Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-09-05
Special Correspondence Of the Chicago Tines.
WssuIxeTox AuC Al


Special correspondence Of the Chicago Tines
WssHIxeroS. Aug. 81
The capture Of Charleston Is an event as far
Of il was TWO weeks sgo The Official
reports rereivei here nv the N,vy Dersr,meut
ATE Il iferent frum the ro-e colored accounts
that have been published in some Of the papers
To Judge from the latter. one would suppose hat
few days mure would see the dear old h.g
Boating in triumph over Charleston aud that
nothing can avert the result. But il il well
kno an in Official circles that surh j. not the fact
The official dispatches received do not warraLt
any such conclusion. They claim that they are
making progress toward the reduction of the CITY.
but they admit that the progress must be necessa
rily slow On the other hand. it my well he
doubted whether the whole expedition will not
fail One reason, not the only one, why the at
tack on Charleston the 7rh OF April failed. WIS
because the land forces dill not ca operate One
reason. but not the only one. why the present
attack on Charleston will fail. j., that the navy
does not co operate properly IL is certain that
Charleston cannot he taken by land force alone
II is certain that land forces cannot reach the
CITY until after the naval forces have passed Fort
Sumter; reduced successfully Fort Moultrie.
Fort johnson, Fort Ripley. and Castle PlBckney !;
engaged and demolished the three iron steam
Rms and cleared the h ,rbor OF distractions
This work cannot be done by the land forces.
and the latter cannot approach the city until il is
done. Indeed, they cannot even take Fort
Wagner. Yet except bOmbarding Fort Sumter
at long range the navy j. doing very little. As
the siege progresses t will he seen that il - by
far the most difficult enterprise during the war.
AMI that the work of taking it will throw Vicks-
burg far inv the shade
The incursions of the Coniederates near this
CITY continue Ia he carried on with the greatest
b1ldness ami impunitv. and scarcely dtv pas>es
that j. not marked hy some daring exploit on
their p,rt On the 28ih inst a squadron Of rebel
cavalry. some .2.lO strong. crossed The Potomac
near Lee-burg, at the sreue of the battle OF Ball.
Bluff and attacked the somewhat celebrated
corps of Scott 90D" cavalry. took possession
of their camp. capfurej nearly hundred men,
made such observations in the vicinity as they
wished, and recrossed the river aud reached
Lecsburg long before any steps could he taken
to intercept them A wagon with medicines or
supplies. mail bag cannot go 20 the distance
Of twenty miles from Washington. on It's way to
Gen Meade's army. without falling into the
hands of some strong party Of Confederate cav
alrv, unless il is escorted by stronger dctach.
ment of our own cavalry.
The recurrence Of numerous instances Of this
bind has induced Gen Ne,de to establish reeu
lar weekly convoy for the mlils. suppl, trains
and suffers wagons between here and his army
So many canal boats loaded with valuahles aud
army Supplies have been captured ON the canal
between here and Point of Rocks. during the
last ten W, that several divisions of the army
suffering in consequence On the "a h inst
a severe skrmish took place mt Annandale. he
tween Fairfax and this citv. aud only twelve
miles from here. between = regiment of cavalry
from Massachusetts and NJ ,shv's squadron. the
ltier having heen lttely largely III Imeniei. and
numbering now. il il said over GA men. That
ttf l.; oh bo ipfar al
from the fact that Mo,hy himself was slightly
wounded. aud lost Captain and Lieutenant
killed and a Lieutenant and ~ men wounded.
Our loss WAS 3 killed 7 wounded AID ~ prison
ers: and We lost. besides. l5o horses which Mosby
carried off IL to get possession of these
horses, apparently. that Mo~bv made the attack
In advancing 70 make the attack. MO-bv came on
the Warrentou turnpike. by the way of Center
vile and Fairfax In ietreating. he took the
Green Spring road 10 Winchester. nv the wav OF
Fairfax and Aide regiment of cavalry. with
fresh horses. instantly sent in pursuit nv Gen
Heirrzlem IN. to whom intelligence of the loss OF
the horses had been telegraphed The pursuit
was vigorously kept up as far "a Smokers g ~.
% miles from Washington. but abandoned there
as useless "a il was ascertsined that Mosbv had
crossed The Shenandoah there ten hours before
At the Gan. however. the pursuing party found
a dozen Of VI ,sbv's old horses which had been
ridden nearly ~ death
need not remind the readers of the Times
that the above events ex 'ctlv a reDetition of
those which preceedel Gen Lees recent north
ward campaign. They seem. to the casual Oh
server mere raids for plumber. They get the
plumber, hut they have higher object They
are "Reminiscences and the results of each one
are directly communicated To Gen Lee. The
batter officer. with his army recruited To fully
lbs 000 strong, and his men refreshed by a
sive movement towards this citv. which may well
be regarded with alarm The New York papers
say that Gen. Melde's armv is in tn It city. and
some OF them actually enumerate about 4O 900 of
the best troops OF the Army OF the Potomac
which are there enforcing the conscription. One
of those papers attempts To excuse their presence
there by surprising that they are about TO embark
there for Mexico. in order 10 deliver that country
from the French That is highly improbable
But, for whatever purpose thew are there, the
country has n right to know why they sre there
and why thew are not here The New York
Express furnishes an answer when il says that
the administration regards the conquest Of New
York of more importance than the conquest
of Richmond That is very true But even the
conquest OF New York viii not compensate the
nation for the loss OF Washington. And it is a
sober fact that Washington is Imperfect by the
absence in New York Of so many OF General
TcStulcttS
The Administration has signi6ed its intention
of creating 1.-The Department Of South Carolina -
and Of placing Benj amin F Butler in cpmmnni
o. it. with his he 'dqurrters at Charleston.
a that CITY shall have been reduced The se'ec
ton Of such a nan would he eminently ht it it i
the purpose Of the Administration "a win back the
love of that State 20 the Union. See how the
people Of Louisiana and MhrS land love The Union
Gen Butler learned them Ia do 50 He would be
equally successful in SOUTH Carolina, While he
has been ru>tng in obscurtv. however. enjoy ing
the wealth wrung from the planters of Louisiana
by his brother Andrew. somebody else has been
stealing his thunder Schenck. his successor in
MARYLAND. has out Butlered Butler in his treat
ment Of the pepple of that State The brutality
of Butler in New Orleans DlleS before the man
ner in which Scheuck teaches the people Of Ma
rvland 20 love the Union Truly did Father
Abraham say that he had more pegs than holes
20 put them in 10 that. when another biz hole
Is made where Charleston used TO stand either
Schenck or Batter can tie sent there with full as
surance that, in six months. the Union sentiment
in South Carolina will be fully developed and
every veStige OF tire tson crushed out. y.
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