The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-26 00:00:00

I -LIE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA. General Pope, General:la , and all their staff.
.e. They only Save ,1 themsc flight through the
"'Thus far" writes General George B. M'Clellan fire of their enemy ar it own tr en, who
—page Bof his Military Commission to Europe-- opened with musketry ... voods on the horse-
" the allied generals displayed none of the qualities men, and forced them to fall back. So.) e accounts
of great commanders—their measures were half-way say this event took place next night. i ope himself
measures, slow and blundering—they failed to keep was directing the whole movement, • hich was in-
constantly in view the object of the expedition, and tended to end in the passage of the Rapidan, after
to. press rapidly and unceasingly towards it." This the repulse of the enemy, and he slept at Culpepper
fariticism refers to the period when on the 27th of Court-house the night before the battle.
September the allied generals had got to Sebastopol, The pretence of superior force on the part of the
'having landed their army on an open beach on the Confederates is met by the statement from Federal
14th of September, fought and defeated the enemy sources that on Friday night McDowell's corps was
at the Alma, sent their sick and wounded away, four miles south of Banks's corps at Culpepper ;
buried their dead, and taken up -a position never Sigel's corps was eight miles distant. But "it was
afterwards abandoned till their object was achieved. never supposed that the enemy had more than a
". Although (he says, page 6) fully aware that it is few regiments." Jackson, instead of waiting to be
much easier to critic iee operations after the result is attacked at Gordonsville, came in with a rush on
known than to direct them at the time, I shall not Culpepper and seized Cedar, or Slaughter's Moun-
hesitate to invit;
a attention to what appear the evi- tain, completely commanding the route to the river.
dent mistakes, 'on either side. This not for the par- The total force of the Confederates is estimated by
pose of fintl,:tng fault or of insinuating comparisons"
the Federals at 27 battalions, of which the names
(though the very next sentence contains a comps- are given, but in the paper in which it is stated
rison 1-Jcitween the petty operation of landing near that only 7,000 men were engaged the names of
Yerre 'Cruz and the disembarkation of the allies in )21 Federal regiments are mentioned in which
tine Crimea), " but with the hope that it may serve
t severe losses occurred. The result is declared to be
,i) draw the attention of our officers to the same " a glorious victory for the Union arms." The value
-points, and perhaps assist in preventing similar of this assumption may be estimated by the fact
errors on our own part hereafter." It is almost that Stonewall Jackson sent an officer to the Fede-
cruel to the young officer to proceed with these quo- rals to inform them "he would give them till two
tations, and we sb all only add one more :—" If a de- o'clock on Monday to bury their dead, but that they
ficiency of men and means is assigned as a reason must not take arms, tools, or ammunition from the
for the early operations of the allies, it is but another ground, as he claimed the field and its contents."
proof that in undertaking this affair they ff ' a ne- This fact is distinctly stated in the correspondence
glected one of the clearest rules of war,—that is, of a New York journal. The Federal wounded lay
to undertake no important 'operation without full for two days on the field till permission was given
and reliable information as to the obstacles to be to cart them away. The action, it must be remem-
overcome and the means of resistance in the hands of bered, was fought on Saturday, the 9th. On that
the enemy." "We cannot afford," he says, "a Mos- night Pope brought up all his troops, but he did not
COW eamPaign." How little when he wrote these lines attempt to attack his enemy the next day ; on the
'in January, 1857, did the American officer imagine evening of Sunday he was very nearly taken pri-
that he shonld bo at the head of an enormous army soner by a charge of their cavalry through the guns,
levied for ttie purpose of invading a State once in- and on Monday Jackson retired at his leisure,
eorporateee in the country he served, and of destroy- carrying off his prisoners, wounded, and thousands
ing the city in which his enemies, once his own of arms, having buried his dead and given permis-
counteymen, were assembled to defend their homes sion to the enemy to do the same. There
rest estimate ofis no cor-
and their liberties. The deductions he draws from
the loss, but Culpepper is "a vast
hia observations in the Crimea are applied to the hospital," and some Federal regiments have only
effect of a foreign invasion, of the United States, "50 left out of 500." The Federals say theirs was
and he remarks that, though a small army could be 3,000. The following is a list of the Federal regi-
crushed by the superior numbers of the people, a ments of which mention is made in the reports in
force of one hundred thousand disciplined men the various papers :
would be quite invincible, because the mul- 109th Pennsylvania, 110th Pennsylvania, 102 d
titude brought to bear against them work their New York, 12th United States, Bth United States,
own destrnation, for "if without discipline and in- 3d Indiana, 2d Massachusetts, 3d Wisconsin, 27th
structior. they cannot be handled, and are in their Indiana, 28th Pennsylvania, Bth New York, 12th
own veray." There is a sort of analogy between Massachusetts, 13th Massachusetts, 46th Pennsyl-
Sebastopol and Richmond. Neither Williamsburg vania, sth Ohio, ith Ohio, 29th Ohio, 66th Ohio,
nor: White Oaks was quite equal in results to the 10th Maine, sth Connecticut, 28th New York.
