Gen. Jones's expedition to the Northwest.
Mention has already been made of the movements of the forces of
Brig.-Gen. Jones, in command of our cavalry in the
Valley of Virginia.
The command left
Harrisonburg on the 21st of April, and proceeded to
Greenland, in
Hardy county, where they effected the capture of about ninety Yankees.
At this point the command was divided Col. A. W
Harman, with the 12th Virginia regiment and the
Maryland battalion, moving in the direction of
Oakland, on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and
Gen'l Jones to Chest river tunnel and
Rowlesburg, where he inflicted some injury upon the road, but did not succeed in destroying the immense trestle work on
Cheat river At
Oakland, Col. Harman surprised and captured some sixty Yankees, and destroyed a railroad bridge at that point.
From
Oakland he went to Cranberry Summit, where he burned the
Cheat river bridge, and then proceeded on to
Morgantown, in Monongalia county.
From
Morgantown Col. Harman moved up to
Fairmont where a junction was formed with the portion of the expedition under
Gen. Jones--At the latter point they captured four hundred out of six hundred of the enemy, two hundred escaping.
The fine suspension bridge across the
Monongahela at
Fairmont was destroyed They also captured some 600 fine horses, and as many good beef cattle, and a large supply of goods of every description.
In noticing this expedition, a correspondent of the New York
Herald, in a recent number of that paper, says:
‘
The rebels who had taken possession of
Clarksburg on Monday were reinforced on Monday night, and yesterday morning commenced moving Northward.
They crossed the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at
Mannington, fifty miles east of
Wheeling, and burned the railroad bridge there, and proceeded to
Morgantown, near the
Pennsylvania State line.
From thence they marched into
Fayette county, Penn., where they were understood to have been last evening.
Their force was stated at ten thousand troops; but this is probably an exaggeration, unless they contemplate moving direct on
Pittsburg, which is not impossible.
The utmost excitement prevails at
Wheeling and
Pittsburg, and also at
Parkersburg, the people at each place fearing an attack from the enemy, whose strength is, as usual, greatly magnified.
There is some ground for the theory, also, that all of the movements east of
Grafton were feints, calculated to draw all of our troops to points east of that place, while they are throwing a heavy body of troops towards
Pittsburg.
The military authorities have authorized the statement to be made that the rebel troops who are marching in or towards
Pennsylvania are in a trap, and that the military arrangements have been so perfected that their capture is deemed certain.
Your readers will laugh at that, as they ought to. The rebels never run into traps.
When they have accomplished the object for which they invaded
Pennsylvania, they will retire in safety to
Virginia.
I make this statement because I know the facts in relation to it. Let events decide who is the best informed.
’
