Washington telegraph., 1865-03-22
TO the Editor of the Richmond Wing.

| Nouci~l hnOy SnlltH. IL contains several
statenients w hich are uu;rus; and Is filled ith
errors and misconceptions respecting the late
campaign in this department As the charac-
ter OF your paper forbids the belief that YOU
would Intentionally do an njua.ics to an officer
so distinguished. have taken the liberty OF
writing this communication ia reply to ths A.
ticis alluded to.
You say, they Tere more prompt in nakiuy
the movement G G. to reinforce 1homas) b..
cause they knew thoy had little to fear, from
the ianguid and indecis.ye operations Of the
Lieut.. General commanding iha Confederate
armies in tbs Trans Mississippi Departments"
| You ''are preciudud from doubling
;hat tbs failure on our part to accomplish grrat
| results, was ewing to the hesisancy and lxssi-
tude CT Li.ut General L. L. Smith" :
AN opportunity was presented las. Spring for
recovering Nrw Orleans" .Thr en-
emy's arms were disastreusly defeated 4. Pleas
ant Hill and Mansfield, by General Taylor
The enemy had lost all his transpor-
tation, almost all his artillery" "His
| flying columns were totally broken ard DISC
ganizsd.' "Had General TAYLOR been
permitted to carry out his designs, the whole OF
that proud army would have been captured al
Alexandria" Prices failure in Missouri, Hoods 4
in Tennessee. Early's before Washing ton, are
also attributed in this articls to the 'l1s,ituds"
ef Gen L. * Smith. Why Les, ana Johnston,
| Beauregard, Hardse and + ores. were exempted
from tho effects of Kirby Smiths .'lassiluae,n Il,
is difficult 10 understand. Onu thinks OF the
Grecian hosts, every where disco nf ted because
Achilles has taken the suks.
1t is impossible that those who know Gen.
Smith, his devotion to duty, his purity OF yur-
psse, his restless activity, mis- inpetuosity il &C
uon. his undinching courage, can Be made he
| leve that he has sank into ialguer or irreso,r
| ton.
The friends of General Smi.h have heard - lib
pain that attacks ot this character havn been
made upon his reputation in Richmond, and
now that public journal of the standing Of
pour paper has seen proper 10 endorse them
they feel thSt justice to n meIi oIisus oficer, a.
veil IS regard to truth of history. demands
shat they Do repelleo, in 80 faI thc public i'll
! terests will allow. Respect for General Smith
and the good of tho service, ipr.'li- rcfutatior
of such ABSURD charges in detail Or notice o
| the perscn5 and motives which inaugurattl
them; have therefore determined 10 give
| simple ana snecinct history OF the campaign a.
| it occurred in this Department last yraT-leav
| inS the public TO decide whether, under the try
/ ing circumstances IL " hioh Le was placed, Gen
ersl Smith was or was not justified in acting 4.
be did.
Take map of the Confederate States and
| starting from Forts Gibson and Smith, upon the
Arkansas river, fellow that steam to where i.
fall, into the Mississippi; thence down the
course of that river to the junction Of Tie Red
flNoG, tEcnCc the 10 Berwick U
Bay; thence along the shore OF the Mexican
Gulf to Brownsville, and you have the line
" hich separated the Confederate and Urlitd 4
States forces in thS winter of l563-6i
There important point against which,
witt his forces concentrated, General Smith
could tSke the offensive. snS TN co mpelling The
snemy TO GSiead 1t, save OUf Icfij.erT iTola IN
yasion.
The hard alt,I ratiYe Of defensive cslgps.qn
mad TO be accepted.
The enemy with supe-ior numbers and ilimi-
table means OF transportation Tad the initiative,
rnsking it almos. inevitable td>l ~ would over
power our forces ~ the point cEsscn for attack
on this lo.g iiae.
