Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-04-29
From Washington.

CULPEPPER-FoLLY OF ATTEMPTING An OYER
LAND CAMPAIGN AGAINST Recommendations
OF A PRoJEcrED ATTACK on WASHINGTON.
Special Correspondence Of the Chicago Times.
WASHINGTON. April Is.
Day bv dav. the results of the lamentable fail
ure TO take Charleston. become manifest. IL is
now clear that all the operations of the summer
campaign, so far as the Administration is con
cerned, depended on the taking of Charleston-
when Charleston was taken" Richmond would
be evacuated. When Charleston was taken"
Savannah would be attacked. When Charles
ton was taken" the Americans of African de-
scent were to be set loose to ravage the interior
of South Carolina. And so on to the end of the
chapter. But not only is Charleston not taken.
but, as the New York Herald saws. THAT is not
the worst of IT," 1T CANNOT BE TAKEN. All the
preparations which we have been making for
eighteen months we're demolished and brought TO
nanght in two hours. And here is tact that
shows precisely the mental calibre of Abraham
Lincoln and his advisers. They really believed
that the force sent against Charleston was amply
sufficient 20 take it. They confidently looked for
that result. And what was that force? A naval
armament of thirty six guns. and a land force of
seven thousand men. Such was the beggarIy
force that Abraham Lincoln, Commander-in-
Chief of the Armv and Navy, against Charles
ton. defended. as it was. nv 450 pieces of cannon
(many of them English Whitworth guns. carry
ing the terrible steel pointed proiectileS) and by
a land force of thirty thousand troops History
may well doubt that such stupidity could exist,
but the facts are beyond dispute.
Even now. Lincoln cannot comprehend that
the action resulted i'm a defeat. and that we are
utterly p~owerless to renew the combat He goes
about. a haggard, downcast, bewildered look. un-
shaven. with a neckcloth all awry,-the very
picture of a man whose wits had left him. He
has even actually assured the foreign Ministers
that il his intention to repossess Charleston and
Fort Sumter at An early day; and that declara-
ton has been published by his organ here as the
official determination of the Administration.
1t is evident, however. to the foreign Ministers
and to every one else, that the failure to take
Charleston. aud our absolute inability to renew
the attempt. have completely demolished the
plans which the Administration had formed for
the summer campaign. Everything Depended on
the capture of Charleston That having failed.
they are all at sea, and literally do not know
which way 10 turn.
1t will be necessary. however, for them to be-
stir themselves soon The Confederates have
now gained two great victories. The sprjnp cam
paign on the Mississippi is az an end, and has
resulted in the complete success of Gen. J0hnsOn's
plans The spring and summer campaign against
Charleston is at an end, and it has resulted In
the cOmplete success of General Beuregard's
plans. The Confederates will not be content TO
repose on these laurels. They will improve
these victories. The troops no longer needed at
Vicksburg and Port Hudson, will be sent either
to help recapture New Orleans. or else 10 help
Bragg to defeat ROsecrans. There were 81. 900
troops ut Charleston. Every man of them will
be sent up to Richmond; nav. they are doubtless
now on their way there.
The news from Richmond to dav is, that the
COniederates there believe Hooker to be fool
enough to follow in Pope's footsteps. and think
that he is moving his army up the Rappahannock
t W ards WarrentOn Junction, with the intention
of making a campaign against Richmond. by
way OF Culpepper! A more silly idea never en-
tered into the brain OF man to conceive know
not whether their information is true or false;
and. if | did know, it would he improner to tell
What ] do know is, they believe il at Richmond
If il be true, it is just what might have been ex
pected from Hooker. If it be true. | place the
prediction on record. that his army will meet with
a 1eteat which will throw that of Pope into the
shade. and the slaughter of which will exceed
that At Fredericksburg. II is not to be expected
that Hooker will meet with anything more than
- feigned resistance just enough to draw him on.
until his army has reached, or even passed. the
South Anna River, ten or twenty miles from
Richmond. There. however. a hundred miles
from his base of operations, he will find his COM
munications cut off, his line of retreat intercept
ed, and his army surrounded and overwhelmed
by superior numbers just AS surely as the night
follows the day. will this result follow any at
tempt to reach Richmond overland.
The affiir at Charleston furnishes another
proof that the administration has no grand plan
of the campaign cut out, and also another H.
l~1stration of the lmbecility and incompetency of
the administration Even if HOoker's army has
not moved vet, it must move soon. In twelve
days more. the LIST of May will be upon MS, and
and then. whether he will or not, Hooker must
move. Now Nm view of that fact, what would a
wise Government have done at Charleston?
Even ii they had sent there an exDedition at all
commensurate with the work to be done-ves-
sells. for instance, earring 800 guns, and a land
, force of 100 600 men-a wise Government would
have caused Admiral Dupont to wait "A lew DAYS
more. until Hooker SHOULD have not only moved
but till he had moved so far that nil concealment
rs to his route was at an eud. Then Dupont and
= Hunter should have struck at Charleston. By
doing so The 3O,OO0 troops at Charleston could
have done no more than to have defended that
> city But Lincoln's Administration does not
constituted wise Government, or any Government
at all Admiral DnpOnt's letter is now OH 6le nj
the Navy Department. written a few weeks ago,
in which he laid before the President a candid
statement of his own force and The force of the
enemy, and assured the President of the in
adequancy OF the means at his command TO take
Charleston de even begged that the order com
manding him to attack the city might he recalled,
until he was reinforced. Mr. Lincoln's reply to
him WAS, peg away, Dupont. Peg away at
! Fort Sumter You are all wrong about the de
fences of Charleston. They haven't got 200
q guns there altogether. and their powders not fl
/ to use. The t~orpeioes are all Ia your eye, and
you'll lind the distractions nothing more than
: cobwebs."
The result of this ''pegging" is. that 30. 1000 OF
the best disciplined troops in the Confederate ar
my are now '~'pegging away towards Richmond
where they will he ready to "peg away at Houk
er when he reaches that vicinity.
There are some rumors floating around OF an
4 attack on the Capital. to be made by Gen. Lee as
soon AS Hcoker's army moves away from Fal
n mouth; but no credence is attached 10 them. Ii
4 Is said. however. that Gen Lee has 100, 000
troops between Richmond and Fredericksburg,
n organized for that especial service; besides 30. 200
10 whom the task of falling back before Hooker
4 in case he moves overland. has been assigned. A
few " eeks will decide
The Secretary of the Treasury left here this
morning. in u specially chartered train. for New
II York. on important financial business. Dir.
Chase is now. beginning to reap the bitter fruit
of the folly of the Administration in this : war
: for the negro" Joke over il as they may in pub
lie, the success of the Confederate loan in Eu
rope is a bitter pill for them; and from Mr.. Chase
!, particularly it knocks the last prop that supported
him. He. at least. is intelligent enough to fore
i see, from the success OF that loan before the news
/ from Vicksburg reached Europe, what the effect
> there will be when the news from Charleston ar
: rives Then, the Cunfederates modestlv asked
only fifteen million dollars. and forty five mil.
!. lions were at once offered to them. They will
now probably go into the market for = loan oil