cattle were successfully driven along with our 
forces. Gen. McClellan rode ahead, and as our 
troops crossed the marshy grounds and swamps, and 
saw before them the beautiful plateau bordering on 
the James river, they gave vent to their joy in pro¬ 
longed and hearty cheers. At 2 1’. M. Ayers’ bat¬ 
tery, guarding the bridge in the White Oak Swamp, 
was attacked, and on Charles City Cross Roads a 
second fight was going on. Tho wagons of the army 
train were drawn up before the troops to serve as 
temporary breast-works, and a severe struggle en¬ 
sued. The gunboats Galena and Aroostook, by 
means of signals, were able to fire over the heads of 
our forces, and with their fifty-four pounders to send 
death and destruction to the rebels. While the 
battle was raging, Gen. McClellan dispatched Prince 
de Joinville and Due de Charters, by the Jacob 
Bell, to Fortress Monroe with dispatches for the 
Government. After two hours’ hard fighting, the 
rebels, being unable to stand the tire of the gunboats, 
withdrew, and our troops slept for the night on the 
banks of the James river. The loss of the enemy 
in this day’s fight is said to have been terrible. In 
this engagement Heintzleman captured eight guns 
and a whole brigade of rebels, 1,600. including three 
Colonels—Pendleton of Louisiana, ex-Congressman 
Lamar of Georgia, and McGown of South Carolina. 
Gens. Kearney, Hooker. Richardson, Sedgwick, 
Smith, and McCall participated. The reserve under 
McCall suffered severely. Gens, McCall and Rey¬ 
nolds were probably taken prisoners, as they were 
missing on Tuesday night*. The Richmond Exam¬ 
iner, in its report, concedes a great victory for tho 
Federate. It admits tho loss of 8,000 men in one of 
their divisions out of 14,000 who went into .the bat¬ 
tle, and says that the fight was the most destructive 
of life, on their side of any battle or series of battles 
yet fought. 
On Monday night Gen. McClellan began throwing 
np entrenchments, and prosecuted the work as rap¬ 
idly as possible. Re-enforcements now began to 
arrive. 
The most desperate fight attending the withdrawal 
of Gen. McClellan from the entrenchments, and the 
opening of communication with the James River, 
took place on Tuesday, July 1, at Charles City 
Court-House. In this battle the whole of Couch’s 
division was engaged. It commenced about ti.{ 
o’clock in the morning, by a cannonade between an 
immense body of the enemy which had come down 
from Richmond the night before, and the troops of 
Gen. Couch, which had advanced their position in 
that direction to command tho roads. This is the 
key to tho present position of the army. 
Many of the regiments engaged had been badly 
reduced by the previous battles. For instance, the 
United States Chasseurs, Lieut.-Col. Shaler, had 
only 300 men; the First Long Island, Lieut.-Col. 
Cross, had about 350; the Sixty-first Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, Lieut.-Col. Vallee, 30G; the Thirty-first 
Pennsylvania, Col. Williams, took in 370, and the 
Twenty-third Pennsylvania, Col. Neil, had about 
400 men. These comprised the whole of Abercrom¬ 
bie’s brigade, ot Couch's division. Wheu they loft 
Washington fhey numbered over 4,000. and after the 
battle of Seven Pines only 2.008. 
At about 7 A. M. the First Chasseurs, Lieut.-Col. 
Shaler, aud the Sixty-first, Pennsylvania, Col. Val¬ 
lee, were advanced to support Gen. Howe. At 1) A. 
M,, Griffin’s battery was brought into position on the 
left, and Gen. Ilowe was ordered to occupy the 
Centex-. His troops were mostly from New York 
State, comprising the Sixty-second, Fifty-fifth and 
others. 
The shelling continued all this time from the 
onemy, and wo were obliged to manoeuvre wholly 
underfire. At 11 o’clock tho enemy was seen in 
large force advancing in an oblique direction, at the 
same time making a feint on our right, but all tbe 
time deploying in large bodies with a view to turn 
our left Hank. At about 12:30 the engagement 
became general, the enemy shelling our re-enforce¬ 
ments by a continued cross-fire. At 2 o’clock, Gen. 
