The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-06-10

The Baltimore core p,aGauc Of jls New
York "orjM who las occasionally proved
nimsel. remarkably wgH Informed in regard 10
?etei movements, in letter dated Nav Il,
several DAVIS before the m0yemeu. south oC the
PlmUukcy ,ay-:
The tenor Of my information now is, that
Gen. Lee has Oh the line Cl The South Anna
one hpldrcd and twenty-five Thousand troops,
am that he viii remain where he isnOW. either
until General Grant advances to attack him
or until he moves our army 70 Hanover Court
House, with the view OF again lIdnl1ng Lee
and approaching still nearer to Richmond
For one OF these two things Grant must do
Tie position at present occupied hy Lees
army Is characterized bv Secretary Stanton
himself as strong one and such it undoubt-
eddy IS. IL is a position which the practical
eye OF the rebel general selected months ago
as one OF those on which he would be COM
PEELED to fall back before the advance Of some
northern army. and which he would not have
halted on now il it did not possess advantages
OF which he intends to avail himself,
EEErL VIEW OF THE SJPrLY QUESTION.
1t is SAID that General Lee does not believe
that Grant will attack him on the South An
m. but will, instead, move his army to Han
mover Court House south Of the Pamunkey,
and SO by thanking him approach Richmond
from the north. Gen Lee believes that the
Union commander will be forced 20 do this
from the question OF supplies alone.
Gen. Lee believes that these considerations
will lead Gen. Grant to seek st Hanover. or at
some point 4 few miles below that on the Pa
munkey. a water base for his supplies which,
II he succeeds in gaining, will enable hinl to re-
celye them with expedition aud absolute safety,
and to operate against Richmond on the very
line adopted by Gen. Mcclellan in 1882 An
examination of good military map will show
flf S.N,oS,, 49,
sound military principles.
GENERAL LEE TO ASSUME THE OFFENSIVE
In case this line Of operations il adopted by
General Grant, it is understood to be General
Lees intention to assail the Union army either
in flank or rear, either at Hanover or at some
point between there and the Chickahominy
1T might be expected, of course, that if Gen.
Grant adopts this line Of operations, he will do
SO expecting to be Joined at some point north
or east of Richmond. by toe forces under Gen.
Smith and General Gilmore. now south of the
James River.
REAL SIZE or GENERAL LIES ARMY.
Since General Lee commenced falling back
from the line of the Pc, there has been grow
ing disposition in certain quarters to under
rate his numerical strength. 1t is even stated
now hat General Meade gives it as his opinion
that Lee has not over forty-tive thousand men,
and that General Grant says that Lee has not
more than fifty thousand men. Tie same
people who give currency to these statements
are the ones who religiouslv believe that Leo
Is by ing pcll-mell across The South Anna. and
that Richmond ia being evacuated. People
however, who really desire to know the truth,
remember that the rebels. with only fifty thou
sand troops, could never have kept Grants inn
mense force at bay on the line of the Pc for
eleven days in succession. They remember,
also. that, strengthened by the recent rein.
torcements Grant has enough men at his back
now to brush fifty thousand rebels out of his
path with ease; and lie would not halt now,
while Mr. Stanton talks about the strong DO.
sition ;" of the rebels, if there were no more
than fifty thousand OF them. No; the fact is,
rs stated i'll recent letter every corner of
the cOnfederacy has been ransacked and
drained to reinforce Lee, and he has now one
hundred and twenty-five thousand troops. The
testimony on this point is conclusive