The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1862-09-26

0otS4O IN 10y A1M0s
Eros he Rishnsnd Dispatch, Of the 3otk.1
From Vie moment that our armies ties.
tiled their great superiority to the Yam
KEGS 1t Bethel and Manassas, *esaw and
aid that their true policy was 70 assume
The Offensive and never to depart from It.
A contrary policy produced = series Of
disasters which brought the Confederacy
10 the verge Of destruction. and had 1t
not been abandoned At last, we are not
,ure that we should not, in the end, have
become q subjugated ard an enslaved
people. From the moment the defensive
system was abandoned, we began TO reap
The fruits Of our superiority in valor and
endurance. Victory followed victory in
such rapid succession that the whole civ
ilized world stood amazed at our success.
es. Each successive victory seemed to
rise above the last in brilliancy and I'M,
portance. Kernstown was eclipsed by
Mcdowell, Mcdowell yielded to Front
Royal, Front Royal was surpassed by
! iechester, Winchester gave way to Port
detpublic, Port Republic bore no COMPARE
son with the seven battles. around this
city, and they in their turn we're over
Swallowed by the second battle Of Manas-
sas. We have this day to record an
achievement which throws them all in
the shade. An army besieging another
army in position strong By nature and
letroxgly fortified, has been assaulted at the
s.upe time by third army, and has not
only succeeded in defeating that third
army with great slaughter, but has on the
same day, the besieged army
to surrender at discretion. We remem-
Der but three exploits similar TO this
One of them was that of Julius Cesar at
Alesia--incomparably the greatest of all
that mighty Generals achievements
where, with GO, 900 men, he kept an equal
number who were beseiged in the town,
and defeated, with enormous slaughter,
$50, 900 who attempted to relieve them.
Another was that of Marine Falero at the
siege of lara, where he kept in the be-
sieged. and defeated Hungarian army
Of 10000 men. The third was that of
Prince Eugene at Belgrade.
As far as we can understand the opera
tons. from the very imperfect accounts
which we have received, they were some.
what as follows: Our army in Maryland
is divided into three corps, commanded
by Generals Jackson, Longstreet and HILL
OF these corps Jackson was engaged in
the seige of Harper's Ferry, and the 9TH
er two covered his operations. Conceiv-
ing it to be of great Importance to raise
the seige and to relieve the beleaguered
forces, which amounted in numbers al.
most to a corps Garmes, Mcclellan resolv-
ed to make powerful effort. He left
Washington, it is said, with force of
$4,000 men. From the correspondents Of
the Yankee papers we heard of him at
Rockville and other places on the Nation.
al road, some time last week, from which
we conclude that his army marched upon
that road in the direction of Frederick
town. The road passes through Freder
icktown, but whether Mcclellan kept il
that far we have no means of ASCERTAIN
ines The FIRST we hear of him Ia at Rooms
borough, in Washington county, which i
nearly equi-distant from Fredericktown
Harper's Ferry, and Hagerstown, bein.
between twelve and fifteen miles from
each, and lying a little north of west from
| thu frat mo rlu Asxa s,NrkH 4
cond, and nearly southeast from the
third. At this place, on Sunday, he fell
with his enormous force (80 900 men) up
on the corps of Gen. D. Fl. Hill. which
was the rear guard of the army. The bat
Hill, although attacked by vastly superior
an inch. In the night Gen. Longstreet'l
combined attacked Mcclellan and total
y defeated him, driving his forces before
them for five miles. But for the inter
vention of night. it is said that the rout
would have been complete. At ter
at Boonsboroush, Gen. Miles, with hi'
whole army. variously estimated at eight
ten, and twelve thousand men. surrender
stores, 1900 small arps, fifty pieces o
artillery, and at least 1000 negroes (soms
say 2,500l were captured. Having dis
posed Of Miles and his army, Gen, Jack
son was marching rapidly down the Pc
tomac, with the intention of crossing be
low and getting in the rear of Mcclellan
thus cutting him off effectually from
Washington. These operations shed ar
almost unparalleled lustre on the Confed
crate arms.