Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-09-23
The News from the southwest,



other advances there, whole division is
put to flight in one place, while second
is making its way through the very centre
of the enemy, and no one seeing these
fluctuations can tell where the contest Will
end. Now il seems that this side Will
be the victor, in IA moment again, the 9TH
er side has the advantage, aud until the
bugle procIaims the final nots OF triumph
! all is doubt and uncertainty.
The same is true of "A campaign as OF
battle. II consists of series OF move
ments aud struggles, of which no one can
tell the upshot until the victory has been
secured. The opposing generals make
their movements on the broad theatre OF
war, lust as a Paulsen or q Koliche direct
the pieces of the chess misunderstanding
queen here, Withdrawing bishop there,
even sacrifiscing knights and pawns ut
times, not for the sakeo immediate gains
or losses, bot in reference to the great end.
If they hazard that by too rapid march
J forward they check their speed, or they
soon begin to march as rapidly the other
way, and appear to be losing the very OBJ
iects for which they contended.
Now, we must apply these principles to
the military conduct of Rosecrans, who, at
ter series of successful advances. has
Just encountered the enemy in North Geor-
l
checked for day or two, when he was
compelled to retire to defensive position.
Our latest unofficial report says that he was
"badly beaten" which simply means that
he was driven back with considerable loss.
Once arrived at Chattanooga he can pre-
vent pursuit by the enemy, rally his scat
tered men, wait for achievements and then
renew the'campaign under other auspices.
Rosecrans, it should be remembered, aP-
pears in the character of invader; he is
moving into the euemy's country, which he
is obliged to do cautiously, feeling his way
the whole distance; but that very fact
renders any victory or defeat (Which does
not destroy or cripple his army of COM
paratiyely less importance to him than
to his opponeat If he is driven back, his
operations are merely delayed for time,
but if he coneuers it is so much added to
his strength of position aud his ultimate
aim.
There is a parallel between Rosecrans'
movement in Georgia and that of Lee last
summer upon Pennsylvania. If Lee had
succeeded in the battle of Gettysburg, the
event would have been most disastrous
one for the North, laying open our capital
to the foe, and many of our principal cities.
As he did not succeed, and at the same
time was not wholly cut off, he lost only
prestige and the immediate consequences
of the battle. he carried away the ma
iority of his troops with whole skins, and
in few weeks had them ready for other
conflicts. So Rosecrans, if he had demol-
ished Bragg in pitched engagement of all
the forces on beth sides, would have been
master of the cities and towns of two of the
leading Confederate States; he could have
dictated terms to Mobile and closed his
hands upon Savannah on the other hand,
to be merely repulsed and not demolished is
to lose no more than point in the game.
That is all, as we read the present advi-
ces, that has happened to our army of the
Cumberland; it has lost a point; it has
recoiled after a failure in one of
its efforts, not to be overwhelmed,
but to prepare for q stronger leap
1t has always, at the worst, the Tennessee
river and the mountains to put between it
and the enemy; it has large support I'M
der Burnside in East Tennessee, and it can
draw, in little while, upon powerful rein
forcements on tho banks of the Mississippi.
No doubt Bragg, assisted by Johnston, and
some conjecture by Lee and Beauregard,
has done the best it was in the power OF
the Confederate army to do, in order to
save its affairs, placed in the most critical
condition by the cautious but sure and
steady advances of Rosecrans. But unless
he has achieved victory which amounts
to an humiliation of the adversary, he has
accomplished nothing but temporary adj
vantage. Our army will be put in secure
defenses, be rapidly strengthened, and
move in the course which has been marked
for it on the map.
Meantime, if the reports be true that
Bragg has derived such large supplies of
men from other armies it will give good
opportunity to the loyal forces opposing
those armies to strike. If Beauregard, for
instance, has despatched his garrisons
westward, Gilmore's task becomes easier;
or if Lee has sent away Lsngstreet's diVi
sion, Meade's chance has come. We are
told on all sides that the army of the Pc.
tomac was never stronger, never in better
condition, never more eager for the fray,
and, presum;ng the representations to be
true, we see no reason why the diminished
ranks of Lee should not be overwhelmed,
aud the daring couspirators who for two
years have issued their infamous DEGREES
from Richmond driven into the states of
the Gulf, if not into the Gulf itself, which
is the "last ditch" of their aspiration and
their destiny.