Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1862-1865, 1864-10-27

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.bovs named, Ana the reasons, thus considered, Win
not opy show VIA. means the rebsla have Of dsendne
Ihsif eapltG but thsy will prove also that hehmono
uaDnot BE- taken e long Is the siege Of PeterpErs
persiHted In.
rHArI AFrrrPrs TO capture tYHcHBuRa.
Il will be necessary frst to recur briefly to the four
cooperating armies ABOVE named, because the same
straRRy which has been used on the part OF the JOE
fedsrStes to defeat S will contn 40 70 DO used
any subsequent army that lnsy attempt TO operae N
DIE Shenandoah Valley. Three Of these co-operaung
armies namely those Of Sgel, Hunter, and Sheridan
have had in sssion the task assigned 70 mt
namely the capture OF LJDobbure, In order 70 iacae
the Cspture OF Richmond by General Grant, They nave
ell failed and the failure Of each one excePt Inas OF
General Sheridan was attended with great drester, as
the citizens Of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Washing
ton, well remember.
DETAILS OF TIE yoRoIs WHICH HAVE HAILHD TO CAP
fuRI LYNCKBURG.
sipel Who started out on the 4h Of Nay with TWEEN
~ thousand troops defeated Dy General Breokn-
ridge before the l5h Of that month, with loss oil nVe
thousand men. General Hunter took command OF all
the troops in that military department on the lStn OF
Nay. BY the 2bth his command had ben % ieorgan-
ixed hat Il embraced thirty thousand troops, incuong
the fifteen thousand that were left under SigeL de
was ordered to retain General Sgel In command, ana
he Lett him at Winchester with ten thousand toopa-
BE commenced his campaign against Lynchpurg aoou.
the end OF May having the four divisions OF Generals
Crook, Sullivan AVerill and Duts, iuly twenty nous
and troops There being no confederate army 70 OPP
pose his march, he left Staunton on the ION Of june
ana reached Lynchburg Cd the l7h. H. was defeated
there on the Is D. and again At Salem just west Of the
Blue Ridge, on the 2lsL For It will Do remsmperea
that be feAted, not TO winchester, as ne ought 70
have DONE but to PArksrsburg, on the Ohio RIVER 81
the extreme western end Of Virginia. His losses, by
the time he reached that point, on the lst OF jay,
amounted TO fully ten thousand mem for, in Addito1 20
the battles that he fought the country o. that time was
little better than deeh, % the new crop Of wheat,
al hough rpening was not yet hI 70 grind ana ha NEE
B6TO n Q safe OF desuution.
coHsIeUMoEs OF HuSTIR's BLuSDSR.
HAe had fallen back 70 Winchester, he would hays
saved sgsl and pFsySAlsa the invasion Of NyAaa and
PsrnsyIIGals IN July last. AZ Is va, hsEeHsf, DO
sosRsT hsA Hanlgr's army hegEu 70 move westward
froa LJnsAhsrE Iher EIrlys eofpI wss psut INTO tas
valley Evly, with Hisssn thaus4nd troops, attacked
sud tsfsased ngss zen tbeuasna advanced 70 the 70
oIIe crossed she stream invaded Maitland, highsnsd
Baltimore, burned the Town Of Chanbsrsburg, and laid
siege 10 Washington.
General Wright, With the Sixth and Nineteenth corps,
advanced from Washington 70 pursue the relrsstng
rebela about the fifteenth Of July The remnant OF Inc
forces Of Hunter and Sigel, say ten thousand men,
Joined him. and he thus had over twenty-five thousand
LroOp Is he superseded Hunter In command. DE lest
in various skiImishes before the hh of August, i've
thousand men. But his orders did not allow him to
uncover the capital and the sixth OF August he was
superseded By Gsner-l Sheridan.
Ia my letters lo9n alter that date enumerated the
various bodies of troops that placed under Gen.
