CITY POINT, July 1, 1864-10.30 a. m. (Received 8 p. m.) I arrived here an hour since, the boat having lain by last night and night before. The army occupies about the same lines as when you were here. The Eighteenth and Ninth Corps are alone engaged in anything like siege work, their effort being to get possession of a knoll before them. If they succeed in this the enemy will have to abandon this side of the Appomattox. On the left of the Ninth Corps the Fifth is posted, extending nearly southward across the Jerusalem road, but at so great a distance from the rebel fortifications as to have no immediate effect upon them. The Second and Sixth Corps are both well protected. No attempt has been made to establish intrenchments toward the Appomattox on the left since the failure of the Second and Sixth Corps on Thursday night of last week. It seems that the rebels are very strongly fortified there, also, and that if we were to attempt to envelop them for the whole distance, we should not only render our lines weak from their great extension, but should have no free infantry force to operate with elsewhere. Our batteries of heavy guns are used with much effect on Smith's front. He keeps silent the rebel fort, Clifton, which you will recollect is on the west side of the Appomattox, and, as he thinks, has. much damaged the railroad bridge. To this he is directing special attention. Grant thinks all the railroads are well broken up. The Weldon road Wright has pretty thoroughly destroyed with his infantry. On Butler's front at Bermuda Hundred all is substantially as when you were here. 1 have in the most informal way communicated to Grant the substance of what you said respecting Rosecrans and Curtis. He thinks the most useful way to employ Rosecrans would be to station him at some convenient point on the Northern frontier with the duty of detecting and exposing rebel conspiracies in Canada. His Excellency the PRESIDENT, C. A. DANA. Washington. P CITY POINT, VA., July 1, 1864-11 a. m. (Received 8.30 p. m.) Grant thinks the difficulty between Meade and Warren has been settled without the extreme remedy which Meade proposed last week. Butler is pretty deep in controversial correspondence with "Baldy" Smith, in which Grant says Butler is clearly in the wrong. A report is here that Wilson has been surrounded and destroyed, but it is improbable. Grant does not believe it; besides, he thinks Wilson to be as likely as any other man to get safely out of a tight place. All that is certain is, that Kautz got separated from him, and that some men of Wilson's division came in with him. It appears that Wilson had not the sort of roving commission which Grant supposed, but that Meade gave him explicit instructions as to every part of his course. That portion of them which related to the Danville railroad he had fully executed, except that it is not yet satisfactorily ascertained whether he succeeded in destroying the bridge over the Staunton River and had got back upon the Weldon road, near Stony Creek, when he was attacked by the whole body of the rebel cavalry. This had been set free by Sheridan crossing the James River and stopping to rest, and was all at once pitched upon Wilson. No doubt he has had hard fighting and heavy losses, but I think he will bring in the mass of his division in safety. Sheridan has gone out to help him, but his horses are badly jaded, and he cannot move very rapidly. Wright has moved out to Reams' Station to support Sheridan. Hon. E. M.-STANTON, Washington. C. A. DANA. CITY POINT, July 1, 1864-2 p. m. I have just seen General Kautz, and have obtained from him a clearer idea of the disaster to Wilson's cavalry. It seems Wilson had been led to believe, by a dispatch from General Meade, that our lines had extended around to the Appomattox, or at least across the Weldon railroad. He was, accordingly, confident of finding our pickets at Reams' Station or near there. After he crossed the Sappony, on what is called the stage road, he was attacked by Hampton's cavalry; fought them Tuesday afternoon and night between that stream and Stony Creek, relying all the while on aid from the Army of the Potomac, which he supposed to be in hearing of his cannon. One of his aides, Captain Whitaker, also cut his way through with a company and reported the case at General Meade's, but succor could not be got up in season. Pushing on, Wilson crossed Stony Creek, when his advance, under Kautz, found before it an infantry force, which prisoners reported as consisting of three brigades, under Finegan. Wilson now determined to go back and break through Hampton's force, but on returning to Stony Creek found that Hampton's men had already destroyed the bridge. The case being desperate, he gave orders to destroy the train and artillery. The caissons were blown up, and the guns, twenty in