The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1883-02-11
THE SHENANDOAH CAMPAIGN.

cutue narrative Of the events which made the Vale,
Campaign Of 1854 one OF the most important of IN,
CNll War The author has given close attention 1,
his subject, aud has evidently carefully dges,ed m,
facts gathered 10y faithful study ot the records
Though wen constructed however, the story is col.
orlcss, and when the author attempts to give opip.
Ions he betrays at that however capable OF rc
spectacle book-makng, he Is not writing sound milf.
| nry criticism. After narrating how Hunter's arm,
was driven in rout across the Aierhanies into IN,
Kanawha valley with great losses Of guns, wagons
horses, etc, Mr. Pond devotos several pages 10 th,
impossible task Of trying to show that the campaler
was not an entire failure. To this end th,
damage inflicted upon the euemy--the nat.
ural injuries aud losses from any military expedI.
tlon which passes through an enemy's country vel
falls to reach vital rolntare enumerated and mag.
nncd So far Is this view from being the correct ON,
that we hold to the contrary that one Of the worst and
most costly delusons Of the Civil War was that mere
raids were ever effective In producing any real Of
feet upon tho general course ot the contest Nine
| times out OF ten men and horses were consumed In
these operations as fast they would have been IN
agenuine campaign aud while the Injury they In
hlccd was severe ne peaceful inhabitants OF tho
country through which they passed. they did very
llttctoward bringing about the the FINAL defeat Of
the hostile army. Besides this, the mania for raid.
often lost to the Union Army Indispensable force
when 1t was needed In the crlsis OF great battle.
Nothing could more completely provo irremediabic
Ignorance OF the ART " war than the attempt egh-
| teen years atterwNrd, to Justify General Hunters
march toward Lynchburg by way OF Lexington.
The latter place had no strategic Importance what.
ever, aud our author becomes absurd when he
writes OF Charlottesville that "Intrlnsically the
occupation OF this town would have been as I'M
PorfdHt as thdt oJ Letin9ton, but the rest OF the
sentence Is better for he says 1t "would have
formed satisfactory close OF the campaign had
1t then proved impossible to visit Lynchburg.N
ENafuh had I..... .t.E. 4.
ana destroy the works, stores aud materel there,
important as they were to the Contederates at that
time the game would not have been worth the cost,
because he could not got bynchburg by that route
without totally losing his line OF retreat and COM
plete'y uucovering the Capital 10 keep n line OF
retreat and cover Washington were objects OF the
first military importance. Confederate troops com
ING from RIchmnnd d, ,a,tav, r,,,hh,r. ,r,,,,
and dId Gonna hv way ~ Char to,,osyIIo on1 ,hts
railroad cantre of tho ors, ,,,,,,.,.o -, "a, S,,,
not anita an vaIn,bls a nI,it,rr donnt ,s ,,,,,ro
| lint I'm everv o,bor resnect ,,oro inro,,o,, = IL,
which Iee had always sbovp mat ho ,von,1 J.r,,1 q,
tho last was tina srst nont Ia ain, ot ,or a., eyo,,,
cnmnaign from tho i,,e of tho po,,,,o 1o t,,,,,
the Union general, perslsen,Iv nndp was In re,,r
Inc Pichmond ,s tha,r nrin,,ry oh,oo,t,o ,,, n,,t
ing the miles OF march and the nunher of wagon
of snpplIes an oyerIand eamnaIgn IN RIchnon ,yo,J
take Thev,nn,r,nuv.conia not sao ,ia, =, ,,,r,, {, 90
,,,uiJ n,ht f,r tho ,oss,..,a,, ., a., ,r,.,, -,
| MI
| points in the C,nfeJerorv n u,,tor had 1t,,o,oi
! his march unop Cb,riottasviiio noyin, ,y,,,,r
! instead of SLOWLY bc con,a h,ve toran ,hot
| nIace and brotan nm ,b. ro,I,r,y og,o,,,oIr
By rushnr a marty alnno tina r,Ilr,ad IN hrs, 4, nm
| be Womb nj tho sauna ,in, ha ,hi, ~, ,i,s,, , w
tar,l tbe nnnrn,ch or ,roo,s tr,r, pionn,a,1 ~,
p,pI indiratas CLEARLY o,o,,, ,,,a, ,, ,,,,,. -
Ivnchhurg shnull havs hs,, ,,,,,i AZ a, nii a,t,
curing ,,harlnttesvie INIT hs snoils what ,,h, ,av
h,sn n ,ood h,,,t Ia, .,on,,, ,,,,n, , , -,
| o,,.,,, To-, ,t. ,,s.,, ,,,.,i,.. 49,, IS
! that after all tbav ana vary ,vau nn,ar ,ho ,trn,
stances
! nnr o,,,,or ,o,r,,,,. ,,,,,,, ,-.,., Al, . . r..
