Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-07-20
speclal cOrrssp0ndenes Of The cAiacgo riIn...

lex TO FIGHT LEE-THE PANIC AT WASHING.
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+, Special Correspondents Of the Chiacgo Times.
WAsHISeroS, July 6.
| Gen. Meade's movements during the last five
! days have justified the good opinion expressed
of him in my etter of July / All his DISPOSE
tions thus far have been marked by excellent
! Judgment, coolness and more than ordinary mill
tary sagacity. Reduced as il is in numbers the
| Army of the Potomac is by no means the vast
body of men that it was in the Penirsular cam
paign and it is possible that with the experience
which Gen. Meade has gained during en- active
campaign of two years duration he may be able
to maneuver itsoccessfully. He is fortunate in
possessing the confidence and esteem of all the
commanders of corps and Generals of divisions:
and the fact that he held council of war with
them on the battle field on the night of the I'd
inst Thursday. and the result of that council,
to which will allude presently. show that mat
ters are moving along harmonously and in pur-
suance of well-digested plan. Still, it is too
much to say that Gen Meade's success is certain
He is fighting the most wilv and astute of the
Confederate Generals. who is in command of
BODY of troops probably superior to his IN num-
bers. and certainly their equals in discipline And
the movements of Gen Lee for the last three
days are such rs NAV well give rise to grave ap-
prehensions
NV letter of the Sd inst. brought down the re-
lation of events to the previous evening lt was
1 then evident that Gen Lees movements toward
/ Harrisburg had been feints: that his columns were
moving on Gettysburg: and that the troops with
which he would first come into contact would
not tie the raw and undisciplined levies Of Penn
sylvania militia under Gen. Couch. but the old
antagonists of LOngstreet and Jackson the vet
| rams of the Army OF the Potomac IL was evil
dent too that this circumstance was what Gen
! Lee had desired above all things and that for
which he had been mhneuvering for the last week
or ten DAYS Had the Army of the Potomac re-
manned at near Washington. il would have
formed serious. perhaps an iuSeDerable barrier
TO his entrrance into this ctv Whatever ar.
mics he might encounter first, he wonld still have
I to fight that at a last All his maneuvers,
therefore. have been directed to one object name
! w: draw away from Washington the only army
that could be depended on for the defense of the
capital. The developments of the last three days
| show how far he has succeeded in this design. He
has compelled Gen Meade to bring his army into
Pennsylvania. eighty miles from Washington.
There, at gettysburg for the last four DAYS Gen.
/ Lee has been operating against Melde's armv IN
such manner as to weary and harass the Union
troops, without bringing on general engage
ment For have the facts which enable me 10
say that neither Wednesday Thursday. Fri
day nor Saturday of last week. were there
more than 40 600 Confederate troops engaged:
while each day, except Saturday, the whole
of Meade'S army has been either fighting or
marching.
On each of those DAYS it was the Confederates
who assumed the offensive, and all that General
| Meade did was to act on the defensive, and to
| maintain his ground. In all his dispatches
! (which, bv the way are marked with admirable
! ouH ontfr roll hou nhQc ha
uniformly speaks of having handsomely repelled
| the attacks of the enemy" or, "On each occa-
sion the enemy were reDulsed with great slaugh-
/ ter or language of similar import. On no o.
casion does he speak of our troops advancing to
the charge, or seeking to drive the enemy from
his positions. The only exception to this was on
the first inst. when Gen. REYNOLDS was advanc-
ing take up position. He did then seek to
bring on a general engagement but his conduct
was rash, he exceeded his orders, and he paid the
| penalty of doing so. And | saw this in sadness
| for knew and highly respected him. He was a
brave and gallant officer. and his loss will not be
! easily replaced In his dispatches of the 3d. at s
P NJ Gen. Meade SAYS: 1.-The enemy opened
| from $50 guns, and then assaulted my left and
center twice. being handsomely repulsed. After
repelling the assault" Gen. Meade thought the
enemy might he retreating: but reconnaissance,
he saws, found Gen Lee still in force in his front.
/ On the 4th at a. NJ, Gen. Meade says. "The
enemv has withdrawn from his position of Friday"
! mot that he had driven him. Al noon he re-
| ports, 1--WE now hold Gettysburg" mot that he
| had driven the enemy out of Gettysburg. Had
this been the case he would have had something
to saw about the gallant conduct of his troops in
making the ASSAULT
1t was reported here Yesterday. on the author
| itv of the War Department-and the statement
was probably teegraphed Ia yon-that, on Sat
urday. Lee was in full retreat toward the Poto-
mac having been entirely defeated There was
not word of truth in the whole story. The fact
Is, during Saturday Gen Lee was engaged in
moving his troops TO point on the South Noun
tains fifteen miles southwest of Gettysburg, where
he is concentrating his whole army and where
he expects Gen. Meade will advance to attack
him. II is position Of great natural strength,
and, during the time Gen. Lee has been at Gettys
burg his engineers have been fortifying it. 1t is
just on the PENNSYLVANIA State line, twenty miles
north of the battle field of South Mountain in
September last
The results of the fighting of the last four days
have been tr,impeted over the land AZ great Union
victories. They NAV be so, but not in the sense
that the War Department means to imply. They
have not even resulted in crppling Gen. Lees
army in any degree, much less in his defeat. On
the other hand. they have greatly weakened our
army. Our loss in officers has been very great,
and this circumstance renders many of the brig
AIDES and regiments much less efficient. We have
1 lost very heavily, too, of the rank and file. On
the other hand. the published accounts of the
! losses on both sides gross exaggerations. 1t
is stated that our loss is 20. .000 and that of the
enemy is 30 900. and that we have taken $4,000
prisoners. The fact is. the loss of the enemy,
excepting prisoners AMI killed. is not known at
| all We have captured 1000 prisoners-not 500
more or less. We have lost quite many, who
have been taken by the enemy. OF the lIth
corps alone, more than 2,00O were taken. Our
| loss in killed and wounded is about l0000-not
a man more than that We have buried several
hundred of the enemy-certainly not 600 in all
| 1t is probable that the enemy's loss is about
equal to our own. have these facts from the
very highest authority.
There is no indication that Gen. Lee is retreat
| ing or that he will do so at present. The de-
4 struction of the pontoon bridge at Williamsport
/ is matter of no concern TO him. rs he carries
with him very large pontoon train. The re
ported capture of long supply trains belonging to
Gen. Lees army is entirely fabrication. No
such capture has taken place. X.