Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1869-08-13
Con. johnson at Atlanta.

We give an interesting extract from Pol.
lard's " Life of Jefferson Davis" concerning
the situation ut Atlanta before the removal of
Gen. Johnston by Mr.. Davis, which tho au.
thor considers o fatal mistake and the Death
blow of the Confcderacy:
General johnson was now executing the
masterpiece of his military life. Flo had
fought down to Atlanta with far more success
and brilliancy than Lee had fought down to
Richmond, with more incidents of advantage,
and to greatly bettcr effect. His r%ctroerads
from Dalton to Atlanta has been described as
a future study in military schools, and as ex-
act as a figure in geometry his plans in cam,
paign being the avoidance of pitched battles
and the substitution Of flank movements, in
tersperscd with actions between dctachmcnts
and sometimes rising to a general engagement.
He had performed the wonder Of conducting
an army in retreat through nearly one hun.
dred and fifty miles Of intricate country, alb
solutcly without any loss in materials or pris
oncrs he had brought along everything, CIV.
cry gun, every wagon, every camp.kettle he
had inflicted q loss upon the enemy of forty.
five thousand men, more than four times his
own; and in pursuance of his plan of redu
cling the numerical superiority of Sl,crman's
army 50 as to cope with it on equal ground
by tho time the charlottesville was passed.
he had now that army south of Tint stream,
where its defeat would be inevitably its de-
struction, and whore, on the other hand, the
Confedcrates would have a refuge in Atlanta.
which their commander, writing officially to
Richmond, had described as "too strong to
be assaulted and too extensive to be invested"
Never was aby situation of the war so advan
tagcous for the Confederates, and so critical
and tromulous for tho enemy, unable, as he
was, to go further, brought to a place which
he dared not assault, and which he was una
BILE to invest, and suspended one hundred and
forty miles in a hostile country, by q single
line of communication. The fears of the gid.
dy cnomy we're excessive, almost to de,norali
z%ation; the assurances Of johnson wcro as
perfect as human foresight could mako them.
We repeat that his position in Atlauta was
more secure than that Ct Ice in Richmond.
Judging prospective by past events, it was
impossible to doubt that he would hive held
Sherman as we'll as Lee hold Grant. He
| could at least have done this and it was
probable he would have done moro, for if he
had succeeded in destroying Shcrman's line
of land communication, which was obviously
easier to reach than that of Grant over water,
he might have forced his enemy to a retreat,
in which surrender or annihilation would be
the choice. No wonder that the heart Of tho
Confcderaoy was elated, and that. the tiptoe
Of expectation was the attitude Of the most
Intelligent"
Heavy Express Robbery,
Tho Augusta Chronicle" brings us the
particulars Of q heavy robbery, which occur.
red in Georgia q few days ago, and Of which
the Southern Express Company has been the
victim. The booty captured on the occasion
was considerable, the thieyes getting four
thousand nine hundred dollars in currency,
There 70 In the employ Of the Southern
Express Company asoung gentleman, a resi-.
dent Of this county. ard Of the best family,
Mr. Butler b. Mays, who had q situation as
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