‘ 
Meanwhile the rebels advanced until they had 
reached Old Church, where they made great havoc 
among our abandoned camp equipage, burning 
tents and company property, and hoisting the Con- 
icderate Hag on a pole, near the tavern. Our wagons 
had fortunately been removed before their arrival. 
Lieuts. Davis and Morton, of Rush’s cavalry, wore 
captured. 
No re-enforcements having yet come to the relief 
of our men. they were compelled to continue their 
retreat in the face of overwhelming numbers, and 
the rebels emboldened by the success of their hold 
dash into our lines, moved on towards Garlick's 
Landing, taking the direct road. By this time a 
heavy column of rebel infantry, 2,000 strong, had 
come up the river road, accompanied by two pieces 
of artillery. Garlick's Landing, towards which this 
force was moved, is a new forage station, established 
at a point on the Pamunkey river, four miles above 
the White House. The rebels arrived there at six 
o’clock in the evening, and made a tierce attack 
upon a party ot our teamsters who had been left 
unprotected and were not expecting any such hos¬ 
tile. demonstration. Fifty wagons stood around the 
forage shed ^ taking in loads, While the mules, turned 
loose, were browsing quietly. Suddenly, without a 
note of warning, the rebel cavalry galloped upon 
the crowd, slaughtering the defenceless teamsters 
without mercy. Seven of our men were killed, and 
many were carried off as prisoners. 
After this feat the rebels attacked the forage sheds, 
seized the contents and burned the buildings, and 
then, having done all the mischief they could do, 
went off for a new adventure in the direction of 
White House. 
Atten o’clock in the evening their forces appeared 
at Tunstall's Station, on the railroad, where they 
cut the telegraph wire, fired on a train of cars and 
stopped it, and went on a general “ rampage.” Still 
we had no force to oppose their progress. A brigade 
of Pennsylvania troops was in the rear, but at too 
great a distance to learn of the arrival of the enemy 
until the damage had been done. As soon as their 
presence was known, our men attacked them, and 
they ran without waiting for a fight, taking the road 
towards Baltimore Gross Roads, This w r as the last 
seen of them. These sudden dashes, and the vim 
with which the rebels did their work, were reported 
by the frightened teamsters, who made their escape 
by a brisk use of their legs and skill in dodging 
through the woods. A terrible panio was created at 
Old Church and White House; the sutlers, team¬ 
sters, civilians and hangers-on, making a bee-line 
for the rear of the army and staying for nothing in 
their flight. Many persons have suddenly discov¬ 
ered that Fortress Monroe is a secure retreat, and 
are seen no more within the army linos. 
A fruitless pursuit was made by our cavalry, the 
rebels dividing their force and probably crossing the 
Pamunkey in detached bodies. It has since been 
ascertained that, the whole rebel force consisted of 
two regiments of infantry, two pieces of artillery 
and 14 companies of cavalry. What has become it, 
nobody knows. In camp, the affair is called a 
“mysterious movement,” and it was certainly bold 
if not mysterious. So far as wo can learn, our loss 
is ten or twelve killed, twenty or thirty wounded, 
and fifty taken prisoners. The following privates 
of the Fifth Cavalry are known to be killed:—John 
Curran and William Max, Co. B;-Croel, Co. C; 
-Carey, Co. C, wounded and prisoner. Most of 
the men belong to company B, which was on 
picket duty. _ 
Yesterday morning. June 10, we again marched 
in Jackson’s wake, reaching the banks of the South 
Fork of the Shenandoah at this place a little before 
noon. The bridge bad been lired some two and a 
half hours previously, and we found only its charred 
and smoking remains. A long wagon train was 
visible in the distance, at which we threw a number 
of shells, but only to the depletion of our ammuni¬ 
tion boxes. Quite a large force lay over in the val¬ 
ley, within easy range, which was at first set down 
as Shields'. But it seemed singular to me that Jack- 
son should have placed his train thus in the rear, 
and near an enemy, without any guard, nor could I 
exactly see why Shields should be so tardy in com¬ 
municating with ns. It now turns out that it is a 
portion of Jackson’s army that, confronts us. We 
are laying down a pontoon bridge, and the most 
intense eagerness is manifested among our boys to 
be over and at them. I repress niy enthusiasm; for 
it is just dawningou my mind, that however anxious 
one may be to chase an enemy, it is sometimes a 
very unfortunate thing to overtake him, especially 
when, as in the present instance, lie chances to be 
the biggest. 