Couch announced to the troops upon the left that a 
stand of colors had been taken from the rebels by a 
charge of the Thirty-sixth New York.which greatly 
inspirited our men, and they cheered lustily. In 15 
minutes after that Griffin's battery captured the 
colors of a rebel battery—a splendid battle flag 
of crimson, having a black cross —the battery op¬ 
posed to them. Gen. Couch rode up and exclaimed 
that Griffin’s battery had covered themselves with 
imperishable honors. Column atter column of the 
Confederates dashed forward to capture the battery, 
but they were piled in heaps of dead in front of the 
guns. The enemy pressed up frequently to within 
one hundred yards, and meeting the deadly dis¬ 
charge of grape and canister, staggered and fell 
back. They fell like wheat befoi’e the. reaper’s 
sickle. The enemy here must have lost from three 
to four thousand men. 
The caissons of Griffin’s battery now becoming 
exhausted of ammunition, they gave way to a bat¬ 
tery of Kearney's division, which kept up the same 
murderous lire on the enemy’s ranks. Meantime 
the Sixty-first Pennsylvania and the New York 
Chasseurs were ordered to the front. At Ibis junc¬ 
ture the enemy made a desperate charge to capture 
the new battery, and the attempt was met by the 
whole of Abercrombie’s brigade, led by Gen. Aber¬ 
crombie himself, who drove them back beyond their 
lines into the woods, where a destructive fire was 
opened upon them. Several batteries were brought 
into play, comprising some twelve guns. Meantime, 
Abercrombie's and Howe's brigade remained in line 
of battle, delivering volley after volley of musketry 
among the staggering ranks of the enemy. They 
were so numerous at this point that as soon as one 
regiment gave way, another, fresh and furious, 
would take its place as if nothing had happened. 
Night came on, obliging the infantry to cease, but 
the artillery kept up the same continuous tire as at 
the beginning, and our wearied and exhausted 
soldiers retired under the same galling fire which 
greeted them in the morning. They fell back, led 
by Gens. Couch and Abercrombie, who were omni¬ 
present on the field throughout the day. Notwith¬ 
standing the severe character of the contest, and the 
overwhelming numbers of the enemy, the loss of the 
Union forces, owing to the masterly manner in 
which the troops were handled, was not large. 
During the thickest of the fight, while Coi. Val- 
lee’s regiment was lying in front of the enemy in 
the form of the letter L, an Irish regiment came up 
on the double quick, and the Colonel addressing 
Vallee, asked. “Who commands this regiment?” 
u I do,” said the Colonel. “ I want to go through 
here,” said the commander of the advancing regi¬ 
ment. It was now quito dark. “ Roll over, boys, 
and let them through,” said Col. Vallee; and through 
they went with a yell and a jump, and dashed upon 
the rebels in the most impetuous mannei-. This was 
very timely succor, for many of the guns had be¬ 
come foul from long use, and the balls would not go 
down in the guns. 
Important Statement of a Refugee, 
Dr. D. G. Oi.iver, formerly of Grant county. 
Wis.. recently of Holly Springs. Miss., who was 
impressed into the rebel service at the beginning of 
the war, and since the battle of Bull Run has been 
acting as Assistant Surgeon in the rebel army, 
reached Washington on the Cth inst, lie had per¬ 
sistently refused to take the oath of allegiance to 
the rebel government, but was compelled to do so 
on the 1st. lie was detailed in charge of twenty- 
five ambulances filled with wounded to go to 
Lynchburg. Being possessed of the countersign, 
he determined to take advantage of the existing 
confusion to get away. He bribed a negro in Rich¬ 
mond to swap clothes with him, and after passing 
the pickets by means of the countersign, he tramped 
to Fredericksburg, and got into the lines of the 
Union army at that point. He has had a good 
opportunity to observe the condition of affairs in 
roUddom. Hr states that the exitin' while male 
population of the South, between the ages of fifteen 
and forty, have been forced into the army. 