Alma, it is true, but the covering force was obliged The names of the officers which occur in the
to retire. The enemy blocked up the water en- papers would make a long list of killed and
trance to their city ; the Federals command the sea wounded, but of the higher ranks there are killed,
as the allies did, and they have not been able to Colonel Stone ; taken prisoner, General Price.
force the water batteries. The Confederates are
Federals.—Wounded—General Augur, General
said to be as strong as the Russians were. Their Geary, Colonel Ceale, Colonel Donelly (mortally),
Gortschakoff is in the field outside. The Federals, Colonel Steinwehr, Colonel Chapman (mortally),
too, have been attacked on their right before the and Colonel Creighton.
'place. Are they quite as proud of their Inkerman? Among the Confederates the following are said to
Does General M'Clellan stand the test of his stric- be killed :—Generals Weinder and Trimble.
tures on those who were in a position somewhat Wounded.—General Jackson (slightly), and
like his own ? We make the Americans a present General Saxton.
of the comparison. The latest news we have It is characteristic of General Pope that having
from his eermy is that it is moving somewhere received this most severe check he should telegraph
or oth'ee, having made a fiasco in the advance on the night of Tuesday, the 12th of August, to
to nalvern-hill. M'Clellan has now been more General Halleek, " The enemy has retreated under
ttren a month in his place of refuge at Harri- cover of the night. His rear guard are now crossing
'ion's Landing. At last he prepared for a great the Rapidan, towards Orange Court-house. Our
-battle." On Tuesday, August 5, he moved out and cavalry and artillery are in peeeuit." It is wonder-
took possession of Malvern-hill, and sent back for ful he did not add they ' aken 10,0u0 pri-
the greater part of his army, but the messengers sorters." So far, Gene- oaign has opened
took the wrong road and the troops did not come up inauspiciously, a• . . in favour of
till it was too late. " The enemy were not asleep," M'Clellan has scomfiture. All
but came out in force. Gen. McClellan went back over the We Nar is sporadic, and
to his camps again, and the Confederates took pos- assuming on Aof greater atrocity ;
session of Malvern-hill, and are, we suppose, there the savage - been arrayed on both
now. All that comes from the Federal army is the sides and lerokees and guerilla
same intelligence of great sickness, aggravated by bands are t ae bloody stage, which is
intense heat, and certified by boat loads of sick sol- broader tha,
diers, and promises of something going to happen. Guerillas, in one place, rise up and
We must wait with patience for the march of events, take a turn in k L.& Federal General is
which move more rapidly than the Federal arms, as murdered in h. ;e, the Federals lay waste
it is nearly always the ease that the initiative Is the district, hrtn - • -•.1- in the noishbourt,nr.l,
taken by the Confederates. and burn the hoe ice is swarming now
Leaving M'Clellan's grand army to itself, let us with bands of pat sides, and the poor
see what can be gathered from the accounts of the people are plunder lre in the days of the
recent action to the north-west of Richmond. On the old war. A Confer. 'is assassinated by
same day that M'Clellan made his abortive march a Tennessee Unionis• eems handed over
to Malvern, the Federals, under Pope, showed a to marauders on bo' ) report of the cap-
disposition to move down towards Richmond from ture of Baton Re 1, and there is no
the north-west, and pushed to Madison Court-house, confirmation of i of the Arkansas.
which is about 14 miles from Gordonsville and 10 It is impossible ng out of the ac-
from the Rapidan river, where they found the coun- counts of these .nat Morgan or Quan-
try full of the enemy, who must have crossed the trell, or Porter a killing people or taking
Rapidan, and advanced towards the Federal line, or leaving place ,eing killed by other Ameri-
extending from Washington near Blue Ridge, and cans-50 here there, all over vast tracts of
covering the Manassas Gap Railroad and the Orange country, that rat.. trains are fired into, bridges
and Alexandria Railroad, down to Fredericksburg cut or burnt; mails stopped; that blood is flowing
by Warrenton. Skirmishes took place on the 7th like water, and that Union feeling is not to be
and, Bth, the result of which was that the Federals found in the South
under the keenest search of
fell back to Culpepper, in safety before the rebels, the bayonet. Sickness is nearly universal. Gene-
evho were advancing in every direction," on Monday ral Butler is uneasy about his position in New
night, August 11. It is not to be understood why Orleans, his spies prove untrustworthy, commerce
this movement was not met by the Federal generals, does not revive, nor can it at all cheer him to hear
for the retreat of the cavalry on the right of their of the " rams" preparing at Mobile. The insecurity
line took place on the very morning that Jackson of the garrison at Hilton Head is admitted, and
attacked Banks, and it was very fortunate the whole Pulaski is looking out with all its eyes for the new
force was not cut off. On Friday morning, the Bth, rams fitted up at Savannah. These statements are
Gen. Ewell, under the orders of General " Stone- contained in the American papers by Americans of
wall" Jackson, crossed the Rapidan and advanced Americans. Because they are sifted and repro-
rapidly towards the centre of the Federal lines, duced here, the New York World piously hopes
-which he probably expected to cut through with they may "be even with our English cousins some
case, as Jackson had made a feint with a force to- . day " And for what it would be hard to say,
wards Madison and Springville, on the right, with indeed, except that this holding of the mirror up
a view to induce the Federals to weaken their cen- to the Federal face causes disagreeable reflec-
tre by reinforcing the right of their position. The tions. The recruiting which is going on actively
Federal accounts state that the enemy consisted of is admitted
to be caused by the desire to get the
35,000 men, and came by way of Orange Court- bounty, which would not be paid if the men waited
house, which is 16 miles distant on the railway to till they were draughted, and the vanity and con-
Fairfax and Culpepper Court house. Banks had, ceit of the people is nursed to a degree bordering on
they say, 7,000 men, and, if so, General Pope must insanity by their papers, which talk of " the march
hare been deceived by Stonewall's movements, or is of a million of soldiers with their glistening bayo-
very unfit for his post, or has not got 60,000 men, nets and well-trained cannon."—Times.