) eriaan's orders. They smlulted 10 fifty thousand
men He was reinforced before the Is OF Septenber
by Ten thousand more troops. Ioss9s between the
OF August al q the Is h OF pGemOer amounted TO
fifteen thousand NEE. IL curing this time that he
made two pursuits" Of EIrlJi the one TO. SuA.'
nd (lOfn
river. By The 6h Of September, it will be
remembered he was safely intrenched at Berryvils-
No statements OF the osses in his recent campaign, from
she September 10 the 10 n instant, has Jet BAN
made public Bat 10 said to nave amounted 70 OOOo
men,
General Sheridan has now % 900 effective troops
and yet the COnfederates in the Valley we're strong
enough to send party days ago TO attack and de-
stroy whole OF cars on the Baltimore aud OHIO
RI lroad, near harunsDurg; add this work they did
most thoroughly. No personal jury Wns done TO the
pas5 ngeTs Tue mail carried Uh and the neNepa.
Der bags and the burned; but the track was
uniI lred, and the uAns ale running again to-day.
RlCAPIrULAfIoN OF TIE ToRoEs REPULsIp IN TIE VAL
Lay.
Thus there have been sent to operate in the Valley
the following bodies of troops Sgeps corps, 10000.
added by Hunter Nay 10, 10 900; the q h and ~
corps added by General Wright July 10, over 10000
men; added by Sheridan August 8, 10000 additional
FN lhComcubs DolOIc DcpbohOof 10 AOOOO uiebJ Noot
90 900 men The Losses have been, uuder sigl, TO-
OOO under Hunter 10 600; under Wright, 900; under
Sheridan, SO 900; total 90 900
HOW TIE ooSTkDIRAFEs HAyI BAETLID TIE PLANS OF
GIN. GRANT.
The success Of the Oonfederates in b. fling the plans
of General Grant is owpg in great measure 10 the
curate Knowledge which they possess of the weak points
OF Gen, raj Grants military character, ard this
osr;srO ID befJre the campaign had been in progress
tha r. tha end M tUn uonfha after
ousracns had commenced the rebel leaders knew that
General Grant was q military dictator, and that he
would have the command Of men in Unlimited number,
and Of means 10 an Unlimited extent; but they
convince that he was General OF very ordinary a6il
ity: that he had no def i've idea Of how Richmond
20 bs iaker; that he had formed fixed plan for the
reduction OF he city; that he was q man who would
try one expedent after another but without kROwng
taAt any Que would succeed: aad that the only fixed
iieA he rad about the cpure Of Richmond was, that
If he could SGTVs out tue rebel capital it must surren-
GER Rod that best way to do that was TO capture
Lynchburz; and that he Was very obstinate man. aud
that he Wtuld never abandon any expedition that he
mi ,ht ldertAke long his Government would
tnue to farnish him with the men and the means TO
cury It on.
s1eh was the view which the rebel leaders enter
tanned OF General Grants military character, and the
progress OF the campaign has convinced them of its
so.rectness Ever since the end Of June, they lave
beeu convinced Of these three things: ls That g u.
Grlnt regards the capture OF Lynchbug essential to
the success Of his operations before Richmond, and
that hsr efor he will continue his efforts for the oipiure
OF the former place. If hehas to employ portion
OF ti4 dspossbe force for the purpose 81. That he
rsRrds the capture Of Petersburg essential to the
su,cees of his operations before Richmond there
fora that he will not mme0ce real operations against
Rchmon until be has taken Petersburg and 81. That
he will not commence real operations anst Richmond
from the north side OF the James river-tha IL, from
Hsrrson's Landing or from Malvern Hills, or from
rney's present base at Deep Bottom until all
his other sxpedients are exhausted, unt every
exnadiert of which he can think which he can de-
wise shall have been tried and shall hay failed Then
they think he may possibly try to take Richmond from
that direction.
WHAT TIE coETEDERLTHs DREAD.
If Rohmond is ever taken at all, 1t must be In that
way. And this fact and the equally important fact
the Coaf derate lead RI are fully aware of n IL