New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1864-12-28
THE CAMPAIGN.

Gen. Grant seems 10 have good many ifonS
in the fire just now. Scarcely force under his
command that Is moi actively engaged i'll oflehs.
i've operatiors-thc notable exceptions being
the two armies Of the James and the Potomac.
which are close under his eye and which he
holds in the leash 70 be Jet slip at the moment
when their spring shall be decisive.
Our news is mainly from Rebel papers. and
of course is doctorcd 20 suit the Richmond
market. But even if We accept each report Of
the defeat or delsy Of our different armies as
true, we still cannot fail to see that the Con-
icderacy is sorely hara ed on oil sides. and that
at some point it must shortly give way.
Gen. Sheridan Is again far up the Shenandoah
Valley, threatening GOrdonsyille and Chario,tcs-
vile. and even Lynchburg. Lees dispatch
published yesterday states that one division Of
cavalry under Custer vas coming up the Val.
ley toward Harrisonbufgh. while two others
under Torbcrt had passed the Bue Ridge
through Chester Gap. II is not to be supposed
that a single division Of cavalry could be really
meant to move on Iynchburgi we presume,
therefore, that the columns, east and west OF The
Blue Ridge had o common object, and we're to
unite further South. Custer might cross the
Ridge below Herrisonburgh through SNift Run
or Browns Gap, hut it is likely he
was to concentrate With Iorbcrt at
Madison Court House, and so would
take the Northern road. Lees report Is a tis.
sue Of absurdities. lie docl0Tes thai Ro5sor al.
tackled Custer nine miles from Harrs01brrg, and
drove back his division with lose Of forty
prisoners. Does anybody believe division
three or four thousand men-has been defeated,
and that the Rebels have nothing TO boast Of il
the way Of casualties but forty prisoners
Torbert, also, is reported on the same Authority
TO have attacked LOlnaI near GordOnsrille, nnd
to have been 'repulsed and severely handled"
What those vague generalitie5 mean when trans.
lated into fact We shall only know on receipt OF
dispatches from the Union commanders Mean.
while il is safe 10 believe that force comprising
the whole OF Gen. Sheridan's cavalry will suffer
worse damage than the Rebels yet charge upon
it before it absndons It's representative r that
may have been. Lee has found it necessary to
strengthen other points by Withdrawing nearly
all the gsrrisons Of GordOnsyile and Charlottcs.
rille, and though those towns are fortified their
capture is by no means improbable.
Gen. Buffers activity is Characteristic. Be.
side the grand demonstration upon Wilmington,
he has sent considerable force from Suffolk
toward Weldon, apparently 30 do the worA
which Warren left unfinished. A second force
has moved toward Fort Branch on tho Roanoke
River and after being severely hsndled'by the
Rebel kilograms, resumed 'he attack with such
success, apparently, Aat it was not thought
worth while to continue tho account Of bis oper
aiions. Poplar Spring or Point, near which
Fort Branch seems 20 be situated, is thirty
miles above Plymouth, and the movement in
this direction is m1nites,ly intended TO clear
the navigation OF the Rcsnoke River, on which
Weldon is situated. The expected cooperation
of the gunboats failed from torpedoes.
OF the two or three columns which are cut
ting the railway connections Of Mobile and moy.
ing apparently upon the city itself, We have no
definite accounts. The Rebel papers are mys-
terious, as their way is when they have bad
news. The little tight at Pollard, seventy miles
north Of Mobile, indicates nothing either way
FOX Bcauregsrds name is to the dispatch. and ],
is not probable that man could tell the truth If
he tried. Nor is il probable lie ever tried.
Thomss is well TO The south Of Duck River,
and pressing steadily upon thc rear and flank
Of Bis retrea;ing enemy. There is reason to
suppose a heavy force has been sent to cat oil
Hoods approach 70 tho Tennessee, and ihot his
pontoons have been swept away. AT any rate,
the Tennessee il high, and Hoods prospects for
retreat across it, ii he IS pushed hard, are not
favorable. The Rebel commander has good
many men left, TO doubt, but he can scarcely
be said 10 have sn army. What remains Of the
force with which he moved on Nashville must
be wholly reorgsDized before 1t can be again lit
for the field.