In the Fail 90 1868. General Smith aad his
forces disposed - follows:
General Taylor. with large proportion OS the
Infantry, and Green's division az cavalry, " Te
On ;Ae lower bed river and ieuhe. Gen Tn. !,
confronted Steele, who was st Little Rock, pre-
pairing for offensive movements towards the led
ryer. General MagTuder guarded tile Texas
coast General MsAey, with mixed force or
Texans and Indians, held in cheek about $3.50
of the enemy under General Theyer at Fort
Smith. Small bodies OF cavalry observed the
lines between these armies.
During the winter, General Banks massed his
army on Hatagorda Peninsula, which compelled
the transfer eli Greens division frnm IL. lor 10
Magrudcr. Nearly all the winter il seemed that
B&uhs was GrlCt 70 invade ltNaS about
the mouth OF the Brazos; but after the return Of
Sherman from Meridian 20 Nirksburg, IL sosn
became evident that combined movement, il
great force, by the armies under Banks and
Steele, with large attachments from thst Of
Sherman, was to De made agairst this depart
ment. As there were immense naval arnamrI4ts
upon the Mississippi river, with nothing else 10
Go, il was clear that the line Of the Red river
would be the line OF advance If the prncipa.
column. to be ssppsr.od by the gun boats. and
suppied 5y transports conveyed by them.
On the 2,tl February, Instructions were Civ
en- BY :. IegI aph for Green's division to hold it.
self IL r.s1iE S. aEd on IAs OH March IL was
ordered to move with dispatch to loIn General
Tay Tor, who was cmeSI fassed fer the want vi
cavalry. On the i@th March, f.rc., consist
ing OF portions OF the 10th aud 18th u. 3 corps,
under the command Of Geus - J Smith
amounting probably to eigEt thousand men
dropped down from VieksbGTg, anu disrmbark-
ed at Simsport on the AtchaIalaya. With such
secrecy and ceieIiiy this ,,lrctrd, lhaI GEN
cral Taylor was unable toscon41EIratr his force
in time to prevent Fort DcRusscy from being
carried by assault. This was the only work ca
pable OF controlling the navigation of Red river
Embarkng his troops, 4. J. Smith pressed on
aud occupied Alexandra. turning lie flank Of
Gen. Taylor and obliging him 10 make rapid
march OF seventy milcs, through pine haiTens
10 recover his communications with Shreveport
At the same time, Banks assembling his army
At Bsrwicks Bay. moved up IT, Tech, .nl ioin-
ing A. J. Smith At Alexandra, assumed com
mand of force Of at lsas. thirty thousand men
Acting in con junction, WAS of tie mos. pow
erful f-e.s ever assembled upon 4 river in
concert with these movements below, Steele set
out from Little Rock upon line l-ading through
Arkadelphia. Washington and Fulton. The
common objective point OF :h-sc tvo columns
Was either Marsh AL or Shreveport
The plan of Gen. Smith To effect con-
centratioa of every avaiisbic man near ShreYe-
port, before giving patsi. to either column: and
to eHdeavor 10 so iuanouvr- as TO fght Iirst one
and then the other, with the mass VI his forces.
The nature of the country ilvo "a him in this,
q. the Red river between NatcAitechrs and
Shreveport, has upon either aide succession Of
lakes and mora,ses, rendering it impossible for
sn army marching en- The South to form irnc-
ton with one coming rom tie north
As Taylor, after tho arrival If Green-v no
had boon delayed beyond exp prctaticE-had Little
over ono-third the number OF Banks, General
| Smith refused Steele and marched all the in
fantry from Arkansas to hrsveport-dircctirg q
Gen. Price to harass and impede the march Of
Steele SIS best ho could with his cavalry.
| Banks, with the aid OF his transports, came
on very rapidly. Taylor had to fall back to
Pleasant Hill, where he began to receive acces-
sions Of strength, by the arrival Of the regi
ments Of Green's eommsrd; but 80 energetic
vera the movements OF the enemy "A number ot