number, spiked and hauled into a wooded morass just as Finegan's force with a body of cavalry came up, charging so as to divide Kautz and Wilson. The former saw that he had a chance to bring off his command in safety, and thought that to rejoin Wilson would only be to expose himself to the danger of also being surrounded and captured. Accordingly, he marched out, bringing off his division and about 1,000 men of Wilson's, including the whole of the Second Ohio Regiment. He does not think Wilson has been captured, but that he has escaped with the mass of his troops, either passing to the southeast between Stony Creek and the Sappony and swimming or fording the Nottoway, or else by moving to the northwest toward Dinwiddie Court-House. Sheridan marched on Wednesday night, and left Prince George CourtHouse yesterday morning at 7 o'clock, while the Sixth Corps went to Reams' Station, but nothing has been heard from them or from any of Wilson's troops. If Wilson took the road by Dinwiddie Court-House he would have to make a long circuit before he could again come within reach of us. Kautz says that the outermost pickets of our army were really not more than one mile and a half from the scene of these events. Up to that point the expedition had been exceedingly successful. It had thoroughly destroyed the Danville railroad from about four miles northeast of Burke's Station to the Staunton River, which General Meade's orders fixed as the limit to their march in that direction. The bridge at that river they were not able to destroy. It was very strongly fortified and guarded. Most of the Danville track was of flat or strap iron laid upon pine scantling, so that the destruction was easy as well as perfect. Oh the South Side road they destroyed about four miles, working each way from the junction at Burke's. The expedition averaged forty miles a day, doing the work of destruction mostly by night. They found no great stock of supplies in the country. Their horses fed chiefly on green oats and wheat. About 3,000 negroes, who had joined the column in Dinwiddie and Amelia, were with it when it was attacked. Kautz estimates the losses of his own command at about one-quarter of his division, which at starting was about 2,500 strong, but has not yet received any accurate reports from his officers. C. A. DANA. Hon. E. M. STANTON, Washington. CITY POINT, July 1, 1864-4.30 p. m. I find that in my last dispatch I misunderstood Kautz's statement of the amount of railroad destruction accomplished by Wilson's expedition. It seems before reaching Burke's Station he had first destroyed about one mile and a half of the Weldon road, then he struck the South Side road, near Ford's Station, and destroyed it as far as Blacks and Whites Station, after which he moved to the Junction and did what was reported in my former dispatch. Hon. E. M. STANTON. C. A. DANA. GRANT'S HEADQUARTERS, July 1, 1864-5.30 p. m. One of General Meade's scouts is just in, who left Wilson's command this morning at 7 o'clock on the road from Suffolk to Prince George Court-House, Wilson having yesterday succeeded in crossing the Blackwater. The scout thinks he has most of his men with him, although he was obliged to abandon all property, and many of his men are dismounted. He will be in by night. Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, C. A. DANA. CITY POINT, July 1, 1864-7.30 p. m. Two of Wilson's officers have just come in to report. He reached the James River about six miles above Powhatan at 5 o'clock. Men and horses are badly jaded, but the losses seem to be much less than we had supposed. He has with him also two of Kautz's regiments, which that officer considered lost. From present appearances the total casualties of the expedition will not exceed 750, including killed, wounded, and missing. Of the property nothing fell into the hands of the enemy except part of the artillery and the ambulances, which were full of men, wounded in the previous fighting. The wagons were all destroyed. When the column was attacked it had picked up in the country about 5,000 horses, but most of these were unable to stand the hard march by night and day and were lost before the escape was complete. Very many of the contrabands came safely off with the column. No particulars are yet reported, but this raid seems to have surpassed all others, except Hunter's, in the damage inflicted on the C. A. DANA. enemy. Hon. E. M. STANTON, Washington. GRANT'S HEADQUARTERS, July 2, 1864-11 a. m. (Received 4.50 p. m.) Everything quiet this morning.. There was a good deal of firing both of musketry and artillery about 10 p. m. yesterday on Burnside's front, but it amounted to nothing. Nothing heard yet from Sheridan. Wil son is moving up to this vicinity to recruit his horses. The heat is excessive. Hon. E. M. STANTON. C. A. DANA. CITY POINT, VA., July 