Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-06-25

DO cOmiOfCdDits III any OluVt Wow onV
shelling of Petersburg would be a useless
enterpfise: and If we take the lombard
| ment of Fredericksburg as a measure,
would cost us much more IN ammunition
than the amount to which we might DAM
age the town.
".
PETERSBURG NOT BEsIEGED.
If this outline of the present situation be
| ineligible, It will have made manifest now
| absurd is the notion which has been ex-
pressed in the northern press, that Peters
burg is in state of siege. Such phrase,
as marking a mere stultifcation OF ineas,
might be allowed to pass unnoticed; but 1t
| is calculated to give altogether erroneous
impressions, both of the present position
and of the future prospects Of the army
| A siege, in any other than the loosest use OF
the term, can only be applied to an army
investing city and planted on or tnter1rpttng
its communications. Now, we neither invest
! Petersburg nor are we planted on nor have
we interrupted its communications.
Begin with its Northern communications
the Petersburg and Richmond Railroad.
This was seized by Gen. Butler at Port
| Walthal, and the track torn up for some dis
! tance. But Beauregard was able to repulse
Butler, and this road, as Is conveyed IN an
official dispatch from Gen. Lee to Mr.. DAVIS
has again been put in running order. Look
| ing to the southern side, the communica-
tions of Petersburg are by the Petersburg
and Suffolk and the Petersburg and Dam
VILE roads. Looking to the western side,
| its communications are by the Petersburg
and Iynchburg Railroad. Beginning with
these In order, the Petersburg and Suffolk
road is In our possession--the left wing OF
our army rests across. IT; bnt IT fornas no
part of the communications proper OF Peters
| burg, because the terminus, Suffolk, has
long been in our possession. There remain,
therefore, the Petersburg and Weldon aud
the Petersburg and Lynchburg roads.
These are its real communications. Now,
we have touched, and in our present situa-
ton, can touch neither of these. To tap the
Petersburg and Weldon road would require
development Of our line several miles to
the left. To tap the Petersburg and Lynch.
burg road is at present impracticable, and
probably it will be impossible to do more
than to makeit the object of visitations from
raiding parties, because an extension SO far
to the left would seriously endanger our
own communications, and the maxim does
not allow us to expose our own communi-
cations in operating against those OF the
enemy. In this condition of things, to
speak of Petersburg as being under ''siege"
is a mere abuse of language.
With reference to the question of the re-
pair of the rebel roads ! have recently
learned a fact, the truth Of which is ull-
doubted, and which accounts for the facility
and rapidity with which the enemy has
lately been able tomake good all the dam
age we have done on their railroad COM
munications. Gen. Lee has, in connection
with several English railroad engineers or
ganized corps of railroad construction,
which has this matter in hand. Large sup
plies of new railroad iron have been receiv-
cd from abroad and placed at convenient
points, and duplicates OF all important
bridges are also on hand. With this agency
and these means, the damage which can be
done is rendered merely temporary; and it
is quite certain that the rebels were able in
a marvellous short space to put in perfect
running order both Virginia Central and
the Lynchburg roads. 1t can hardly be
claimed, therefore, that the enemy's COM
munications are to-day in any respect Sc
riOusly embarrassed. %
V.
THE MILITARY IMPORTANCE OF PETERS,
BURG.
This exposition, while showing that we
hold no such relations to Petersburg and its
communications as to claim its being under
siege, yet brings out clearly the
commanding military importance of this
point with reference to any operations
against Richmond by this line. Petersburg
is, in fact, the key to Richmond; and the
elaborate construction of its defences fur
nishes standard of the high value set
upon it by the rebel military engineers
Viewed from military point of view, it
forms powerfully fortified tete-de-pont,
covering the passage of the river and the
main line of communication from Rich
mond southwark.
Its relations with that capital are, in fact,
almost identical with those held by Balti-
more toward Washington; and were the
rebels in possession of the former point
they would not menace our capital more
than we would Richmond, were we once in
possession of Petersburg. In fact not as
much-for even were Baltimore in the
hands of the rebels, Washington would still
have its water communication, while Rich
mond is isolated from it. The rebel de-
fensive line was drawn around the city at IA
distance of about two miles from it. and
formed a set of detached redOubts after
what is known as the German system"
OF these works, there were seventeen,
mounting from six to eighteen guns each.
They were beautiful in design and power
full in construction, equal to the fortifica-
tions around Washington, and connected
by an infantry parapet, the strongest have
yet seen in my experience over all parts OF
the theatre of war.
That they were left as inadequately de-
Tended as they were, therefore, can only be
accounted tor on the hypothesis-whic
indeed, is no longer hypothesis, but an
ascertained fact-that Gen. Grants maneuv-
ers deceived Lee, whose army was still a
days march off when this line of defenses
fell into our hands. The rapidity with
which Beauregard was hurried forward to
the defenses of Petersburg and the tenacity
with which it has since been held, are the
best evidence of the kind of resistance we
should have met had not Gen. Grant been
beforehand with Lee.
l have adverted to the nature of Beaure.
CARDS defence of Petersburg. This has
been matter of remark with the ablest
heads in this army, it rivals his defense of
Charleston, and stamps him as one of the
most skillful soldiers in the rebel army
And certainly this estimate is not weaken
ed, but, on the contrary, heightened by
fact which has astonished every one here.
1t is this: the Army Of the Potomac has not yet
met IN front Of Petersburg a single man belong
ing TO Lees army pr0pe1>-1,ot q man Of tbe
three corps Of L0ngStrget, EtoeU or HUI. The
force defending Petersburg consists exclu-
sively of the army of Beauregard, with
3 Ich accession outside of the army of North
ern Virginia as he may have received.
To the natural query as to where Lees army
Is, can speak withho fullness OF assurance.
There may be corps In front of Butler,
ond 10 wolI L-uamn that five dovc 00