The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1863-07-31
THE CALED DON | A n
The Plan of Lees Campaign.


The real value and effect of our victory at
Gettysburg become more apparent as we
learn more of the plans and expectations OF
the enemy 1t is true that in that battle our
gallant army did nothing more than to re-
pulse the enemy. But in doing that they 50
disabled Lees army that he was obliged to
abandon his plan and retreat to Virginia, not
with routed and den oralized army, as Sec
retary Stanton weakly proclaims but Ger
tanly with defeated army. weaker by near
" one-third in numbers. The intercepted
correspondence of Lee, Beauregard and
Bragg shows how well devised and powerful
a movement was the rebel invasion. Lees
army was composed Of picked troops. The
conscripts and unreliable men were sifted
out, and the best trained regiments within
reach took their places, and the army Of in
ya>ion was composed of eighty or ninety
thousand of the veteran troops Of the South.
While Lee was moving this army into the
heart OF Pennsylvania, the plan was that
Beauregard and Bragg should detach rebel
forces to constitute another army to move d.
rectly upon Washington while our army of
vania. Gen. Gillmore's demonstrations al
Charleston and Rosecrans advance in Tenn
essee interfered with the scheme, and both
Beauregard and Bragg sent word that they
could spare no men for the northern cam
paign Nevertheless Lee, who had then, as
he supposed secured a safe foothold in Penn.
sylvania and who had the utmost contempt
for the army Of the Potomac under Meade,
determined to go on with the original pro-
grammc. His army was actually under
marching orders for Baltimore and Washing
ton, when our army under its new comman-
der encountered his advance az Gettysburg,
and the three days battle was fought which
made Lees retreat to Virginia military ne
cessity. His plarwas bold one, aud prom
ised great results. Nothing but the obst-
nate valor of the army OF the Potomac spoil
ed it in the execution. The Richmond Dis
patch frankly acknowledges the defeat OF
lee's an, although it refuses to see that
his army was defeated in the final battle at
Gettysburg, but defends his Sagacity and
geGeralship, and insists that his scheme
promised the most important results, and
that there was every reason to expect its sue
cess. 1t also undertakes to say that the
plumber secured in Pennsylvania paid the
expense of the expedition, which is altogether
preposterous. Lees army did not even succeed
IN subsisting on the country, and except in
the articles of horses and medicines, it's sup
plies were less when it went back to the 9TH
er side of the Potomac than when it entered
Maryland.
1t is a curious fact, revealed by the last
steamers news, that the plan of Lees cam
palgn was fully known by the secession SYM
pathzers in Eng land, and that they had the
strongest expectations of its success. The
British journals talk about the capture of
Baltimore and Washington with as much
confidence as if these events had already oc-
Cured, and so staid paper as the British
Army and Navy Gezette, specializing on
the consequences OF these great confederate
victories, remarked, should another govern
ment address US from Washington.it may be
dfficut-indeed impossible to refuse to ac-
knowledge it." If Lee had succeeded, there
is no reason to doubt that the British parla-
ment would at once have acknowledged the
of the confederacy. Indeed it
would not be extraordinary if they should
have discounted Lees victories in advance
and proceeded to celebrate the triumph of
the rebel cause before they hear that Lee is
defeated, Vicksburg and Port Hudson taken,
and the rebel cause caving in all around
What the rebels will do next is not quite sp-
parent. We still think they are most likely to
concentrate their armies in Virginia for ano-
Their desperate movement upon Washington
There seems to be nothing else they can do,
which will not be a virtual confession to the
world that their canse is lost; and it is still
prime object with the leaders to keep up ap-
pearances. They cannot hope to recover the
ground they nave lost in the West and
Southwest. They must continue to hold
Richmond, and they can best defend it by
threatening Washington. 1t is altogether
likely, therefore that Lees plan, modified to
suit the changed situation, will still be adj
hered to; that the rebel armies of the West !
and South will be brought up to Virginia,
and that an effort will be made to play this |
last card before our armies can be united to |
meet them in front of Washington. If, On
the contrary. the rebel armies fall back upon
Richmond, it will show that the military
strength Of the rebellion is exhausted, and
We may expect fresh intrigues of the leaders
TO accomplish their ends by means of the
northern copperheads-the fororn hope of
treason.