The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY f4VMNING, AUGUST 18, 1863.

stopped, though only for a short season—a halt was
permitted—food and absence of rain exercised their
restorative influence, but as we set forward again in
the afternoon the pertinacious downpour was re-
sumed. Another wretched night, passed half on
the march, half in a saturated wheat field, another
long day's march, and on the night of the 6th we
reached the little town of Hagerstown, distant
about five miles from the Potomac.

RICHMOND, July 28.

w hUi
epho nh tande
lainl4 t h
passiveln t., t hien a
tr
Hagerstown since the evening of the 6th, courting
Jamey n eoifg hGbeonuerrhaol oLd eoef
rather than expecting an attack, was withdrawn
across the Potomac into Virginia. To take this step
there were many circumstances which moved
General Lee. In the first place, the same unprece-
dented weather which had accompanied almost the
whole of his march into Pennsylvania continued
until the end, and the heavy downpour of rain
which ushered in the month of July and had been
scarcely intermitted for 14 days, pursued and pelted
us mercilessly as we again approached the Poto-
mac, swelling the river until it threatened to burst
its banks, and driving the quartermasters and com-
missaries of the army almost to distraction. Secondly,
there was difficulty in finding mills which, in the
swollen condition of the streams that fed them,
could be made available for grinding wheat, and
supplying the army with flour. Thirdly, the dis-
astrous and unexpected tidings of the fall of Vicks-
burg and Port Hudson, coming on the top of the
failure of General Lee's Pennsylvanian campaign,
induced him to abandon the hazardous measure,
which he at one time contemplated, of again ad-
vancing against the enemy, flashed as he was with
the Humph of having for almost the first time in
this war repulsed a Confederate attack,and inspirited
beyond expression by the fall of Vicksburg. But at
a less serious moment it would be laughable to read
the feigned indignation of the Northern press at the
'aches of General Mead?, in not gobbling up General
Lee and his army. In the history of all previous re-
treats from the Anabasis of Xenophon up to the pre-
sent hour, never was army withdrawn with so little
molestation from its enemy as General Lee's. That
there was considerable anxiety entertained by Gene-
rals Lee and Longstreet during the night of the 3d
and the day of the 4th of July, in regard to the pos-
sibility of General Meade's assuming the offensive, I
am far from denying. But such anxiety was early
dispelled by the capture of a Ft. deral courier bearing
despatches, which announced that on the night of
the 4th General Meade's head quarters would be at
Westminster, or in other words, at a point much
nearer to Washington than Gettysburg, and at
which the indications are that a strong position had
been selected by General Meade, where, but for the
attack which he was obliged to accept at Gettys-
burg, it was his intention to have made his final
stand.

