Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-10-18
iCorrespondence of The world.l
. BALTIMORE, Oct. IL.


Correspondence of The Worldl
- BALTIMORE, Oct. III.
RETREAT OF GEN. SHERIDAN TO sTRAsBURG'
The readers of The World who perused
nv letters of the Sd and 4th inst, could
not have been surprised at reading this
morning the tardy admission made by the
Secretary of War in publishing the dis
matches of Gen. Sheridan, that we have fail
ed to accomplish the object of the campaign
in the Valley, and that Sheridan's army has
retreated from Harrisburg to Strasburg.-
The latter movement was clearly foreshad-
owed in those letters.
THE REBELS AT RICHMOND DEPENDENT ON
LYNCHBURG FOR SUPPLIES.
General Grant had assured the world in
August, that the loss of the Petersburg ter
minus of the Weldon railroad was blow
which the rebels could not stand; yet they
have stood it pretty well. Before the mid
die of September, General Grant was con-
yinced that he was entirely mistaken, and
that that loss was scarcely felt by the rebels,
so far as the matter of supplies was con-
cerned, because, as stated at the time, and
as any one can see by the aid of a good map,
very small proportion of the supplies of
the rebels could be brought by that route.
BY the middle of September, Gen. Grant
was convinced of the fact that the great
bulk of the rebel supplies came from and
through Iynchburg. If he could move his
army before Petersburg far enough around
to the left, so as to be able to seize the
Lynchburg railroad he might stop some of
the supplies that reached Petersburg from
that place. And this is what he really
wished to accomplish on the Both ult; and
in order that he might do so with some
prospect of success, he caused the demon
stration of Birny and Ord, on the 10Th, to
be made.
THE CAPTURE OF LYNCHBURG WAS THE SOLE
OBJECT OF sHERIDAN's CAMPAIGN.
But even that would not have stopped
the supplies that came from Lynchburg.
They would continue to reach Petersburg
by way of Burkesville and Richmond.
There was but one way to stop those sup
plies entirely; and that was, by the cap
ture of Lynchburg itself.
How was this to be accomplished? Clearly,
by the army of Gen. Sheridan, then at Ber-
ryville, over 10000 strong. Early had only
10000 men, as had been well ascertained.
Surely Sheridan could defeat Early, de-
stroy his army, and then march OH and cap
Gen. Grant had, when he went up to Har-
per's Ferry on the 10th of September. What
he wished Gen. Sheridan to do, was to de-
stroy Early's army and capture Lynch
burg. That was to be the object of his
campaign. If Iynchburg could be cap
tured, Richmond, it was supposed. must
speedily be evacuated. This is the key to
all of Sheridan's movements since the 10th
ult.
General Grants design was penetrated
by the rebel leaders at once. 1t was even
seen and exposed by the Richmond news
papers, as soon as the news of the defeat of
Early on the 10Th ult. reached the rebel
capital, in articles which were republished
in New York. From that moment, it wasa
game Of strategy between Gen. Grant and
Gen. Lee.
GENERAL LEES MEASURES TO PREVENT THE
CAPTURE OF LYNCHBURG.
For fifteen days nothing was heard from
Sheridan but one story: victory, victory,
victory: routed, 'demOralized rebel army,
and the mountains filled with rebel strag-
glers. In the meantime, however. General
Lee was taking those measures which have
resulted in the present retreat of Sheridan.
General Early reached Browns Gap on the
26th ult, with from $4,000 to $1,000 troops.
They were neither demoralized nor disOr-
ganiZed, as the event has proved. They
were Immediately joined there by rein
forcement of 10000 or $4,000 troops, sent
from Richmond, under General Longstrcet.
1t was against this force of 25000 rebel
troops, that General Sheridan's operations,
since the 1st of October, have been con-
Quoted.
The real nature of those operations have
been carefully concealed from the public.
In his dispatch to General Dix of October
B. containing one from General Sheridan of
October !, the Secretary of War says, in his
usual luminous style and with his usual
grammatical accuracy, 'the details of future
operations are, for obvious reasons, omitted"
Now what were those future operations,
and what were the reasons that caused re-
lation OF them to be withheld?
They were attempts made by General
Sheridan to cross the Blue Ridge in order
to reach Lynchburg, in every one of which
our forces were repulsed with heavy loss.
One of them took place at Browns Gap,
one at Wier's Cave, one lat Waynesboro, and
one at Rock-fish Gap, where the railroad
from StauntOn crosses the mountains. All
these engagements took place before the
9TH of October, and in all of them the main
The work of destroying bridges, and the
railroad from StauntOn to Waynesboro, was
being done by small detachments.
WHY 1T WAS NECESSARY FOR SHERIDAN TO
RETREAT.
The result of these operations convinced
General Sheridan, by the 9th inst, that the
rebel force in his front, reinforced by Long
street, was quite as strong as his own, and
hat furf har finnc tnxva at1I unnh-
burg would be impracticable. The losses
which he had sustained during the preced-
ing seventeen days had been fearfully large.
Out of 10000 men, he had only about a.
600 eiIectives left. His communication with
his base of supplies, which continued to be
Harper's Ferry, was most precarious, no
trains or cOuriers being at all safe, unless
accompanied by strong escorts, and the lat
ter he could not spare. There were unmis-
taxable indications, too, that Longstreet in
tended to assume the offensive; and to tell
the truth, Sheridan's shattered columns
were In no condition to withstand a deter
mined onset from body of 25,0O0 veteran
rebel troops.
LYNCHDURG sEcURED-LEE's OBJECT AC-
CoMPLIsHED.
Therefore it was that General Sheridan,
on the 9Th inst, began hisrctrograde move
mcnt toward Winchester. The army reach
ed Woodstock on the evening of the 9TH,
and Strasburg on the evening of the 9th
The object of General Lee was ACCOMPLISH
cd when our army was prevented from ad-
vanciDg to Lynchburg. That officer had
nothing to gain by an immediate pursuit of
our army. All that was done, therefore,
OH the part of the rebels, was to send cav
airy force to watch the movements of Gen.