February 3.
Major-General W. T. Sherman, with the Sixteenth army corps, under the command of Major-General Hurlbut, and the Seventeenth army corps, commanded by General McPherson, left Vicksburgh upon an expedition through Mississippi.--(Doc. 122.)
The guard of one company of infantry posted at Patterson Creek Bridge, eight miles east of [41] Cumberland, Va., was attacked at half-past 1 P. M. yesterday, by five hundred rebel cavalry, under General Rosser, and after a spirited resistance, in which two were killed and ten wounded, the greater part of the company were captured. This accomplished, the rebels set fire to the bridge, and leaving it to destruction, started off with their prisoners in the direction of Romney. The employes of the railroad succeeded in staying the fire, and saved the bridge, with only slight damage. General Averill, with his command of nearly two thousand cavalry, and who had been sent out from Martinsburgh by General Kelley, this morning overtook the rebels near Springfield, and a severe engagement ensued. The rebels were driven through Springfield, and thence to and south of Burlington. Many of the rebels were killed and wounded, and the Union captures were large, including the recovery of the men yesterday taken at Patterson's Creek, and many horses. The enemy retreated rapidly to the back country, hotly pursued by the cavalry.--A fight took place at Sartatia, Miss., between a body of rebels numbering about three thousand, under General Ross, and the National gunboats, on an expedition up the Yazoo River to cooperate with General Sherman.--(Docs. 122 and 124.)
