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Bridge.
One New Jersey Regiment took post at Roach's Spring, near which a redoubt was cast up, and named Fort Runyon, in honor of the
commanding General under whose direction it was constructed.
It crossed the road leading from the long, Bridge to
Alexandria, near its junction with the
Columbia Turnpike.
The remainder of the troops, including the New York Seventh and a company of cavalry under
Captain Brackett, now joined those who crossed the
Aqueduct Bridge, and these forces combined took possession of and commenced fortifying Arlington Hights.
in the mean time, the New York fire Zouave Regiment,1 under Colonel Ephraim E. Ellsworth, who had been encamped on the east branch of the Potomac, near the Navy Yard, were embarked on two schooners and taken to Alexandria; while the first Michigan Regiment, Colonel Wilcox, accompanied by a detachment of United States cavalry commanded by Major Stoneman, and two pieces of Sherman's Battery2 in charge of Lieutenant Ransom, marched for the same destination
|
New Jersey State militia. |
by way of the long Bridge.
The troops moving by land and water reached
Alexandria at about the same time.
The National frigate
Pawnee was lying off the town, and her commander had already been in negotiation for the evacuation of
Alexandria by the insurgents.
A detachment of her crew, bearing a flag of truce, now hastened to the shore in boats, and leaped eagerly upon the wharf just before the Zouaves reached it. They were fired upon by some
Virginia sentries, who instantly fled from the town.
Ellsworth, ignorant of any negotiations, advanced to the center of the city, and took possession of it in the name of his Government, while the column under
Wilcox marched through different streets to the
Station of the Orange and Alexandria Railway, and seized it,
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Ellsworth Zouaves. |
with much rolling stock.
They there captured a small company (thirty-five men) of
Virginia cavalry, under
Captain Ball.
Other
Virginians, who had heard the firing of the insurgent pickets, escaped by way of the railroad.
Alexandria was now in quiet possession of the National troops, but there