The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-07-26
SPIRIT OF THE NEW YORK PRESS.
eadlng Editorials from the New York
= Papers This Morning.
yHAT Is THE MILITARY VALUE or
ATLANTA?

~ u
~ ATLANTA
from ne Tpic,.
For three months, less a week, a column rival
Ing in strength the great Army of the Potomac,
has been forcing its way towards the city of At
HRnta, in Georgia, its progress being disputed at
Very step by the second great army Of the Con-
lederacy. What is the object whose possession
I1stidee such an expenditure Of both offensive
IN I'd defensive force, whom either antagonist needs
Hery man and every gun lt can muster, in front
the Confederate Capital In the first place, Il
VI Atlanta iseli-a modern, well.built city, now
fpproaching its twentyfrst year, but still sooner
kS reach its freedom birthday. Laid out in a cir
Wrlar form, with a radius of about a mile IL con-
aylins within its strongly ntrenched circumference
Nsnow that the war has brought an accrction OF q
ruith TO its numbcrs,) a population Of about
twenty thousand souls.
From its protected situation, deep In the tnte-
yor Of the Confederacy, Il was chosen at the out
4 W as great military depot of supplies and Of
4 naterial of war, and, furthermore, as great
military workshop. In this respect 1t has no
equal in the central zone Of the COnfederacy II
4 the Richmond of the West. Here are arsenals,
Npundrts, furnaces, rolling mills, machine shops
laboratories, and factories, which have been
rusily supplying the COnfederacy with munitions
n war for the past three years. Hero the finest
0pd largest rolling mill in the South has been
VTning out iron rails for roads, and armor-
llating for iTon.clads, the latter in great album
kance.
IL Here arc factories for shot and shell, for pis-
&ls, powder, cartridges, and percussion caps, for
yin-carriages, for small arms, for equipments,
Wagons and harnesses, shoes and clothing, and
kpr many other purposes useful to the Rebel COM
n issHriat Here also, arc railroad repair-shops
NJ iDcalculable value to the enemy. At leasttwO
Iiousand people keep this valuable machinery in
Eoeration. We, with our surplus Springfeds
.shd Lowels, do not appreciate how lily the enemy
,an spare his single city. As depot of supplies,
llso as well as a mandatory, Atlanta has
Mayed an important part But doubtless most
i ri Its stores and It's completed goods have
fEeady been prudentially removed.
Y Next, Atlanta is one of the chief railroad
lSentIes in the ,Confederacy. Northerly runs
: yne Western and Atlantic road to Chattanooga.
: -}outhwesterly, the Atlanta, West Point, and
Montgomery road connecting the former point
2 ,ith the capital of Alabama, thence with Mobile
Don the South, and with the whole Mississippi
Valley on the West. Southeasterly runs the i'm
Jortant road 10 Macon, and thence to Savannah.
Easterly, the read to Augusta, and again TO Sa-
yannah and to Charleston. To these we shall
presently refer.
+ Besides these advantages, there is Topographic
Hal one Of great importance. The chief military
yolnt in all the mountain region of this vicinity is
( Chattanooga. That we must continue to hold in
Norce at ali hazards. Its chief value, however, is
M its defensive relation to East Tennessee, be-
fause from that point column can easily throw
Nself on the communications OF any hostile force
&ghich has passed through the mountain gaps TO
Vayage the interior Of the State. Accordingly, It
Wthe key of all that lies behind its back; or,
Nther, 1t is the gate which closes up all that
fieorgia, Atlanta is the true stariing-point.
NJ Atlanta is as essentially the door Of Georgia as
Chattanooga os Tennessee Till it is seized, only
y,ayalry can be used by us further south, aud
,heir raids must be hurried, temporary, often in
defective and always hazardous. Even nova.
kle infantry column, like that famous one OF
fisherman which traversed Mississippi from Vicks-
IbuTg TO Meridian, at the opening OF this year,
would be marched in this quarter with great peril
: lps the army in Atlanta could harass its rear.
Now, betwixt these two main points extend the
Nllcghanies, ridging the whole face OF the coun.
