114 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



accomplished without any severe engagement or se- 

 rious interruption. 



"We now occupy Guineas' station, Milford station, 

 and south of the Mattapony on that line. No de- 

 spatches have been received to-day from General 

 Butler. 



Despatches from Kingston, Ga., state that General 

 Sherman's forces are resting and replenishing their 

 supplies. EDWIN M. STANTON, 



Secretary of War. 



On the next morning the following addi- 

 tional despatch was sent from the Depart- 

 ment : 



WASHINGTON, May 23, 1S6L 

 Major- General Dix : 



We have no official reports since my last telegram 

 from General Grant or General Butler. 



Official reports of this Department show that 

 within eight days after the great battle at Spottsyl- 

 vania Court House many thousand veteran troops 

 have been forwarded to General Grant. 



The whole army has been amply supplied with full 

 rations and subsistence. 



Upwards of twenty thousand sick and wounded 

 have been transported from the fields of battle to 

 the Washington hospitals and placed under surgical 

 care. 



Over eight thousand prisoners have been trans- 

 ported from the field to prison depots, and large 

 amounts of artillery and other implements of an 

 active campaign brought away. 



Several thousand fresh cavalry horses have been 

 forwarded to the army, and the grand Army of the 

 Potomac is now fully as strong in numbers, and bet- 

 ter equipped, supplied, and "furnished, than when 

 the campaign opened. 



Several thousand reinforcements have also been 

 forwarded to other armies in the field, and ample 

 supplies to all. 



During the same time over thirty thousand volun- 

 teers for a hundred days have been mustered into 

 the service, clothed, armed, equipped, and trans- 

 ported to their respective positions. 



This statement is due to the chiefs of the army 

 staff and bureaux, and their respective corps, to 

 whom the credit belongs. 



EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. 



The 9th corps, under Gen. Bnrnside, began 

 to move on the 21st. Early in the after- 

 noon orders were given to leave the line of 

 works thrown up in their front. The move- 

 ment was covered by a sortie of Gen. Ledlie's 

 brigade of Gen. Crittenden's division, who de- 

 ployed in front in skirmish line with two 

 regiments held in reserve. The enemy were 

 driven some distance toward Spottsylvania 

 Court House. Meanwhile the rest of the corps 

 moved out of the works, and by night were 

 far on the road. The march was kept up 

 steadily until eleven o'clock, when a short halt 

 was ordered. 



Finding the enemy in force on the road pro- 

 posed, the route was abandoned. The column 

 retrograded a few miles on the Richmond and 

 Fredericksburg telegraph road, and thence 

 moved to the southeast. At 9 o'clock on the 

 next morning a halt of an hour was made, and 

 then the march was resumed, crossing the rail- 

 road near Guineas' station, and arriving at 

 Bowling Green at 4 p. M. On the next morn- 

 ing the march was continued to Milford station. 



The 6th corps moved after the 9th, and filed 

 into the intrenchments as vacated by the 9th. 



The sortie of Gen. Ledlie had rallied the enemy 

 on their main line, and they advanced in con- 

 siderable force upon the 6th corps, but were 

 met with such a fire as caused them to retreat 

 with severe loss. Subsequently it followed the 

 route of the 5th corps. On the 22d the entire 

 army was in a new position, facing westerly 

 from Milford to Guineas' station. 



On Monday forenoon, May 22d, the advance 

 of the army reached the North Anna River. 

 The 5th corps arrived, by the telegraph road, 

 in the neighborhood of Jericho Mills. The 2d 

 corps arrived in the afternoon, and took position 

 on the left of the 5th, extending to the railroad. 

 In front of the army there were three fords of 

 the North Anna, known as Island, Jericho, and 

 Chesterfield, or Taylor's Bridge fords. The 

 latter is about a mile above the railroad crossing 

 of the river, and the next, or Jericho ford, about 

 four miles further up. The 2d corps arrived at 

 Taylor's bridge about the time when the 5th 

 arrived at Jericho. About a hundred rods in 

 front of Taylor's bridge is a small stream called 

 Long Creek, parallel with the North Anna, 

 and forming a junction with it below the rail- 

 road, thus giving a peninsular form to the land 

 between. The bridge across the North Anna 

 was commanded at its entrance by a redan 

 whose extremities were covered by the river, 

 and its flanks swept by artillery in field-works 

 on the opposite bank, as well as by infantry 

 in rifle-pits. The peninsula formed a broad - 

 open space between the redan and the 2d corps 

 drawn up in front. Gen. Barlow's division oc- 

 cupied the right of the railroad, Gen. Birney's 

 was in front of the peninsula, and Gen. Gib- 

 bon's on the right, while the 5th corps was on *' 

 the right on the Milford road, and about four 

 miles up from the railroad. Skirmishing com- 

 menced in front of Gen. Birney, and his bat- 

 teries opened upon the enemy at 4 p. M. His 

 division was ordered to charge and carry the 

 works, and, if possible, get possession of the 

 bridge across the river. A brilliant charge was 

 made without a halt until the enemy was driven 

 across the bridge, and guns so placed as to com- 

 mand it. The loss was about five hundred on 

 each side. No effort was made to cross that 

 night, but the bridge was then held by a small 

 command. " About 11 p. M. the enemy made a 

 sortie from his works and endeavored to retake 

 the bridge, but after a spirited skirmish of 

 about twenty minutes he was driven off. About 

 midnight another attack was made with a much 

 larger force. The enemy got possession of the 

 bridge and held it for some time, and made 

 several attempts to burn it, but were finally 

 forced to retire. Early the next morning the 

 2d corps crossed the river. 



About the time when the bridge was taken 

 by the 2d corps, the 5th corps effected a cross- 

 ing and took a position on the south bank, and 

 threw up some breastworks. Soon after they 

 were attacked by a heavy force of the enemy, 

 which was repulsed after causing a loss of abou 

 five hundred. Their own loss was unknown 



