--From the correspondence of the Augusta
Chronicle, dated
Chattanooga, May 2d, we copy the following:
‘
The "fight at
Bridgeport," which formed the topic of my last letter, should more properly have been entitled the "
Flight from Bridgeport," for, from all the information I can gather, it was a most disgraceful stampede.
The sudden advent of the returning army, and the wild and exaggerated reports which many of the retreating soldiers and officers brought, caused the utmost consternation and excitement among all classes of our citizens, and the removal of the sick soldiers and the rushing off of the rolling stock of the railroad only added, as it were, "fuel to the flame."
Every one thought the "Philistines were on us," and your correspondent acknowledges a gentle tremor of the muscle and slight knocking together of the knees as he contemplated the manner in which he would have to "make tracks," or rest in the walls of some Northern bastille.
But no enemy have made their appearance, and to-day things present a brighter and more cheering aspect, for we know that
Chattanooga will not be taken right away.
Last night,
General Lead better ordered an advance of a portion of his command.
They went own as far as
Shellmound, and from there a scouting party was sent out which proceeded as far as the river.--They report that the enemy have retired beyond.
Bridgeport. From all the facts I can pick up, I do not think they ever intended coming further than
Bridgeport, and the destroying the bridge, but as our forces did the last job for them as well as they could in the
hurry they were in, the Federalists no doubt felt satisfied and retired to more comfortable quarters.
I doubt very much if an advance by the enemy will be attempted in this direction for some time.
Would it not be well for our authorities to receive a valuable lesson from the
Bridgeport flight, and guard against such ridiculous scenes in the future?
Chattanooga is a place of too much importance to be lost to the
Confederacy, and with but little outlay and labor its approaches can be defended by a force infinitely smaller than the invading party.
’
