Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-07-29
The surrsnder OF vloLsburg.

/
The surrendsr OF VIeksburg.
From the Richmond Examiner, July 20.
The capitulation of Yicksburg though il
the minds Of military men an event newt
able, since the day when Grant lodged biz
army in the rear Of Vicksburg, by surpris-
ing and routing the divided and badly
handled forces nf Pemberton, has nevertho-
less disappointed the expectations of ALL
It'was not to be supposed that any single
position, SO wedged in between rivera as
Vicksburg, could withstand to the end q
power combined from every available re-
source of the enemy, and concentrated with
every military appliance of modern inven-
tioS- against 1t, when the investment was
finally completed. Sooner ar later the
place thus invested and beset must have
fallen. The besieging army, protected in
front by the Mississippi and in rear by the
Big Black, drawing supplies from the great
stream, and having undisputed command
of it's navigation, was in condition to defy
successful assault from the rear. The con-
federate general isent there when the cam
paign was lost, not to relieve the town but
to relieve Pemberton. might have thrown
away an army in such an effort and after
its failure might, while the enemy should
march Unopposed through those great
states, have enjoyed the reputation of a he
ro at the expense of thousands of lives
vainly lost, and an army unavailingly de-
stroyed. Though mercenaries may assail
and defame him, he has the sufficient
answer that an army is yet preserved for
the defense of Mississippi, Alabama, and
Georgia.
The reasonable cause for disappointment
is, not that Vicksburg capitulated, but that
she did NOT fret 6ktlibtt more of that heroic
Discrimination aud that spirit of desperate
endurance which marked the more cele-
brated sieges of ancient and modern times.
The particular day chosen for the surren-
der was at least ungracious. Better that
it should have been on the Sd or 9th of
July than on the 4th. Why should the
calamity have been aggravated to the
South by spph's selection of the day on
which it should take place? The more
intelligent minds of the confederacy had
long been reconciled to the idea that
Vicksburg must fall; but the whole pride
of the South was engaged in the expecta-
tion that the siege Of Vicksburg would
ever constitute the subject of the most
heroic chapter in the history of the war.
Whoever shall read the narratives of the
great sieges of history, will recur to the
transaction at Vicksburg with extreme
indicated his unsurpassed valor on many
fields, but are we, indeed, devoid of that
fortitude uuder prolonged trial, aud that
patience and power of endurance which,
at times, constitute such important ele-
ments of heroism, aud which are the quail
tiles so persistently denied us by our
enemies.
Such display of heroism would not
have been in vain. The utility of a more
prolonged resistance was obvious. 1t would
occupy, for the time being, an army esti-
mated at from 60, 5000 to- 100000 strong.
It'would hold that army pent up in an un-
healthy locality, where the climate could
not fail TO have done greater execution
upon 1t than the severest battles with our
forces. 1t would give time to the author
tiles of the confederacy to organize and
concentrate an army at jackson for the
defense of the Gulf States fully adequate
to that vital purpose, and to mature it's
outfit at each of the important departments
of ordnance, transportation and supplies.
At present the little army before jackson
is officered by men comparatively unknown
to the country, and inexperienced in battle.
All of General Johnston's first generals,
EwelI, jackson, A. P. Hill, g. w. Smith,
Stewart, Rhodes, Wilcock, aud score of
others, have been transferred to Lee and
he has now to dispute the possession Of
the Miss ssippi with Grant, leading the
best regiments in the federal service, with
troops newly orgauized into the army,
under officers comparatively unknown to
fame. The Importance OF time, therefore,
to a geheral'i 10 Johnston's condition cannot
be calculated. It was in this point of view
that protracted resistance at Vicksburg
became q matter of the gravest import
-, - ,-s f1lr f,nk ~ aa rya ~ .
gulf states. The endurance of privation,
aud the exhibition of indomitable Fesolu-
tion at Vicksburg do not compare at all
with that which distinguished the defense
of SaraRossa, under Palafox, in 1909, or
Londonderry, under the heroic Walker, In
1880.
The heroism and these suferings were
crowned with reward. Londonderry held
out to the end. After q siege of three
months, half of which was attended by
scenes which the foregoing history depicts,
the besieping general led away his army
and left the city TO its freedom. a{.
The resistance at Yicksburg presents no
parallel to the case of Londonderry in
single feature. Compared With that, or
with any of tile remarkable sieges Of any
age, there is nothing in Il fsttering 70 the
s0utheru pride or creditable to southern
fortitude and patriotism. Unlike London-
derry. Vicksburg was powerfully fortified
and admirably situated for defense. Re-
peated assaults had demonstrated the fact
that it could not be taken by assault II its
garrison was willing TO fight. Iteontaiued
twenty.seven thousand soldiers, twenty
two thousand of whom we're effective every
day. To the last it was reported to be well
supplied With provisions and ammunition,
and the Yankees state that they found
large quantities of both untouched in the
town when they entered it. Here is their