The conscription there is a reality. Numbers 
who are in aims are doing duty unwillingly, and 
would gladly get away from the tyranny of the 
Davis autocracy. Dr. Oliver has been in Richmond 
for the past two months. The rebel force in Vir¬ 
ginia is estimated at fully 250,000. They admit a 
loss of 25,000 to 30.000 in the recent battles. They 
are subsisting on what are termed half rations, by 
which are meant only the substantiate, without any 
of the small stores. They have an abundance of 
bacon, vice and corn, but no salt nor coffee, nor 
other small stores that go to make up a soldier’s 
rations. Since the occupation of the Mississippi by 
the federal forces, cutting off communication with 
Texas, their supplies of beef are brought from 
Florida, where there is an abundance of wild cattle. 
The stock of whisky is pretty well exhausted. Dr. 
Oliver says the greatest depression he observed, 
was produced by the intelligence that President 
Lincoln had called out 300,000 additional troops. 
The opinion prevailed that if these troops should 
be promptly furnished, the rebel game would be 
ended. They have exhausted their resources fox- 
soldiers, and would be unable to contend against a 
fresh army of that size. Their only hope is that 
this call will not be promptly responded to by vol¬ 
unteers, and that there will bo sufficient delay to 
afford an opportunity for foreign intervention before 
they are forced to give up. 
Dr. Oliver says the rebel plan of fighting is not 
with reserves, but by retreats in the field, and that 
in every battle regiments are regularly relieved by 
fresh troops after having fought for a little while. 
Xu this way if. was hoped to wear out and tire down 
the troops under McClellan. It is seldom that the 
same regiments have been allowed to engage twice 
in the same battle. The rebels have concentrated 
nearly all their available troops at Richmond, ex¬ 
cept so much of Beauregard’s army as stopped at 
Charleston and about 35,000 of the same army left 
in Mississippi. The rebels are terribly afraid of the 
gunboats. They reckon one gunboat equal to a 
whole division on land. They admit that the recent 
movement of Gen. McClellan was a masterly stroke 
of policy, and that his present position is infinitely 
stronger than the one ho abandoned. It is his im¬ 
pression that no further attack will be made upon 
him where he is. Tho rebels are sending their 
wounded and prisoners to tho interior. There is no 
room for them in Richmond, and medical stores are 
exceedingly scarce. Dr. Oliver was obliged to 
dress wounds and amputations with only cold water 
and bandages. The reported death of Stonewall 
Jackson is untrue. Dr. Oliver saw him alive and 
well in Richmond on Tuesday night. Jeff. Davis 
went to Raleigh to see his family. 
themselves trom the responsibility of treating such 
vessels as pirates. In this they erred; for. without 
the impunity thus extended to them, not even the 
Nashville or Sumter would ever have ventured 
to sea! 
“But, notwithstanding these adverse influences, 
and the existence, in certain high quarters, of views 
not friendly to the success of our form of Govern¬ 
ment, the Union has many ardent, well-wishing 
friends in England, and can have many more, if 
we act justly ourselves, and labor to correct 
grossly erroneous impressions. The paths of 
peace are the only paths of pleasantness for Eng¬ 
land and America. In view of the dangers which 
I do not exaggerate — dangers growing out of 
mutual misapprehension of each other's real senti¬ 
ments—it behooves the Government, the press and 
the people of both countries, by enlightened coun¬ 
sels. large toleration, and wise forbearance, to soothe 
rather than stimulate existing irritations. Nor, in 
forming our estimate of the degree and value of 
English sympathy during our domestic troubles, is 
the fact that her Queen and House of Commons 
modified harsh dispatches and resisted unfriendly 
legislation without significance. 
next fall, to be able to present to the Government Ty 
leAin .1A /k AA In nrm .-.p __a _.< i 
from 40.000 to 50,000 of these hardy and devoted 
soldiers. 
Trusting that this letter may form part of your 
answer to Wickliffe’s resolution, 
I have the honor, Sir, Ac., 
D. Hunter, Maj.-Gen. Com. 
Georgia on tho “Rampage/’ 
Georgia, it is well known, was one of the 
States which reluctantly drifted into the secession 
whirlpool, and its Governor, Brown, has at all 
times since the formation of tho so-called Coated-' 
eracy, maintained States rights doctrines and kicked 
against the domination ot either the Jeff. Davis fire- 
eaters or the South Carolina lunatics, at times to 
such an extent as to cast grave doubts upon his loy¬ 
alty to the Confederate Government, Some time ago 
the Governor took ground against the conscription 
act ot the robot Congress, and gave tbe rebel Gov¬ 
ernment to understand that he proposed to repu¬ 
diate it. Mr. Davis has written a long letter to 
Gov. B., arguing the constitutionality and necessity 
ot the act, but manifesting a tone and temper which 
shows that he has no disposition to quarrel just now 
with the Georgia Executive. The letter, however, 
Flag of the stars whose light 
First cheered the nation’s gloomy night, 
And bade the world no more to sigh, 
Oh, can thy children gaze 
Upon their sapphire blaze, 
Nor kindle at the rays 
Which bid the brave of old to die? 
