The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1863-05-19

Very truly your friend,
KENTUCKY SOLDIER.
We invite attention to the following
excellent article, from the Washington
Chronicle:
CAVALRY RAIDs-At last we have be-
gun to use our cavalry. We have made
three great raids throug hout the Southern
country which far surpass the noted
achievements OF Stuart and Morgan. both
in the extent OF country traversed, and
in the amount of damage done. That of
General Carter, from East Tennessee
across the mountains, in which he cut IN
the East Tennessee and Virginia railroad
for over hundred miles, has not passed
from our recollection. That of General
Stoneman, in which he passed entirely
around Lees army, destroyed thirty
miles Of railroad, and captured and des-
troyed a vast amount of rebel property,
has been fully described in tbs Chronicle
That of General Grierson in the West is
even the most extensive Of all. he ira
versed the State Of Mississippi from
North TO South and from East to West.
lie met no opposition, and took his time
in tearing up railroad tracks, DESTROYING
bridges, pulling down telegraph lines,
and carrying away the wires, which can
not be replsced, and destroying every
kind of public property he could find.
He has not yet returned, but is supposed
TO have proceeded still further on his tour
of devastation.
The developments OF these expeditions
are in the highest degree interesting
Independently Of the fact that they in.
dictate renewed energy on our part, and
cheering determination TO take the
aggressive in the coming campaign, they
have exposed to an unexpected extent the
weakness of the South and the power of
the North. 1t appears that the whole
available force of the South is constantly
kept in our immediate front. Wherever
our forces penetrated they found not only
| no bodies of armed men, but scarcely
any ablebodied men. The rebels have
no reserves, no camps Of instruction, and
hardly any munitions of war and sup
plies, except what are actually employed
in the field. Though Colonel Grierson
had but thousand men, he followed the
| lines of railroad and settls ment through
State inhabited by 353, 90l whites, and
437, 4O4 blacks, aud there were not
enough able bodied men-there were not
enough hOrsemen in a State renowned
for horsemen-to stop his ravages or his
triumphal ride. Tie only men ct home arc
the negroes ant hey are our firm allies and
| fast trfendS. Though at great risk To them =
s hes, they tcelo0Hed or soldiers most heaHly
acted as guides, baked corn Gales for them,
and rendered them every aid IN their poiDsr.
That aid was not only great but indls-
pensable. Travelling through an I'M
known country one must have guides.
Travelling through hostile country one
must have scouts and friends. All these
she negroes were to us, and without them
we should have Jared but poorly indeed
The black population is invaluable to us
While 1t is the weakness of the South, il
is the strength of the North.
Again, while this is our policy. IL will
give the rebels plenty to do at home. as
well as in front of our armies. Thew
will have to guard their lines of commu-
nication, and great many troops will be
required for that purpose. They will
have to use their cavalry TO scour their
own country instead of ours. They will
have to furnish material and labor to re-
pair the damage'we have done, and in
some cases that will be impossible
They will have to watch their negroes
too. 1t will no longer do to send then,
South, and trust to their subordinatioD
for there is no point in the rebel domin-
ions to which our cavalry cannot pene-
trate. The property we have DESTROYED
is of immense value to them. Then cgr
not replace railroad iron nor tslsgyapi tgiye
and every casF ef bacon zoe destroy is a grea
ter loss to them than ten men l0ouH be. NJ
wonder they are struck with consterna-
ton and DIRE ad They have good reason
to be. But it is a notable fact that the
conduct Of our men filed them with
surprise They behaved, the rebel Jour
mails cay, "like gentlemen" an unexpec-
ted contrast, we doubt not, TO the bear
ing of their own cavalry when engaged
ON similar expeditions,
The cavalry of the rebels, like everV-
thing else they possess, has almost suf,
Tered annihiiation in the tremendous ex-
ertions they have made in this war.
According TO the census of 1850 the
number of horses in the loyal States, in
GLIDING Kentucky and Missouri, was 4, =
4lIl3O, and the number in the dislOyal
States lG9O,33l Thus our strength in
this respect was at the beginning Of the
war more than three times that of the
rebels. But this is not all. Their hor-
SEES have suffered and died from starva-
ton and improper food. They have had
no oAts-nothing but corn, which is the
worst food in the world in summer.
They have had but little hay. The
shiitless and improvident planters trust
ed 70 obtaining that as they did almost
every other commodity, from the North,
aud when the war came on they had
neither haY fields nor hay presses. 1t is
not out Of the way, therefore, to state
/ our strength in horses as five or six times
az great az theirs Again, when one Of
their horses sickens, be dies. Ours are
taken 70 hospitals where they are treated
with care and skill, and supplied with
all the medicines that can possibly be