NEAR YORKTOWN, April 9, 1.20 P. M. – The weather still
continues unfavorable for military operations.
It has been raining for nearly two days; the creeks are very much
swollen, and the low grounds covered with water, making the roads almost
impassible for empty wagons.
Information received shows that the rebels have a force of
60,000, which is being rapidly added to by troops from the neighborhood of
Richmond, which is one day from Yorktown by railroad and river – they having
four steamers and sixteen transports in use, and by the time the roads are in
condition for the Union army to move, the rebels may be able to meet them with
one hundred thousand – the flower of their army, with the best arms in a strong
entrenched position opposed to our troops, occupying their present
position. The military authorities have
no means of ascertaining the extent of the rebel works.
Information obtained through deserters, contrabands and
other sources show that the enemy have nearly 500 guns, some of them of the
largest caliber.
The rebel Gen. Johnson [sic] with some of his forces has
arrived; he takes command in person. The
intend making a desperate resistance to our advance. Their forces extend from the James to the
York rivers, entirely across the Peninsula.
– Published in the Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye,
Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 12, 1862, p. 3
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