right General Butler extended around well toward the Yorktown road without finding a point unguarded. I shall keep our troops out where they are until toward noon to-morrow, in hope of inviting an attack. This reconnaissance, which I had intended for more, points out to me what is to be done. Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War, Washington. U. S. GRANT, CITY POINT, VA., October 28, 1864-9 a. m. The enemy attacked our left (Hancock) last evening with great vigor. I cannot give the results yet, though the fight was sanguinary on both sides and resulted' in a considerable number of captures. General Hancock thinks he captured more prisoners than he lost. I. will try to give you full particulars during the day. U. S. GRANT, CITY POINT, VA., October 28, 1864. The attack on General Hancock, now that a report is received, proves to be a decided success. He repulsed the enemy and remained in his position, holding possession of the field until midnight, when he commenced withdrawing. Orders had been given for the withdrawal of the Second Corps before the attack was made. We lost no prisoners, except the usual stragglers who are always picked up. Our captures for the day on the south side foot up 910. The rebel General Dearing is reported killed. General Meade in his report says: I am induced to believe the success of the operation, which was most decided, was mainly due to the personal exertions of Major-General Hancock and the conspicuous gallantry of Brigadier-General Egan.. Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C. U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. CITY POINT, VA., November 7, 1864. Our loss in killed, wounded, and missing in the attack on our picketline the night of the 5th, proves to be only 20. Deserters from that portion of the enemy's line making the attack say theirs was about 200. Our captures were 42 prisoners and some intrenching tools. The enemy have asked permission to bury their dead under flag. Major-General HALLECK, U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. Washington. CITY POINT, VA., December 1, 1864. Gregg's cavalry was sent south this morning on a reconnaissance, more particularly to discover if the enemy were moving troops south. The following dispatch is just received in relation to it: Lieutenant-General GRANT: HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, I have just heard from Gregg. His dispatch is dated 3.45 p. m. He reports having captured Stony Creek Station, which was defended by infantry and cavalry in works with artillery; [he captured two pieces of artillery,] but had no means of bringing them off, so spiked them and destroyed the carriages. He has 190 prisoners, 8 wagons, and 30 mules. Burnt the depot with 3,000 sacks of corn, 500 bales of hay, a train of cars, large amount of bacon, clothing, ammunition, and other Government stores. Destroyed all the shops and public buildings. The Second Brigade, Colonel Gregg commanding, had the advance and is reported as most gallantly carrying the enemy's position. General Gregg is now returning to camp. No information could be obtained of the passing of any force southward, either cavalry or infantry. The bed of the branch road from Stony Creek has been graded, but no rails laid. At Duval Station, south of Stony Creek, much property was destroyed, and a large amount of railroad iron found, which an effort was made to destroy by burning. When the staff officer who brought the dispatch left the enemy were showing signs of having concentrated and were following, but he thinks General Gregg will be in camp by midnight. GEO. G. MEADE, U. S. GRANT, Major-General HALLECK, Washington. CITY POINT, VA., December 7, 1864-10 p.m. General Warren, with a force of about 22,000 infantry, six batteries, and 4,000 cavalry, started this morning with the view of cutting the Weldon railroad as far south as Hicksford. Butler at the same time is holding a threatening attitude north of the James to keep the enemy from detaching from there. To-night he has moved 6,500 infantry and two batteries across James River, to be embarked at Bermuda Hundred, to co-operate with the navy in the capture of the mouth of Cape Fear River. Palmer has also moved, or is supposed to have moved, up the Roanoke to surprise Rainbow, a place the enemy are fortifying, and to strike the Weldon road, if successful, south of Weldon. To-day General Butler sent some troops across the river above Dutch Gap and captured the pickets, and now holds the opposite side of the river, it being a long bend overflown by high tide, with no outlet except along the levees on the bank. I think he will be able to hold it. This may prove of advantage in opening the canal, and is a decided advantage in holding the enemy, who have long been expecting an attack, when it is opened. It is calculated to keep the enemy at home whilst Warren is doing his work. Major-General HALLECK, Washington, D. C. U. S. GRANT, CITY POINT, VA., December 11, 1864. There has been no news from Warren since the evening after he left. The Richmond papers, however, contain no news of any engagement with him beyond a rumored fight between Hampton's cavalry and some of his forces. A force of some 8,000 men were sent south yesterday under General Potter to secure his return. The latest news contained in Richmond papers of yesterday from Sherman's army says that on the 7th he was cast of the Ogeechee, twenty-five miles from Savannah, marching on that place. On the 6th he had marched his army eighteen miles. U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. Major-General HALLECK, Washington. CITY POINT, VA., December 11, 1864–8.30 p. m. The following dispatch from General Warren has just been received from General Meade: General MEADE: SUSSEX COURT-HOUSE, December 11, 1864. I have completely destroyed the railroad track from the Nottoway to Hicksford, and my command is all at the crossing of the Nottoway. Tino did not allow me to go in between Nottoway and Stony Creek, but that can be done at any time. I have met but trifling opposition or annoyance, but the marching and working night and day has been very fatiguing, and the weather very uncomfortable. The men, however, stood it all in good spirit, and we have made the best marching I have ever seen. The roads are now in a very bad condition. I propose to return to-morrow. Respectfully, G. K. WARREN, Major-General HALLECK, U. S. GRANT, No. 2. Report of Lieut. Col. Michael R. Morgan, U. S. Army, Chief Commissary of Subsistence of Armies operating