, 1864-06-27
THE GREAT. CAMPAIGN.
Military Review Of the Situation
Before Petersburg !
The Strategy Of alWeek.

A1x1 OF xm PoToaAc, HHAh PnEz1aHuRo,
Tuesday June II, 1884,

A1x1 OF zm Po!onAc, HxA1 P1EmmuRo,l
Tuesday June 81, 1854
THH SITUATION Ii ITS 0KNnAA1 AsPHCTs.
Regarded in tts most general relations, the
agalnst Richmond, presents an aspect identF
cal with that which has already thrice met
us-jn front Of epottsylvania Court House,
before the lines Of the South AIMS, and on
the Ch1ckahom1nY. 80.
- The strategic problem, e1eeuted With cntfre
which stubbornly bids defiance to. our efforts
to solve, In D strsks of HasterlY general.
ship, this army was taken up from the Chick
ahomtny, convey ed over sn interval o. over
dfty miles, transported across two forn1idA'
fore for % Petesabu1T-the abr the % EeI to to % Richmo ond. nd
But, Petersburg, the richly mcrlted. pr tze OF
the most boldly conceived and the E10sf bril-
1iantly executed military conception Of tho
var, by ona OF those 'vexatlous acctdente
that checker the history Of military opera.
tons, failed to be won. Ia vain stroke OF
genius cutTitted the astute General who
Commands tho foremost army Of the rebel
lion; threw HIM from bis central position to
one exterior to Us, delayed him two days,
and thought this army In ftont OF Peters
burg four-aud.twenty hours before man Of
the enemy had crossed the James River,
The detences OF Petersburg fell prize to
the Ispidlty OF this great movement. 1ts
line OF works, formidable in charscter| and
Of old construction, was carried, or Iathsr
surprised and taken BY our advanced olumn.
A few militia and old men and 1bnys Of tue
wore al tiat net Gen: Smith. in : line Of
works south Of Petersburg, which, II prop
crly Earrfsoned, could have 62dn defiance 10
the whole army Of the Potomac, aud, qaast
have reduced us to the necessity Of stegS OPP
eraroas. Butler, too. on tbs north side Of
the Appomatto1, broke through the araper-
fA mi - IsNa al
line OF railroad communication leading from
Richmond. e.,
Never was the Cesarian maxim, "Count
nothing done It'll all Is done,H more strik4
lngly illustrated A few ,hours' more e'daJ-'
light, the arrival Of a colnan Of troops do
these conqueet& to u1 u \ pefmRutnttpos.
session. At $50 o'clock In tho evening OF
Wednesday last, Gen. Smith, with = simple
skirmfsh; line, tso1 the Whole lius OF Held
ranged programme been carried ont, Where-
by another corps was to have connected and
co-operated Nth him, the whole limo would
hare been taken, and, the victory followed
up, Petersburg nould that night have been
In our hands-
worthy Of explanation. r,
= now WI FAILED TO TAXI P6TlRsBURa. =
!. When, early on Wednesday morning, the
second corps had effected ths pAaeago Of the
James River 1t Windmill Point, Gen. Han
cock was met BY dispatch from the Com
manding General dlractin : him that, II pro-
visfons had arrived, hs SHOULD ration his
men before proceeding toward. Petetsburr-
Just at this time he received information,
seemingly relihble, and conveyed, I believe,
by an engineer officer who had Just comb up
from the poAtoon bridge, to the effect that
the transports had arrived with supplies.
This fact, Gen. Hancock communicated to
the Commanding General, stating that he
would soon begin issuing ratioas, and would
then move forward a. directed /
The Information proved to be = mistake
1amentAble mfsthkc-the transports ;had
not arrived. Yet this simple error cauaed
delay In the moyem ent Of Hancock's corps
OF ave hours and half. His column Joined
Gen. Smiths troops It o'clock on the NOR
lier BY tbs didstuncs noted OF i've and ! hall
hours, he ould hare reached the front ii
7:S0 on tho evening OF Wednesday, which va.
precisely the moment st which Gen. Smith
Thursday morning revealed new actor or
| problem. ''' -
While our troops weto coming up during
| the night, Beauregard also came up, and tht
reconnaissance of ThuIsdaJ morning dere1
oped him In force In line hastily thrown up
during the night, and little closer to The
|
advance. The militia WAS relleved-Beaurc
Cards torce, numbering thirty Thousand men
and reinforced By the addition Of Bushrud
Johnson's command, took their pisces. Men
Of very different mett1e these, from the
| crude soldiers to whom the defence of Pe'
teEsburg had been intrusted.
