Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 35.djvu/20

 6 Gilmore failed to carry out his instructions, and wrote the following letter to General Butler:

's, June 9, 1864, 12 :30 P. M.

"I found the enemy prepared for me to all appearances. A prisoner says our movement was known at 1:00 this morning, and that reinforcements arrived by railroad. General Hinks, on the Jordan's Point road, says he cannot carry the works in his front, and that since he arrived there, at 7:30 A. M., two more regiments have been added to the intrenchments coming from the city. In Hawley's front the works are as strong, I should think, as our own on Terry's front. In my opinion, they cannot be carried by the force I have. Distant firing on my extreme left has been heard for the last hour and a half. I therefore judge that Kautz finds himself opposed. I am about to withdraw from under fire in hopes of hearing from him.

Very respectfully, Q. A., Major-General"

If he had executed his commission with sufficient energy and penetrated within the confines of the city, and bearing in mind that his object was not only to capture, but practically destroy, the town, it is easy to conjecture what an important bearing it might have had on the fortunes of the war. It is not my purpose, however, to dwell upon that feature of the day's events, and I hasten on with the narrative of events connected with the conflict on the Jerusalem Road.

Entirely unconscious of the impending danger, not a cloud appearing on our military horizon, the morning of Thursday, the 9th of June, 1864, found us setting about our usual avocations, when suddenly the camp was aroused by the advent of a courier with the startling news that a heavy body of cavalry, accompanied by artillery, was rapidly approaching by the Jerusalem