The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1901-03-27
Gens'as Rosser's Estimate ct .ha
Great Commander.
ne DEFEATED GEN. GRANT
The Great Conieoerate Leadsi
Merely Played With Gems.
McClsj!ar, Burnside.
Pope and Not ksr.

in writing and publishing a series oi
papers on the wal, between the States,
and his concluding article is as fol,
lows:
THE wisdom Of General Lees ip,
vasion cf Pennsylvania in 1853 hiss
often been questioned by military men
as well as statesmen, but when you
remember that at that time Grant held
General Pembcrton by the throat at
Vicksburg, and the hope of the u?ti-
mate SUCCESS Of the Southern Confed
eracy wss faint and aiokering, ycu will
sgree that the situation called for des
perate action.
General Lee lad gsiued an easy
victory over General Hooker at Chan
cel'orsville in early Msy, and having a
low estimate Of his military sbiliey, be
felt that a victory over him north Of the
Potomsc was not beyond the bound OF
reasonable hope, or even probability,
and the prospect was too tempting to
be disregs,ded.
Lee had lost his lieutenant. Stone
wall Jackson, and while Longs'reet
was with him, neither Ewell nor Hill,
who had recently been promoted from
major to lieutenant general, had ever
commanded corps in a battle, and
while Lee must have felt some anxiety,
7rrnot nisgi1ings concerning them, he
had confidence IN his superb army and
resolved to take the move, not as Na,
poleon marched on Moscow IN 1912
but IS Scipio (Africanu>) went to Csr-
thsge in 201 B. G, in order to loose
the hold on Virginia Of the invading
army, and at the same time strike a
blow which would awaken sn echo to
be heard in Europe and through diplo,
macy, end the war in favor Of the
Southern Confederacy.
General Lee planned to give bsttle
as near the rarge Of South Mountain
IS he could, SO that in the event Of dis.
aster, IS was the case, he could drop
back through the harrow mountain
passes in which he could resist the
enemy and sVert pursuit.
Bsd General Lee declired battle on
the I'd Of July st Gettysburg, as Gen.
eral Longstreet claims he advised him,
and Mesde had been forced by faux
move Of Lee, back on Washington,
and battle fought and Lee defeated
pesr Washington, his army would
doubtless have been destroyed before
he could have reached safe refuge in
the mountains or recrossed the Poto-
mac at the nearest ford, which was
west Of the mountain. Thsrefore, LIE
acted wisely in fighting where he did,
and the only mistakes he made were
tactical, not strategic, as shown in my
previous letter
Had General Lee died st Gettysburg,
he would not have ranked in history
IS great general. His victories over
Mcclellan, Pope, Burnside and Hooker
would have been ascribed to the genius
Of StoneWall Jackson, who participated
50 gloriously in ali Of them, for we ell
remember that in the winter of 1861 2
General Lee did not scq1it himself
with credit in his campaign agsinst
RosecraDs in West Virginia, and the
failure st Gettysburg with the danger
Gus halt Falling Water and Williams
port, waiting for freshet to run out
Of the Potomac so that he might pass
his army over it, occasioDed very IN
favorable comment from uauy of our
highest o6icsrs.
General Lee was doubtless q grest
general, but his great military talent
did not shine out fully in al its radi-
ant splen6or until he net General ..
S. Grant in the Wilderness in the
spring Of 1864
General Lee had merely played with
Mcclellan, Pope, Burnside and Hooker
taking great liberty with them snd
violating every maxim Of war in his
campaigns against them-such, for IL
stance, as going of after Pope and leav
ing Mcclellan and his fine army on the
James within days march Of Rich
mond, and in leaving Hooker IN June,
1863, with an srmy double his own in
number at Fredericksburg, and march
ing around him to Culpeper-libegties
which poor Hood mistook for strategy,
and in trying to initiate them left the
road open to Sherman, which he &C
cepted, and marched upon Atlanta and
the ses, while he, poor fellow, vas de-
fested at Frsnkliu, Tenn, and had to
be relieved of his command by General
Joe Johnston.
Lee does not appear to have gotten
strictly down to business until ne was
confrontsd by Grant in the Wilderness
in the spring of 1864. .
General Grant was greatly surprised
when General Lee permitted him, IN
molested, to cross the Rapidsn on the
9Th Of May, 1864, with an army Of 1884,
600 men and 8 train Of 4, 600 wagons.
Seeing nothing Of Lee or his army,
Grant believed that he had fed, and sll
he had to do was to pursue, overhaul
and destroy him he little understood
his great adversary. Lee was thorough
II Informed as to every move Grant
made, snd when Grant begun, on the
morning Of the 9th Of May, to uncoil
his great army, which lay in many folds
around Gernania Ford, and serpent.
ike, extend its fiery and bristling head
through the dark juDgles Of the
Wilderness, Lee, y Tho ooo was holding
his little army Of 80, 600 men massed
and well in han d on his flank, fell upon
him with the fury Of $ cyclone, best.
ing him at every point, and compelling
him TO recall his advanced corps ano 20
prepare and fight the tEo,Gays oattleS
Of the Wilderness IN which Gene5al
triunphed.
General Grant now saw that IN the
game Of skillful nanoeuverlng ne was
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