Hail, banner beautiful and grand, 
Float then forever o'er our land.” 
ROCHESTER, N. Y., JULY 19, 1862. 
Major-General Hunter on Arming the Black*. 
As part, and parcel of the history of the present 
rebellion, we give the following correspondence 
between Secretary Stanton and .Major-General Hun¬ 
ter. It was called for by one of our Representatives 
who was desirous of obtaining information there¬ 
upon. The Major-General seems to wage a paper 
warfare quite as successfully as that, of a more 
deadly character, and the reading of his reply, in 
the House on the 2d inst. caused much merriment; 
WxK Dkt'aktuknt, WAsm.voTO.v. June 2, 1S62. 
Sir:— On reference to the answer of this Depart¬ 
ment of the 14th ult. to the resolution of the House 
of Representatives of the 9th of last- month, calling 
for information respecting the organization of a 
regiment of volunteer* by General Hunter, of tho 
Department of South Carolina, for the defense of 
the Union, composed of black men, fugitive slaves, 
it will be seen that the resolution had been referred 
to that officer, with Instructions to make immediate 
report thereon. I have now the honor to transmit, 
herewith a copy of the communication just received 
from General Hunter, furnishing information as to 
his action touching various matters indicated in the 
resolution. 
I have the honor to be, yours respectfully, 
Edwin M. Stanton. 
To Hon. G. A. Grow, Speaker of the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives. 
Headquarters Drpautmknt op toe South, l 
Port Royal, S. C., June 23. $ 
To Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of Wear: — Sir: 
T have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a 
communication from the Adjutant-General of the 
Army, dated June 13th, 1862, requesting me to fur¬ 
nish’you with the information necessary to answer 
a certain resolution introduced in the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives June 9th, 1862, on motion of the Hon. 
Mr. Wick title, of Kentucky—their substance being 
to inquire. 
First, Whether I had organized or was organizing 
a regiment of fugitive slaves in this Department; 
Second. Whether any authority had been given 
to me from the War Department‘for such organiza¬ 
tion: and. 
Third , Whether I hud been furnished by order of 
tbe War Department with clothing, uniforms, arms, 
equipments. Ac., for such a force. 
Only having received the letter conveying in¬ 
quiries at a late hour Saturday night, I urged for¬ 
ward my answer in time for the steamer"sailing 
to-day (Monday.) This baste prevented mo from 
entaxing as minutely as 1 could wish upon many 
points of detail, such as the paramount importance 
ol the subject calls for; but in view of the near termi¬ 
nation of the present session of Congress, and the 
wide-spread interest which must have been awak¬ 
ened by Wickliffe’s resolution, r prefer sending even 
this imperfect answer to waiting the period neces¬ 
sary for (he collection of fuller and more compre¬ 
hensive data. 
To the first, question, therefore, I reply that no 
regiment Of fugitive slaves has been or is being 
organized in this Department. There is, however, 
a fine regiment, of persons whose late roasters arc 
fugitive rebels, everywhere flying before tho appear¬ 
ance of the National Flag, leaving their servants 
behind them to shift as best they can for themselves; 
SO far Indeed are the loyal persons composing this 
regiment from seekin g to avoid the presence of their 
late ownei’s, that they are now- one and all, working 
with remakable_ industry to place themselves in a 
position to join in full and effective pursuit of their 
fugitive and tratorous proprietors. 
To I he second question I have the honor to answer 
that the instructions given to Brig. General T. W. 
