| From the Richmond Dispatch |
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| August 29, 1863 |
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| The great Yankee railroad raid in Mississippi -- how it
was executed |
| The object of the various Yankee raids
which have been heralded from
Mississippi
has been disclosed. A letter in the Mobile Advertiser from Okolona, the 20th inst., gives the following narrative of the raids, all
tending to one point, and the damage done. It says: |
| At the latter end of the past week General
Ferguson, commanding the cavalry at this point, ascertained that two
columns had sallied out from Corinth, the minor one passing East in
the direction of North Alabama, and the more important one marching
towards the Mississippi Central railroad. Major Davenport, with a
battalion, met the smaller column, turned and pushed it back in the
vicinity of Iuka. Gen. Ferguson having ascertained this, obtained
permission from Gen. Ruggles, at
Columbus, to advance upon the other column, prepared his command with an
alacrity which is deserving of credit, and on Monday pushed on towards
Oxford
to discover the enemy leaving here in his stead the fine Arkansas
command of infantry of Gen. McNair, under the control of Colonel
Harper, an active and efficient officer. |
| Intelligence of the various raids has been
eagerly sought but not until this morning had we learned anything
trust worthy from them. My informant left Grenada
on Tuesday, and brings an interesting but unusually painful budget of
news. From his statement it appears that in addition to the forces
from Corinth, an additional column from Memphis or LaGrange, and still
another from Yazoo city, were suddenly precipitated upon the line of
the Central road by the enemy, for the obvious purpose of destroying
an immense amount of railroad property, invaluable to us, and
inaccessible to the enemy for his own uses. |
| The column from Memphis encountered
Chaimers's command in the vicinity of Panola probably on Sunday or
Monday, and owing to its overpowering strength is reported to have
defeated that body, and, it is surmised, captured Gen. Chalmers
himself. This accomplished, our forces were driven back through
Grenade towards Canton, and a junction formed at the former point with the Yankees from
Yazoo, when the destruction of the valuable properly commenced, and the
object of the various expeditions was fully accomplished. The damage
inflicted cannot be easily estimated, or its immense value even
vaguely guessed at. |
| When Gen. Beauregard retreated from
Corinth fifteen months since all the remaining stock of the Memphis
& Charleston road, both of engines, cars, and machinery, were run
down to Grenada by the Mississippi Central and Mississippi & Tennessee roads, which it served to supply to the fullest extent with
all desirable rolling stock. In time the
Mississippi &
Tennessee
road was, too, abandoned, and its rolling stock
transferred to Grenada
and
Canton. Thus the stock of these two important roads was transferred to a
third. When the enemy pushed us back from the river and defeated
Pemberton in the engagement at Baker's Creek and Big Black, and pushed
on to Jackson, the rolling stock was
withdrawn from the New Orleans & Jackson {New
Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern RR} and the Jackson &
Vicksburg road {the Southern of Mississippi RR}, and forced on to Canton under the protective wing of
Johnston, throwing the vast stock of these two latter roads together
in safety with that of the former three. Here, then, we have
accumulated, for safety and from abandonment of roads, the rolling
stock and machinery of five important railroads, viz: The
Memphis & Charleston, Mississippi & Tennessee, New Orleans
& Jackson, Jackson & Vicksburg, and Mississippi Central. When
Gen. Johnston was about to move from Canton, for the greater security
of this invaluable property it was sent further up the road to
Grenada, and the vain hope seems to have been indulged in that the
enemy were unaware of its existence of situation, or careless of its
importance to our interests. It is difficult to conceive how such a
great oversight could have blinded the Confederate military
authorities. |
| In addition to the machinery, there were
no less than forty locomotives and several hundred cars, passenger and
freight, amounting in value to millions of dollars, a property
invaluable and impossible to be replaced until the end of the war,
when it can lend us no assistance in the one great object we have all
at heart — our liberty and independence. The enemy appears to have
been more fully aware of its importance to our interests than our own
authorities. The forces from four points were to concentrate at this Mecca
of railroad interests, charged to destroy every vestige of their
utility, regardless of risks incurred or advantages otherwise lost. If
three columns were met by disaster, a fourth was left for the one
great accomplishment. It is difficult to look these stern facts in the
face without a feeling of bitterness and a sickening lamentation for
such important and irreparable losses — rather, sacrifices. |
| When the witnesses of the sad scene left,
the work of destruction was still going on, and the flames were
leaping high in the air from store-houses groaning beneath the weight
of Government stores. Fifteen miles from the scene the blood-red light
of the conflagration still gleamed in the sorrowful eyes of the
observers. Not before to-day has Gen. Lee been able to concentrate his
cavalry and threaten the vandals.
Ferguson
should have been within striking distance yesterday, but his command
will prove unable to cope with such a force as the enemy has. Thus, it
will be seen that they have had three uninterrupted days to complete
the work of demolition. |
| Gen. Stephen D. Lee should receive no
coinsure for this disgraceful affair, since he only assumed command of
the cavalry forces on the 17th, and had not yet had time to get them
fully in command. In fact, cavalry was not adequate to the important
charge, and infantry should have been held for its protection. |
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