, 1864-06-26
Military Review Of tho Situation
Before Petersburg.
The Strategy: Of a Week.
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that checker the history Of military opera.
tioEs, failed to be won. 1u vain stroke Ui
genius outwitted the astute General who
Commands the foremost army Of the rebel
lidn, threw linn 1Iom his CENTRAL position to
one exterior to us, delayed him two days,
and brought this army In front Of Peters,
bur. iour-and. twenty hours before man OF
the enemy had crossed the James River:
The deiences OF Petersburg fell prize 70
the rnpsdNy Of this great movement. 1n
OF old construction, was carried, or rather
surprised and taken b. our advanced column.
a few militia ana, old 1hen and boys of the
town hastily gathered up, for tue occasion.
were all that met Gen. Smith In line Of
works ronth OF Petersburg, rhich. II prop
the whole army Of the Pototaac, and must
have reduced us to the necessity of siege OPP
etat1qtt. Butler, too, on the Aotth side OF /
the +Appotnattox, broke through tue imper-
feet obstacle he met, aud seized the main
line Of railroad communication leading ffoP
KIcbm ond. "
!. Never was the, Cnsarian maxim, "Count
nothing done till all Ia done," more nt1ik.
inglS ,illustrated. 4 lev houra. more dsJ"
1lghi, tho arrival Of . column Of troops, dc
these couquests to ~ as permanent pos.
session. At 7:31 o'clock in tho evening Of !
Wednesday last, Gen. Smith. with simple |
skirmish line, tack the whole line OF Held |
works covered BY his front. Had tue prear-
ranged programme been carried ont, where
by another cobps WIS to have connected xna |
co~operated with him, the whole lino would
have been taken, and, the victory followed |
mp. Petersburg would that night have been
In our hands.
How this design failed OF realization il
worthy OF explanation :.
, HOW w1 FAlLzp TO TAXI PETERSBURG.
When, early on Wednesday morning, the
second corps had effected tht passage OF the
James River 1T Windmill Point, Gen. Han.
cock Was met By a dispatch from the Com
mAnding General d tecsins hun that, Il po-
VICIOUS had artised, he shpnla ration his
men, before proceeding toward Petersburg.
Jnst;at this time he received Information,
seemingly reliable, and conveyed, believe,
by an Engineer officer who had just come up
IRON tho postoon bridge, to the effect that
TIC Transports had arrived with supplies.
This fact Gen. Hancock communicated TO
the Commanding General, stating that be
would soon begin issuing ratioss, and would
then move forward ~ directed.
TIE inlosnn.lon proved to he q mistake
4 l2mentable mislase-tle Transports had
a. delay in the movement Of llspcock's corps
| OF i've. hours and halL His column Joined
| Gen. Smiths troops At I o'clocE on the NOR
ming Of Thuraday. But had he been up ear.
ller BY the difference noted Of five and half
| hours, he rould hare reached the front at
!
| precisely the moment at which. Gen. Smith
Thursday morning revealed a now actor on
the stsgc-a new clement introduced into the
problem. ~:
the night, Bcauregard also, came up, and the
l reconnaissance oi Thursday morning devel-
toped him in force In : line hastily thrown up
during the night, aud little closer, to the
town. bpt still strong enough to check oul
Cards torcc, numbering thirty Thousand men
and reinforced by the addition; of Bushrod
,Johnaon'6 command, took their places. Men
OF very different meltie. these, from the
crude soldiers to whom the defence Of Pc
tersburg had been intrusted. ,,,r.
Ing days drove the enca,y from iheil
, Temporary position, hut 1t was only to fal
back on line hugKlng the town, which
BcaureEard Was prrparing In the meanwhile
!: and which, constantly strengthened duriu!
the interval that has since elapsed, stands be
: tween US and the desired point as Formidable
an obstacle Us any VIZ have yet encountered
This line Was assaulted along our entir'
front On Saturday last in an engagement, th'
t | details Of Nhich1 shall presently recount
made on the line1Uf the :Cuickahominy OF
= The Sd Inst It resulted, Ike TINT, 10 scriou
: loss Of life, and liz Issue was ,oi q similal
iiH8f iusie "aR1laha fhE at1acl
. Of Gen Butler'on that portion of the rebe
i position lying north ot The Appomattoz
d Meeting. iiks Smith, with but feeble ress!
n anee from the local tsoops IN the attack d
Thureday, he. seized sthe Petersburg an
Richmond Railroad. and destroyed It ii part
= but Lopgetteet's ARRIVAL compelled Geaers
y Butler TO withdraw his command to his Q,
tginal line.