Sherman by the Hon. Sinmn Cameron, late Secre¬ 
tary of \\ ar. and turned over to me, by succession, 
for my guidance, do distinctly authorize me to em¬ 
ploy all loyal persons offering their service in 
defense of the Union and tor the suppression of this 
rebellion in any manner 1 might see lit, or that the 
circumstances might call for. There is no restric¬ 
tion as to the character or color ol persons to be em¬ 
ployed. or nature- of the employment, whether civil 
or military, in which their services shall be used. I 
conclude, therefore, that I have been authorized to 
enlist fugitive slaves as soldiers, could any such be 
found in the rlflnartment. No such characters, how¬ 
ever, have yet appeared within view of our most 
advanced pickets—the loyal slaves everywhere 
remaining on plantations to welcome us, aid us, 
supply us with food, labor, and information. It is 
the masters who have, in every instance, been the 
fugitives, running away from loyal slaves, as well 
as loyal soldiers, and whom we have only partially 
been able to see, chiefly wilk their heads over ram¬ 
parts or rifle pits, rifle in baud, dodging behind trees 
in the extreme distance. In the absence of any 
fugitive master law, deserted slaves would be 
wiiolly without remedy had not this tirneo* treason 
given the right to pursue, capture, and bring back 
these persons of whose protection they have been 
thus suddenly bereft. 
To the third interrogatory.it is my painful duty 
to reply, that I never have received any specifio 
authority for issues of clothing, uniforms, equip¬ 
ments, arms, Ac., t,o the troops in question, my 
general instructions from Mr. Cameron to employ 
them in any maimer I might find necessaxy and mili¬ 
tary, add the exigencies of the Department. being my 
only, but, in my judgment, sufficient justification. 
Neither have I had any specific authority for sup¬ 
plying these persons with shovels, spades, and pick¬ 
axes, when employing them as laborers, nor with 
boats and oars, when using them as lighter men. but 
these are not points indicated in Wickliffc’s resolu¬ 
tion. 
To me it seemed that liberty to employ implied 
also liberty to supply them with necessary tools, aud 
acting upon thig faith, I have clothed, ana equipped, 
sind armed, the only loyal regiment yet raised in 
South Carolina. I must say. in vindication of my 
own conduct, that had ii hot been lor tbe many 
other diversified and imperative claims on my time 
and attention, a much more satisfactory result'migbt 
have been hoped for, and that in place of only one 
at present, at least five or six well drilled, brave, 
thoroughly acclimated regiments, should, by this 
time, have been added to the loyal forces of the 
Union. 
The experiment of arming the blacks, so far as I 
have made it, has been a complete aud marvellous 
success. They are sober, docile, attentive, and en¬ 
thusiastic, displaying great natural capacities for 
acquiring the duties of soldiers. They are eager, 
beyond all things, to take the field and be led into 
action; and it Is the unanimous opinion of the 
officers who have had the charge of them, that in the 
peculiarities of the climate and country, they will 
prove invaluable auxiliaries, tally equal to similar 
regiments so long and successfully used in the West 
India Islands: 
In conclusion, 1 would say, that it is my hope, 
there appearing no possibility of other re-enforce¬ 
ments, owing to the exigencies of the campaign in 
the Peninsula, to have organized, and by the end of 
and the disastrous consequences which, I fear, must 
follow what I consider a hold avddanqerons usurpa¬ 
tion by C omress of the reserved rights of the Slates, 
and a rapid stride toward military despotism, I very 
much regret that. I have not, iri the preparation of 
this reply, the advice and assistance of a number 
equal to your Cabinet, of tho tmiuy “eminent citi¬ 
zens who, yon admit, entertain with me the opinion 
that tho conscription act is a palpable violation of 
tho Constitution of the Confederacy. Without this 
assistance, however, I must proceed individually to 
express to you some views in addition to those con¬ 
tained in my former letters, and to reply to such 
points made by you in tbe argument as seem to my 
mind to have the most plausibility in sustaining 
your couclusiou. 
