Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1864-12-08
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.
oLAnol AZ rnl sIEUAEIoa.

huu ~ - -
eut, having dropped into the army for two
days, write. II the necessity be not 80
palpable in the one case as 10 the other, It
is-my word for it-quite as imperative
Having been In both situations, know.
The man who never before saw city 10
not more astouuded by Broadway, not
more bewilderad in threading the modern
Labyrinth known as Bostou-more lntrl'
cate than the Uretan of old-thau are most
civilians who, "unused TO wars alarms,
come into the midst of this army to face
it's hustle and thread it's intricaotes. An
Instructors appreciation OF this fact leo
my friend, the Hon. -. to ask me 10
90 with him to the front; not exactly IN
the capacity of guide, philosopher and
friend" for the philosophy OF the dunn
viri is rather more his than mine. me
friendship We divide. The guidance ! at
first assumed, but soon relinquished. His
ACQUAINTANCE with msior- generals shower
ed upon him all courtesies aud facilities
until the advantages Of my OWE long APP
premiership shrank into Toots' "no conse-
quenee."
The weather deserves complimentary
paragraph. Out of Difference 70 northern
iatitudes and northern prejudices, this let"
ter bears date December 2. Nevertheless,
the almanac to the contrary notwithstand.
ing, the season is Spring and the actual
date is May 2. l never was strong In chro.
nology, and would not commit myself
without first referring to the Book OF Gen.
esis, to more than q mild insinuatiou OF
an opinion, that Adam and Eve were CO.
temporaries-a direct statement TO that ct.
feet would be too hazardous, But this Is
spriuR. feel it, therefore know It. The
evidences of ones senses may not be die.
puted. Predispositions imbibed from books
must vanish in the light Of every day ex.
perieuce. This is Spring. Nor is It won.
derful that 1t should be. Didn't the sun
sit up all night, that Joshua might have
time TO send the Cansanitish squatters
whirling through some oriental Wiuches-
teri Wasn't there some atmospheric phe'
nomenon compromising for the sun while
Moses should make available that great
prototype OF the Dutch Gap Canal, through
the Red Seat (which, by the way, differed
from tho modern mainly as to the rela.
tons, one to the other, OF the land and
the watet2) Is 1t not, then, reasonable,
that the seasons should conspire for Gen.
Grant, and that he will, "before the go
ing down thereof" (for antecedent see
''suu," four sentences back, and then take
Il fguratively as meaning season,l achieve
his purposesR
This discussion has involved three things.
First: The promises assumed, viz: That
the present season is Spring; rightfully as.
sumed because an apparent, therefore a
conceded truth. Second: An inquiry as
to why Spring should appear out OF the
usual order, eliciting historic parallels in
transportation of natural phenomena. These
always to subserVe one Of two bslligerents,
and always browning that one with vic.
tory. Third: The inevitable deduction
which is, since our side is the party aided
by this Spring in. Autumn, that our side 10
to accomplish what it proposes.
If it should snow tomorrow It not be
the fault of the argument Words aside,
the campaign depends on q continuance of
the present warm and dry weather. Two
weeks more Of 1t may remove these head
quarters TO the SpottsWood House, or
perhaps the Ballard, in case Gen. Grant
sho9ld SELECT ths former for his o. OWE sc,6TE9
success, involves heavy GghtinR notwith
standing the Rebel force In Virginia is lees
than one half the number they had last
Spring.
The remaining half ts all concentrated
about Richmond. Early's forces have
been recalled from the Valley, and very
few are guarding th Lyuchhurg and Dam
vile roads. A cavalry expedition under
General Gregg, down the Weldon Road
yesterday and day before, found only a few
hundred in that quarter. Nor have they
dispatched any large force to Georgia
none but Heth's Division, and that small
one, from the Petersburg front. Confront.
ing US on the north bank of the James
they have more than at any time since
Butler effected the Judgment here, having
been lately reinforced by Kershaw's Divis-
ion Of Eirly's Corps. Aud they have con-
structed a magnificent line of works bard
up to our own, aud interior line after int.
rior line is plainly visible. These facts,
together with the everyday clamor of the
Richmond papers for the last inhabitaut to
be ready to help to man the trenches, are
proof that the enemy expects a terrific
assault on this eide of the river. These
same pApers assert that Butler and Porter
meut to attack in conjunction with the
first flow of water through the Dutch Gap
Canal. =
Well, the truth is, it bshooves them to
be ia readiness to withstand all these-and
more too. l may say particularly the
"more too."
The 18Th and 10th Corps, which have
hitherto constituted the Army Of the
James, have been abolished, the whits
troops of both going to form a new corps,
to be numbered as the Gath, and to be
commanded by Gen. Ord, while the color
ed troops of both, with those of the Army
of the Potomac, are to form the 25th
Corps, under Gen. WeitZel. The change
was demanded by several considerations,
of such weight that at last the separation
has been decreed. Prominent among the
reasons requiring it, 10 that due credit may
be awarded wherever it may be earned
In the army the division is the unit, and
let division do we'll, or let 1t do iii, the
fact is soon known in every other division.
But before the country the corps 10 the
unit, aud each has it's own fame, while
few have suggested to them the record of q |
divis ion or brigade, by simply seeing its |
number. Therefore the coIorei troops
have been given corps of their own, and |