| From the Raleigh Register |
| |
| May 9, 1863 |
| |
| From the Richmond Enquirer of Tuesday |
| |
| The Yankee Raid |
| The Yankee forces lately
engaged in raids upon the railroads, were composed of twenty-eight
regiments, all under Gen. Stoneman, a force of, at least, 15,000 men.
The detachment of so large a body of troops upon such an expedition,
while a little like that just fought in Spotsylvania was in actual
delivery, will remain one of the inexplicable maneuvers of Yankee
strategy. Fifteen thousand cavalry is a most formidable force, and, audaciously
used on the battle-field, might have have caused us irreparable loss.
But Hooker has seen but to expend this formidable force, not upon the
battle field, but upon the undefended railroads, and what damage has
he done? |
| From all we can gather, three
engines have been partially destroyed, the rails torn up at several
points on the lines, creating a delay of transportation of possibly
two or three days. The exact amount of the injury done to the
railroads has not been ascertained, and the rumors and reports are so
conflicting and contradictory that it is folly to repeat them. We
learn from a gentleman who was captured by them at Ashland, and
whose horse was taken, that no damage was done to the cars, except,
perhaps, to the engine; that the force was expecting to be captured;
that a Col. Davis, commanding the force, so expressed himself; that
hungry, dispirited and jaded, many of the men expressed openly a
desire to be captured. Their main object was avowed to be the
destruction of the {Virginia} Central Railroad bridge over the Chickahominy,
which they accomplished. Not being gratified by being captured, they
are said to have crossed the Chickahominy at Meadow Bridges, and gone
over the Pamunkey at Old Church, and to be making their way either to
Gloucester Point or the Rappahannock. |
| Another party under Col.
Windham passed through Louisa county towards Columbia, on the canal,
and being followed by Gen. W. H. F. Lee, were overtaken and dispersed
with the loss of thirty prisoners and six killed. The destruction or
injury of the canal was prevented by Gen. Lee, who was unable to
follow them upon their retreat from the blown and jaded condition of
his horses. |
| Towards yesterday afternoon
public excitement abated, as the true intelligence came in, as to the
extent and design of the depredations committed by the enterprising
raid-makers, from the other side of the Rappahannock. The particulars
of the raid at Trevillian's, Louisa and Frederick's Hall, on the
Central road, were given on yesterday, as nearly as could be
ascertained. We have further intelligence of the attack on Ashland,
and yesterday's news of the raid on other points, which may be summed
up as follows: |
| The enemy, about five hundred
strong, (cavalry,) entered Ashland about half-past four o'clock, on
Sunday afternoon, and piled up a number of logs on the railroad track,
to obstruct the passage of the down train, which soon after appeared.
As it came up, they took possession of it, set fire to the engine and
several of the cars, after robbing mail cars of about a peck of
miscellaneous letters, (none of any importance,) and detaching a
portion of the train containing about two hundred sick and wounded
Confederates, a part of whom escaped, the rest were paroled. |
| They tore up some twenty-five
feet of the track at Ashland Station, and performed a similar
"feat" some half a mile below, besides breaking into a small
wooden culvert, which latter was the principal damage done on the
road. The engine of the material train, which they also captured, they
ran off the track, but did not injure it. Their last achievement was
the burning of Mrs. Crenshaw's barn, in the vicinity. The whole amount
of damage will be repaired by to-day. |
| From Ashland they proceeded to
Atlee's on the Central road, which they reached yesterday morning,
where they tore up a portion of the track, and came down to the
Chickahominy and destroyed the bridge. An old locomotive, the
"Augusta," which was recaptured
from the enemy last year, was sent up with several
persons on board to ascertain damages, and reached Atlee's just in
time to be taken, the passengers escaping by taking to the woods. The
engine was set agoing by the Yankees, and ran into the Chickahominy at
the bridge, which they had caved in. The damage done here was very
slight, the bridge being a small concern, and the rest of the damage
hardly worth mentioning. |
| Another party, acting in
concert with these, visited Hanover Court House and burned the depots,
doing no other injury worthy of notice. |
| They then proceeded down the
North bank of the Chickahominy, directing their course towards
Williamsburg. There were many rumors afloat as to their movements
after their operations at Atlee's, which we deem unnecessary to
mention, there being no truth in them. |
| Above is to be found all that
approaches reliability as to the injury done by these raids. |
|