After this sharp introduction, Gov. Brown pro¬ 
ceeds to sustain his position, and concludes: 
Viewiug the Conscription Act, in this particular, 
as not only unconstitutional, but as striking a blow 
at the very existence of the State, by disbanding the 
portion of her militia left within her limits, when 
much the larger part of her “anus-bearing people” 
are absent in other States in the military service ol 
the Confederacy, leaving their families and other 
helpless women and children subject to a massacre 
by negro insurrection, for want of an organized 
force to suppress it, 1 felt It an imperative duty 
which I owed to the people of this State, to inform 
you in a former letter that / could not permit the 
disorganization to take place, nor the State officers to 
he compelled In leave their respective commands und 
enter the Confederate sendee as conscripts. Were it 
not a fact well known to the country that you have 
in service tens of thousands of men without arras, 
and with no immediate prospect of getting arms, 
who must remain for months consumers of our 
scanty supplies of_ provisions, without ability to 
render service, while their labor would be most 
valuable in tbeir farms and workshops, there might 
be the semblance of a plea of necessity (or forcing 
the State officers to leave their commands with the 
homes of their people unprotected, and go into 
canipsof instruction ,under Confederate officers often 
more ignorant than themselves. 1 must, therefore, 
adhere to my position, and maintain the integrity of 
the Stale Government in its Executive, Legislative, 
THE WAR’S PROGRESS 
The Baltics on the Peninsula. 
The week’s fighting began on Wednesday, 
with a slight skirmish. On Thursday it opened 
more vigorously. The attack was made upon our 
center near Mechanicsville, in which the rebels at¬ 
tempted to break the center, but were repulsed by 
Griffin’s brigade. The left of our column was also 
attacked, but the gallantry of the Pennsylvania 
Reserves kept the enemy at bay, and the artillery 
poured such incessant discharges of grape and can- 
nister, as to compel the rebels at 9:30 P. M, to fall 
back, while we held our original ground. 
On the following day, (Friday,) a great battle was 
fought at Gaines IIIll, to the right of the Chicka- 
hominy. It began at 3 A M..— the rebels having 
been strongly re-enforced during the night, number¬ 
ing probably 75,000 men, opposed to whom were 
only 20,000 federate,— and at day-break, Gen. Por¬ 
ter issued orders for our forces to fall back. At 1 
P. M. the action became indeed terrible. By far the 
heaviest battle in which the army of the Potomac 
has been engaged was now progressing. Sixty 
heavy guns plied their work of destruction against 
the rebels, and as many more on their side sent 
death to our brave boys. Twice the enemy attempt¬ 
ed to break our column, and although the troops 
were retreating, yet each time was the foo driveu 
back. At 3 o’clock tho enemy brought up re-en¬ 
forcements from Richmond, notwithstanding their 
force exceeded ours by 50,000. The third charge 
was made at 5 P. M.,—the rebels descending Gaines 
llill six columns deep ia compact order. The artil¬ 
lery opened, and an immense amount of canister 
and grape was thrown into this moving mass of 
rebeldom, and hundreds were seen to bite the dust. 
But the artillery failed to check tbe advancing host 
—onward it came with the power and might of an 
avalanche. Gen. Butler field, with uplifted hat,passed 
from one to the other end of his brigade, cheering 
and encouraging his uieu, calling upon them to light, 
like soldiers, and, if need be, die like soldiers. 
Every man stood at his post, and volley after volley 
was exchanged, but neither side wavered. At last 
the rebels poured in a tremendous fire, thinning our 
troops to an alarming extent. Our exhausted aud 
despairing men began to fall back to the Chicka- 
hominy. Tlie enemy seized upon the auspicious 
moment, and, with furious yells, rushed forward 
upon our broken ranks. The horses attached to the 
batteries on the left were nearly all shot, conse¬ 
quently many of the pieces had to be abandoned. 
Teamsters and ambulance drivers began to whip up 
their horses, and try to got up another Bull Run. 
Some portions of cavalry were galloping helter- 
skelter, and confusion among the infantry would 
have taken place had not the officers leveled their 
pistols, and threatened to shoot the first man that 
ran. 
These were some of our losses in this action: The 
Fifth New York Zouaves went into the battle with 
over 700 men. They returned with less than 300. 
The Forty-fourth New York went iu with about 400 
and returned with 250. The Sixteenth Michigan 
lost about 300 men. The Pennsylvania Reserves 
suffered terribly, as did nearly all the regiments 
stationed on the left of the line. Gen. Butterfield s 
brigade was cut up fearfully. Easton's Pennsyl¬ 
vania battery of four pieces was lost; Allen's Mass¬ 
achusetts battery lost four; Wooden's Rhode Island 
battery, three; Edward's Pennsylvania battery, 
two; Weed’s United States battery, two; and Kern’s 
Pennsylvania battery, three pieces of artillery. 
