The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1864-03-01
NEW HERALD TUESDAY MARCH IBsZ-wrH SUPPLEMENT-


The necessity Of psuisting In Che effort 10 over.
come obstructions In . certain road when By
taking another road We may tura them. II h
we'll known that Richmond il aow Ia CON-
paratively defenoeless condition. IL 10 believed
by intelligent refugees that . force Of twenty
Thousand Men, by wsy Of Che permissible. could
take Tie city without difficulty; but We fear
that this route, which was rejected with McClel-
lan's recall, and which on several occasions
sinoe he's vainly offered an easy passage into
| the rebel capital, win stin be discarded. -
cause It was the route Of Mcclellan. We shalt
be satisfied, nevertheless il the Army Of the
Potomac, while keeping guard over Washing
ton. shall accomplish tho great object Of the
dislodgment Of the enemy from Richmond, or
the cooping up Of Lees army behind its in
trenchmcnts.
The advance Of our army from Chattanooga
has been arrested for the present. The cavalry
columns Of Generals Smith aud Grierson, we
regret to say, have been driven back from
Northern Mississippi into Tennessee, and this
repulse creates some anxiety as 70 the safety Of
General Sherman. either at Selma, in Alabama,
or advancing IN that direction from Central
Mississippi. President Lncotas political Flo
rida expedition has resulted in disastrous
and shocking failure, and Admiral Farragut has
tough piece of work before him at Mobile.
But q great success by the Army Of tho Poto-
mac, from the general decentralization Of the
enemy. will speedily open the way TO sue
cession of victories around the whole line Of
the rebellion. This is the Success which we
anticipate from General Meades present ad-
vance, and we know that the Army Of the Po
tomac is competent In every respect and re-
solved at any sacrifice TO win It.
--
TIE BARsARIsM OF THE WAR.-That the coun-
try is fast running into a state OF bsrbarsm we
have every day evidence in the work OF retaia-
ton as practised by the different commanders.
The latest case has occurred in North Carolina
The rebel General Pickett hangs a negro for
shooting rebel colonel. The Union General
Peck awaits confirmation Of the report before
he proceeds to hang in retaliation q white rebel
prisoner. The rebel general responds by de-
clarng that he shall hang every negro he can
rebel Peck hangs Pickett will hang ten Yam
KEGS. Pickett commenced the business by hang
ing some twenty or thirty loyal North Carolini
ans charged with desertion from the rebel
ranks; and now, we suppose. the work Of hang
ing will be commenced in earnest by the two
commanders. Iu old times the war CRY was,
"Hang out your banners;" but In these modern
A.:
CRY is "Hang up your men," and it seems that
one section of the country Is likely to grow as
much hemp as the other. This is most sad
and shocking spectacle Hundreds, perhaps
thousands, Of lives have been inundated upon
this bloody altar Of retaliation, and no good
has been gained for either side Is there no
way for humanity to step ia and stop these
useless, brutal and revolving butcheries?
OLD ABE's LAST CAMPAnN-THE FLORIDA
DIsAsrER.-As the facts Of the recent battle at
| Olustee, in Florida, become better known, we
see no reason why we should be any better
! satisfied with its result. Five thousand men, il
| appears. were marched fifty miles into coun-
try occupied by the enemy, and were precipi-
tated upon a force of double their numbers,
whom they fought fer three hours. and until
compelled to retreat by heavy losses. At first al
this was made to appear blunder of that class
of which we had so many at the commencement
Of the war. Somebody had run against bat
terry, % Schenck did, we were told. Our men
had fallen into an ambuscade. But there was
no ambuscade at all, aud no surprise, in the
ordinary sense So far was il from an ambus
cade that our men drove the enemy's skirmish
ers for miles. and the general in command
must have known from every appearance that
there was Q force Of the enemy in his 'front.'
for General Seymour. soldier Of the Mexican
war, and promoted for gallantry at Gaines
Mill, must be sufficiently familiar with the APP
| pearances that indicate the presence of an enc
my. His only surprise was perhaps. to find
that the enemy had ten or fifteen thousand men
present, when he had been assured that their
number was much less. Nor is it probable that
there is any more truth in the story that Gen.
Seymour acted without orders than there was
| in the ambuscade story. This last invention Of
the administration journals-that General Sey-
mour went out to hunt up fight on his own
4 aoOouht- OsiucHtiy put LoTWdtu w oCTccn eho
President and his private secretary, who are
the recognized originators and managers of this
whole movement. But this illjudged attempt
to screen Old Abe at the expense OF gallant
soldier only deepens the popular conviction
that the President and his secretary are the
only ones to blame in the business. They start
ed the expedition and furnished the information
upon which the arrangements for ii were made,
and we do not doubt that they gave for this
fatal march orders 50 positive as 70 preclude
the szercIss Of q soldiers discretion.
Old Abe's latest joke is that he is "well built
for getting out through small places;' but this
attempted sacrifice of Seymour will. we fancy,
be found too small a loopbole even for him