as was asserted. It is supposed that Jackson came
from the country north-west of Richmond, and used
the Virginia Central Railroad in massing his troops,
and had he quite succeeded he might have destroyed
Sigel's corps and Pope's scattered divisions in detail,
turned on Burnside, and made a march for Wash-
ington, which would have been nearly at his mercy.
Whether that was his object or not, he has unques
a heavy blow, which tionably given Pope hwill t
lc s ag-
.-er him and his arrangements, and postpone "com-
binedg movements " for some time to come. It
was
another stroke on a coil of
whether Stonewall suffered so severely as alleged,
and was unwilling to await a further concentration
it appears
of the enemy, or had done all he desired,
certain that he did not press the retreating Federals,
hut fell back the day after their concentration
across Robertson's Creek, near Madison, and
thence across the Rapidan. It would appear '
from one rather circumstantial account that Banks
had under him the divisions of General Augur
and General Williams, or 16 battalions, with two
regiments of regulars, and, we presume, a battery
to each brigade, or 24 gulls—one a battery
of
regulars. They were advancing in the after-
noon towards the Rapidan, in pursuance of
Pope's orders, and had crossed Cedar Creek, a
small tributary, when the enemy suddenly ap-
peared on the wooded slopes of Cedar Mountain
above and before them This was the force they
were to check. An artillery duel took place, but at
5 30 p.m. the fighting became very severe, and the
Federals gave ground, losing one gun and retreat-
ing with some rapidity till they were brought up
after dusk by the advancing columns of the corps
of both General INl`Dowell and General Sigel, under
Pope in person. Here they halted, and were rest-
ing from their flight, when the Confederate guns
suddenly opened upon them by the light of the fires
at which they sat, and a regular " stampede" and
is ekedadd le" at once took place, which was only
stopped by the Provost's guard, a pretty strong
force apparently, and
which arrested " the fright-
mod soldiers who crowded the roads" and the " re-
giments wf- jell took to their heels to get out of
nester sernio. While
range"—non the army was
retreating in this way a dash of Confederate cavalry
was directed upon them, and nearly carried off

The following letter has just been received by a
lady in Glasgow. It is interesting as showing the
feeling entertained by the citizens of the South to-
wards their former friends in the North. The writer
is a young gentleman, a native of Charleston, who
was educated at Edinburgh University, and re-
turned to America about 18 months ago. He had
intended embracing the legal profession ; but the
outbreak of hostilities changed all this, and, as will
be seen, he is now a corporal of volunteer artillery
in the service of the South :

" Camp Whilden, Adam's Run, South Carolina,
June 26, 1862.

" My dear Mrs. B.—There is but one pen in camp
With which it is possible to write, an 1 that is a gold
one, and I do not like to borrow what I know would
not
be willingly lent ; so I prefer writing with pen-
cil, which I think will be distinct enough. I re-
ceived your last letter sometime in January or
February, but not having it in camp with me you
must not expect a precise
answer to
it came a letter from Kate and one from Jessie.
Camp is not a very nice
place to write letters—at
SO, as it is not easy, in the first
least I have found it
place, to carry about with You the convenience for
writing with you; and, secondly, it is not easy
to get a place to sit down quietly to write a letter
with ink. Here I am writing on a board supported
on my knee; on my left a party of four playing at
seven's-up for 25c. a game, making as much noise
with their jabbering as if they were four women. I
am a soldier in earnest now, subject to courts-mar-
tial, and liable at any moment to have a six-foot
chain and a 24-pound ball attached to my left leg,
or any other little pleasant exercise which military
tyrants may choose to impose. But what care we
for the despotism of military authority, allowed as
it is for the time, for the purpose of achieving. in
fhe end 'real liberty and indeuenderkee from the
hideous and disgusting despotism of a vulgar mobo-
cracy. If the people in Great Britain, deceived by
the falsehoods of the Northern press, think we are
near the point of subjv 1, and that the North
are already triumphant lastly, that cotton will
flow into their seaports 'eed their mills as for-
merly, they will, I can e you, before long find
I themselves vastly mist' if we were to succumb