The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1861-12-07
Fhs cssPsiEn In Western Virginia
What ORItg

The Wheeling Lnteitigencer is Of the
0PiniOR that the campaign in Western
Virginia j. virtually ended for this sea
SOh. u says thai " If the army ol West
etn NiTginia il not largely reinforced very
shortly, II will have to content itself for
TIE IeinHit.tlvr Of the season with HctiEg
an the defensive, though that, in its opin
IOn, will hot be al arduUus Scr'icc."
We would have been pleased haftirc
MtIiyeHcrr summed up the result Of the
campaign in Western Virginia. One thing
We all know, that it has been n very cx-
pcnSivc affair, costing not less than sixty
~ hundred millions Of dollars, augment
cd beyond what was proper by official de-
linqucncy, rcd-tapeiSIn, and the great diff
iicnlty Of transportation, aud procuring
supplies for man and beast. To offset
that, we can say that the campaign has
been very severe di>ciplinarian, and the
I troops that have served in it may be con
Sidcrcd as lit for any ardn0uS service
They may he set down under the class of
"vctcrans." The campaign has also dc.
vclOpcd the fact, which was snecrcd at by
the ConledcratcS, that Western troops are
n match any day for an equal number Of
their opponents in the field. Indeed, it
is about the only place where We have
demonstrated the superiority Of our troops
to those Of the enemy.
One Of the reasons for sending All ar
my into Western Nirginia was to develop
and encourage the Union feeling Of that
section, and support the new government
Of PicrpOnt The first, all will admit,
was a grand failure. Except in particular
localities on the Ohio river, there are no
| fighting Union men in Western Virginia.
This is the universal testimony Of our
troops. We are indeed told that there
are seven regiments of Western Virginia
Union men in the army. That is laughed
ut by those who are in the service in that
quarter. There is one Virginia regiment
made out Of bOha; htie inhabitants Of that
section. The others that go by that name
are recruits drawn from Pennsylvania AMI
Ohio. So far, therefore, as this reason
for the campaign in Western Virginia is
concerned, it may he put down as having
proved a failure of expectations.
Another reason as VIC understood, was
! w uCL III GNltNll WIN Jul VII
Potomac. and Ivy both divisions moving,
the one in South-eastcrly direction from
the West, aud the other in S"nthcrly
and south westerly direction from Wash
ingtOn, To crush out between them all
di>unioniSln in the State. 1t will be con-
coded that both, so far, have failed. The
army of the Potomac is not as far advan.
ced as it was months ago; while that Of
Western Virginia will have to fall back to
where it started from, to commence the
campaign anew in the spring.
So far MS the great objects Of the cam.
paign in Western Virginia are concerned,
it seems to ns TO have been barren Of ben
ciicial rcsults-that is, it has failed to ac-
complish what was expected oft. II it
has diverted enough Confederate troops
from the Potomac to have saved Wash.
! ington, it has dome that much good. Be-
yond that, besides diSciplining and hard
ening our troops, and aiiOrling them OPP
portunitics to show their valor and cndn-
rance, we do not see that the results Of
the campaign have been very satisfactory.
Gin. Enq.