BIG NEWS FROM THE CONFEDERACY--May 26, 1862.

Private Samuel H. Wilhelm of I Company,

 4th Virginia Infantry Regiment, the 

Stonewall Brigade, with knife.Died as 

POW of acute diarrhea at Fort Delaware, 

Del., on September 22, 1863.

(Liljenquist Family Collection, Library of Congress)

[Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 26, 1862]
Another victory in the Valley.

     It was announced yesterday early in the day that a dispatch had been received, giving intelligence of a victory over the enemy by the forces under Gen. Jackson. Upon inquiry at the Departments, we learned that no official information of an engagement had been received, but that it was generally believed that our forces had encountered a body of the enemy at Front Royal, in Warren County, and had routed them, capturing several pieces of artillery, a large quantity of ordnance stores, and a considerable number of prisoners.

      From a gentleman who left Staunton yesterday morning we learn that a courier from the army of Gen. Jackson arrived at that point on Saturday evening, and brought dispatches to Gen. Johnson, substantially confirming the above statement. Information received from private sources deemed entirely worthy of credit, assure us that Gen. Jackson was within four miles of Front Royal on Friday morning, and the town was occupied by about 1,500 Federal troops. We presume that it was this force with which he had the engagement reported, and the hope is reasonably entertained that he had succeeded in bagging the whole party. There is no probability that "old Stonewall" will permit the Yankees to stagnate during their sojourn in the Valley, if he is permitted to continue his operations against them.

      We learn from a gentleman who left Winchester in the early part of last week, and succeeded in flanking the Yankee pickets, that the unscrupulous scamps have commenced a system of incendiarism in that town and the counties of Jefferson and Clarke. During the week they burned the Medical College in Winchester, in which was deposited the carcass of John Brown's worthless son, who met his deserved fate at Harper's Ferry. Denning's regiment of Cincinnati Dutch, which rendered itself notorious in Hampshire co. last winter, by burning and wantonly destroying everything within reach, had gone down into Clarke and Jefferson, and from lights continually observed in that direction, from Winchester, it was believed that they were indulging their favorite mode of warfare, by applying the torch to the property of defenceless citizens. A few evenings before our informant left Winchester, a brilliant light was noticed in the direction of Charleston, and apprehensions were entertained that the town had been fired by the desperadoes.