Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-01-15

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! allowed time TO recover, and dispose them
selves in their works SO that when, two or
three days later, the fortifcations were as
sanlted, We sustained bloody repulse,
and the siege of Vicksburg was prolonged
nearly two months. T t7r
There is a general conclusion from this
Nicksburg campaign, to the following ef-
! feet: ~ .......-... l..7.
Nv. The capture Of Nieksburg was de-
layed unnecessarily for six months; and,
when il finally took place, was the result
of a move that was originally unintended,
and afterward became a necessity.
dilE AT roHATTANooaA. ip ~ p
!, After Rosecrans' terrible defeat at Chick
amauga, he was removed and Grant placed
in command. Badeau himself describes
what Immediately occurred. He says
(page 470y: 'sf
g heeoatiglent sk6ok ,cih he tramp Of ad-
vancing armies. Bridges were built in
Eastern cities for these soldiers to march
over; engines were brought from Western
towns TO transport supplies. The greatest
rivers of the republic-the Tennessee, and
the Cumberland, and the Mississippi, and
the Ohio-Were crowded with steamers
bringing clothes and shoes to those who
were wearing out their garments in mighty
marches; and ammunition and food TO re-
place what had already been expended in
the campaigns of Chattanooga. Over half
the territory in rebellion, through these
great mountain ranges, and by the side of
these rushing streams, along the desolated
cornfelds, and amid the startled re-
oasoas of ,,r;p,auol foraots tlo L,,,tIo o,,l
stir of war were rife. TITO hundred thousand
soldiers soere concentrating from the East and
West, either IN motion for this one battle
field Chattanooga or guarding its ap-
proaches, or buying up supplies, or waiting
anxiously for those who were, with them,
to fight the battleo
In this paragraph we have a key to
Grants success at Chattanooga; and, we
may add, of his success at Vicksburg and
before Richmond. Suppose the continent
had been shaken with the tramp of armies
advancing to relieve Rosecrans when he
was hemmed up at Chattanooga? To what
extent would Grants presence, or that of
any other man, been necessary to extricate
him from his difficulties?
Wherever Grant went, there was heard
the tramp Of advancing armies. Wherever
his headquarters were, thitherwards went
every available man from the Atlantic to
the Missouri, and from the lakes to the Rio
Grande river.
The result of the Chattanooga fight is
well known. Bragg datached Longstreet
TO capture Burnside in East Tennessee. He
was then left with limited force to defend
position extending from Lookout valley
to Chickamanga river. After awhile, the
concentrating thousands, whose tramp was
shaking the continent, marched against
him. Assaulted vigorously by Sherman on
his right, he was obliged to denude his
centre and left, through which poured the
swarm of Thomas and Hooker, and speedi-
ly the victor of ChichaInauga was in full
We do not believe that even the most ar
dent admirers of Gen. Grant claim for him
any particular display of genius at Chatta-
nooga. Bragg, weakened by his stupidity
in sending away Longstreet, was simply
by our columns, who swept him
away as mighty torrent carries away
straws and drift-wood. 1t was battle in
which the victors outnumbered the van
quished FIVE to one.
The principal deduction from the brief
Chattanooga campaign is this
Y. At Chattanooga Grant, reinforced to
dimensions, carried a weakened
position by sheer weight of numbers.