NP, RD 7/22/1862

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch
 
July 22, 1862
  
The Yankee Cavalry foray
   Beaver Dam, where the Yankees made a raid a day or two since, is forty miles from Richmond, and three miles from the line of Louisa county. Most of the buildings of the locality were used for railroad purposes, and except as a way station on the {Virginia} Central route, Beaver Dam has heretofore possessed no special importance. Within a circle of a few miles, however, reside many persons of wealth and influence, and it was apprehended that the enemy, had they come down in any force, would not have departed without indulging their usual propensity for robbery and pillage; but so far as we have been able to ascertain, this apprehension has not been realized.
   Mr. Duke, the telegraph operator at the Junction, took a hand car on Sundayevening, and proceeded up as near as possible to Beaver Dam Station, where he learned that the Yankees had taken their departure, after having done as much injury to the railroad as possible during the brief period of their visit. They burned the depot, offices, water tank, and a large quantity of wood, and tore up the track in several places. The telegraph operator at the Station, Mr. Smith, was captured, but we understand that he succeeded in making his escape. They manifested a strong desire to make a prisoner of Col. Fontaine, the President of the railroad who resides in the vicinity; but in this they old not succeed. It was doubtless their idea that in effecting the destruction of the railroad they could strike no more fatal blow than to capture a gentleman who has been closely identified with its interests from the first moment of its existence; but they were either too cowardly or too weak to complete a work so boldly and impudently begun, and the result of the foray amounts to nothing more than a destruction of some little property and a temporary public inconvenience. It is believed that the Yankee cavalry engaged in this work were not more than 150 strong, though there were probably more within reinforcing distance. Although we have intelligence that the greater portion of the enemy's troops have been withdrawn from Fredericksburg there is no doubt that they have parties scouring through the country below, and information communicated to them by a spy quite naturally led to this descent upon the railroad at Beaver Dam.
 
Later -- the road open
   No train was sent West from the Central depot yesterday, but a dispatch was received last evening from Col. Fontaine announcing that the enemy had left the neighborhood, and that the necessary repairs to the road had been made. Consequently a train will leave for Staunton this morning at the usual hour, and we have reason to believe that travel will not again be interrupted.

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