THE BATTLE AT PHILIPPI.
WE illustrate on this page THE
BATTLE OF PHILIPPI, which took place on 3d June. We published an account of this
brilliant little affair in a recent number; and here we will only add, that a
few companies of Indiana, Ohio, and Virginia volunteers entirely demolished a
large force of secessionists assembled at Philippi, under the command of Colonel
Porterfield, driving them out of the place, with the loss of all their baggage
and most of their arms. Our artist writes:
The scene shown in the picture is
the principal street in Philippi. The large building on the left is the
Court-house of Barbour County, Virginia, now occupied as the head-quarters of
the Federal troops. The roof of the hotel just beyond the Court-house shows
plainly the effects of a cannon-ball. I was told that it carried away a
secession flag. The
Union flag is now floating in its place. The
road between the Court-house and hotel is the one by which Colonel Kelly entered
the town. The intention was for him to have come in by the road which you see
turning to the right at the extreme end of the picture. About a stone's-throw
beyond this turn is where Colonel Kelly fell.
EVACUATION OF HARPER'S
FERRY.
WE publish on page 428 a view of
HARPER'S FERRY
AFTER THE EVACUATION by the rebel troops, and on page 429 an illustration of the
BURNING OF THE
RAILROAD BRIDGE at that point, as seen from the trestle-work
platform. Both are from sketches by a regular correspondent. A special agent of
the press visited
Harper's Ferry on 13th, and reported as follows
:
The Confederate army has left the
place. The route of the main body was by turnpikes leading to Charlestown and
Shepardstown. At five o'clock this morning the great bridge of the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad over the Potomac was fired, and soon after a tremendous report was
heard, caused by an explosion of a mine under the centre span. In one hour the
entire structure was in ruins and fell into the water. This was a noble piece of
work, it being one thousand feet long, and was built by Engineer Latrobe but ten
years since in the most scientific manner. It has six spans, and cost
considerable. The damage to property is not ended here, but the Railroad Company
and the United States have suffered further loses of valuable works. The body of
the trestling on which the road was supported from the bridge to the end of the
Government property, about half a mile in extent, is nearly all destroyed, as
well as the upper bridge, of one hundred and twenty feet in length, over the
Government canal. The telegraph station buildings and the other railroad works
are also demolished. The long range of substantial buildings formerly occupied
as the Government armory is burned to the ground, with the exception of two at
the west end, near the Shenandoah. Fire has been raging all day, and when we
left it was just breaking out in the rear quarters. The rifle-works on the
Shenandoah were fired in the afternoon.
WE publish on
page 426 a
picture representing a regiment of TENNESSEAN RIFLEMEN PASSING THROUGH
WINCHESTER en route for Harper's Ferry. The Tennesseans are soldierly looking
fellows enough ; it is sad to think they are engaged in so bad a cause. The
artist says : My picture represents the Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia
Riflemen entering Winchester, on their way to Harper's Ferry. This regiment came
up from Richmond to Strasburg by way of the Manassas Gap Railroad, and marched
from thence to Winchester, a distance of 22 miles, in one day. They are mostly
hunters and men used to outdoor life, and are all, besides their rifles, armed
with tomahawk, bowie-knife, and revolver.
ON
page 429 we
illustrate, from a sketch by our special correspondent, on General Williams's
staff, THE CROSSING OF THE POTOMAC BY UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS, on 16th instant.
A correspondent of the Herald writes under date of 16th from
Hagerstown,
Maryland:
Well, the everlasting delay in
the movement of this carps d'armee is somewhat broken in upon. A real genuine
forward movement has begun, notwithstanding the monotonous red-tape
circumlocutionism of the commanding General. Two brigades, the First and Fourth,
have actually passed the Potomac, General Cadwallader leading the advance,
consisting of five companies of cavalry—four of the Second cavalry, and the
First Philadelphia troop; battalion of artillery and infantry,
Captain Doubleday; Rhode Island regiment and
battery; Sixth, Twenty-first, and Twenty-third Pennsylvania volunteers; Fourth
brigade, Colonel D. S. Miles ; United States infantry, two companies of Second
infantry, five companies of the Third infantry; Ninth, Thirteenth, and Sixteenth
Pennsylvania volunteers.
Precisely at twelve o'clock
to-day, the United States infantry heading, the Fourth brigade took the water,
and took it as if it was their native element. The Volunteers followed. Both
marched four abreast as they started, but the ranks were somewhat broken by the
depth and stiffness of the current. But right bravely they went wading in water,
some places full four feet deep, over a river of remarkable volume and force
three hundred and fifty yards wide. It was a stirring sight to see the young
volunteers marching with the steadiness and precision of veterans, singing, with
the happiest indifference, in one company, "I'll be gay and happy still ;"
another, "Let the wild world wag as it will ;" a third, "Red, white, and blue;"
a fourth, shouting with wild refrain the chorus of the " Star-spangled Banner,"
until whole regiments would catch and join in its round swelling cadences. The
effect was strikingly grand.
The other side of the picture,
the ludicrous, was also vividly presented. Volunteer after volunteer, while
waiting to enter, would doff his nether integuments and enter the water with
that portion of his person in puris naturalibus, declaring that
Uncle Sam's dry
goods were too preciously scarce to have them wetted.
OUR TROOPS AT ROACH'S SPRINGS,
VIRGINIA.
WE publish on
page 423, from a
drawing by a member of our 12th Regiment, a view of the
ENCAMPMENT AT ROACH'S SPRINGS,
VIRGINIA. The artist writes :
Roach's Springs, Virginia, is
situated about two miles north of Alexandria, on the west side of the Potomac,
and was the farthest point of advance in that direction by the Federal forces on
the 25th of last May. It is reported that their approach drove two hundred
secessionists from the old mills where they were quartered. The 12th Regiment,
N. Y. S. M., took possession of the buildings and encamped there, being kept in
constant readiness for an attack. The 12th was relieved on the 2d inst. by the
1st Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, which still holds the position.
