Indiana State sentinel., 1863-05-18

HANDS.
Special Correspondence Of the Chicago Times.
WASHINGTON. May H.
The Administration, with unblushing effron-
terry. has been circulating, during the last three
days. such stories as that Hooker has recrossed
the Rappahannock and has again resumed the
otfensive:" aud that Richmond has been cap
tured by our forces, and is now iD our posses
sion There Is not word of truth in either of
these two tales. The facts in regard TO Richmond
are as follows:
| at the time Gen. Stoneman's cavalry were at
work destro ling the railroads north of the city,
and, indeed, from the LIST to the 9th inst, there
were no troops at Richmond, except the artiller
lists in the forts around the city. All the troops
there had been sent to Join Gen. Lee But on the
9th and 7th inst 900 troops arrived there from
Suffolk. These were part of Gen. Longstreet's
corps, who had been left behind by Shat officer to
keep up show of force in front OF Gen. Peck,
| while Longstreets main force was withdrawn and
/ sent North to reinforce Gen. Lee. In his opera
tions on the Sd and 4th OF May, Gen. Stoneman
saw enough of the strength of the Notifications
of Richmond, and learned enough from the pris
oners whom he captured. to satisfy himself that it
was beyond his power to take them with the little
| force of cavalry which he had. On his arrival at
Yorktown on the 7th ard 9Th inst, he consulted
with Gen KEYS and Gen. King, and it was con
cluied by them and Gen. Dix that an attack on
| Richmond, with the forces at their disposal,
was impricticabe.
| suppose their forces altogether might amount
to $4,000 troops. A accommodating expedition
was however sent up the York river to White
House. by Gen. Dix. full account of which has
by this time reached you On the 9th inst, when
/ it became evident to Gen. Lee that Hookers
whole army had retreated to the north bank of
the Rappahannock-in such precipitation, too,
that he lefthis dead lying unburied upon the field,
and all his wounded in the hands of the Confed-
erates-when Gen. Lee knew that, and knew that
Hooker had been compelled to abandon his enter
prise, he then sent back to Richmond $4,000 of
his troops. He did this because he knew that
Gen. Hooker would be unable to resume the
offensive during the next two weeks at least. and
because the troops might be needed at Richmond,
and were not needed with him. The distance to
Richmond was only sixty miles The men were
transported by railroad to Saxtons Junction.
From thence, the railroad being destroyed, they
marched the remaining distance, twenty miles.
The last of them reached Richmond on Saturday
night, the 9th inst. There are therefore, % 900
troops mt Richmond now.
This is the only foundation there is for the
other story started, and now being circulated, by
the Administration TO the effect that Lees army
occupies the identical position that it held before
the late battles. and during the whole of last
winter and spring, namely: the line of the Malta
pony river covering Richmond. There are de-
tachments at Gordonsvile and Louisa, on thele left,
with outposts and cavalry pckets at Orange
Court House; Germana Ford, Raccoon Ford,
and Ely's Ford, on the Rappahannock; and other
detachments at Port Royal. on the right. And
the flights of Fredericksburg are also strongly
held.
Stanton's bombastic dispatch to Gen. John
Pope published i'm the Times of Nav 81 may de-
cieye the loyal people of the-North but it cannot
and will not deceive Gen Lee That officer knows
perfectly well the condition of Hookers army.
and that it will be in no condition to resume of
fensive operations for two or three weeks. Lee,
therefore if he does not himself assume the of
fensive. will remain in the position | have indi
Gated until Hooker again leads his men to anoth
er Chancellorvile slaughter. Whenever Hooker
does make another attempt to move southwark,
General Lee will attack him again, and the re-
suit will be the same as last week. There are a
dozen Chancelorvilles between the Rappahan-
mock and Richmond. Lee may eyacuate Fred
ericksburg. and lay pontoon bridges, as his SOL
diers offered to do. to assist Hooker in crossing
the Rappahannock; he may retire behind the
Mattapony, behind the North Anna behind the
South Anna behind the Pamunkey, he may
stop Hooker's advance at Chaucellorville again
or he NAV make stand at Bowling Green; or he
NAV fall back TO Hanover But, wherever
Hooker fights Lee, on that route, ne will be de-
feated The COnfederates desire nothing better
than that our armies should be thus frittered
away in insane attempts, like those of Pope and
Haleck, and Burnside and Hooker, to reach
Richmond by the overland route
Hooker's late campaign exhibits the true value
OF Halleck's generalship. Halleck is th, Gener-
al-in- Chief 1t is his business to plan the cam
paigns. and to see that his plans are executed.
How did be do it in Hooker's case? 1t was his
business to see that Stoneman was sent off on his
expedition to cut the railroads before Hooker's
movement began If lie had done this, not only
would it have been impossible for Longstreet and
Hill to have Joined Lee. but also, and most i'm
portant, the whole of Stoneman's cavalry would
have been back and reioinej Hooker and taken
! part in the battle The result would have been,
| of course, victory He did not do this 1t was
Halleck's business to have sent Heintzelman,
with his corps of 10000 men, TO act as reserve
to Hooker, and also large supplies of ammuni-
: ton and provisions, which Hooker really needed
If he had done this, Hooker would not have been
compelled to retreat across the Rappahannock
as he did on Tuesday night. But Halleck did
not do this In point Of fact, Halleck permitted
Hooker to cut loose from him altogether, to
act entirely independent of him, and afforded
him no support or assistance whatever. A
pretty General in Chief, truly.
, But, perhaps, Halleck is not to blame. This
, is Mr. Lincoln's war. He is managing it himself
He directs all the movements of the armies every
where And of the navy too And of the ngger
recruiting business, too. And reads all of Mr.
, Stewards dispatches to foreign Minsters-ALL oi
them, Mr.. Seward says-before they sent off
. Wonderful mani Take him for all in all, We
ne'er shall look upon his like again.
$ Gen. Lee has sent flag of truce across the
e river, saying that we must send surgeons and
. medical stores to our wounded, whom Hooker
e left in his hands And the surgeons and the
medical stores have been sent Hundreds of rel
E atives of wounded officers and soldiers have
e fiocked here. since the battle, seek out theil
{ friends whom Hooker left to the tender mercie:
of the Rebels Many, it is known. died on The
, field, after lingering in agony for three days
So great has been the anxiety on this head thai
$ Hooker has issued an order in which he says thai
. the wounded in the hands of the enemy will bt
sent to us but that the enemy ioi not allou
any person 10 uisit them But how fares it with
those who are too horribly wounded to bear re
moval2 Hooker does not say. These facts
however, prove the falsity of the stories tha
Hooker has recrossed the Rappahannock, or tha
Lees army has retreated to Richmond. z.