The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1862-05-08
Yorktown.

The news of the evacuation of York
town, so startling, so glorious, and, in a
degree, so unexpected, will surprise both
loyalsts and traitors. But while the
former will hail it as the herald of return
ing peace, the promise of mighty land
restored to greatness, and new proof of
the immutability Of the Union, the latter,
overwhelmed with dismay, and SO terribly
awakened to the madness of their guilt,
must shortly abandon struggle 50 hope
less in its aspect. and quietly lay down
their arms. The army which we have
driven from Yorktown can be an army
| now in little but name and numbers. 1t is
disheartened, d;spirited, and defeated. 1t
IS convinced that its leaders, to use the
language of Jefferson Davis, ''have under
taken more than they can accomplish"
and we should not be surprised to hear of
its Abandonment before many months
have passed.
The Philadelphia Press thus comments
upon the glorious achievement: After
months of confident preparation, after the
la5orious building of Notifications, and
the mounting Of hundreds uf heavy guns,
after the transportation of thousands of
trains of supplies and ammunition to this
depot, after the concentration of the
''fower' of rebeldom into one of the grand
est armies that the world has ever wit
nessed-after all the boastings Of the
South, and the anxiety, not to say trepida-
ton, of the more desponding in the North,
the prospect OF bloody victory has passed
away, with the fight of willy and craven
enemy. That the laurels Of our conquest
are not bloodied can take but little from
their brightness though, had it been our
destiny to have made the peninsula Of
Yorktown terrible Aceldama, no son, or
brother, or father, in the besieging army
would not have gladly made himself
martyr in the van; no mother, wife, or
sister, but would have heard the worst
with more than resignation. 1t will not
be pretended that this achievement, which
must stand unparalleled in ancient or
modern warfare, could not have been still
more disastrous to the foe-more nglorious
it scarcely could have been. But the
doom of the Confederacy is now irrevocably
sealed, and whether its demise becomes
question of mouths or weeks can matter
little, in SO far as the great result-the
restoration of the Union and Of peace is
concerned. The army of the Potomac has
done nobly; possibly it has surprised
itself with the sudden success which has
crowned its anxious, patient weeks Of
seeming inactivity; and if results more
startling and complete nigh possibly have
been attained, it will likewise reflect that
unforeseen events, or unexpected succor
to the enemy, might at the same time
have made the issue much more hazardous
We see the beginning of the end more
clearly now than we could week ago, or
even yesterday. Yorktown in itself is of
small account, but its occupation confes-
sedly restores to US the entire State of
Virgiria--providing, however, that the
blow is followed up, before the enemy can
gain time to establish themselves in new
position. Pennsylvania feels proud of
her general, whose skill has compassed
what might else have dearly cost the
nations blood and valor, and she feels
sure that his pledge to 'pursue the enemy
to the wal'' will be speedily and sublimely
redeemed