| From the Southern Watchman (Athens,
Ga.) |
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| January 14, 1863 |
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| From the Lynchburg papers we
gather further particulars of the Federal raid into Eastern Tennessee
and Western Virginia. The accounts state that the enemy, variously
estimated at from two to four thousand men, entered Virginia through
Pound Gap, and penetrated to East Tennessee Railroad, a distance of
ninety to a hundred miles, they burnt the bridge {on
the East Tennessee & Virginia RR} over the Holston, at
Zoilicoffer, not far beyond Bristol, and also that over the Watauga,
nine miles farther on. Between the two breaks there is no locomotive.
The bridge over the Holston was a long one, and will require some time
for its restoration. Besides the injury to the bridge, the railroad
track was torn up for some distance. This destructive raid was
piloted, it is said, by Otey Ward, formerly of Scott county, Va., but
who moved to Kentucky before the war, where he turned tory. It will
take several weeks to repair the disasters, and they come at a time
when the road is taxed to its utmost capacity. The raid was certainly
a daring one, and argues an audacity in the enemy they were not
supposed to possess. |
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