| From the Richmond Daily Dispatch |
| |
| January 2, 1863 |
| |
| Burning of bridges by the enemy in East Tennessee |
| On Monday last a body of Yankee cavalry,
variously estimated as to numbers, made a raid into East Tennessee and
destroyed two important bridges on the East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad
-- one across the Holston
and the other across the Watauga. The bridge over the Holston
at Blountville was guarded by some two hundred of our cavalry, who, it
is said, were completely surprised and made prisoners without
resistance. The enemy's force came to within six miles of Bristol, but retired without visiting the place. At the Watauga bridge a
small party of citizens, hastily organized, came up with the enemy,
where a skirmish ensued, when one of the Yankees was killed and two
taken prisoners. They belonged to a
Pennsylvania
regiment, and report their force at five thousand. |
| The Lynchburg Republican says: |
| *** |
| The damage to the railroad
is serious as, besides burning the brides named, the track is torn up
in many places and the sills and iron burnt. The distance between the
Watauga and
Holston
rivers is nine miles, and the burning of the bridges across those
streams involves a loss of that distance in our railroad
communications. It will take several weeks to repair the damages, and
they come at a time when the road is taxed to its utmost capacity. |
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