New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-10-26
THE LESSON OF, our VICTORY.

Y The annalsse war, ancient and modern, furnish
few or no instances of such brilliant achievement
as that near Leesburg last Monday. Look st it,.
There were four Confederate regiments on the
field, and three of them only are said to have been
in the fight. Allowing. however, that all of them
were, and estimating seven hundred and fifty nien
TO each regiment, which is q liberal allowance,
and we have the total Of the Confederate force at
three thousand men. Now, when before did three
thousand men kill, capture and destroy more than
half their own number, when engaged with an
enemy four times as strong as G,ey were?
b The report says that we killed and wounded
from one thousand to twelve hundred, captured
six to eight hundred prisoners, and drove the re-.
mainder Of the Federal army into the river drown.
ing three hundred more The total sums up about
two thousand of the enemy destroyed or held cap
tive. Ii this is not a splendid achievement for
three thousand men, then we do not know what
splendid achievements. @'
How was 1t done? Itiwas done by hard fighting
at close quarters One account says that no artil-
lery was used. Our men did not stand two miles
of and fire with cannon Of long range, but they
advanced on the foe and gave them bullets and
bayonets. They. did not fight from entertainments,
but they stood up close to the enemy, an immova-
BILE human wall, and battled until the proper mo-
ment arrived, and then charged upon them and
drove them pell-mell into the river. .s%}
Mcclellan, the Federal General is reported to
have said, some time ago, that this was tobe an
artillery war-a war to be decided by big guns in
stead of small ones No doubt he would like to
make it so but the Confsaerates cannot afford it.
The enemy is superior to us in artillery, has more
and better guns, and is ofioered by men who know
how to use them as well as we do. He is superior
to US il numbers, and in, war of artillery alone
all the advantages would beaon his side. The les
son which this late fight at Leesburg teaches US,
| then, and the lesson which common sense teaches
us, is that we ought to fight always at close quar-
ters, whenever practicable, and that our chances
Of victory infinitely better in this style of war
fare than by fighting series of artillery duels be-
hind Notifications and at long distances from the
enemy Almost any Yankee will stand his ground
when heeis behind ramparts and the enemy is tive
miles Off 1t is only necessary to give them bullets
and cold steel, and the majority Of them will break
and run, no matter how great their superiority in
numbers. We think every fghti in this war shows
this to be the case. The only defeat of any eonse-
quence we have sustained was in Western Virginia,
and we were whipped there by Yankee artillery.
There is instance Of hand hand fight in which
ne have failed to be successful. If we conduct
the war on strictly scientific principles-in other
words, if there is too much West Pontism about
our operations it is plain that we are at a disad-
vantage. Our men did not go into this war to
fight BY rule and science. All they want is to be
shown where the enemy is and to be turned loose
4upon them, and the impetuous dash and pluck of
our soldiers will do the rest 1t may cost few
more lives at the time, but it will save many in the
long run. .-,.. a.