How cumbrous and unwieldy a machine was the
army otfha General b
ene advanced
eralLee
into williho Pennsylvaniaeevidentt for :eraoallwht
reflect
immense
(although and indefinite period, with
(although not sufficiently immense) ordnance trains,
and with vast supplies of stores connected with the
Commissary and Quartermaster General's Depart-
ments. It is a mistake to suppose that the trans-
portationscan tscanty
an do
It
int
ihtt: d
. com Confederateimre Army
theis
Compared
trains and countless sutlers that accompany the
al
Federal nosts, the Confederates, it is true, carry little
with :u a
psitiaoYu l s
indeed; but it is not likely that the war economy
pursued far the last two years by the Federal Go-
vernment will be accepted as furnishing any other
precedent for European nations than the shortest
cut to ruin. lam assured, however, by competent
and experienced judges that the Confederate trans-
portation trams rather exceed than fall short of the
European average. Specially is this the case with
Stonewall Jackson's corpi, now for tee most part
under Ewell's command, which under its famous
leaderfrequently undertook campaign in the lightest
marching order, but of which the normal trains
were large and cumbrous, and scrupulously guarded
at all times by the ceaseless vigilance of General
Jackson himself. But on this occasion General Lee,
in addition to his own very sufficient trains, had
accumulated in Pennsylvania an amount of farming
wagons which is so variously estimated that I dare
not assign a figure to it, but which, from personal
observation, I can state to have been very conside-
rable indeed. These wagons were principally at-
tached to the Corps of Gen. Ewell, who was always
in the van as we entered Pennsylvania, and their vast
aggregate heightened the difficulty of adopting one
of the possible plans which I indicated in my letter
from Hagerstown, and which by some empirics
General Lee has been blamed for not selecting. I
allude to the plan of falling back into the gorge of
the South Mountain, and there awaiting an attack
from General Meade. This course was rendered im-
possible—first, by the premature engagement be-
tween Hill and Ewell and the two Army Corps of the
Federals on July I; and secondly, by the distance
which separated Gen. Ewell and his vast transpor-
tation trains from the bulk of Lee's.army. It is still
the opinion of the best and wisest heads that Gen.
Lee, in resolving to attack Meade's strong position
at Gettysburg, played for a mighty stake which he
was justified in thinking he could win, and which,
in point of fact, he was within an ace of winning.
How nearly the Confederates succeeded in driving
their opponents from the heights is probably fully
known only to Gen. Meade and Gen. Halleck ; but
some measure of the damage inflicted upon the
Federal army may be taken by one who witnessed
the faintness and feebleness of Gen, Meade's pur-
suit. With the exception of a brief cannonade be-
tween some of the Federal cavalry and the rearguard
of Gen. Ewell on the 6th, pursuit there was none.
Some damage was done to Gen. Ewell's train, prin-
cipally,l believe, through the agency of Pennsylva-
nian citizens ; but altogether there were not 100
wagons destroyed. Gen. Lee returned to the Vir-
ginian side of the Potomac with 5,000 Federal pri-
soners; with his immense trains all but uninjured ;
with an amount of Pennsylvanian waggons and
horses which I dare not attempt to estimate; with-
out the loss of a caisson or a gun, except two, which
were abandoned because the horses broke down ;
without paying any other toll than that which was
exacted in the three dap of battle at Gettysburg,
and for which no doubt full value was given by the
Federal army; and with his own army in such
heart and spirits as I have never seen excelled.

Considerable credit is due to the engineer depart-
ment of Gan. Lee's army for the ingenuity which
they displayed in building, with great rapidity, the
pontoon bridge at Falling R aters (about four miles
from Williamsport), which upon the 13 h and ICh
inst. conveyed Gen. Lee's army trains and most of
his army across the Potomac. During our absence
in Pennsylvania the Confederate pontoon bridge,
which had been lent in the Potomac and was insuf-
ficiently guarded, was, as some say, by the inhabi-
tants of Mirtineburg. and, as others, by the inhabi-
tants of Hagerstown, in great measure destroyed.
It will be recollected that General Lee's army
reached Hagerstown on the evening of the 6th. For
some days we lay there without thought of further
retreat, but when the calamitous tidings from
Vicksburg and Port Hudson overtook us, and when
simultaneously the rain continued to descend, it was
deemed advisable to stand once more upon Vir-
ginian soil instead of striking deeper into Mary-
land in pursuit of an enemy who had obviously no
intention of attacking us, and out of whom another
fightsan could
g him onlyin be got by following him and
ili
his own chosen position. It asbe-
came abundantly
evident, when by slow and
tardy marches, protracted from the 3d of Jul
until the 11th, when the
approach Hagerstown in
be
force, General Mead
Federal(theias tardmayy of battle)
Meade crew
near to General Lee
u
again, that no hope of abeneralroht on by General
engagement could
be indulged unless it was b
only Lee. The Federals reconnoitredgl onofr
apofseiwtiohnasnteial3r
Hagerstown, which consisted on,
thrown up breast works, and not
liking
the look of
it, fell back for two miles, and began to
ply dill-
gentlyspade and pickaxe, according to t
frequently,heir almost
invariable practice. It is singular how9
since General Lee essumed command in Virginia,
13 months ago, the Confederates, in the numerous
battles which have occurred, have been the assail-
ants. For seven days in the battles around Rich-
mond they acted always on the offensive ; it was the
same in the series of battles which extinguished