“‘I have received your dispatch, and reverently unite with you in giving praise to God for the success with which He has crowned our arms.
“‘In the name of the people, I offer my cordial thanks to yourself and the troops under your command for this addition to the unprecedented series of great victories which your army has achieved.
“‘The universal rejoicing produced by this happy result will be mingled with a general regret for the good and the brave who are numbered among the killed and wounded.’
“R. E. Lee, General.”
The losses on either side are not yet relatively ascertained. Ours, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, will probably reach 10,000. We have taken about 10,000 prisoners; the enemy’s killed and wounded is thought to be 15,000 to 20,000. We have taken about fifty guns—and it is said 40,000 small arms, in good order. They did not have leisure to destroy them as on former occasions. It was a complete and stunning defeat.
Gen. Jackson remains near Fredericksburg, and is doing well since the amputation of his (left) arm. The wound was received, during the battle by moonlight, from his own men, who did not recognize their beloved general.
A letter was received to-day from Gen. Whiting at Wilmington, who refuses to permit the “Lizzie” to leave the port, unless ordered to do so. He intimates that she trades with the enemy. And yet Mr. Benjamin urges the Secretary to allow her to depart! Commodore Lynch also writes that the detention of the “Lizzie” is a prudential measure, as it is the only steamer in port that could conduct our unfinished gun-boat to a place of safety, should the enemy’s fleet make a sudden attack on the city.
The President (who still absents himself from the Executive Office, his health being precarious) writes the Secretary to consult Gen. Lee before detaching Gen. Jenkins’s cavalry brigade from the West. It would have been better if Gen. Lee’s advice had been taken in regard to Gen. Longstreet.
The men from the garrison at Drewry’s Bluff, and the crew from the steamer Richmond, were taken away to man the batteries around the city. The President requests the Secretary to order them back at the earliest moment practicable. It would be an ugly picture if our defenses at Drewry’s Bluff were surprised and taken by a sudden dash of the enemy up James River.
The raid of the enemy’s cavalry, after all, did little or no permanent injury to the roads or canal. They are all in operation again.