Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: Successive reports leave us no longer grounds for doubting that the combined land and naval expedition against Shreveport has failed, not without very serious sacrifices of men and material, although, we yet hope, without the loss of any of the cardinal strategic positions, and without demoralization of the forces in Arkansas and Louisiana. Major General Canby has been despatched to the field to do what may be found necessary for the safety of the cause west of the Mississippi.
Some unimportant incidents have occurred on and near the banks of that river, but all is believed to be well in that quarter.
During the last week there has been a general advance of our forces against the insurgents on the long line which extends from Chattanooga to the Potomac, and this movement is yet in progress. No accurate or full accounts of it have reached the government, and the partial statements which you will read in the journals of this date, Monday, May 9, are not in all respects reliable. Possibly the telegraph will enable the press at Boston to give, before the departure of the mails, more definitive information than has been hitherto received. What has happened, so far as is known to the government, is, that on Wednesday morning, the 4th instant, the army of the Potomac, numbering about 100,000, crossed the Rapidan at three fords, and advanced to a line stretching through the Wilderness from Germania ford to Chancellorsville. The several corps had not fully completed their line of battle on Thursday morning, when they were vigorously assailed between the left and centre. A severe but indecisive battle occurred. It was renewed on Friday; a reserve force of 30,000 men, under Major General Burnside, reached the field and was engaged at noon. The entire insurgent army, under Lee, Hill and Longstreet, was encountered in a conflict which lasted from morning until night, with vicissitudes, several times, so unfortunate for our forces as to excite serious apprehension, but ending in the withdrawal of the enemy from the attack, leaving the army of the Potomac in possession of its ground. The nature of the field forbade the use of artillery. Our losses are reported at twelve thousand; the enemy’s not mentioned. I am disposed to think it was one of the most severe and critical battles of the whole war. There was skirmishing on Saturday, and bearers of despatches report that they heard heavy cannonading yesterday. We have accounts directly from the field written on Saturday evening and yesterday, Sunday morning, but they are not official. They state that our army still hold their position, and that it is understood there that the enemy are retiring, as if satisfied that they cannot longer resist our advance.
General Sigel has been advancing up the valley of the Shenandoah, and is in position, if required, to cross the mountains and join the army of the Potomac.
General Butler has landed at a point on the James river just above the mouth of the Appomattox, thirty miles below Richmond and ten miles above Petersburg. He has broken up a portion of the railroad which connects those two places, but not without some fighting. General Sherman advanced on the 4th with a large army from Chattanooga. Advices coming directly from him on Saturday, at four o’clock, say that he was then in Tunnell Hill, with the enemy before him at Buzzard’s Boost Point, above Dalton, and that McPherson, with an auxiliary force, was operating against the connexion between Atlanta and Dalton, by movements to Villanow, through Resaca.
What we do not hear is perhaps more encouraging than the information which actually reaches us. Neither General Grant nor General Butler, nor [Page 731] General Sherman, makes the least sign of discouragement or apprehension, or demands re-enforcement, but they leave us to infer that they are able, and are determined to persevere in the campaign as at first designed.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.