The New York herald., 1863-04-28

n hlL 20, 100. I'LL IL u
made A. ~ my Judgment there were only two meinoas
u conn"ractng the eirts the enemy la That direc
tion lirst, By the empoymen Of strong naval imce
on the Potomac second BY the actual occrpaiioa tue
Virginia baak OF the river by troops: In August,
lsei-i think before the 18th Of the month"; wrote 70
the secretary of the Navy, calling his attention TO ne
tho necessity for sunSoais Tor IoeSsdus purposes
great thai he Nary Department ,Oas nsv ate 20 Pae. an
was in condition TO have occupied the vTginia bank OF
the river much befoIe IL actually moved from Washing
ton The question Of attacking the rebel batteries on the
P9tpnao was caef ally examined and the opinion ultimate
.lmed was that II would required general advance
Of the entire army The,dea OF direct attack upon tho
batteries from the water abandoned In consequence
Of report made by General barnard, then Chief en-
gineer OF the Army OF tho Potomac who examined tho
points IN question as carefully as circumstances per-
q Was there any attempt at operat ion Of tho army
river from those obstructoDsf A. Taere seds no
dcual coeperatisn, for 1e reason hat Ae navy
often discussed the matter with the Assistant Secretary
Of the Navy, and think the Monitor completed pro-
aeo or assd be 20 Ue used on
the Potomac did all that could TO secure the 60 ope
ration the navy IN acting upon the rebel batteries upon
@ Was there not time agreed upon when the navy
should furnish certain vessels asd the army certain
force Of order 20 attack these batteriesY A. do
not think that any nsl and specific arrangement was
made Ny impression is, that while the matter was
under discussion before had been finally agreed upon,
those batteries abandoned by the rebels know
that y was tAlkedo but do not think 1t had assumed
O was there not an attempt ct co operation between
the army and 70 take possession Of Matthias Point
the rebels know
had parties there ths four times From the time
reaohed Washington until left it was never occupied
Q. fnsn VIII say Mssthias's Point. some other
srategical point on the river do not remcmber the
name OF tho which has been referred 70. A. can
think Of else that can be alluded 70 by that
question except the design have already referred Of
cr thoca hiatt ot
which abandoned in consequence Of Gen. Barnard's
report That was whom Gen. Hooker was at Budd's
Matthias Point is one OF the most important points
the river, II not A. Yes; in this that the channel
narrow there and approaches very near the point
O. How do you explain the fact that the enemy never
dd occupy that pcints II was too Tar from their main
thom to have occupied that place. Either they must
have ntrenched themselves there, very heavily built
strong work that would protect itself or TO detach large
force that purpose do not remember the distance
but perhaps is twenty ve miles from the nearest
O. And that would have extended their lines nf
teon twenty miles they then weres A. l should
think from twenty TO twenty live milea II would nave
O. 10 YOU know at what time, or about what time, It
became apparent that the enemy intended TO- construct
batteries along from Transport say TO Cockpit Poin
A. think they made their appearance there about the
end Of August But cannot be positive without refer
the OF august that they first showed their hand there
q. That the narrowest part Of tho river, is it not,
Svovs Wr hr sh srs nearly than A. sny other nont
O. Did you consider 1t Of great importance TO
we might have The free navigation Of the Potomacs A.
regarded as OF vital Importance because we had
po,nmac Ithinf he ;nnortance was more moral one
than physical, IL may use that expression.
& ~ o rgs linz % ~ railroad Almost whov FOR sunpes.
Xp Yes b5t we never failed TO ret what we wanted
think in previous answer gave my general idea about
& ny .hs hant 81 he river IN ordsr 10 nrevent the
obstruction o. the Potomac @ oy tne enemy q, ruv
THE ALIsSED lrAot%loS % vi inh A"A' VI ~" I'M
O. viii now call your attention 70 the next point 10
tne geaera quessoa one lons pvs d ~ ,H ~ Is,
Of March whom the moyemsas Of the army oommeneed'
a. tnmk nave areaoy stateo, " answer W solno
snS the % he cy That when
took command the defences were incomPiete, anu
the army was not sassac.osy cona.ion, ,,a,Io nos
organized ana not emcent oevoteu my At.en.,on
to the correction o! those two pontsvz the complexion
OF the dcfences ana the organization Oh tne army ao
not think that the army was 10 ut condition ior onen
sve operations until the beginning Of the year 1907 vn
the lst Of November was appointed Commander .oiei
Of the army, place Of Genera Scott once turned
my attention 70 tne mvement o. troops N me VEST
connection win tne proposed movements oi inc army
the Pot0mec tnee tnougnt tnat the conoion ot tnlnes
In the west was sucn tnat we could the onensve
l without oimcuy eaIly IN uecemper. sent reneI, :,
hA1scx sS sske Tc@msna ~ hnsouri anu Ina ven nc ;
complete possession Of Missouri and tnsn as rapidly as
possible 70 move COLUMN On a. Anoxve anu ~
oroer 70 gam pcsesson o, the Aempnn ana SnAeson
KaroAe ana 70 an tne Ioyal meS o. Ensern
western NORM ceIohna ana So1th Satone suu Noitnein
Georg's, uenerh naect anu 1enera buen Iepcrteu ~
me mmedstey Aner assuming tnn commsnos, tnat tnc
conoton OF tnines wa no .nst az mmense
amount y pispsIston nsu s.ii ~ pe m,uo, uo' ony o
the organizaon Oh troops out 70 supply tne necessary
naerie; uu NY ocss " suppy .e oAsus ue'eS's,
| requentIy urgng upon Yen. Dusu Tue sscessly o
promPt Mov ehsns upon nnoAvns away ,ns'
grester mpoT,snSs tnan sne possessca o Nssavle-
!ne posssss,on wncn uP'n as sne ~ seSona
on W pe unaeI Aen ~ Lennessee Iom .ne oes
had looked upon II as essential that We should gam
SIN ~ .no nemnp's @ Snu ~ ILL., y. vue, ~ ~
sus ~. % ~. sS a,ianss @ ss n rs %rss s
Mns,pp anu .ne Aaus'c soio oeiore 'uAAns o"ee'
"oseW,m. % WI. VA" IA ~ n'cnu or Al. po,o,. ,.- an
,..,rsas.,r sa. @ ~ ,ss - vo,.snnhsr ,Srys r
snswer ,Sat with anv degree Of
sn~. fuess.o. ~ ~ say ~
s. IT, re- - ~ p, s,s,d ~ ,c,,ss svr,s,sr
90 S Sacrasrv ~ WI ,h., "rsr nrod,ns sor the
W nc - " ~ " q p,.ss.n s , ~ VIC -, -
rleon8 OF washington, baitimore tnere were aOcut