Yankee outrages in New Kent.
On Saturday afternoon last, between 5 and 6 o'clock, a portion of the command of Gen. Wise, consisting of artillery and infantry, went down in New Kent county as far as the York river. A few miles below West Point they fired on a Federal mail boat that was passing, striking her some two or three times--one shell exploding on her decks. What injury was inflicted is not known, but considerable confusion was created on board. The fire was not returned.
Later in the evening the enemy's gunboats came down the river from West Point, and, after shelling the woods in the neighborhood and finding that our troops had retired, their crews landed, and, in a spirit of vindictive retaliation, burned the residences of three gentlemen in the neighborhood. The sufferers were Messrs. E. B. Lacy, W. T. Blassingham, and — Drake — the latter overseer on the farm of Mr. James Woodhouse, of this city. None of the parties upon whom these injuries were inflicted saved any of their household effects, and Mr. Lacy had not even time allowed him to secure his money, which was, with everything else that he had, destroyed.
-from the Daily Dispatch, May 27, 1863
A map of the described area
No comments:
Post a Comment