Orders came from headquarters this morning, 
June 11. at two o’clock, to pack up our pontoons and 
fall hack with all possible celerity. I suspect that 
something is wrong. Shields, according to all 
stories, was whipped by overwhelming numbers 
yesterday morning, a few miles below Port Repub¬ 
lic. A prisoner we have captured, who was in the 
affair and wounded by a shell, says Shields made a 
splendid fight, and drove them steadily back until 
they brought up tbeir whole reserve, and crushed 
him by superior numbers. He says lie has been in 
about all the Southern fights, but has not before 
seen anything “so little and yet so hot.” It seems 
to be well established that Jackson has been re¬ 
enforced by Longstreet and Smith. Any way, it 
Shields, as rumor says, has been ordered back, we 
have done the wisest thing possible. 
The river is fordable below, and we might have 
found a large inimical force in our rear, and our 
supplies cut oft’ atany inconvenient moment. There 
has been bad generalship somewhere in permitting 
Jackson to escape, but it does not rest with this 
Department. 
Additional Particulars. — An officer who was 
in the battle of Port Republic, doing duty in the 
advance of General Shields’ brigade, has just 
arrived at Washington. Ho says he received 
orders not to burn the bridge over the Shenan¬ 
doah. Our entire loss in the fight, in killed, 
wounded, and prisoners, did not exceed one thou¬ 
sand. One hundred and fifty-six of our men were 
killed and three hundred wounded. The regi¬ 
ments engaged in the fight were the Seventh 
Indiana, and the Fifty, Seventh, and Twenty-ninth 
Ohio. _ 
The Object of .Stonewall Jackson's Raid. 
Relative to the object of the late raid of the 
rebel Jackson into the valley of Virginia, the Na¬ 
tional Intelligencer, which, being a lending journal 
at, the seat of Goverment, probably hears what is 
not transmitted to the journals of other cities, says: 
The incursion of Jackson into the Valley of the 
Shenandoah has introduced into the whole campaign 
in Virginia a disturbing element of considerable 
magnitude. It has diverted large masses of our 
men from movements which, we may presume, 
would have otherwise greatly accelerated the march 
of the events that are to bring about the final over¬ 
throw of the military power of the Insurgents. It 
has, we may suppose, delayed the advance of Gen. 
McClellan, by depriving him, for a time, of the 
re-enforcements he expected to receive, and which 
the Government was preparing to send. 
We are well aware that all this involves merely a 
question of time. But the value of time, important 
in all things, is most important in the conduct of 
military enterprises. 
What if it should turn out that this deversion 
created by Jackson's raid was a part of the general 
policy of the campaign, as remodeled by the insur¬ 
gents to meet the new posture of affairs growing 
out of what was a few weeks ago the foreseen and 
now the actual loss of the Mississippi Valley. 
Gen. Beauregard was charged with the defense of 
that valley. When he saw that this was impossible 
after the fall of New Orleans, and in view of the 
conquering progress of our gunboats up and down 
the Mississippi river, may he uOt have sought to 
transfer his best troops as speedily as possible to 
Richmond, the next great seat of war, where as yet 
all was not lost. 
And for this purpose he would naturally seek to 
gam time by such erratic demonstrations as Jack- 
son’s, and by leaving a portion of his forces to keep 
up, as best they may, the appearance of military 
resistance to the advance of Gen. Halleck. Is it 
not possible that Gen. McClellan may yet be called 
to contest with a portion of Beauregard’s army, as 
well as with that already gathered under Gen. 
Johnston, or his successor, for the possession of 
Richmond? Wo have hitherto given but little credit 
to the probabilities arguing in favor of this hypoth¬ 
esis; but, in view of the facts before us, it now 
seems to us that this is at least an eventuality for 
which it would be prudent to prepare, and one 
which the Government should therefore take into 
calculation, unless it has information to satisfy it as 
to the groundlessness of these surmisings. 
possible. The people of the Mississippi, country 
and town,, are entirely Southern, bitterly hostile 
to the United States, and, without an exception, 
resolved forever to be constituent parts of the Con¬ 
federacy.. If the Confederacy lives, it will be impos¬ 
sible to give that river and its valley any political 
connection other than nature ordains for it. Beyond 
the separation from Texas and Arkansas, ana the 
loss ot the cattle supply we might obtain from that 
source, its present possession by the enemy is of no 
real importance in the actual war or in the future 
condition ot the country.” 
