The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-05-27

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with-thase notes, as has also the King of Per-
tugal. 4 hus ali t-E nrope5 with the SOLITARY
Il .Nexception of Prussia-where -cras5e King
dnres to set the whole creatiou at defiance
lis arrayed against gigantic, but weak Russia !;
i weak because gigantic and unnatural in con-
Estructien. aagai Ssa f.sas4t 4Ss-l9 : 8 -
i e8fSas u IL ~ s. s,g7
Il 9,si q From the New York Herald, hs =. =
ofHooker Brought
4 u.1s ssa9Fiaa Is to the Test. 9's =
d The nine day S events on he Rappahannock
have brought the seneralship Of Hooker to the
test, It was an easy natter for him to criticise
+ the generalship of Burnside and Mcclellan in
leading an army Of 90, 900 men against Rich-
! mond But he no: finds it very different af-
| fair to lead the same army himself to the same
1 destination. He was confident, when examined
+ before the Congressional Committee on The Con-
/ duct of the War. that he could have marehed
| into Richmond at any time at his case had he
1 been at the head of the 4 rmy of the Potomac
4 instead OF General Mcclellan and If be ha d
/ had command instead of Burnside he would
| have achieved wonders. nIIe had recently sta
I ted that the army he led was ssthe fnes. ON
/ the planet, "ls'an nrmy of veterans" as the
| Tribune remarks, tssuperior to that of the PEN
/ insula = and so large was itthat Mr. Stanton,
/ IN his dispetch to Govcrnor Curtin asserts
| that no mora than one-third of the force was
| engaged IN the late egle--in other words,
| that Hook er had more troops than he knew
I what to do with. Nor is this all. He is allowed
/ by Lee to cross the Rappahanneok withoutop.a
/ position and without less, and to have secured
/ a position he deemed impregnable-and which
| according to the orderzhe issued on Thursday, 8
the 3Oth of April, had rendered it necessary
1that sthe enemy must either inaloriously fly or
i come out from behind his'defenses and give
US (the Union army battle on our own ground
wheie certain destruction asnits him''-an or
der which in view of tho events that followed.
| reminds us offthe bonrbass. of Popo. The en- :.
| cmy did notinglariously fly, but gave the Union
army battle on its own ground; ;and so far from
q sceriaia destruction" bring his fate, he COM
| PEELED Fighting Jae" to-fecross tho Kappa
hammock with loss svariously sestmsted
+ By the occupation of Charlottesville We
were told the retreat of Lee was cutg off over
the turnrike rnad to Gordonsyille, and if Stone
man should only prove Isucoessfuliln his, mis-
SION, aud cut th airailroad the whole army of
Lee mus, be killed or captured Ii turns ont
that Stoneman dld bis subordinate, part well.
But hov was the principle role in the drama
performed f. How did the commanding Gen.
eral sequit himself and redeem the pledges
he gave r lie had everything his own way /;
His communications with his rear intact, and
not even threatened Why did he fail Z? There
is dispatch iroln the opposing General, which
We uDtlsbSd hooker not
a word. 1t is stated for him, indeed. by some
anonymous correspondents, that his defeat and
retreat are owing to three causes: First, the
flight of the Eleventh Corps ;7second, The ri !
sing of the Rappahannock and third, his ig
norance of success of lStonemanis expeditions
1t has al O. been stated bg others that she has
complained of Sedgwick' s corps not gaining
the nights of Fredericksburg in time Now it
is evident that if these reasons are founded in
IL
question of senerakhip, and prove thaa II ook
or was really nutgeneraled, when Lee, play
ing far-dccper game of strategy, only seemed
to be in a dangerous position, and very soon 4
turned the tables against his adversary ta7s I
Before crossing the Rappahannock Hook er
had calculated that Lee had no more than half /
the army with which he fought Burnside
that large portion cf it had gone south of the
James River to the vicinity of Suffolk, in
North Carolina, and even to Tennessee, and
that the residue would therefore foll an easy
prey. He was copfirmedin his delusion ty1
The facility with which he hai been permitted
to effect the crossing Whatathen must have |
been his astonshment to find before he had
his line of defense completely formed that
Lee was upon him in overwhelming numbers.
aud instead ef having turned the left flank of |
Ihe rebel General his own right flank was
turned, his right wing driven in with confu
sion, and the panic extended to his center ;
thus losing possession of Charlottesville, and
with it / Ire road to Gordonsville, and being |
compelled to change his front and contract his |
line to save his army from being cut of from 4
the lords and the pontoon 2
Before he bad struck a. single blow he found /
himself on the defensive, and his. eQpmupiea
tions seriously menaced, Instead Of adgan-
cling a.ainst Lee he waited for Lee to attack
him, forgetting the maxim that ceteyis pa, i6us,
the assailing arm y in battle, has more cour7
age than the army defending itself, and that
only the poss. ssipn OF some very strong posi- |
Ftion can oounterbalapce the disadvantage of
waiting to be assailed. Napoleon understood
this; for in almost every battle he was The as
lsailant StoLewall Jackson follows his exam
pie. But Hooker who earned the soubr'qwet
of "Fightng Joe, both as a division and
corps commander, appears to fight rather shy
at the head of an army of hundred thousand
men. s.s.'--iI 5,9l. q55-.,ssa.s.
ef3Great credit assumed for the successful
strategy by which Hookir crossed to the South |
side of the Rapp hammock. But it is highly |
probable that this is due less to him than the I
rebel General, who preferred fighting him on I
his own side OF the river, in the hope of cap /
turing lis whole army; and that the. escape /
was rrobably owing, in q great degree to the
severe wound which disabled StOBewal Jack T
son. the right arm of Lee. Hookers attribu-
ting his failure 10 not hearing from Stoneman /
is anly saying that he did ppt send him on his
errsnd in time. This was part of his business
as commanding General. As it turned out,
1t wot ia have been far better he had not seat
Stopepan a all for the presel ce OF sc, larseJ
"a body OF cavalry on The field would nave
saved bis right flank, and perhaps turned the
seals Of battle in his favor. Nor will it do 10