievably demoralized. The truth is not always agreeable but in the long run it is the best principle.
THE BATTLE OF YORK RIVER.
There are further developments about the affair of Wednesday last. It appears that Gen. Gustavus Smith was in command of the rebels and that Gen. Whiting led his own brigade. – Gen. Joe Johnston was also on the field and had a powerful force in reserve. We were not fast enough to accomplish all we desired and intended, and our troops made a lucky escape. Had the rebels pushed us, they might have destroyed an entire division. The risk was too great, however, and they could not know how far to venture. Readers who have followed my sketch of the siege of Yorktown will have observed that it has cost our army at least 3,000 brave men to clear the peninsula. It has cost the rebels more, if that is any satisfaction, besides stores and a hundred pieces of artillery, large and small.
OBSTRUCTION OF THE PAMUNKEY.
Officers of the gunboats report that thirty five schooners were sunk in Pamunkey by the rebels to obstruct the transit of our flotilla, but they proved inefficient, our boats passing them as easily as if no obstructions had been planted. If James river is blockaded in a similar manner the city of Richmond may be approached in a similar manner, the city of Richmond may be approached by boats drawing eight feet of water.
MAPS.
The popular war maps, including Lloyd’s railway map, mislead all who refer to them for geographical information. In the latter the Richmond and York River Railroad is laid south of the Pamunkey, running through the town of New Kent Court House. The road really runs north of the river from West Point to White House, seven miles beyond Kent C. H., where it crosses the river. The turnpike runs almost due west from West Point to Richmond, but whether the army will march on that line is a question which I cannot determine. W. D. B.
– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 2
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