The Richmond Dispatch says that ten guerrilla 
soldiers have been hung by Fremont in Western 
Virginia, and calls for prompt retaliation. It will 
not be satisfied with hanging man for man, but 
demands the assassination of Gen. Fremont, saying: 
“When Fremont hangs Virginia citizens for de- 
lending lheir country, either singly or in bands nr 
ten or a dozen, either us guerrillas, militia or regu¬ 
lar soldiers, not only should two Yankees be b'ung, 
hut a plan should he found by which the life of Fre¬ 
mont itself should he made the atonement, even if 
it requires twenty years to accomplish it," 
The Dispatch wants “the other wretch, Butler,” 
treated in the same way, adding: 
“Two or three cool, sagacious and determined 
men—the fewer the better—ought to be put upon 
the track of every such villain, and under every 
disguise, and amid every obstacle, and no matter 
how maiiy months or years it, may require, should 
follow him up till they have inflicted upon him the 
same fate be has brought upon others.” 
The rebels, in their desperation, are rapidly de¬ 
scending to the level of the Carbonari of Italy and 
the Thugs of India. 
water—this given them, and they sink back to 
silence or to death. I apprehend that from a bullet 
wound life must ebb unconsciously away, the suf¬ 
ferer not knowing that it is going. Hope is so 
strongly developed within us, that I question 
whether any one really believed himself mortally 
wounded. To a strong man thus suddenly struck 
down, it seems impossible be should die, and his 
spirit floats away into space while he is thinking of 
the glory that will redound to him from his scars.’ 
Items ami Incidents. 
Where the Traitors Come From.— It is the 
misfortune of all countries that are distinguished 
for great mental activity, that while they abound in 
benefactors to the human family, they also produce 
a race of unmitigated scoundrels. This is the mis¬ 
fortune of the Northern, and especially of the Yan¬ 
kee States, which have given so many rebel leaders 
to the Southern Confederacy. The Adjutant-Gen¬ 
eral of the regular Confederate army, Samuel 
Cooper, was born in New York; Brigadier-General 
Ripley was born in Ohio; Pemberton in Pennsyl¬ 
vania; Whitting, Pike, Haggles and Blanchard in 
Massachusetts; French in New Jersey. Massachu¬ 
setts furnishes as many Generals for the rebel army 
as either Alabama or Mississippi; one more than 
Texas; as many as Florida, Arkansas and Missouri 
altogether, and lacking one of half as many as 
South Carolina. It is no wonder, then, that some of 
the Southern ladies, whose knowledge of Northern 
people is confined to these scrub specimens, should 
detest the Yankees. 
“And Tyler Too.”-The editor of the Cleve¬ 
land Herald, now at Fortress Monroe, writes as fbl- 
ex-President Tyler’s 
The union of lakes—the union of lands— 
The Union of States none can sever— 
The union of hearts—the union of hands— 
And the Flag of our Union forever —Morris. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y., JUNE 28, 1862. 
THE WAR’S PROGRESS 
The London Times on the Evacuation of Norfolk. 
In the London Times of the 26th ult, we find 
the following remarks on the evacuation of Norfolk, 
and the destruction of the Merrimac. European 
nations seem likely to get a good deal of light on the 
hopelessness of the Southern rebellion, and it is to 
be hoped they will improve their opportunities: 
“Were the means of subduing and of holding in 
subjection the Southern States of America less 
gigan tic than they are, the stops now daily gained give 
promise of a speedy consummation. Seen through 
the magnifying medium of the official reports of the 
North, every day has its victory and new area of 
conquest. But, even after making extensive allow¬ 
ance for the fervor of the Federal imagination, great 
facts do loom out into a distinctness uot to be mis¬ 
understood. So far as the American waters are con¬ 
cerned, the conquest—lie it temporary or permanent, 
we have yet to learn—seems almost complete. Nor¬ 
folk is now added to the Federal captures. A division 
of 5,000 men sufficed, without a fight, and by mere, 
demonstration, to drive the Confederates from their 
only arsenal. Norfolk, upon which at the com¬ 
mencement of this war so much reliance was placed, 
is uow like a little Sebastopol after Sebastopol bad 
falleu. Its Navy Yard, with all the stores and ma¬ 
chinery, has been destroyed, and the vessels which 
it sheltered have been sunk or burnt. 
“Norfolk basfallen, not, however,like.Sebastopol, 
after a glorious resistance, but without a shot being 
fired, and the ruins show nothing but the determina¬ 
tion of the Southerners to destroy what (hey cannot 
defend. Hero is an end of the Confederate navy. 
Here is an end, also, to all our hopes of learning 
something more from the prowess of the Merrimac. 