The next day. (Saturday,) our forces retired 
across the river, and were again attacked. Gen. 
Smith, however, succeeded in repulsing the enemy 
with great loss. The battle raged along the front of 
our entire army, but at no point were the rebels 
able to effect the purposes in view. Hooker, Rich¬ 
ardson and Meagher, successively drove them back. 
They left at least 1,000 dead and wounded on that 
portion of the field at which they were repulsed by 
Meagher, who captured two of their guns. Our 
artillery wagons and commissariat trains were now 
started for the James river, which point, subsequent 
intelligence informs us, they had reached without 
disaster. 
On Sunday, at 2 A. M., McClellan left Savage's 
Station, and crossed White Oak Swauq>. General 
Hooker's division broke camp in the entrenchments 
at 3 o’clock Sunday morning, and Gen. Sickles’ and 
Grover's brigades proceeded to the outposts to 
relieve Col. Carr’s brigade. At 5 o'clock A. M. tbe 
three brigades fell back to the second line of 
redoubts, where they formed a line of battle with 
Richardson’s and Kearney's division, and remained 
until 8 o'clock P. M. On discovering that General 
Hooker had fallen back, the enemy advanced his 
scouts with two field pieces, and opened a brisk fire 
upon bis rear, along the line of the railroad. Gen. 
Meagher's brigade made a movement on both the 
enemy’s flanks, while the Eighty-eighth New York 
fi charged in front, and captured two of their guns. 
A _ ene my then fell back under cover of the wood. 
i one were killed in Hooker's division. In this bat- 
I t e. Gen. Anderson, rebel, was mortally wounded. 
./ Monday, Gens. Sedgwick, Keys, and Porter, 
, with their divisions, crossed White Oak Swamp tor 
sS . le ames river, which point they reached at Tur- 
U) ey .™ d > ten miles above City Point. Corduroy 
K# ioa< s, bridges, Ac., were built for the passage of our 
• v 100 P 8 ’ a Rm retreat was conducted in admirable 
LI ° rder - Not a gun or wagon was lost, and 2.50ft fat 
The Campaign in tbe West. 
From the correspondence of the Cincinnati 
Commercial we gather the following hints as to 
what movements may be expected from our West¬ 
ern Army during the summer months; 
The experience of the Southern summer the array 
has had so far in this latitude, is not at all conclu¬ 
sive to the minds of many, competent to judge, that 
further campaigning hereafter would be absolutely 
impossible in Mississippi and Alabama. For some 
weeks, at least, the army might be made to operate 
by taking advantage ot the nights, that so far have 
been exceedingly cool, for movements, and of the 
shade of the woods for encampments. But, on the 
other hand, the retreat of the enemy into the interior 
for nearly a hundred miles—tho uncertainty whether 
he would not again fall back for an equal distance, 
either South or East from his present position, if we 
should attempt to follow him—the slowness of move¬ 
ments that would necessarily arise from the great 
distance over which supplies have to be hauled — 
the thereby increased farness of the army from its 
base of operations—the probability that tho swamps 
of Central Mississippi would really prostrate the 
energies of the troops by disease—render it unques¬ 
tionable, that, all things considered. In determining 
to bring the campaign to a close, and place his army 
in summer cantonments, Gen. Halleck did the best 
thing he could do. 
While it would be difficult to point out the advan¬ 
tages ol a continuance of the campaign until, say 
the middle of July, those of holding the army where 
it is now are obvious. In tbe first place, this point, 
as well as most of the country along the Memphis 
and Charleston aud Mobile and Ohio railroads, now 
occupied by our troops, is perfectly healthy. Again, 
the rest will not only lessen the reduction of the 
present numerical strength by disease, but also 
result in adding to it, by filling up tho sadly thinned 
ranks with the tens ot thousands that have been 
stricken down and sent North to be cured, and will 
be enabled to join their regiments during the sum¬ 
mer. Furthermore, in the interval of repose, a 
perfect system of railroad communication with the 
North, over the lines in Western as well as Middle 
Tennessee, will be established, and thereby a splen¬ 
did now base of operations created along the line of 
the Memphis and Charleston railroad, the advan¬ 
tages of which alone will amply compensate for the 
loss ol time, as well as reuder the further subjuga¬ 
tion of tbe Cotton States a matter of comparative 
ease. With a stronger army than he now has at his 
command, with rolling stock and other means of 
immediately putting the different railroads at once 
to use, as the army will advance toward the Gulf, 
Gen. Halleck will accomplish, in the cool weather 
of the fall, in days what would now require weeks. 
