Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1862-06-20
THINGS SAID AND SEEN AT THE
uAIL-rII


The Boston Transcript publishes a letter
written by Union officer imprisoned at Sa-
hsbury, n c., and sent forward by teleas- |
ed soldier, inside of a cane, followed for the |
purpose. The letter contains the substance
Of information obtained from prominent Sc
cessionists and Unionists 1t is dated May
%, and contains many interesting matters
" he opinion OF an enemy on the merits OF q
general, is not to be dcspiscd. The rebels ccr
tainly make very impartial estimates of the abili-
ties OF some of our generals. Not oven the bonn
bastic papers of Baltimore call Mcclellan any
thing but good general though of course they
laugh at the idea of comparing him TO Napoleon.
But among the rebel generals aud officers he is
spoken of as dangerous man One OF the
hest engineers in the confederate army said To- me
not long ago Mcclellan came to the peninsula,
and in one hours reconnaissance discovered the
weak point Of our works. lie set about turning
that point, and came near taking our whole army.
lie saw at glance what Magudor and Johnston
had failed TO see in year They say they have
had q superior force all the time at Yorktown, and
hoped Mcclellan would make an attack before he
had prepared his works, They hoped TO fight him
near the Cbickahomiuy swamp, and say If they
can get HIM To come ON as Mcdowell did at Ma
nassas, they can destroy his whole army But
they confess that hc is too old fox to use their
expression 20 bee caught uuprcplrcd. They say
that had Mcdowell force advanced from Frcdcr-
town, they would have fallen across the James
river and abandoned Virginia They say their
only hope of holding Richmond is that Mcclellan
will bc trammellcd 10y his government. Their
opinion Of Banks is that hc has no confidence in
himself They declare that at no time has there
been force of over 1900 men opposed TO him.
and are confident that Providence has favored
them and cspouscd their cause, since, had it not
been divine intcrpositon, Jackson's little army
would have been driven out, and Banks have been
marching on Richmond.
d" They say they do not care about Fremont
that 10 only abstracts our forces, aud that they
have SO much the less TO fight around Richmond
and if Mcclellan drives them out they will have
all their rolling stock ready and fall ON the army
of the mountains, IL ID is unucky enough to yet
to LWchburg aud capture It,, then push into East
crn Tennessee. They call Mcdowell the stand
ing Joke, and give 1t their opinion that the
giving him separate command was as good as
3u,oou men TO Johnston. They regard llalleck
as next TO Mcclellan, and in some respects his
superior They are bringing up all the troops
from the Gull 90 reinforce B3auregard aud expect
q terrible battle. They call Buell. good gener-
al, but have mo- fears of Grant. Butler, they say,
will aid the rebel cause 10y eNasperatng the peo-
pie, and driving them into the rebel army. If
they lose Richmond they intend 60 fall back to
Barksvie, Lyuchburg, Danpilc. Chattanooga,
and the mountains, When this line is broken,
they wall commence the guerrilla warfare and car
ny 10 To the bitter end. When that kind of fight
lug begins they viii find that it is terrible
scourgc 70 their own people There are thousands
of dcspcradocs in their army who care for nothing
, but plumber. They will rob everything, plumber
every one, and commit all sorts of cruel act, in
the name of the confederate authorities. These
kind of fellows were very active at Manassas rob
bling and numbering the wounded they are very
active when conducting prisoners taking their
money and watches. The slaves are now restless
and uneasy. Many thousands of them are cm-