That celebrated iron clad ship, which was the first 
to test in real battle the value of the new invention, 
has perished ingloriously. ner destruction is an¬ 
nounced with an apology. She was so blockaded 
by enemies that she dared not venture out; she was 
so large and so deep that she could not pursue her 
smaller antagonists into shallow waters. She bad 
struck one great blow; she had frightened the 
North, made New York anxious and Boston afraid 
' y 
and had occupied a great naval force; all she was 
capable of doing, had been done; a force she 
could not hope to resist was coming down upon her; 
so she was blown up. Such has been the fate of the 
Merrimac.” 
lows of the contrabands at 
8uaimer residence near there: 
“And of all the display of‘ivory,: this side of 
whale-dom, we to-day were witnesses to on the 
piazza of the traitor Tyler’s summer residence, 
about three miles from Old Point. Negroes now 
fairly swarm in every room where. ‘Tyler too’ was 
wont to dispense his hospitality and his abstractions; 
negroes roll on the low, broad, luxurious bedstead 
where Tyler once reclined; negroes’ clothes grace 
(grease) the elegant wardrobe in which Tyler aired 
his broad-cloth; and, when we were there, a pair of 
negro feet decorated the marble mantlepiece of 
Tyler's parlor, and a contraband, whose value has 
dropped suddenly from $1600 down to less than a 
Hampton five cent shinplastor, sat, fast asleep, 
over the ‘ messages and accompanying documents,’ 
wrong side up, of Tyler’s Administration, in Tyler’s 
library room.” 
How Cotton Burning ts Vie wed in Europe.— 
The Paris correspondent of the N. Y. Commercial 
says the burning of cotton and other property by 
the secessionists is producing in Europe quite the 
contrary effect from that which the burners imag¬ 
ined. The motive is believed there to be “ the idea 
that cotton is still king,” that incubus of the .South¬ 
erner, which seems to be so engraved in his mind 
that nothing can remove it, however conclusive. 
The English journals denounced the effort to tem¬ 
porarily close the harbor of Charleston with sunken 
vessels, “ barbarous.” But what, will they say of the 
conduct of the Rebel Government in destroying the 
wealth of the country, and thus not only severing 
the commercial ligaments that bind it to Europe, 
but bringing ruin to the doors at once of the spin¬ 
ners of Manchester and of the .Southern people 
themselves? What will they think of a Govern¬ 
ment that attempts to bully Europe into acknowl¬ 
edging its independence by threatening to stab to 
the heart not only its own but the industry of the 
world.' Will they charge this, too, to the account of 
the “barbarism” of the North? 
Resisting Cotton Burning,— A private letter 
from on board the United States gunboat Kineo, in 
the Mississippi river, states that on the 15th 
ult,, while passing the mouth of the Red river, 
bound up, the Kineo picked up a skiff containing 
four men, two of whom had been severely wounded 
in a fight, to resist the burning of their cotton. They 
were planters and had one hundred men on their 
side, but were overpowered by soldiers and the au¬ 
thorities. They were Unionists, and were kindly 
cared for. 
Gen. Banks’ troops carried their rations in a 
novel way during the retreat to the Potomac. The 
officers having found a quantity of crackers left by 
the Maine regiment at a point upon the road, they 
were distributed to the men, who, having left their 
haversacks and knapsacks behind, near Middleton, 
resorted to a novel expedient as a substitute. 
Taking off their pantaloons and tying the end of 
each leg with a string, they filled them with crackers, 
and proceeded in their underclothing. 
During the battle of Fair Oaks. Capt. McFar¬ 
land, of the 102d Pennsylvania regiment, was taken 
prisoner by several rebels. They lost their way, 
and he generously offered to pilot them. He led 
them carefully to the rear of the Federal pickets, 
and to the surprise of the Confederates, the hail, 
“Who goes there?” was answered, “Capt Mc¬ 
Farland, of the I02d Pennsylvania, with seven 
prisoners.” 
That Gen. Joe Johnston's wound in the battle of 
Fair Oaks was not so slight as the rebels would 
have us believe, is evident from the fact that he has 
not yet been able to resume the chief command. 
Indeed, it is asserted on good authority, that he had 
three ribs broken. 
A Brave Officer.— At the battle of Hanover 
Court House, Lieut.-Col. Rice, of the New York 
44th, while leading his regiment in the thickest of 
the action, and cheering the men on with his hat in 
band, suddenly felt his horse sink under him. and 
himself covered with its warm blood. Jfe quickly 
threw his teg aside, so as to extricate himself from 
the fallen animal, and in the same moment a musket 
ball struck the scabbard to which he had just re¬ 
turned his sword, glanced oft’and cat bis sword belt. 