Thurlow Weed on Foreign Intervention. 
Tuurlow Weed has written to the New York 
Aldermen, respectfully declining their offer of a 
public demonstration in his honor. We quote the 
following from his letter: 
•• While England, France, Belgium, and Germany 
begin to experience serious inconvenience and em¬ 
barrassment from (heir short supply of cotton, I do 
not apprehend, immediately, that these Govern¬ 
ments will intervene, though with the two former 
the subject has beeu considered. It is proper to say 
that France is even more Impatient than England: 
not, however, from unfriendliness, but because the 
Emperor assumes, in the absence of employment, to 
supply his people with food. 
“ But we have nothing to fear from Europe, if we 
are successful in the prosecution of the war. Fort 
Donelson, Nashville, Winchester, New Orleans, and 
Memphis are our strongest arguments against inter¬ 
vention with Governments that determine all ques¬ 
tions by military measurement. 
“ There are, however, but too well founded rea¬ 
sons for apprehending future embroilment with 
England. Nor can I doubt the propriety of dwell¬ 
ing briefly, but earnestly, upon a danger fraught 
with consequences so vital to the welfare of both 
nations. Tbe Trent affair, through happily because 
rightfully settled, has left an arrow with poisoned 
barb festering in our flesh and irritating our nerves. 
The impression that England, willing to take us at 
disadvantage* availed herself of the erring judgment 
or impulsive zeal of a naval commander, to wage 
war upon us, has obtained throughout the country. 
That England expected war and intended war. 
making, with unparalleled alacrity and in gigantic 
proportions, preparations for war, is admitted to be 
true. But with opportunities favorable to a correct 
understanding of the views of the English Govern¬ 
ment, and of the feelings that swayed the English 
mind, I am bound, in truth and fairness, to say, that 
that Government and people sincerely believed that 
we desired a rupture with them; that we sought 
occasions to taunt and snub them; and, egregiously 
unfounded as the supposition was, that the present 
Secretary of State was the representative of this 
hostile sentiment. In justification of these impres¬ 
sions, it was said that, by “bullying,'' we obtained 
advantages in the settlement of the North-Eastern 
and Vancouver Boundary questions: that we ab¬ 
ruptly dismissed their Minister, Mr. Crompton, and 
their Consul, Mr. Barclay; that our sympathies, in 
their war with Russia, were with their enemy; that 
we had often threatened to wrest Canada from them; 
and, finally, that Secretary Seward had avowed hos¬ 
tile intentions toward England. 
“Some of these grounds of complaint were, as 
we know, well taken, and all were believed to be so. 
“ \\ r e all l’elt that the reeoguitiou of the Southern 
Confederacy as abelligerent. by England and France, 
was an over-busty and unconscious aot. But iu sub¬ 
mitting the proposition to the French Emperor, the 
English Crown Lawyers enforced it by arguments 
which, from that staml-point, were forcible. Both 
Governments supposed that the insurgent States had 
or could lit out vessels of war, and wished to relieve 
Item* and Incidents- 
Rich Southerners sending their Property 
to Europe.— A letter from Liverpool, in the Lon¬ 
don Daily Xetcs, gives this information: 
At a late hour last evening (Juno I8th,) the steam¬ 
ship E. Hawkins arrived in the Mersey from Ha¬ 
vana, Ac. This vessel brings iu specie $433,000, and 
1,627 bales of cotton on freight The Hawkins, we 
understand, although hailing from Havana, comes 
from Metamoras. a port on the Rio Grande del Norte. 
It is generally believed here that the specie brought 
by this vessel is comprised of shipments made by 
wealthy Southerners, who may be desirous of saving 
what property they have from confiscation. 