1t Ia true the Assau1ts Of the two succeed
Ing days drove the enemy from theli
TEMPORARY position, but1t was only to fall
back on line hugg1ng the town, which
Beanregsrd was preparing in the meanwhile,
and which, constantly strengthened during
the interval that has since elspsed, stands be.
tween u and the desired point n formidable
:. This line wa assaulted along our entire
| front on Saturday last in IN enlargement, the
details Of which ahsu presently recount,
| The attack was similar In character to that
made on the lines Of the Chickahomlny on
| the Sd Inst. 1t resulted,' like that, In serious
loss of life, and tta fssuel MAS Of similar
hind-that 10, We fxiled to carry our point.
a Ike nntoward fortune attend the attack
position lying norfh t"". of shc Appomattox D @ x'
Meeting. nks Smith, with hut feeble resist,
| auce from the local troops in tho attack on
| Thnraday, he seized ,.the Petersburg and
Richmond Railroad, md destroy ed 1t, ID part
but Longstreers arrival compelled GeaerAl
| jginal line. ,.
! DRFoR1 PRIHRtBuRd,
Thus It w.G that this golden moment was
lest And In this situation the united armiel
OF Meade and Butler now envelop Peters.
burg IN about the quadrant Of cifcle-But
| ieIa's force Tho 10,h and 18th army eorps,l
being placed north Of the Appomattox. fac
ing Petersburg on The eastern side, and the
army Of the Potomac fronting it from the
south, In 4 line stretching from the Apo,
nattcx aerofs the Petersburg Il Suffolk Rail
road. where our Left rests on Poo Greek
This much that you may see we are MT IL
Petersburg, as Jou fAncisd day or TWO ago
Yet VIC IRE aurprisinEly near It The lins oi
rebel works, on commanding ridge south
Of the city, taken by Smith on Wednesday
arc but two miles from Petersburg, ant
thence: one looks right Into tho ssCockadt
City," which lies in the valley of the Appo
matto1. But our line IL now advanced ia
beyond those works, and in places not ore
Ealf mslE from The town, which lies pcr.
tect]J under the range Of our batteries, ant
has already received quits number Of accl
In this state of facts I readily spticipktt
the question, ''N'hy, then, IL the city no
ehelled1' To any one who has CONGO etios
Of the ground, there is ready reply to thi
question. Petersburg lies il hollow, AMI
is commanded both By the heights on th'
south, which are in our possession. aud By
the heights on the north, which arc in TIL
enemy s osseeslon. Now, the assault whict
carries Petersburg must also be prepared
to push over the river and carrs the height!
hey ond dominating 1t; for otherwise 1t c0uli
soon be made much too hot Z place to b
comfortable In any other view the Smelling
of Petersburg would be 4 useless enter
prise: and If We take the bombar,lment q
Fredericksburg - measure. would cost 4,
much more In ammunition tban the amour
to which VIC might dansegc the town.
PETERSBURG NOT nEs1Bonp,
II this outline Of the Present situation bt
intcllfgihle. 1t will have made manifest how
absurd IL the notion which has been express
cd in the northern press, that Petersburg l!
Ing mere qualification Of Ideas, might b.
allowed to pass uunoticed; but It Is calculs
ted to give altogether erroneous Impressions
both Of the present position and Of the tn
ture prospects Of the army. 4 siege, in an,
other than the loosest use of the term, cx1
only be applicd to an army tnse;ssngo c4sy an:
l4dnted on or i'tessHfling Hs epusnunicatlon1
Now We neither Invest Petersburg nor ar
We planted on tor hsya VIC Interrupted it
l. Communications
THE MILITARY IMPORTANCE OF PETERSBURG
This exposition, while showing that ",
hold no such relations to Petersburg and 1t,
communications ~ to clatm its being unde
siege, yet brings out clearly the commaadins
importance Of this point, with reference t
any operations against Richmond hy this linc
Petersburg IL, in fact, the key to Richmond
and the elAbofatc construction of its defense
furnishes a standard Of the high value set up
on It BY the rebel military eng gineers. View
ed from military point OF view, 1t formg
powerfully fortified &ese 5s pont, covering th
passage Of the river and the main limo q
It's relations with that capital are, In fAct
n1mOBt identical with thnae bp3a hy nnfk