The sword being thus rendered useless, the gallant 
lieutenant-colonel seized the musket of a dead sol¬ 
dier lying near, buckled the catridge-bo.v about him, 
and led his regiment on foot during the rest of the 
action. 
“A Silent Meeting,” — Mr. Merwin, in his 
speech at the meeting of the American Temper¬ 
ance Union, last Wednesday evening, said: “The 
Quakers are fighting for the Union. A young man 
in Washington, a member of a Quaker family, 
enlisted in the Union army. He called to say fare¬ 
well to an old aunt, a Quaker lady, who remarked 
to him. ‘ Thomas, what strange clothes thee has on ( 
for a Friend!’ ‘Yes, Rebecca, they are military / 
clothes. 1 have joined the army, and 1 am going to ^ 
do something for my country.’ ‘ Well, Thomas, this \J 
is a good country, and we have an excellent Gov- l 
eminent, and thee knows my sentiments about war, 
and what my teachings have always been; but, jj 
Thomas, if thee takes a gun. and thee should meet h 
Spirit of the Suulltci'D Press. 
The Richmond Whig of the 14th instant has an 
article, w hich rejoices over what it is pleased to call 
the defeat of Milroy, Schenck, Banks and Shields, by 
Stonewall Jackson, and the “ wide reaching and 
important bearing” this alleged defeat—or rather 
series of discomfitures —has had on the war. It 
says that all the forces above named were to have 
been concentrated, according to the plan of Gen. 
McClellan, upon Richmond, while Burnside was to 
have made a demonstration against that city on the 
south, in conjunction with the fleet on James river. 
The Whig says: 
“The plan was a gigantic one. and, in all proba¬ 
bility, would have succeeded, but for the masterly 
movements of Jackson, completely paralyzing the 
valley force, and compelling McDowell to detach a 
large portion of his army to save Banks and Com¬ 
pany from demolition, and their capital from cap¬ 
ture. Tims left without co-operation and succor, 
McClellan is afraid to strike. Within sound almost 
of the church bells of Richmond, within sight 
almost of the long coveted treasure, a sudden dis¬ 
appointment strikes him. a cold tremor seizes him, 
ana he skulks and bides himself like a craven in the 
dismal marshes of the Ohickahominy — one day 
sending to Washington a braggart and mendacious 
bulletin of what his invincible army has done and is 
about to do, and the next bawling with all his might 
for re-enforcements. For the present, at least, he is 
cornered by the bold dash of Jackson — the next 
move should be a checkmate.” 
The Richmond papers continue their cry against 
extortioners, who demand high prices for food, 
while thirty miles distant the same articles are at 
quite moderate rates. The authorities are urged to 
get in supplies, and if they do not move speedily, 
the Whig says “there will be want in our midst 
before midsummer,” and it also says: 
“ With the cutting off of railroad communication 
on the east and north by the enemy, and the monop¬ 
olizing of the roads south and west by the Confed¬ 
erate government, it must be evident to every one 
that the people can do nothing toward getting pro¬ 
visions to the Richmond market in any abundance, 
especially when the wagon roads are impassable 
with mire. As the enemv draw their lines of com¬ 
munication, the need will become greater as the 
chances of reaching the country are lessened.” 
The Richmond Examiner thinks that the North 
has little room to exult over the possession of New 
Orleans or the opening of the Mississippi; for it 
holds that, in so far as opening that river really 
exists as a privilege, that benefit must be confined 
to iron-clad vessels of war. This is how the Ex¬ 
aminer views the subject: 
“Until the Southern Confederacy is destroyed, 
the Mississippi cannot again become a channel tor 
commerce. While a single point upon its vast 
extent, on either bank, is accessible to hostile par¬ 
ties, it can convey armed vessels only, and although 
they have New Orleans and the principal strategic 
positions above if, they have not driven the Con¬ 
federates from many hundred mites of its shores, 
whence they can stop trade and passage as com¬ 
pletely as by the guns of Fort Pillow or Columbus. 
“ The fall uf New Orleans and the consequent 
conquest of the Mississippi, was a heavy blow to the 
Confederacy, and diminishes its resources for sup¬ 
plies. But it is far from being irretrievable. The 
recovery of that river will be cut easy as *its loss. 
