Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-08-25
RUTLAND HERALD.
THURSDAY, AUGUST IS, 1864,
The Rebel Press on the situation.


and Richmond. The Petersburg EX-
press of the 18th says Gen. Grant is
contracting his lines and that it is evil
dent he has sent away a considera-
BILE force, All this may be true, but,
If so, the Express has probably ascer-
tanned by this time that the withdrawal
of portion of the Federal forces from
before Petersburg docs not indicate ex-
actly what Il lis inclined to think, viz;
an abandonment of the campaign against
Richmond or Lees army. The Express
says
1--WE are inclined to think this calm
does not presage coming Storm but
simply means tne Jig is up, or to discard
figure, that the siege is failure, and
the Yankees are busy in getting ready
to slip away bag and baggage, if Rob-
ert Lee will only let them. If they are
really tired of the country and want to
go home, il would be cruel in him to
give them fire in their rear. He ought
rather to throw an old shoe after them
and wish them good luck and prosper
Gus voyage to Yankeeland. The'repOrt
that two of Grants corps have already
gone to Maryland is stated upon good
authority, and is very generally credited
along our lines"
The Richmond Enquirer of the 18th
is even more positive that the Virginia
campaign is abandoned 1t says;
"Now, to put aside for the present
the total loss Of what Yankees fOndly
believed to be their conquests In trans
Mississippi; pretermitting, also, the
dead lock to which Gen. Shermans ar
my has been brought, with all Kentucky,
Tennessee and half of Georgia lying be-
tween him and his own country-and
looking only to this most colossal inva-
sion Of Virginia with three huge armies
all bound at once for RiChmOnd-the
thing is over; Grants army is rapidly
going away from oar front at Peters
burg, and returning TO Washington or
elsewhere. OF course, Grant will not
put up a notice on the AppOmatoX that
he hereby abandons the enterprise;
neither will Stanton officially notify
that the armies Of the Union are found
wholly unable to advance one yard out
of the protection of their ships, and
therefore they discontinue the campaign
with q loss of one hundred and fifty
thousand killed, wounded and missing.
This would be unreasonable to expect /;
nevertheless the enterprise is abandoned;
and this is necessarily, so far as Lincoln
is concerned, final abandonment; Rich
mond is no more to hear the roar of
Yankee siege guns under that poten-
tate's reign"
When these papers heard of the move
ment Of Hancock's corps from City
Point down James River, apparently
bound for Washington, they were doubt
less still more certain, if possible, that
the peninsula was being abandoned by
our supposed be baftied army. But
when they subsequently learned that as
soon as night came, the same corps, I'M
der the cover of the darkness, returned
at full speed and were advancing on
Fort Darling, they must have come to the
conclusion that Grant had only prepared
a disagreeable LITTLE surprise LOT thenh,
and that they were doomed to hear
again and again "the roar Of Yankee
siege guns under that potentate's reign"
The Richmond Wing Of the 18th SEN
d sibly repudiates the ideAof Grants re-
treating from before Petersburg, and in
a somewhat apprehensive tone canvas
ses the importance of his movements in
opposition to Early. 1t says his plans
in the valley Of the Shenandoah are
very clear. According to the Wing che
proposes to menace Early with a heavy
force in front, while he sends down from
Alexandria or Leesburg heavy column,
probably consisting of corps just de-
tached from the army at Petersburg, to
run through one of the gaps in the Blue
Ridge, turn our flank or strike US in
rear. This is avery pretty plan If it
could be carried out"
OF the effect of our shells on Peters
burg, the Richmond Examiner of the
18th gives the following account from
which it would seem that the city must
be an interesting place of abode.
CAS- the position of the enemy's right
enables them to command full view of
nearly the whole city, and to judge with
sufficient correctness the range of their
shells, there can be no improperly in
saying that they have done considera-
BILE damage to the property of the citi-
zens. Seine two or three hundred shells
of different characters and calibres, have
been sent whizzing through many
richly decorated parlor and tidily-kept
chamber, smashing into smithereens,
stout cornices and fragile ornaments,
making all furniture mass of frag-
ments, and stripping the walls to the
lattice and joists, of their polished
cement or plain plaster, to smother up
the wreck and complete the destruction
Pantries have been invaded, and unmer-
ciful crashes sent breaking and ringing
through piles of crockery and rows of
. jars, whose precious contents still
swim or stick in sweet ruin upon the
identical floors and caved in shelves that
mark the scenes of the disaster. Libraries
too, have shared equal fate with smoke
houses and while children of the larger
growth grow hungry from the lack of
intellectual pabulum, the lesser can cry
Oh q Al