Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-08-18
Hint from Richmond.

They ars quarreling in the South /
about ,he wisdom of those raids across
The Potomac, in which part of Gen.
Lees army has been engaged ever since
zen. Hunters army was driven from b.
fore Lynchburg. The Charleston Ner-
essry is Of opinion that Early could have
done nue. better service in Georsia
tdan in Western Virginia; the Rich
mond Whis replies that be did the most
important and necessary work in defend
ing Lynchburg.
From this discussion we can gather
something Of the military necessities
which rule the rebel Generals The
Richmond Hhig saws.
III E~rly had gone TO Georgia instesd
81 LyHehbuFE, Honser would nave taken
qaie' possession of that city, and would
aaye been 10 a position 10 GU sfeetu4l
y and remediless all Lee communica-
ions. THIS done, nothing short OF
miracle would have prevented the sue
cess OF Grants strategy. To save him
self from the necessity Of Captivating,
or moving off towards the South, and
abandoning the Confederate capital and
State of Virginia, Lee would have been
compelled, while so weakened as to lie
/ capable only of d. fensive action by the
/ absence Of Earlys corps in Georgia
and the Mercury much undertakes the
strength of that eorps-either to salty
| out tirom bis works aGd attack Grant IN
| his strong defenees, and rout aud scat
ter his army, or 10 have detached not
| less than twenty thousand more troops
| from his command, alreadly heavily de-
/ pleted by Earlys absence in Georgia, to
| drive Hunter away from Lyuehburg and
/ kssp him away With the force then
/ left 10 Lee, could he have resisted an on
set from the immense army Of Graut3
| Possibly; bat it would have been mad
| ness to have invited the risk Of it, if it
could he avoided If Early had gone TO
Georgia there would have been no
escape for Lee frem the necessity of Try
ing one or the other of these frightfnl
experiments, By which be might have
lost his army as we'll as the capital, OF
otherwise of giving up the capital 70
save bis army, and with the capital the
whole, virtually, Of the State of Nir-
giniA.
To this the Mercury reiofus:
ut appears to US clear that after Hun
ters disastrous and ruiaous retreat from
Lynehburg down the Valley OF Virgins,
instead Of General Early, with his corps,
being sent on raid into Maryland, it
would have been far better to have sent
him 10 Georgia, to eight Que battle at
least at Atlanta, and TO return 10 Vir-
ginia. This corps or part Of il, could
just al well have been spared in Georgia
as in Maryland, so far as the safety Of
Richmond is concerned, while the re-
suits might have been far different"
The meaning of this is that Lee can
not spare Early, and that Hood cannot
beat Sherman without Early's help. But
that is not all We learn from this dis
cussion how correct was .he plan OF
General Grant, which only failed through
SheridAns failure to mite with Hunter,
and how vitality necessary 10 Lee is the
possession OF Lynehburg. We discover,
too, that he cannot spase any troops
from Virginia at present; and also We
have revealed to Us the reason why Ear
ly aud Breckenridge so psrtinaeiously
hover about the Potomac
If the Government would put eh the
troops in Maryland and Pennsylvania
under an energetic commander Ike
Hooker, there is reason to believe
that hs would be strong enough 20 b, gir
an offensive campaign up the Vallel
against LynehbGrg. which would quickly
recall the rebels from the free States
and might, with care aud vigor, have I
most important, perhaps a decisive re
suit upon the whole war in Virsi -
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