The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-01-04
The Sampalgn.

Gen, Grant seems to have a good
many irons. in the FIRE Just now Scarce
ly a force under his command that Is
not engaged in offensive operations
the notable exception being the two
armies of the Potomac and the James,
which are close under bis eye and
which he holds in the leash, to be let
loose a. the moment when their spring
shall be decisive.
Our news is mainly from Rebel pa
pers, and OF course Is dOctOred to SUI
the Richmond market But even if
we accept each report Of the defeat or
delay Of our different armies as tTu-,
we still cannot fail to see that the Con
federacy is soreIy harsssed ou all sides,
and that a. some point It must shortly
give way.
Gen Sheridan is again far up the
Shenandoah Valley, threatening Cor
donsViIle and Charl It Q lille, and even
Lyuchburg Lees dispatch published
Yesterday states that one division OF
cLFalry under Custar was coming up
the Valley towards HarrisOnburg, whil-
two others under Torbert had passed
the Blue Ridge through Chester Gap
It is not 70 be supposed that single
division Of ca yalry could be really
meant to move on Lynchb1rgh, we pre-
sumo, therefore, that the columns east
or west Of the Blue Ridge had g com
mon object, and were 10 unite further
South Custer might cross the Rldgs
below IL trri +ouburg through Swift Run
or Brown Gap, but it is likely he was
TO concentrate with TOrbert at NJ alison
Court House, and so would take the
Northern read Lees report is tissue
Of absurdities lie declares that R05
ser attacked Custar nine miles from
Harrisburg, and drO7s him back his
division with a loss of forty prisoners
Does anybody believe q dIVlsiOn-Jf
three or four thousand men-has been
defeated, and that the rebels have
nothing to boast of in the way OF cas-
ualitios but forty prisOners2 TOrbert,
also IS reported on the same authority
to have attacked L)m8K, near Cor
dOnsVille, and 70 have been 'repulsed
aud severely handled '' What those
vague generalities mean when transla
ted into fact We shall only know on re-
ceipt Of dispatches from the Union
commanders. Meanwhile il Is safe 70
believe that a force comprising the
whole OF Gen. Saeridans cavalry will
suffer worse damage than the Rebels
vet charge upon iJ before It abandOns
its purp0se-HhatsyeT that may have
been. Lee has found IL Necessary to
strengthen other points by Withdrawing
nearly ali the garrisons OF GJrdOnsville
and Charlottesville, and though those
towns sre fortified, their capture is by
no means improbable.
Gen Buffers activity is characters
tic. Beside the grand demonstration
upon W lmington, he has s-nt con-
siderable force from Sudlik toward /
Weldon, apparently 70 do the work |
which Warren Left unfinished A sec |
ond force has moved toward Fort /
Branch on ths Roanoke Z yer, and /
after being severely handled by the 4
Rebel telegrams, resumed the attack
With such suecesa, apparently, mat IL
was not thought worth while 70 c)ntin-
ue the account Of MS operations p {
lar Spring or Point near which Fort
Brapon seems t0 DO situated, IS thirty |
miles above plymouth, and the move
rnent In this direc ion Is manifestly IT,
tended b clear the navigator Of the R0
snocs River, on VII Weldon IS sitG-
ated. TIE expected oooPers ion Of Il .
7unboats failed from tJrpsd0ss
OF the two or three columns which
srs cutting . railway connec ions Of
Mobile and moving apparently upon
the city itself We have no definite &C
counts The rebel papers are myste-
-ious, as their way Is when they have
bad neWA The little tight st Pollard,
seventy miles neFEh OF Mobile, indi-