hold his position, unless the enemy showed himself in such force as to make it necessary to fall back, and that at daybreak on the 2nd he fell back to Baltimore Store, or Talley's, though no enemy had appeared, with the exception of some skirmishers on the 1st. His letter, Numbers 5, * advising me of his intention, did not reach me till after daylight, when it was too late to arrest the movement. On the afternoon of the 2d, the enemy advanced, with eight pieces of artillery and an infantry force, on Baltimore Cross-Roads, and Colonel West, who had been left there with the advance, fell back, to avoid being outflanked. The enemy's field pieces were brought within a mile of Baltimore Store, to which General Keyes had retired, and fired from 100 to 150 shots during the night, without doing any injury whatever. From information derived from Colonel West, who is an experienced officer and a man of cool judgment, the enemy's whole force could not at any time have exceeded 3, 000 men. General Keyes had 6, 000, and fourteen pieces of artillery. After the night firing, which was manifestly intended for intimidation, the enemy withdrew nearly his whole force before daybreak, and there ; is little doubt that it was hurried back to Richmond, and sent up to the South Anna by railroad, to oppose General Getty. From the morning of the 3rd to the 7th, when General Getty returned, I am now satisfied that there was at no time more than a regiment of infantry and some small parties of cavalry between the Chickahominy and the White House. On the correspondence between General Keyes and myself, I make no comment, but leave it to speak for itself. I desire, however, to say, that after the letter,

Numbers 24, + showing a concurrence of opinion and feeling on the part of General Keyes and his brigade commanders, I deemed it most prudent to suspend the movement, and leave his command where it was in no danger of molestation. It is my opinion that if a prompt and vigorous attack had been made on the 1st July on Bottom's Bridge, it would have been regarded as a real movement and not a mere demonstration; that the enemy's troops would have been retained in Richmond, and that General Getty would have succeeded in destroying railroad bridge over the South Anna. But when General Keyes fell back on the morning of the 2nd without being attacked, and it became manifest that the movement was a mere feint, a large portion of the force in Richmond was sent against General Getty.

THE ENEMY'S FORCE IN RICHMOND.

On the 28th of June, the day the last of my force arrived at the White House, Jeff. Davis wrote to General Lee that there were three brigades in Richmond, and part of Hill's division, besides Wise's brigade, on the east side of the city. These different corps could not well have numbered less than 12, 000 men. There were, in addition, a body of trained artillerists in the intrenchments, which are very strong; the Home Guard, embracing all males capable of bearing arms, a convalescent brigade, and the Home Guard called in from Petersburg. My information, corroborated from a variety of sources, is, that there were in Richmond on the 1st July not less than 20, 000 persons under arms, a majority of whom were regularly organized and trained troops. On the 2nd July, Mr. Ould declared 1, 800 paroled prisoners of war at Richmond exchanged, and they were no doubt immediately put in

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*See p. 826. +See p. 832.

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