Try into a mountainous formation. Lookout
Mountain, Mission Ridge, Taylors Ridge. Johns
lMountain, Dug-Down Mountain, and other
parallel ranges, break up the region lying between
Ithe Tennessee and the Chattahoochee.
SO long as our base remains at Chattanooga,
,pfthe enemy can always force us, in southward
march, to eXpend campaign OF several months
a lin pressing him TO Atlanta. We should have TO
fight him at long odds in such eyres as Buzzard s
oil ROost, or turn him, as Sherman does, by flank
\ ing marches Of one hundred and fifty OF two
~ hundred miles. But once carried Atlanta Is the
u new advanced position, and that labor IS done
Il once for all. To the southwest the country il
+ still broken with the Allegheny chain, and due
II south OF Atlanta is the formidable ridge of Pine
\ Mountain. But in the main, the region on the
81 south and southeast is less rugged than that
7 4 which Shermans legoDs have already sur
\ mounted, and is less defcnsible.
From Atlanta branch out, like the sticks of 9
Il fan important offensive lines in several southerly
j directions. First, lying not far from common
.Iarale of latitude, are the four important points
tof Selma, Montgomery, Opelika, and Columbus
'e JOf these Selma was once considered as very
r Sdesirable; but its importance has doubtless beer
70 tDyerated. But Montgomery, the former capital
of the Confederacy, is point TO be carried, ant
.Tt probably TO be held. Opelika is of considerable
value, both on account of its proximity to Atlanta
and because Of the juncture at that point of twt
az railroads.
~ n The capture of opelika will absolutely seve
railroad communication between the eastern ant
western zones of the Confederacy. Indeed, it /
- probable that Rousseau has already cut the tract
I. ~, this Montgomery railroad. But with Atlant
e Vars, the work could be made final instead o
- .mporary. Lastly, on tie east and southeast ar
& thens, Milledgeyile, Macon, and Augusta, tn
I YWo latter important as railroad functions, as al
[ Ire in other respects.
u II I21w the retention of Atlanta by the enem,
M r( ects these different points in his rear. IL
I NJ IA uation absolutely uncOvers some OF them
V!f &,ood retreats towards Augusta, as he proba
yby will, the first series of four points is open
us without struggle. II he retreats to the north
l'west, which is almost impossible he uncoyers al
the others, which are still more important.
n must be remembered that these rolling and fol
I tile valleys on which Sherman is entering hav
been of great service 10 the Conlederacy for SUP
- plies OF food and forage, only surpassed, indeed
by Texas, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
must also be noted that Sherman, in taking A.
st lanta, plants himself directly across the road q
ns Acommunicaion between the Seaboard and tl
H. tValley States.
Expeditiopary forces sent out by that Genera
1 who has shown himself the most consummat
I mission ofsupplies by railroad, and cut Off manu-
tf factories at other points, he has already dor
"a at Rome and at Roswell, and Is about TO do
lDI Atlanta. At Roswell the largest Gotten an
ilyI woOen factory in the State has fallen into OF
or hands. AT Columbus, Macon, and Augusta al
VIZ arsenals and ordnance factories, for cannon, riff
RnF and pistols. At Augusta are the immense powd
4 mills on which the Southern COnfederacY almo
M solely depends. The vital resources Of the Coz
MA fedeTacy are all threatened by the capture
20 Atlanta, and their IN would almost destroy
'ef In the words of the Jew
n. Y "You take my life,
ale When you do take the me ans whereby i've.
Now, perhaps We may better see why Il
4 bloody fields of Resaca, Kenesaw, aud Allan
laye been fought, when the enemy would glad
W(ouble his lines on the shore of the Appomatto
4 We also must not forget in our valuation of tl
L. tWDmpaign, that an army has been kept employe
which is large enough, used defensiYely, to tro
a. bic us in Virginia. but yet not large enough, unfo
+ tunately for the enemy's schemes, 70 hold Oft Il
:, "A grasp Of Sherman on Atlanta.
THE PEACE PROPOSITIONS i