The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-05-18
FROM TmR KANAWHA VALLEY.
The Great Expedition.

formidable than people seem generally
TO suppose and viii be something more,
! take IT, than mere fitting raid Its
own sOlidlty and strength, together with
the extent Of preparations which have
been made to sustain it at distance,
indicate that its leaders propose for it
the work Of an army. The telegraph
IS 70 be kept up to within twenty-fOur
hours Of the advancing columns; large
stores of rations and forage were con
yeyed out as far as the trains could pro
ceed, and then transferred to pack
mules, large numbers Of which have al
ready been taken out, with more still
on the way here from Gallipolis: and
orders are left that the mails should be
passed out and communications opened
to the front as soon as that point shall
have been we'll established in a fixed
place Evidently, then, the expedition
has gone out to possess the land. These
are not the customary attendants of a
dashing raid which is to 20 and come
again. They bespeak an object more
substantial. And besides all that has
been accumulated Of stores and sent
with the expedition, a half dozen in
dustrious little boats, for hundred and
twenty-five dollars a day each, pulse
through the waters of the Kanawha
with hay and oats in immense quanti-
ties-all going on for the advance.
That the movement is not an independ-
ent, rowing band, going out 10 accom-
plish whatever inay happen to be con-
Venient, but destined to cooperate with
General Grant in tho serious business
.. 1.
parent from the fact that its departure
ayas ordered by him, and the march be-
gun accordingly, though the prepare
tons were far from completed, and not
little inconvenience was felt in conse-
quence. The wisest heads, and those
who assert that they never before were
unable, by putting together this and
that" to divine the purpose Of any ex-
petition leaving this department, con-
fess themselves wholly at fault in this
which isanother evidence that the hand
OF General Grant is in the thing.
In the absence Of all satisfactory in
formation, numerous plans of operation
are in circulation among those who are
deemed wise in prophecy Among them
all there is one so plausible and so en-
tirely in accordance with strategic good
sense, and a clear headed, keen-sighted
comprehension of affairs that will give
it, II is simply that this advance under
General Crook is part Of a great plan to
transfer the base line of our military
operations southwark from the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad and Potomac
To the line Of the great Virginia and
Tennessee Railroad, and in transferring
it thus far, to push it, Of course, still
further through Virginia and North
Carolina to the borders of the extreme
Southern States, parallel to a line
stretching from Atlanta TO Savannah or
Charleston, a new suppositious rebel
base line. The plan is simple, grand,
has the characteristic Of the great mill
tary success with which history makes
ms quainted-audacity, and is entire
~ worthy the genius Of the General-in-
Chief, as its full consummation would
ba disastrous to the rebels 1t assumes
that the Army of the Potomac is to take
and hold Richmond and Petersburg.
and bringing down the eastern end Of
the line, which in the West has been
already pushed down at Chattanooga,
and Knoxville; while this expedition
from West Virginia, is to carry the weak
or center, possess and repair the rail
road in itssfull extent from Richmond
TO Chattanooga, receiving its supplies
rs soon at communications can'be open
ed out from the Potomac by rail-while
10 destroys the vast salt works about
Abingdon, so vital TO the Confederacv.
and holds the rich valleys of South
western Virginia. continuation of
East Tennessee, in fertility-as a sub
sidiary, but not unimportant object. To
General Averill, with his strong column
Of cavalry, assisted by Gen Gallup, who
is moving up the Sandy with a similar
force, and striking the railroad
near Wytheville, is assigned the part of
dispossessing Breckenridge and Buck
ner of the salt-works, and connecting
with our forces in East Tennessee.
which cooperate, meantime, from the
south: while General Crook is to reach
the railroad near Newbern. deploy up-
on it, and await developments in the
East and West 1t will be borne in
mind all the while that Generals Sigel
and Stahl are proceeding up the Shen-
andoah Valley in the same general di-
rection with the force from here, and
that since General Lee has drawn all
his cavalry out of North Virginia, they
will probably meet little opposition,
bat pass through Staunton to lynch
burg, thus entirely completing the oc-
cupation of the main Central Railroad
the backbone, the spinal marrow, &c,
of the Southern Confederacy The de-
sign is stupendous in its conception,
and requires, as an imperative necessi-
Il. IL. I
pith and center of the whole matter,
and without which all else, however
well done must go for nothing Should
our army fail in its attempt on the Re
bel Capital, then there is no way for it
but that the West Virginia expedition
must fall back, ike its predecessors,
since it is a sheer impossibility to wagon
supplies for an army a hundred and
fifty miles over the Alleghenies Even
if Averill should take the salt-works
and connect with East Tennessee, he
must soon abandon the position and re-
turn for want of supplies The i'm
mense length of railroad from Louis
vile TO Knoxville is taxed to its utmost
already to feed and clothe tho army at
the latter place, and could i'll bear the
burden Of another army, removed one
hundred aud thirty miles stin further
off,
The ingenious devisers of this very
ingenious scheme proceed still further
in tracing the mind of the Lieutenant
General or, rather they invest this
occupation (supposed) of the Virginia
and Tennessee Railroad, with a new
and vital significance; one, too. which
reaches a long stretch into the future
Surprising the rebels under Lee TO
be defeated, Richmond gone. Peters
burg lost and Virginia hopelessly aban-
doned, while the purpose Of the rebel
leaders IS still inheXibla. what will thew
do next2 If any considerable portion
Of their army should be rescued from
the defeat the natural and about the
only resort left them would be 10 con-
centrste rapidly by the Southern sys-
tenn of railroads, at Atlanta, fall upon
Sherman before he could be reinforced,
drive him quickly before them, possibly
carry Chattanooga, and thus repair, in
no small degree, the mischiefs Of the
East, and add another year to the war S
dreary length. This possible calamity