From Camp Gregg.
[correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.]
advance forces, Army of the Potomac,
Camp Grigg, Vienna, July 31, 1861.
Perhaps a letter from this quarter would not be altogether uninteresting to your readers.
The Brigade of Gen. Bonham, including Capt. Kemper's battery, are stationed at this point.
We arrived here on Wednesday morning, after the engagement of the 21st at Stone Bridge.
The health of the troops generally is good.
We have fine water, plenty of healthful food, (much of which at one time belonged to the enemy,) a large quantity of wood for cooking, and last, though by no means the least of our comforts, we are once more in possession of our tents.
This important article had been dispensed with from the time we left Fairfax until our arrival at this place, with the exception of one night.
The Yankee settlers in this neighborhood cut stick as soon as they found that their friends were whipped, and that the South Carolinians were coming.
Many of them had raised the Union flag when the Yankees marched through here to Fairfax C. H.--
Now their houses are deserted, and their possessors are perhaps safely on the other side of the Potomac.
I presume that the details of the battle of Stone Bridge have reached you; but there are thousands of interesting incidents, perhaps insignificant in themselves, but which, collectively, went far towards turning the tide of battle.
All the troops engaged, so far as my observation extended — and I was an eye-witness to much that occurred on that day — acted nobly.
But as some newspaper correspondents have failed to do proper justice to the Second Palmetto Regiment, under Col. Kershaw, I trust you will permit me to say a few words in reference to the part it performed in that action.
During the first part of the engagement the Second Regiment was stationed on the left of Gen. Bonham's Brigade, about three miles below the Stone Bridge.
About 12 o'clock Col. Kershaw, with Col. Cash, (8th S. C. Regiment,) were ordered to repair to the battle-ground and take position on the left.--When we arrived in the neighborhood of the battle-ground, we met detached portions of Sloan's S. C. Regiment, Hampton's Legion, and a North Carolina Regiment, whose Colonel had been killed, leaving the field before superior numbers.
So thickly flew the canister, grape and Minnie balls of the enemy, that we were compelled to lie flat upon the ground while the line of battle was being formed.
It was whilst in this position we sustained a galling fire from the Fire Zouave Regiment, stationed behind a fence in our front.
We also discovered at this time that there was a park of rifle cannon playing upon us from the right.
At length the line of battle was formed, consisting of the 2d and 8th South Carolina Regiments and Preston's Virginia Regiment, all under command of Col. Kershaw.
Riding to the front and right of his own regiment, Col Kershaw inquired of his men if they would follow him. Replying in the affirmative, he gave the order to charge, and with a shout they arose and broke the enemy's line.
So sudden did we spring on them and pass them, that more than a hundred Zouaves were left in our rear, and were made prisoners of by our straggling soldiers.
The right wing of the Second Regiment came square upon the rifle cannon, which were in a short time turned upon the enemy.
I have never ascertained the name of the battery; but a wounded enemy under one of the pieces informed us that it had once been commanded by Colonel Magruder, now of the Confederate army.
It was in advancing upon this battery that the Zouaves displayed the Confederate flag, which caused us to reserve our fire for several minutes.
Finally, they emerged from the woods with the Stars and Stripes, when they were fired into by the Butler Guards, the right flanking company of Kershaw's Regiment, whose trusty Enfield rifles made many of them bite the dust.
The rifle cannon were removed from the field, by order of General Beauregard, by men from the Second Regiment.
The enemy were pursued by the brigade under Colonel Kershaw to within a short distance of Centreville, capturing a great number of pieces of artillery.
Captain Kemper's battery also performed a conspicuous part in the pursuit.
The enemy was frequently in sight, large bodies of them flying in almost every direction.
It was in this pursuit that the celebrated Rhode Island battery was captured.
The small loss sustained by the Second Regiment, in killed and wounded, must not be taken as an indication that they were not in the hottest of the fight.
When it is remembered that much of their fighting was accomplished while lying on the ground, and the enemy's balls going over their heads, the reason why so few were killed is readily understood. W. P. P. 