Victories in the North will compel the United States 
to recall its troops, even if the yellow fever does 
not do its work, in the next sixty dayB, so effectually 
as to leave none to recall. New armies will be 
formed in the States which border that river, which 
will retake New Orleans. So treaty of peace is 
possible which would leave the river in tne hands 
of the North. An effort will be made to render the 
great oily at its mouth a free town, like Hamburg 
and Bremen; but it will be an indecisive war and a 
drawn battle only which will render the project 
Our Real Victories. 
The Paris correspondent of the N. Y. World 
makes the following remarks showing the favorable 
effect of emancipation measures upon the public 
mind of Europe: 
To the liberal minded men of Europe—those who 
have from the beginning been watching our strug¬ 
gle with interest and heartfelt sympathy'—the 
greatest victory which the war has brought forth 
has not been Corinth, or Yorktown, or New Or¬ 
leans. These, indeed, have been to them a satisfac¬ 
tion, as indicating the ultimate success of our arms, 
but to them the most significant acts of at) have been 
the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, 
and the recent passage by the House of Representa¬ 
tives of the bill prohibiting slavery in the territories. 
It should not be forgotten that the sympathy, or, at 
any rate, by far the larger portion of it, which we 
have in Europe results from a belief that this war 
must in some way be tbe death-blow to the slave 
system, which has made the name of America and 
our republican institutions so long a byword and a 
reproach. 
The sentiment of all Europe is in opposition to 
this system, and as far as we continue giving evi¬ 
dence that, whether that was one of the objects of 
the war originally or not, our government intend 
taking advantage of its success to wipe out. in the 
easiest and most practicable manner, the foul blot 
upon our escutcheon, just as last will we regain the 
sympathy which at the outbreak ot the war was 
ours, but which has to a great extent been dimin¬ 
ished by a growing belief that, after all, but little 
would be done for the abolition of slavery—a belief 
which has been changed by the recent act referred 
to. I merely state these things as facts, leaving you 
to judge of their weight and value. 
Bold Basil of Rebels In McClellan's Rear. 
The rebels have made a bold dash in McClel¬ 
lan’s rear, in the vicinity of Old Church, capturing 
a few prisoners, destroying some property, and kill¬ 
ing several of the teamsters and soldiers. The 
object of the raid is said to have been tbe destruc¬ 
tion of bridges, though this was not accomplished. 
The correspondent of the N. Y. Evening Post, un¬ 
der date of the 14th, gives the following account of 
the affair, which we presume will make us a little 
more watchful iu the future : 
During the past three weeks two squadrons of the 
Fifth regular cavalry have performed picket duty 
on the right rear tiank ol our army, their beat ex¬ 
tending for a distauce of six miles in the vicinity of 
Old Church and the Pamunkey river. A detach¬ 
ment of this force, under command of Lieut, Leib, 
observed the rebel cavalry yesterday while on a 
rcconuoitering expedition beyond Old Church, 
and immediately fell back, sending to Captain 
Royall information of the approach of the ene¬ 
my. Captain Royall instantly collected all the 
force at his disposal — small enough at best—and 
advanced to succor Leib's parly. On the appear¬ 
ance ot the rebels our handfuL of men made a bold 
charge, driving the vanguard of the enemy until 
they reached the main body, when Royall retired, 
closely pursued by the rebels. This severe conflict, 
fought chiefly hand to hand, checked the movement 
of the enemy, and Capt. Royall sent messengers to 
the rear tu apprise Gen. Cooke of their peril. 
.sights ou the Battle Field. 
A correspondent of the N. Y. Times gives the 
following description of the Fair Oaks battle field, 
which differs materially from the picture drawn of 
such scenes: 
•• I think the horrors of the battle field have been 
very much exaggerated. The features of these men, 
save where they have perished from strangulation 
or received wounds in the face, are as calm and 
placid as though they had died in bed. Many of 
them lie on their backs, with their arms stretched 
wearily, carelessly out, in the attitude of men who 
have thrown themselves on the ground to rest, aud 
suddenly sunk info slumber. I noticed one man in 
this attitude very particularly. It was impossible 
to believe him dead, even when he failed to reply 
to repeated calls, until I endeavored to raise his 
head in a more comfortable position, and the rigid¬ 
ity of the body told that life was not there. Thu 
groans of the wounded, that form one of the great 
staple horrors, are mainly a fiction. Where the 
pain is very acute a moaning te heard, but in most j 
cases they lie mutely wrapped up in their own 
thoughts, sileut iu despair. Their only request is 