= BBFon1 pzrBnsDuRa.
d Thus II was that this golden moment Va
< lost And In this situation the united artnis
n OF Meade and Butler now cnTe1op Peter
, burg IN about the susdsant Of + eirc1e-Bu'
= lcrs'e force {the 10th and 18th army corps
;, being placed north q the A7pomatto1. r.
. army Of the Potomac fronting it iron tt
II ,eoutb, in line stretching from the Appt
- mattc1 asgofs the FetexsburY Il Suffolk Rxi
~ rosd, where our left rests on Poo Creek
2. This much that y0u may s&e VIC Aro not ]
Petersburg, rs you fanctcd day or TWO A.
Yet VIC arc suEpriaingly near it. The Line
nt rebel works, On \ Commanding ridge soul
ID of the city, t.ken by Srnitk on Welaesaa
bn are bnt two Ailes from Petersburg, al
s thcuca ons looks right futo tho ttCockat
maltox- But onr line IL now advanced /
htyend those works, and In places not or
o. flf mile from the TOM, which lies pa
II fectly under the, rhnEs Of our batterlas, Al
d. has already received quite number Of act
,s, In this state Of facts I readily anticipa
,e the qucatiop, 'Why, then, is the city n
a, ehelfed!" 10 any ono who his conce2 2ti'
Of the ground, there fs ready reply to II
question. Petersburg lies In a hollow. II
is commanded both by the heights on 4
T. south. which are in our possession, aud
~ the heirhts on the north, which are In t.
ID encmy'e cossession. Now, the assault Will
nix carries Petersburg must also be prep.ss
of to push over the river and carry the hcigt
beyond dominating It; for otherwise It cOu
~ SOON be made mach too hot 4 place to
les comfortable. In any other view tue she'll:
be Of Petersburg would be 4 useless cut
H. prise; and If We take the bombarlment
-, Fredericksburg as measure, would cost
of h,uch more In ammunition than the aluou
an to Which We might damxge the town,
les .~,s PETERSBURG HOT Rss119Ep.
St II this outline Of the present situation
20 tntel!igible, 1t viii have made manifest ho
,ty abeurd is the notion which hoa beeu espre:
- cd in the northern press, thst Petersburg
- In Z state Of siege. Such hpbrase, Is mar
IfG ing mere qualification Of 1deas, might
- allowed to pass unpolced; but 1t IL calcu
IT. ted to give altogether erroneous impression
IN both OF the present position and Of the
turc prospects Of the army. 4 sie5t, In q
= other than the loosest use Of the term, c
-, only be applied to IN army t's,sst.nJa city q
ell t+asLed On or snfe7-npsing II communicable
he Now we neither invest Petersburg nor .
NO we Planted on Eor hsve NC Interrupted
te, COMMUNICATIONS.
.ea TIE MILITARY INroRTlSCE CT r<TERsBU1
nd THIS exposition. while showing that
e., bold no such relations to Petersburg and
me communications rs to claim Its being und
l!s siege, yet brings ont clearly the commaudi
are / importance Of this point, with, reference
ch any operations against Richmond b. this II.
ely Petersburg Is, in lsct, the key to kichmon
ter and thc elaborate construc1ion Of its deden'
.cn furnishes N standard OF the high va1ue act
~ On it By the rebel military engineers. Vie
es. cd from a military point OF view, it FORM
ay-.E powerfully fortified tete de pons, covering
RE passage of the river and the main line
:Fn+ Communications tom Richmond sputhW4
It's Its relations with that capital nre, in Il
nd | almost identical with thoso held by Ba
j, y more toward Washington; and Were
I1lY rebels in possession of the Il x:ner point /!
The would not menace, our cs4ital more than
mt would Richmond, weEc nc once In poss
. I'd sion OF Petersburg. In fact, not ~ muc
the for, even we're Baltimore In the hauda of
.oal rebels, Washington would still have It's va
Tbs communications, while Richmond Ia isola
cen from IT, The rebel defensive line was dra
Ferc around the city ut a distance Of shout
for miles from 1t, apd for1ed u set Of detAc
( Of redoubts alter what is known ~ tho "C
ms, man SYSTEM"
| in + or these works, there ware eeyeute
tive mounting from El1 to eighteen gons q
ned, They were be.utitul In dealgn aud poTel
S5A In construction, equal to tne foztldcatis
yar, around Washington, aud connected by
ers- intant1y psr1pei, the strongest I haTs
rail- seen in my experience oTer all patt1 OF
ing; thcstrc OF war.
reat That they were LETT a. inadcauately
1G2 Tended as they n ere, therefore, cAn onl,
and accounted for on the chypothests-which,
,lch- decd, ID uolongcr hypothesis, hut Al ~