The southern aegis, and Harford County intelligencer. (Bel Air, Md.) 1862-1864, 1862-10-11
Did the, Rebels Succeed :

Did the Rebels Succeed -
The correspondent Of the Cincinnati
Gazette puts the above question, and an
swers it as follows,
In military point of view, was the in
vasion a failure 1t is difficult yet to an
swer. III ..
If the rebels entered Maryland with
the expectation of either attacking Wash
iugton Or Baltimore, destroying our great
Northern lines of railroad communication,
or carrying the war into Pennsylvania, of
course they failed. But if they came
simply for the purpose of creating a panic
at the North, with, perhaps, half-formed
plan for taking advantage of any opportu-
nifty the panic might offer; or to procure
supplies that were absolutely necessary to
enable them to protract the war or to
gain so important strategic position as
Harper's Ferry, commanding at once their
granary in the Shenandoah Valley, and
the land approach to Westinghouse do
not know yet that they have not been
fully and entirely successful. Even if
they have been unable to hold Harper's
Ferry, if they have made good their es-
cape, the affair must remain disgrace to
our generalship and stigma upon our
pretensions. - .-a 90
In one respect, their success is an ac-
complished fact. While we we're concen-
trating all our energies for the defence of
a single city, they deliberately marched
round our immense army, went where
they chose in Maryland, unobstructed,
stayed long enough to give their final de-
parture some appearance of a voluntary
action secured what supplies they could
certainly enough to relieve their most
pressing wants-and marched back again
without apparently receiving nearly as Sc
we're punishment as they had inflicted on
us, when they drove us ANONYMOUSLY
from Manassas. # st1 ..tr >,
However much the coming details may
do toward putting brighter face on our
Maryland exploits, it will be impossible to
do away with this national disgrace. IF
the sting under which we most smart shall
find compromising advantages in the inn
pulse given to the work of filling up our
new army, and the ,lgor infused into our
further prosecution Of the war, it will be
we'll. ~ fl aa
The disaster at Harpers Ferry, the loss
of treble or quadrupe the number of pris-
oners over whose capture McClellan's des-
patches were SO jubilant, and more stores
than we should have taken from the reb-
els if we had taken their whole army
trains, will not fail to provoke some bitter
reflections. 'a aH 5t 6
The danger there was not unexpected.
Two weeks ago the newspapers pointed it
out. The 'veriest ignoramus could not
but see that with Mcclellan pushing the
rebels toward the Potomac, they were very
certain to make desperate effort to take
the nearest and easiest crossing. There
was ample time to send up reinforcements.
Why was it not done, and whose fault was
it? ihRt F ~, i.t '5G
These are questions to be asked. For
If we are to go on forever this way, with
out fixing the responsibility for our disas-
tiers upon the incompetents who have
caused them, and wedding them out; if,
on the other hand, we are only to reward
unnecessary defeat with new and larger
commands, what hope is there left us,2 !
There can be no excuse this time about
an emergency SO pressing that we can't
stand to. ask questions about past disasters.
Now let us have honest investigation, and
wherever the incompetent shall be found,
hustle him out. s3sa a 't'