Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1863-12-14
AspIendid Compliment.

Gen. Grant has received many fine
compliments, but we remember to have
seen none equal to that given him By
the Richmond, Va, Whig. Coming as
it does from an avowed enemy, it is q
tribute to his courage, skill, and military
genius, which is far more valuable than
the fulsome hattery heaped upon him by
parasites -sI.,- expect 10 Iatten on his
reputation. We copy the remarks OF
the Whig on this point in full:
11s-s GRANTS INTENTIONS.
q Sallust,' the well.informed and trust
worthy war correspondent of the Dis
patch, telegraphing from Resaca, under
date of November both, states, in sub
stance, that The wagon roads are in a
horrible condition, that the enemy can
not advance without the railroad, that
they have no cars, and that the proba-
billties are that no movement in force
upon Dalton and Atlanta will be made
until next spring. With great general
confidence in the accuracy of statement
and correctness of judgment of this cor
respondent, we should, nevertheless, be
exceedingly sorry to learn that his opin-
ions are derived from the General COM
manding the remnant of Bragg's army,
and that they are shared by the Presi-
dent and War Department at Richmond
TO count upon the tardiness of Grants
movements, in consequence of the con-
dition of the turnpikes or the railroads,
would be suicidal Grant has proved
that he can do what so few of our Gen.
erals have been able to accomplish-foL
low up victory in spite of natural OBJ
stacles; and it is certain he will not per-
NIT himself now to be stopped, either by
mud or want of cars. These dificui-
ties are by no means insurmountable.
Every one remembers the sanguine
predictions of the impossibility of carry
ing on the seige of Vieksburg. Gentle
men owning plantations on which
Grants army was encamped before
Vicksburg,. declared that his soldiers
would perish for the lack of water, or
die like sheep with the rot, from drink
ing such as they could obtain. More
over, we were told thaS the malarions
diseases of the climate would decimate
his army, and compel hifa to raise the
siege. Further, it was stated by the
same. reliable operator, whois now at
work, in Atlanta cheering us, with the
assurance that the Yankees lost at least
twenty thousand men in the assault on
Lookout Mountain, that Grant had lost
quite fifty thousand of the flower of bis
army in the various attempts to storm
the intrenchments at Vicksburg. How
utterly fallacious all these predictions
and assertions .nroyedlI LII .IghS JsjAsseoufaf
clusion, without, so far as we have ever
learned, any serious impediment what
ever. In spite of water, climate, diseas
es and repeated repulses, Grant COM
PEELED Pembertons to surrender in less
than three months from the day the siege
began, ia .tisggassF S. '.eH -
Shall we again be the dupes of ill
founded hopes? Shall We rely for safety
upon mud and not upon men? Shall we
trust to cars and not to energy2 Heaven
forbidl The railroad from Nashville to
Chattanooga is. doubtless, now OPEN
and trains running all the way through.
On this railroad any quantity Of cars and
engines necessary to stock the road from
Chattanooga to Atlanta, may be brought
! through in less than a weeks time
| Two weeks more will be all that Yankee
activity and ingenuity win demand to
| complete the rebuilding of burned bridg-
es. But we doubt if Grant will await the
arrival of cars and the completion of
bridges. lie has plenty of transporta-
| ton, and the whole North behind him to
i supply horses anG wagons as fast as they
break down. He has ten thousand men
already mounted He has cannon with.
out limit, and inexhanstible ammunition
In front of him is an, army, routed, de
moralized, half destroyed by captures
and by struggling, poorly provided with
clothing, very many of its small armi
abandoned, and most of its artillery miss
:, ing Is it to be supposed that he vii
Ewait whole winter long in idIeness, ant
not avail himself of the splendid oppor
| tunity to complete the dispersion of dis
pirited and weakened foes, and to insur,
the capture of Atlanta7 It were mad
ness to think so. .tas.se .s..1e
| 5. In proof of the false hopes and errone
ous conjectures which lured Baagg +
his destruction, we need only recall
statement made In letter of I" Sallust
to the; Dispatch, writteni just before tn
defeat at Lookout Mountain, in regar
as to Sherman's corps. Although the pa
sage of the Tennessee by this corps ha
!, been announced Ia the Richmond paper
. week or ten days before the battle ,
Lookout Mountain was fought, "Sallust
states that it was expected that Sherma
8 would not be able to effect junctio
with Grant until February. And viii
: the people of Alabama were boastiu
n that Gen. Lees cavalry had driven She
! man back, and compelled him to aba
d don the route he was taking to reat
; Chattanooga, it turned out that Sherms
IS under cover of feint made by Oste
!. haus' division, was marching to Join Ora
IS with great swiftness and without mole
> tation In view of thesef acts, we shou
re be slow TO build hopes upon the enemy
10 incapacity to overcome bad roads, al
m conceal his movements from the not t
be piercing vision of our commanders.
y quicker and larger brain is needed
IN Georgia Ia strategist who bases
in plans not upon wind, weather or railros
IS IS but upon the known bravery of his Cpl