The New York herald., 1863-06-15
The Mnitary situation.

AVVut twV yeaIs ago Uehorai ocou startea
'the grand army of the United States" on its
march southwark. by way of Virginia, to
"hold, occupy and possess the property and
places belonging to the government" and to
take care that "the laws Of the Union should be
faithfully executed in all the States" Since that
we have had succession Of battles, Of greater
or less extent, with advances and retreats in
Vulnerable, and not less than half million
men have been lost to the country in all ways.
After so much endeavor, In what position is the
| warf sE sse
Practically we may now consider the rebel
lion as represented by about three hundred and
| fifty thousand effective soldiers. Aside from
Its armies, the rebellion has no vitality, and
those armies are consequently the true object
i've points. They are in the field ct Fredericks.
burg, Petersburg and Staunton, In Virginia; at
Goldsboro and Wilmington, In North Carolina;
at Charleston, in South Carolina; at Savannah,
in Georgia at Tallahassee, In Florida; ct Mon
ticello, in Kentucky; at Knoxville, ShelbyvIlle
and Chattanooga, in Tennessee; at Madison,
Jacksonport and Little Rock, In Arkansas; at
Mobile, at Port Hudson and at vicksburg.
Though we have thus named eighteen points,
the force at some Of them is quite small, and
might for any Importance in the points them
selves, be smaller; for the whole struggle Is
now concentrated really in five theatres Of
operations, and the theatres Of primary I'M
portance are fewer still; for the positions at
Goldsboro and Wilmington are merely the &C.
knowledgment Of Q weakness there, and the po-
sitions at Petersburg and Staunton are Of
equally small account certainly tho latter.
Marmaduke's position at Madison, in Arkansas,
and Pegrams at Monticello, in Kentucky,
both depend-like the fortunes of the cele-
brated Guppy-upon circumstances over
which they have no control" Those positions
will be fought for on other fields. Fredericks-
burg, Vicksburg, the centre of the line between
these two in Tennessee, and the position at
| Charleston-which practically may be counted
| as one with that at Savannah-are the great
points, the points at which the war appears to
culminate. In fact, the rebellion may be re-
garded as drawn up on one immense field. 1t
faces to the northwest and its rear rests upon
the Atlantic and the Gulf Of Mexico. Lee
holds the right above Richmond; Johnston and
| Pemberton between them hold the left at Vicks-
burg; Bragg and Buckner hold the centre, and
the reserve, under Bsauregard, is at Savannah
and Charleston ready to be sent anywhere, and
in position to guard the approaches in that
direction, if indeed this reserve has not already
been sent elsewhere. VlBf
Against the rebel right, as thus Indicated we
have hitherto directed our main effort neither
well nor wisely-not for any good reason, since
it is moth decisive point, either geographically
or strategically. In this we have been gov
erned by vague notion that we ought to take
the enemy's capital. But the Southern States
are not France-they have no Paris. They
have no capital except as they choose to
name q town as place Of assembly for
their rulers. Richmond was probably de.
signated a. the seat Of government to invite
advance in that direction, and to keep
the war as much as possible in Virginia and out
Of the States more deeply interested In the con-
test AZ for the prestige we might gain by the
capture Of an enemys capital, it is not an equiva-
lent for the loss Of sixty thousand men. Yet
with the Bull run campaign, the peninsular
campaign, Pope's impotent attempt, Burnside's
repulse and Hooker's horrible catastrophe, we
have lost at least that many in the attempt, and
still the rebel right Is essentially where IL was
All that we have done against it has been to
the advantage of the rebels, aud the prestige,
which was more to them than to us, Is all
theirs.
Against their centre we have had more suc-
cess. By the operations in Western Virginia,
and from the capture Of Fort Donelson onward,
we have pushed IL, With varying fortunes, to
the northern line of tho Gulf States, and It
rests not far north Of that. Every great battle
fought there has been completely in our favor.
Hooker and Rosecrans now respectively watch
these points on the right and centre Their
business is to stand still, perhaps to threaten
but above all to hold fast. Hooker is perhaps
soon to be tried again. It is for him to see
that the rebel right, under Lee, does not ad-
vance into the free States and achieve the
success by which it expects to balance the dis
aster that is to fall upon it in the West Rose
Grams, who is hard fighter, without soubri-
quet, and who has plenty of brains, without pre-
tence, will do his part with quiet tenacity.
| Upon the rebel left we began our operations
well with Captain Nathaniel Lyon, who would
have closed up matters in that direction very
shortly IL he had been given the entire com
mand there. But the romantic tastes OF the
period had to be pandered to, and Lyon, who
was not at all romantic, gave way to Fremont,
| who was. Then followed an avalanche of er-
rors. fremont was swept from his official feet
at last, and the enemy was driven from Mis-
souri,, beaten at Pea Ridge, and now stands at
bay by the "City on the HILL" where he holds
with almost the power Of despair his last point
on the Mississippi river. General Grant has
thus far acted against vieksburs with great
boldness and ability. Let him but continue his
campaign in the spirit in which II mas been 90
II -s~l I'LL