Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1865-03-08
r1CH:F FRIDAY. MARCH 3. 1865.

p.crets are vain for what is past but we cannot
LIN thinking that if the Coufederacy now had the
n m .rmes that were frittered away and lost in the
M T,v Of Virginia Under Early, and in the last Quiz
~. c.mpaign of Gen. Hood, it might make much
va successful headway against its enemies. Not
,., M than thirty thousand men, with seventy pieces
~. ~ .r,,,erv we're sent to the Valley last summer
-, E,rly. We could not see then, and'we
,nnot ~ see now that there was any pressing necssr
sitv for that campaign. Gen. EARLY pervaded the
sntire ant Valley, fought number Of battles, and,
,ter all, only checked the enemy with loss Of
s,u,a m twenty.one or two thousand Of his army and
u M his artillery: Only seven thousand Of his COM
m,nd. we believe, afterwards reported for duty to
Gen, Lee. That he was totally untitled for the
,o,ition assigned him seems now to be generally
conceded. Even if he had been qualified for Sc i'm.
nortsnt command, bis habits were such as to
cloud his brain and render his judgment unsteady
and unreliable, Twelve of the noblest of the
North Carolina regiments were nearly entirely sac:
r6ced in the Valley, and the State was called upon
to mourn the loss of some of her best and braVest
osicers Remonstrance after remonstrance went
up to Richmond against continuing Gen. Early IN
command, but they were not needed until 1t was
too late. At length the remnant OF that glorious
army of veterans returned to General Lee, and
tho country saw and felt that more than twenty
thousand men had been sacriacedfor naught, while
the enemy sreeated by the disasters which in that
ouarter had attended our arms. The same is true
as to the illsarred expedition of Gen. Hood At the
verv moment when Gen. Johnston had the army of
Tennessee in condition and at point where he
could strike an effective blow, be was suddenly re-
moved, Gen. Hood appointed to succeed him, and
movement commenced in the rear Of Gen. Sherman,
tbe result of which was the Generalization and loss
Of as large an army as that of Gen. EARLY. Gen.
Johnston, in bis mastery retreat, had more thor
Oughly crippled the enemy and had killed more of
bis men than Gen. Hood.in all his subsequent cam
paigns including the battle of Atlanta; but the or
der was to the rear leaving northern Georgia totally
unprotected, in the vain hope that Sherman would
be compelled to retrace his steps, and that at very
carly periodic use the language of the President
in his Macon speech-the flag Of the Cenfederacy
would be "planted on the beautiful banks of the
Ohio!n The result is before the country. Sher-
man swept through Georgia and marched ito the
sea, almost without opposition. If the army of
Early and the army Of Hood we're now in existence,
and could be brought to bear on Sherman, or Grant,
or Scoisld the most fortunate results might be ex-
pected from their operations. They would consti-
tute force of veterans of sixty thousand men, a
>pHv ic
most important victories. But these noble veterans
now
"sl.ep their last slsep-they have fought their
last battle,
No sound shall awake them to glory again"
Again, how many of our troops were sacrificed
in those useless and unwise expeditions into Mary
land and Pennsylvania. Probably not less than
forty thousand. One hundred thousand veterans
lost in movements from which no practical good
bl resulted. to the country !-and now the de-
mand is made for raw negro troops to supply their
Places Well may Gov. Brown fear that if thor
ough reform should not be effected and that speed
lily, in our affairs the result must be "rsconstruc
ton with or without subjugation." But it is use
less to dwell upon the mistakes and blundsrs o1
the past. We wish we could find good grounds on
which to base hope for better management in the
future. Common sense seems to be quality Of
which many of our leading men are not possessed
The wisest forecaste and the most prudeus and en-
sgstc application of our resources as people
were Indispensable to success in this struggle
for independence. A thorough statesman always
looks to a supply of food and clothing as of the
first Importance in conducting military operations
and good General is uniformly careful of the live.
Of his troops If the country is drained of its pop
ulation so as to cut of the production of surplus
supplies, and this population, when placed in the
army, is reckessly or ughtlessly sacrificed the
country thus receives blow from which it is diff.
cult if not impossible to recover during : state Of
war;
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