ARMY OPERATION b. 



127 



in "West Virginia. They were temporarily sup- 

 .1 by Gen. Hunter. His reasons for this 

 suppression, as well as Ins views of the condi- 

 tion of his men during the retreat, will he found 

 in the annexed portion of a letter written hy 

 him: 



IIEA.DQCABTEES DEP'T O7 "WEST VlSGIXIA. j 



CUMBERLAND, MD., July 13, 1S64. j 

 r To hu Exc. A. I. foreman, Governor of West Virginia. 



SIR : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt 

 of vour communication dated July 10th, 1864, relative 

 to the case of James E. Wharlon, Esq,, editor and 

 proprietor of the "Parkersburg Gazette," and have 

 first to state, in reply, that about two hours previous 

 to the receipt of yo'ur letter orders had been given 

 to the provost-marshal for Mr. Wharton's release, 

 and he had been released before your letter reached 

 mv hand. And now a few words as to the causes 

 which led to Mr. Wharton's arrest, and the temporary 

 suppression of his journal. 



As to the " criticism on your (my) conduct in 

 which Mr. Wharton indulged, and to which you re- 

 fer, I agree with you that there was, of course, no 

 offence whatever. " It was merely a matter of taste on 

 his part ; nor was it noticed by me until you called 

 my attention thereto as one of the possible causes for 

 my action. But Mr. Wharton, in the editorial which 

 led to the suppression of his paper, stated, first, that 

 " Gen. Hunter, with his command, have principally 

 passed through our city (Parkersburg) on their way 

 east." This~was contraband news, and was utterly 

 untrue. Much less than one-tenth of my command 

 had passed through Parkersburg, and I was detained 

 there for some time after the appearance of the arti- 

 cle, hurrying forward the balance. 



In the' second place Mr. Wharton went on to say, 

 in the same article : " We were sorry to see so much 

 suffering among them. They were completely worn 

 out, and many in the division had died of starva- 

 tion." "The sufferings of the soldiers in 



their movement from Lynchburg" to Charleston were 

 terrible, and they half require rest and surgical care." 



That there was "some suffering" amongst the 

 troops is true. The business of the soldier is one in 

 Which " suffering" forms aa inevitable part. But on 

 careful inquiry, personally and through many officers 

 employed for "the purpose, I have failed to discover 

 even a report of any one case of death from hunger ; 

 while, on the other'hand, mv medical director, Sur- 

 geon Thomas B. Reed, an officer of large mili tary ex- 

 perience and excellent judgment, assures me that, 

 despite the certain limited privations and great fa- 

 tigues of the march, the health of the command was, 

 throughout, far better than the average health of 

 soldiers quietly resting in their camps 



I have the honor to be, sir, with very sincere re- 

 spect, vour most obedient servant, 



D. HUNTER, Maj.-Gen. Commanding. 



The reason for his retreat through West Vir- 

 ginia was stated to be that ' the return march 

 down the Shenandoah to Staunton, was flanked 

 by the railroad from Lynchburg tD "Waynes- 

 boro', and that Hunter with his whole command 

 must, therefore, have been cutoff and destroyed 

 or captured, had any such movement been at- 

 tempted.'' 



Simultaneously with the beginning of the 

 movement against Richmond, a cavalry raid 

 was made by Gen. Sheridan from New Castle 

 Ferry on the Pamunkey River to Gordonsville, 

 the junction of the Virginia Central Railroad 

 with the road to Alexandria. His report of the 

 expedition was as follows 



I crossed the Pamunkey River on the 7th instant, 



marching via Aylett's, and encamped on Herring 

 Creek. 



On the morning of the Sth I resumed the march, 

 via Polecat station, and encamped three miles west 

 of the station. 



On the 9th I marched through Childsburg and New 

 Market, encamping on E. X. L. Creek, near Young's 

 bridge. 



On the 10th I marched via Andrews' Tavern and 

 Leiman's store, crossing both branches of the North 

 Anna, and encamped at Buch Childs, about three 

 miles northeast of Trevilian station. 



My intention was to break the railroad at this sta- 

 tion, march through Mechanicsville, cut the Gor- 

 donsville and Charlottesville Railroad near Lindsay's 

 house, and then to march on Charlottesville ; but on 

 our arrival at Buch Childs I found the enemy's cav- 

 alrv in my immediate front. 



On the morning of the llth Gen. Torbert, with his 

 division, and Col. Gregg, of Gen. Gregg's division, 

 attacked the enemy. Alter an obstinate contest they 

 drove him from successive lines of breastworks, 

 through an almost impassable forest, back on Tre- 

 vilian station. 



In the meantime Gen. Custer was ordered with hia 

 brigade to proceed by a country road so as to reach 

 the station in the rear of the enemy's cavalry. On 

 his arrival at this point the enemy broke into a com- 

 plete rout, leaving his dead and nearly all of his 

 wounded in our hands ; also twenty officers, five 

 hundred men, and three hundred horses. 



These operations occupied the whole of the day. 

 At nifht I encamped at Trevilian station, and, on the 

 morning of the 12th inst., commenced destroying the 

 railroad from this point to Lorrain Court House. 

 This was thoroughly done, the ties burned and the 

 rails rendered unserviceable. 



The destruction of the railroad occupied until 

 3 o'clock of this day, when I directed Gen. Torbert 

 to advance with his "division and Gen. Davis' brigade 

 of Gen. Gregg's division in the direction of Gordons- 

 ville and attack the enemy, who had concentrated 

 and been reenforced by infa'ntry during the night, and 

 had also constructed rifle-pits" at a point about five 

 miles from Gordonsville. The advance was made, 

 but as the enemy's position was found too strong to 

 assault, no general assault was made. On the ex- 

 treme right of our lines a portion of the Reserve 

 brigade carried the enemy's works twice, and was 

 twice driven therefrom by infantry. Xi^ht closed the 

 contest. I found, on examination of the command, 

 that there was not a sufficiency of ammunition left 

 to continue the engagement. 



The next day trains of cars also came down to 

 where we were engaged with the enemy. The re- 

 ports of prisoners and citizens were that Pickett's old 

 division was coming to prevent the taking of Gor- 

 donsville. I, therefore, during the night and next 

 morning, withdrew my command over the North 

 Anna, via Carpenter's ford, near Miner's bridge. In 

 addition, the animals were for the two entire days in 

 which we were engaged without forage. The sur- 

 rounding countrv afforded nothing but grazing of a 

 very inferior quality, and generallv at such points as 

 were inaccessible to us. The cavalry engagement of 

 the 12th was by far the most brilliant one of the 

 present campaign. The enemy' s loss was very heavy. 

 They lost the following named officers in killed and 

 wou'nded : Col. McAllister, commanding a regiment, 

 killed ; Brig.-Gen. Rosser, commanding a brigade, 

 wounded, and Col. Custer, commanding a regirhent, 

 wounded. My loss in killed and wounded will be 

 about five hundred and seventy-five. Of this num- 

 ber four hundred and ninety are wounded. I brought 

 off in my ambulances three hundred and seventy 

 seven a f 1 that could be transported. The remainder 

 were, with a number of rebel wounded that fell into 

 mv hands, left behind. Surgeons and attendants 

 were detailed, and remained in charge of them. 1 

 captured and have now with me three hundred and 