against Richmond, of operations September 16. OFFICE CHIEF COMMISSARY, ARMIES OPERATING AGAINST RICHMOND, City Point, Va., September 22, 1864. GENERAL: I have the honor to transmit herewith the report of the officer in charge of the cattle herd at the time of its capture; also, the report of the officer who has the general charge of cattle and forage of the subsistence department of the armies operating against Richmond,* together with a true copy of an official dispatch from headquarters Army of the Potomac to the assistant adjutant-general at your headquarters, that it was safe to graze the herd at Coggins' Point. Having some time before been shown a dispatch sent to you by General Meade that the cattle herd was not safe because, if I remember rightly, the cavalry had been sent over to Deep Bottom, I had them brought in and foraged *See reports of Woodward and Richardson, following. and kept them in until I received the dispatch of which the inclosed is a copy. I do not attribute any blame in this matter to any officer in the subsistence department. I do not know that any one is particularly to blame, but I would prefer to have the matter investigated, and I expect an application from Captain Richardson, commissary of subsistence of volunteers, for a court of inquiry. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, M. R. MORGAN, Lieut. Col. and Commissary of Subsistence, Chief Commissary. Lieut. Gen. U. S. GRANT, Commanding Armies of the United States. [Inclosure.] HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Capt. E. S. PARKER, Assistant Adjutant-General: In answer to your telegram addressed to General Williams, I would say that beef-cattle can be safely herded and grazed near Coggins' Point. General Williams left for City Point about an hour ago. S. F. BARSTOW, Assistant Adjutant-General. No. 3. Report of Capt. John H. Woodward, Commissary of Subsistence, U. S. Army, of operations September 16. HEADQUARTERS GENERAL CATTLE HERD, ARMIES OPERATING AGAINST RICHMOND, Near City Point, Va., September 16, 1864. COLONEL: I have to report that at about 5 a. m. this day an attack was made upon the camp of the cattle herd at Coggins' Point, Va. The attack was made by the enemy seemingly all along the picket-line simultaneously. The herd was being held about two miles to the rear of the picket-line, Capt. N. A. Richardson, commissary of subsistence of volunteers, in charge, with a cavalry guard from the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry (150 men), under command of Capt. Henry H. Gregg. What resistance was made to the advance of the enemy by the First District of Columbia Volunteers, then doing picket duty in the immediate front of the cattle herd, I am not able to state, but I am informed by the officers of the detachment Thirteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry that they had but time to form their command after hearing of the trouble in front when the First District of Columbia Volunteers came back in disorder through their command, the enemy following closely in large force. Upon approaching Captain Gregg's picket-line the enemy sent out from their main column two men with flag of truce, demanding their surrender, which was refused by Sergeant Kenyon, in command of the picket line, upon which the flag of truce was dropped and the enemy sounded bugles to the charge, a column coming in on the front and on both flanks, completely surrounding the herd, and so closed in, precluding all possibility of egress for the herd. Captain Gregg held the enemy in check in his immediate front till he was nearly surrounded, when he ordered a retreat, and in the effort to rally his men again was taken prisoner, the command then devolving upon Capt. James M. Bell, Thirteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, who had been wounded in the shoulder early in the engagement, but remained on the field. The enemy closing in again in large force, he ordered a retreat, which, being closely followed, became a partial rout, but he succeeded in rallying his men again at a distance from camp-perhaps a mile or two-but was unable, with his small force, to give any protection to the herd as against the large force of the enemy, estimated by the officers on the ground at three brigades of cavalry and two four-gun batteries of artillery, say between 3,000 and 4,000 men. Lieutenant McDonald was injured early in the engagement by his horse falling on him, and rendered incapable of moving for some time. Captain Richardson made his escape through the lines of the enemy in the woods after the herd was surrounded and no possible chance of getting them away. Assistant Surgeon Stanton, Thirteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, was made prisoner by the enemy. Men who lay concealed near the scene of action report that the enemy stayed but a short time after the attack, moving the herd in the direction of the Blackwater. The whole number of beefcattle captured was 2,486 head; three wagons and teams captured. The number of horses captured not yet precisely known. The following casualties occurred in the cavalry guarding the cattle (the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry detachment), viz:* These last two [William Cassidy and John Dugan, herders,] were killed after having surrendered and begging for quarter. So stated by men who lay concealed near by where they were shot. I have every reason to know that the enemy came purposely for the herd, from the fact that they brought a great number of dogs to assist in driving a herd. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Lieut. Col. M. R. MORGAN, Chief C. S., Armies Operating Against Richmond. No. 4. Report of Capt. Nathaniel A. Richardson, Commissary of Subsistence, U. S. Army, of operations September 16. CAMP NEAR CITY POINT, Va., September 20, 1864. CAPTAIN: I have the honor to transmit to you the following report of the leading facts and circumstances connected with the capture of the cattle herd under my charge near Coggins' Point, Va., on the morning of the 16th instant: In compliance with instructions given to me by you, I moved the herd to Coggins' Point, on the James River, opposite Harrison's Landing and distant from City Point ten miles, August 29, 1864. The *Nominal list (omitted) shows 2 men killed, 2 officers and 6 men wounded, and 2 officers and 27 men captured or missing of the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry; also 2 men killed, 1 man wounded, and 13 men captured or missing of the citizen herders. |