3, 1864—9 a. m. All quiet on lines and no new developments. The mine with which the rebel redoubt in front of Burnside is to be blown up is advancing well, but is a pretty heavy job, and will take some time yet. I have just come in from a visit to Wilson's cavalry camp. The men and horses are both in much better condition than I had expected. Wilson estimates his total loss at from 750 to 1,000 men, including those lost from Kautz's division. Of these some 600 were killed and wounded in fair fighting, of which they had plenty from the beginning. Wilson confirms Kautz's statement that the expedition averaged forty miles a day. In one thirty-six hours Kautz marched eighty miles. Of railroads fully sixty miles were thoroughly destroyed. The Danville road, Wilson says, could not be repaired in less than forty days, even if all the materials were at hand, and he has destroyed all the blacksmith shops where the bars might be straightened out, and all the mills where scantling for sleepers could be sawed. The thirty miles he broke up of the South Side road may be repaired in about ten days, if the work is not disturbed. That road has Trails and for want of suitable implements the rails could not be thoroughly destroyed, but only bent and twisted by laying them across piles of burning ties. The bridge across the Staunton or Roanoke River he was unable to destroy, because he could not cross the river to get in the rear of the fortifications, there being neither ford nor bridge for fifty miles, except this very railroad bridge. It had been garrisoned for protection against the cavalry of Hunter's expedition. The river at that place is some 600 feet wide. The same want of means of crossing prevented the expedition from crossing back on the south side of that river. It appears that the only means of passing it used by the inhabitants is small ferry-boats, and with these the expedition could not have been safely got over. The final misfortune resulted from ignorance of the fact that the Army of the Potomac had not been able to take up the position indicated in General Meade's instructions to Wilson; besides, all the scouts and country people reported that there was no rebel force between Stony Creek and the Federal lines. But for this Wilson would have crossed the Nottoway and come in by the route he finally adopted, moving by Jarratt's Station to the Blackwater near Waverly. At that place the column was detained for some ten hours to restore a destroyed bridge. The whole Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac is now camped near lighthouse Point. General Sheridan thinks it will take ten days to recruit the horses so that they can resume the offensive efficiently. Wilson brought in about 400 negroes, and many of the vast numbers of horses and mules gathered in his course. He reports that the rebels slaughtered without mercy the negroes they retook. Wilson's loss in property is a small wagon train, used to carry ammunition, his ambulance train, and 12 cannon. The horses of cannon and wagons were generally brought off. Of the cannon two were removed from the carriages, the wheels of which were broken, and the guns thrown into the water, and one other gun had been disabled by a rebel shot breaking the trunnions before it was abandoned. Hon. E. M. STANTON. C. A. DANA. GENERAL GRANT'S HEADQUARTERS, July 3, 1864-3.30 p. m. (Received 8 p. m.) There is pretty good evidence that Early is now here, and all of Ewell's corps with him, but Breckinridge has not yet rejoined Lee's army. If he is moving down the Valley, as Sigel reports, it is possible that he may have with him 10,000 men of all sorts, not more. Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War. C. A. DANA. GRANT'S HEADQUARTERS, City Point, July 3, 1864-4 p. m. The Petersburg Express of yesterday proposes that the Yankee prisoners should be fed on bread and water only, rather than starve the Confederate soldiers and people in the two cities. This paper admits that while the roads are cut as at present supplies are very short; besides, if the roads should be repaired, it says there is no telling how soon they will be broken again. SECRETARY OF WAR. C. A. DANA. CITY POINT, VA., July 4, 1864-9.30 a. m. No new developments at the front. Burnside's mine is hindered by springs and quicksands. Smith's batteries of 30-pounder Parrotts and 8-inch mortars fire pretty steadily at the railroad bridge, and are believed to have damaged it considerably. The enemy, who have repaired the road where General Butler broke it, make no attempt to run trains into Petersburg. Two citizens who came in from Richmond, having left that place on Thursday, report that the rebels are at work repairing the Virginia Central. It seems that the road between Gordonsville and Lynchburg has never been interrupted for any great length of time. |