Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-07-14


the Evacuation of Petersburg---In-
tentiOns of the Rebels in this Move
ment-They have u Better Chance
for Success than I'm 1sG3-Immense
Quantities of wheat being Trans
ported TO Richmond. hrsglI
Correspondence of The N. Y. Worldl I'd.
h .as gao Ja BALTIMORE, July 10.
GRADUAL MOVEMENT OF LEES WHOLE ARMY
UP THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.
By the time this reaches you, your cor
respondents with the army will have enabled
you to verify the truth of certain informa-
tion which has reached here, in regard to
the movements of General Lees army. This
information is to the effect that ever since
the 1st of July, General Lee has been grad
ually transferring troops from Petersburg
to Richmond, and from Richmond to Cor
donsville, with orders to move from that
point up the Shenandoah valley, by the way
of Stannardsville and Swift Run gap, and
to follow Ewell's corps to Winchester and
the Potomac river. ltissaid that the whole
of Longstreet's corps has been moved in
accordance with these. orders, and that it
has now Joined and is acting in conjunction
with Ewell's corps. 1t is stated further,
that when General Lees arrangements for
this movement were all completed he would
leave General Beauregard in command at
Petersburg and would follow LOngstreet
himself with the remainder of the rebel
army of Virginia.; and 1t was expected that
this last step would be taken by this time.
1t is said that the transfer of Longstreet's
! corps from Petersburg to Richmond, and Of
course from Richmond to the Shenandoah
valley. had been effected without the knowl-
edge of General Grant; but that it was prob
able that the movement of the remaining
| corps Of Lees army would be discovered
| by the Union commander, as the latter
would thereby be enabled to do what he has
not been able to do up to this time, namely,
to move the left of our army further to the
west so as to completely surround Peters
burg on three sides, and to make our left
rest on the Lynchburg railroad and the APP
ponattoX river dboUe Petersburg. 1t wa
said further, that arrangements had been
made which would prevent General Grant
from following General Lee, or from inter-
cepting him on his march from Petersburg
and also that it was to be left discretionary
with General Beauregard- either to continue
to hold Petersburg, or to evacuate it and
retire with his corps to Richmond; and it
was thought, in consideration of the fact
that General Grants preparations for the
siege were so far advanced, that the latter
alternative void be adopted, and that very
soon the country would be startled by the
news that Petersburg is evacuated, and that
the rebel troops there are gone to Rich
mond.
THE MOVEMENT AGAINST PETERSBURG d.
RECT ADVANTAGE TO THE REBELS.
If this news shall be confirmed, it will
then be seen that General Grant will have
the same labors before him at Richmond
that he had at Petersburg. 1t will be seen
that the possession of Petersburg will not
be of the slightest advantage to him; it will
be seen how unwise and unnecessary it was
for him to attack Petersburg at all; for all the
lives that it has cost and all the labor that
has been expended there, has been worse
than thrown away; for the twenty-five days
that General Grant has spent there has
given General Lee the time to carry into
execution this northern movement.
THE MOVEMENT INTO PENNSYLVANIA MERELY
INCIDENTAL TO THE GRAND OBJECT OF
THE REBELS. .
1t will be observed that the advance of
this movement has been given to Ewells
corps this year, the same as it was in July,
1868, and the route taken by that corps so
far, is precisely the same as they took on
that memorable occasion. My information
|
tion of the march of the rebel columns on
this occasion will be the same as it was last
year. They may move for some distance
northwards. into the interior of Pennsyl-
vania. But all movements in that direction
will be merely in order to deceive our gene
rails as to their ultimate objects. These
movements into Pennsylvania may be ac-
companed by the seizure of horses, grain
and other property. But these will be the
incidents, not the objects of the movement.
REAL DIRECTS OF THE RtBEL MOVEMENT.
The ultimate object of the movement is
to secure the safety of Richmond by COM
pelling General Grants army to retire from
it, The secondary object is to capture Wash
ington, both in order to accomplish the first,
and for the sake OF the ecldt which such an
achievement would give them. The pri-
mary object is the destruction of the rail-
roads by which Washington could be re.
nforced from the north, in order to secure
the capture of that city by its isolation.
HOW THE ADMINISTRATION IS DECEIVED.
The administration, instead of making
vigorous preparations to meet and repel the
advance of the rebel army before it is Joined
by that portion which is now on the way, is
| still indulging In the childish practice Of
seizing hold of every triflng circumstance
which can in any manner be twisted into
such shape as to make it appear that the
rebels are in small force, and that the whole
thing is nothing more than an inconsdera-
| bic raid. Thus, the fact that no very large
bodies of the enemy have been seen in any
one place; that the rebels have moved away
from Harper's Ferry; and that they have ais
| yet made no actual demonstration against
either Baltimore or Washington-are taken
| to give the comfortable assurance that the
fears of the people have greatly magnified
the danger, and that the threatened invasion
| will end in smoke. If this really be the
| fact, it Is most disgraceful to the military
| commanders on the line of the railroad. be-
cause the military force on the road was
sufficient to have defeated a. arebelarmy of
| forty thousand troops, and to have protected
the road from any damage whatever.
EXPLANATION OF THE DELAY IN THE REBEL
| .r MOVEMENTS.
But such is not the fact. There is a rea-
son, as have learned to-day, for the APP
parent slowness Of the movements of the
rebels; for their disappearance from Har-,
per's Ferry; and for their having been seen
only in small bodies. The reason is this:
THE MOVEMENT EASIER TO BE MADE NOW
hihH Pi194 THAN IN 1868. ! n-G8 osnae
| The circumstances attending this inva-
sion are very different ffom the rebel inva-
| sion of last summer, and farmore favorable
| to the rebels. When General Lee began
that movement the whole army of General
| Hookerwas between him and Washington,
aud besides that there was a very strong
force at Winchester, and strong force also
n I..ats