The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-07-07

l brought 1t to the most perfect degree of
 discipline seen by any cavalry in our | war.
 These three parts of about 123, 900 men
 were commanded by generals of the greatest ability. Indeed the Army of l the Potomac had generally had under 1t
 commanders of the highest merit. But
 at no period of it's history had the order
 of merit on the whole been better.
 Over them all was General U. s. I Grant. He had had an education at the
 expense of the nation and as a devoted
 son gave her its benefit At the begin
 ming of the war in command of q regi-
 ment; at the close of 1t In command of
 more armed men than was ever com
 manded at one time by any English
 speaking general. At the first thinking
 he knew enough to possibly command 1 under others brigade of cavalry; at | the end of four years projecting and ] carrying out combinations so vast as to fill with wonder military savants of the
 old world. At thirty nine years of age unknoWn at forty-three the greatest
 general of the century, with the possible exception of Napoleon Bonaparte Si- lent, thoughtful, brave, tenacious, he
 was the best expression of the northern
 character
 The Army of Northern Virginia has been variously estimated in numbers.
 The historian of the Washington Artil- lery" of New Orleans estimated Grants
 army at two hundred thousand; and Lees army at thirty-tve thousand. That is fair sample of their method of figuring. Adding to the enemys, and
 taking away from their own. The ten
 dency of that is to take away from their
 statement all credibility. General
 Grants troops, as we have seen from the rolls of the army, numbered 12300o,
 while his troops took more than thirty
 five thousand prisoners in the weeks
 work. And General Lee declared at the
 end that his losses by struggling, deser- ton and death had been enormous.
 There were at the least fifty-ive thou
 sand men behind the entrenchments
 Of course with all that there was q
 great disparity, but when one remem- bers that the troops of Grant were to
 guard stores and were to be the attack
 ing party the disparity is not so great. There should be two men outside the
 Nplho tO pS cttoth lo Ollc hIlspAC. ifCls also the union works being on the out side of the curve were much longer
 than were those of the relief which were on the inner line. The union lines were more than thirty miles in length, and
 when we remember that the earthworks
 were not made straight but back and forth, there would be not far from forty
 miles of lines to take good care of. General Humphrey, the last commander of the second corps, and the careful his- torian of the winter campaign before Petersburg estimates the rebel army at f1fty-seven thousand That was after their failure at Ft. Steadman, when they lost four thousand men. Then, too, the material was the best the war on that side had produced. Their commanders had no equals elsewhere in the south. unless we except General Johnston, who was opposing sherman. They were Ewell. A. P. Hlll and Longstreet. Over all was Robert E. Lee, who as well as Grant, had been educated at the expense of the United States government, and unlike Grant or even George Il rhom- as from Lees own state. gave the wealth of his education and experience lOWbiuS t1it dtsil Ut lloll bl liH 1OuiitiS. We are not here to give an estimate of his action, but we do say that until we get ready to condemn the magnificent Thomas we will not get ready to ap- prove the treason of Robert F. Lee Distinctions are not to be mixed up that way. But that does not touch his abili- ty. He was the ablest commander of that side. Of that we are proud, since we have common heritage in his being an American.
 It was not by any means certain that Lee would be caught in the city. There was more room in the country than there was in the city and few men knew that better than the astute leader of the southern hosts, In fact Lee and Davis had held an interview in Rich mond toward the middle of March, in which the conclusion had been reached | that the lines would not be defensble much longer, and that as soon as the | roads allowed an escape from them | would be made and union of the Con federate armies take place further | south. It was for that reason that on the night of the 24th of March Lee made | an attack on the right of the Union lines | near the Apponiattox river and carried Fort Steadman and a short line of | works. His object was to make Grant draw off from the extreme left to guard | the endangered right and then, Lee would slip out and be away with a good | distance ahead. That was the way they often did in the army-strike at one point, and when that was reinforced | strike at the point from which the rein forcements were drawn. which were of ten from the extreme end. On that oc- casion, however, it resulted disastrous ly to the rebels The fort taken was re- captured with a loss to them of nearly four thousand men in killed wounded and prisoners That was bad enough but a counter charge was made upon their lines and their lntrenched picket line was captured and held. General Grant clearly saw the meaning of the attempt of Lee and at once General Ord was sent with large part of the Army ready with the Second and Fifth corps to strike for the South Side railroad so as to shut off Lees escape from the south.
 But before we go further let us get before our minds at least faint idea of the country over which the events were to take place.
 We will begin at Washington; the oth-