The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1861-06-27

The Vienna Blunder.
Will the lesson of Great Bethel new
Or be learned? Are we to to have our
Gallant sons and brothers slain by
nasked batteries and murderers in uni
form? Must the soldiers OF the Re
nublic be the victims of repeated sur
nr;ses. and never march upon batteries
srcept 10 retreat from them? The
armies in Virginia should know that
they are in the enemy's country, and
that almost every clump of bushes
il apt to be the ambush of marauders
or the covering of battery. What is
the use of reckless daring and unflinch--
ing bravery under the raking fire OF
cannon which it is impossible to silence'
and why must lives be sacrificed with
cut the opportunity to achieve single
result or to attempt the slightest meas
ure of atonement. es.r.-
The engagement at Vienna" as
the telegraph calls it, is another of the
* mistakes" of this war. Wehave be.
fore us the official statement of Briga.
der General Schenck, and, therefore
can speak by the highest military au
shorty. Nearly seven hundred volun.
teers from the State of Ohio leave Alex
andria in railway train, under the
command of General Schenck and Col.
McCook, for the purpose of taking pos
session of the railroad and holding it
Six companies of the regiment are sta.
toned at various points, and, with 275
men on board, the rainreached Vienna.
. village ten miles from Alexandria,
when suddenly masked battery opens
fire, damaging the engine SO that the
train cannot be reversed, and killing
and wounding many of those on board.
Taken by surprise, pent up in close
cars, and unable to return the fire or
attack the assailants, the soldiers were
compelled to fly to the woods for safety,
and to retreat along the railroad. The
official report shows that FIVE soldiers
were killed and six wounded, while ten
are missing. Other accounts make the
loss greater, bat this is certainly the
most favorable, and, perhaps, the mos,
accurate estimate.
Here we have valuable lives sacri-
feed and many brave men placed in
torture, and what has been gained
IL it possible that a masked battery car
be erected within ten miles of large
camp, without the fact becoming known
to a single officer? This seems to have
been the case at Vienna. Troops are
blindly rushed through hostile coun-
try, and in q moment of seeming secu.
rity the thunder of cannon echoes
among the hills, and the messenger Of
death comes from unseen batteries.
Our own troops might learn lesson
from these very rebels. They seem to
know every movement our forces make
and are promptly prepared to meet it
They must have known that our sol
diers were coming, or an attack could
not have been so quickly made upon Q
running train of cars.
We are told that "the men behaved
very coolly under the most CALLING fire
which they could not RETURN" but,
alas! what can avail GOODNESS and
bravery under circumstances like those
of Vienna We should never advance
into an enemy's country, without either
knowing that no danger existed, or be-
ing prepared to meet every exigency,
to avoid every ambush or resent every
attack. We mourn the fate of these
brave soldiers, but if the lesson OF
Vienna is only thoroughly learned,
they have not died in vain.