The rebel battery soon opened fire with shot and shell. Their first shot came half way to our lines; the second fell short a hundred yards; and the third, a shell, burst over the California regiment, and seriously wounded a private in the arm.

In the mean time, Captain Griffin commenced to reply with his battery, and his first shell burst in the midst of the rebel battery, causing a brief interruption in the enemy's attack. They renewed, however, but were finally compelled to retire, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, under the fire of our artillery. Griffin's Battery fired in all twenty-six rounds. The infantry on the left also vanished in the wood, and at five o'clock not a rebel was in sight. They were present in force, fully as strong as our own, but they did not fire a musket, nor did their cavalry make any demonstration.

Smith then ordered the force to fall back to their camps, which they did, with their forage.

During the week previous to the twenty-eighth, it was so frequently reported from day to day, that the Federal troops had taken possession of Munson's Hill, that when, at last, this long-predicted event took place, it found few believers among those least excited by sensation reports.

The works at Munson's Hill were, in a military point of view, almost worthless, being not much more than rifle-pits of very common construction, and with the exception that the positions at Munson's and Murray's Hills afforded the rebels an unobstructed view of all our fortifications and other defences, they were of very little consequence.

But here, in this camp of spies, a considerable force of rebels were intrenched in plain sight of the White House; their flag waving in defiance in full view of the National Capitol, and here they remained as long as it served their purpose, and when they had become sufficiently acquainted with the resources and extent of the

army and fortifications in and around Washington, they evacuated the place. On the morning of the 28th, about ten o'clock, our pickets reported to General Richardson that the rebel pickets had been drawn in, and subsequent observation confirmed the report. Information of this fact was telegraphed to General McClellan, who at once crossed the ferry at Georgetown with his staff, and rode to Bailey's Cross Roads. They then followed the course of the railroad to Upton House and Hill. They saw only half a dozen horsemen on Munson's Hill. General Wadsworth moved to the right and front with a body of skirmishers, and Captain Colburn, of General McClellan's staff, skirmished to the left, without encountering any of the enemy. General Richardson then moved forward with a body of troops toward the hill, the rebel horsemen retiring as they approached. They entered the work without difficulty, and found that the rebels had taken every thing of value with them.

The appearance of the ground deserted by them indicated that they were deficient in those arrangements which serve to make a camp life comfortable, having no tents, but merely shelters rudely constructed. There were no signs to show that they had ever mounted any guns.

Detachments from Generals Richardson's, Keyes', and Wadsworth's Brigades, and also from General Franklin's Division occupied Munson's Hill, being in command of Colonel Ferry, of the Fifth Michigan regiment, and the American flag floated there in place of that of the Confederates.

On the following morning the pickets from General Smith's Division advanced and took position at Fall's Church, meeting with no opposition whatever, as the Confederates had retreated from the whole line of their positions on the line of Washington.

The advance of General Smith on Fall's Church from the Chain Bridge was accompanied by events of the most deplorable character. On their way to Fall's Church, and when about half a mile from it, by some unaccountable blunder, Colonel Owens' (Irish) Philadelphia regiment, in the darkness of the night, mistaking for rebels Captain Mott's Battery, which was in the advance, sustained by General Baker's California regiment, Baxter's Philadelphia Zouaves, and Colonel Friedman's cavalry, fired a full volley into the troops last mentioned, killing and wounding a large number. The California regiment, not knowing whence the firing came, returned it with marked effect. The horses attached to Mott's Battery became unmanageable, and the tongues of the caissons were broken, owing to the narrowness of the road.

Lieutenant Bryant, having command of the first section, ordered the guns to be loaded with grape and canister, and soon had them in range to rake the supposed enemy, when word was sent to him that he was in the company of friends.

All was excitement, and a long time elapsed before the actual condition of affairs was ascertained and confidence reëstablished.

General Smith immediately ordered Colonel Owens' regiment to fall back to camp.

By this unfortunate circumstance, fifteen were killed, and thirty wounded. The dead were all buried near their encampment, with military honors, while the wounded were removed to the hospitals in Georgetown principally, where they received the best of attention.

END OF VOL. II.