undsr HE own ee,r,s IN svc,so ,, , ,,nh,r, ao ,
th yor,,s With ,h,, h., ~, ,' ,,a,', y
| N.yo,,to,.,, 4, ,,,.,,, 49,, 49,, ,,..I,
| eliminated The dsfsnSioe FACTOR from the valley
more eHectuay than his predecessor failure.
' Success indeed The fate of empires has
! been changed by the '' elimination" from the decl-
! sive theatre OF war of forces like lIunter's ade-
quate to aud inttusted with specific duty Grouchy
was on wrong scent but day, aud Napoeon's =
France has since charged him with the defeat of
| Waterloo Hunters retreat to Kunawha "eiimI-
mated y his army more than three weeks From the
time Hunter lost contact with Early In tho noun
ttns about June -, til Early recrossed the Pot0-
mac, July II, the formers army was almost as en-
tirely obeTated from the theatre OF action rs ir
| had ceased to exist
/ cal moment when 1t was decided at Staunton to
march toward Lexington instead OF toward Char
ottesvile, becomes apparent the more closely
I all the circumstances are considered. Hunter had
formed junction with Crook and AveriIl Mt s. stauntou
on the stl. This was no time for dalylng. Yet it
was not until the 10th that he started for Lexington
He should by that time have been well on his road
to Cbarlottesyie and had he rone thatwav sheridan
| ,,,,, 800 '.a,,.,, 49,. ~ - o, 80 -, ~ ~. "' ,
VINO was seeking MN mere ana who fought Mt Tre-
I
| way to Join him.
| Like Lieutenant Greene's volume on .The Missis-
sipp - this also is written from the poInt of view of
/ the adorers of the Imaginary military genIus of
Grant. SO there is futile attempt to make the dis
graceful of things this country saw I'm Iuly 1854
| of the magnificent Union armies then I'm the field
- the greatest OF living soldiers ut IL is mn.
hill work. The industrious toadiGs have no sooner
laDorlousy written the great imposturc IN than IL
/ tumbIes down again of its own wepht We bava be .
fore this pointed out that Dana and WILSON, IN their
campaipn ,Life of Grant ), have mazda ont tha hest
case possible for the ex. Presidents military fame
simply because they are far allpr men as we'll as het
/ ter Informed on the subject than those who have
worked at IL since Daleau Greene and Pond Inv
their lack of knowledge and unskillTuuess ara KIM
ing their own case II for no other reason becanse
they excite the research and controversy which ara
/ fatal TO historical imnostnres
One of the illustrations of the evtraa nc,n,citv Of
the Union general was the false information ba was
constantly sending from Clty Point. After Uuntsr
had been thrust aside and while EarIy was MARCHING
down the Valley TO despatch of UolIeck expressing
fear Of a raid across the Potomac Grant r.uIied.
"Ewelrs rEarly,sl 81 corps has returned here :, and
as Mr. Pond records:
Even the night of July g. when Early held Martins
burg, having fought Sige that day at Leeown, Grant
Wiote tnat Eary corps IS now here; there are no
mani eyrsnt The remnant Of tha Sn5Sc w r. ~
and possibly Breckinridge
This Is but "A single instance of many which the
records disclose Df Grants Ignorance Of the move
ments of the force ia his front
In MAY Grant had begun his .campaIgn of nttrI
tion with the then powerful Army of the Potomac
This kind of attriton-which expected tbe 4 ara
breasts Of Union soldiers To stop bullets as well as
rebel earthworEs-consumed abont ten Uniop men
TO one rebel besides the equally irreparable Ioss of
morale and soon this attrltion had so used nm botb
the Army Of the Potomac and the .Army of the
James that they both Law botled mn ,ont pet.rsbnrg
AS securely as Butler had been not long before
Then the Nineteenth Corps had to be called away
from important duty In the DEPARTMENT of the GuIf
to unbottIa Grant and the arrival of The first shin
loads Of these reinforcements ia HAMPTON Roads
lust In the nick Of time SO that they could be III