Charles City intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa) 1864-1866, 1865-02-23
Gbe yntelligerttr.
" Westward the course Of empire takes It's way"
A. b. r. HILDRETH, Editor.
Charles City, Iowa, Feb. 23, 1866.


years. lnese are, the rapid develop
ment of high military capacity in our
generals, and of superior fighting
qualities in our soldiers. At the be-
ginning of the contest, there was a
sad lack Of skill and energy in the Off
GERS, and our vast volunteer armies,
composed entirely of raw recruits just
from the peaceful pursuits of home
were not, under such leadership as we
gave them, the equals of the fiery
Southerners, who had been for a gen.
GRAFTON nursing their wrath and pre-
pairing themselves for the struggle.
The rebels were wiser in their genera
tion than the loyalists. They seemed to
be guided by infalliblc instinct in Sc
lecting their ablest men to command
them all their successful generals
cropped out during the first year of
the war, while the Union armies were
commanded by inferior men, who have
long ago sunk out of sight and been
forgotten. We have now four or five
military leaders, whose recent achieve
ments have thrown most of their pre-
decessors into the shade. They are
Grant, Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan
and Terry. Not one of them was
heard of in 1861. In 1862 the first two
made their mark. Thomas also sig-
nalized his capacity in the same year
by the battle of Mill Spring, in Ken
tucky +; but was little heard or spoken
Of until the battle of Chickamauga,
when he saved the Western army
from ruin, and preserved Tennessee to
the Union. Sheridan achieved his
fame only last October aud Terry, the
youngest-born of our heroes, was
scarcely known outside of military cir
cles until he led the assault upon Fort
Fisher. In mentioning these leaders,
whose names stand forth SO conspicu-
ously at the present moment, we mean
not to detract from the well-earncd
laurels of others.
The laurels won in the recent histo-
ry of the war have not been owing to
the waning spirit of the rebels. They
have never fought with more despe-
rate courage than in the series of en-
gagements which preceded the capture
of Atlanta, in the bloody battles of
Franklin and Nashville, and in the de-
fence of Fort Fisher. On the contra
ry, they, too, have become more ready
to sacrifice their lives in the cause in
which they are engaged but they
have, in this respect, improved less
than the Union troops. And as to
their commanders, their glory has de-
parted They have had no second
Stonewall jackson; their Beaure-
CARDS and Braggs, and Johnstons, and
Hoods, have been stripped of their lau-
rels by Sherman, Thomas, Mcpherson,
Hooker and others. Early has been
driven out of the Shenandoah Valley
by Sheridan. Lee has been for many
months shut up in Richmond, by the
indomitable will, energy, and resource
of Grant, and now displays his capaci-
ty only by his prudence. At the be-
ginning of the war, and during the
first two years Of its existence, the
fact cannot be denied that the outside
world regarded the South as far the
superior of the North in Military quail.
tiles. But our foreign cities must re.
wise their judgments. They must con.
fess that our loyal people have been
apt scholars, and that, like the Ro.
mans, they have been taught, by the
discipline of defeat and failure, to con.
quer and overcome their preceptors.
AS to naval prowess, there never
has been any questions as to the supe-
riority Of the National Navy. The lit.
tie improvised navy of the rebels has
not been sufficiently strong to test our
strength at sea and it has been in
the assault of fortifications that our
Faraguts, Porters, Foote's, and others
have achieved their fame. The only
exceptions to this rule have been the
affair in Hampton Roads, and the
sinking of the Alabama by Captain
Winslow with his Kearsarge.
For, veal or woe, the American ma
ton has developed the very higest ca
Ipacity for military and naval warfare
and will emerge from this struggle
for life, the first military power in the
world 1t is well that three thousand
miles of water divide US from the ma
tions of Europe. Peace is our policy
and, the fears and the i'll opinion of ths
world to the contrary, we will be gooi
neighbors, mind our own business
and make others mind theirs. Claim
ing no right to intervene in European
affairs, we will protect our weaker
lneighbors from European intervention