Evening star., 1914-10-25


the war situation at this time fifty
years ago. Grants opera
Guerrilla tions in front of Rich
we mond having settled down
"afAaie. to the basis of a
virtual siege. In The Star of October
Is. 1864. is the following summary:
The military news received from va
'rious quarters in the last week makes
it plain that Immediately in front of
Grants army the rebels are at length
compelled, for want of force. etc, to
content themselves with guerrilla war
fare. Thus, Longstreets Cate Early's)
force turns and flies whenever any
portion of Sheridans army approaches
near striking distance. Hoods also
does not now venture to make a stand
in front of any portion of Sherman's
army, and Prices force in Missouri
takes due care to jump out of the way
of Rosecrans whenever that general
moves in force. All three of these
rebel forces are simply engaged in
endeavoring to harass the rear and
to injure the communications of the
three several Union armies named
above. This is nothing more nor less
than guerrilla warfare and proves be-
yond the shadow of doubt that the
capacity of the oligarchy to offer fur
ther effective resistance to the armies
of the Union. except before Petersburg
and Richmond, has vanished and each
succeeding movement of Grant ls clear
ly cripp1ing their means of resistance
there. Thus. his every COLLISION with
Lees army of late has resulted in
Lees loss of some position or work
for the retention of which he strug-
gled. 1t is certain that Grant is hourly
growing stronger. while it is no less
certain that Lees strength is belns
hourly exhausted, without the existence
of possibility that it can be recuper-
ated.
1T is plain therefore. that with the
fall of Richmond. now only aues.'on fa o Il
the capability of the oligarchy to keep
a respectable force in the field is con
cerned Nearly every civil war tnat
has occurred since the days Oh ahtlq
longer or shorter period. oepeniu9iins
| for the most part upon the 1aciiilles .
for hiding offered by the country ana
the hesitancy of the success1ul sue
in disposing of guerrlilas capsutedh ,t y. pi' ~
the principle that they are but pan =
dits-the principle invariably resorteo
to in the end. and always enectlveis.
The fall of Richmond will douptiess
be followed by the adoption OIL 'ha'
| nolicy by this government
| "One leading object of Prices, FOR
| rests and Wheeler's current operations
| is doubtless to strengthen the .upp
heads in our approaching preslaehIt,s. Ia
aIection and as the oligarchy are los-
ing men rapidly by those operations
whom they cannot replace. Whlie .ney
gain nothing whatever worth straIiHg :,
| for when they do partially suc:eeu a..
| them. as soon as our electlon Is ossl
the bands of these guerrilla ieaders
will doubtless be hurried to Rlchlnoi,u !. !,
| in the vain hope of enabling ~ ~
resist a further successlui Pr
| Grants army
On the Goth of October, 1864. nag
tor-truce boat al rived al Annapolis win
| over 500 paroled prisoners
| n-;.onare from Richmond. IN
| whom were seventy-eisht
ParOleu. officers and 130 men be
longing to various vessels IN 'iie I'D > ,
who had been captured at diheren. el.
times. They reported at the navy d"
in Washington the next day anu he
Star of october 81, 1864, says:
| "Amone these officers are Engineers
n Ellis. A. Renshaw and H. X.
Steeyer of this city and Lieut.. H. u.
| Meade of the Marine Corps. Ihey nave
| been in various prisons IN the sou.n .sn
and for the most of the ti1ne lhE ".
|
this place they were sent TO savanna ~
and from thence to Richmond. 80 4.ife
enlisted men were kept at Anderson
Vile. where they described Inelr
/ sufferings to have been perfectIS Hoi =
| rible-not having enough to eat. lt,le
| or no medicine and treated with rude
| ness. In no place is the rebel ration
enough for the men. and even TINS TOT
| a large portion of the time was totaiiy
| unfit for use. They were cioseiy guaro,
~ chow themselves at a window on
penaltv of being shot. Some OF them
state that they have reason TO peiieNe
the Union has friends in Macon ana
Savannah, but they are satisned tnat
| south Carolina has but few Union
| lovers in it, The officers of the prisons
gave them 81 of Confederate money Tor
one sreenback. but they ascertained
that on the street the ruling price was
| twenty for one. The day the prison.
ers left Richmond about 1000 prisoners
in that city, who had taken the oath to
the Southern Confederacy. were sent
south These men. it is stated, were
| absolutely driven to this course. being
almost starved and destitute or cio'h-
ing.
In The Star of October p. 1864, is the
| following account of failure of the
new fire alarm telegraph to
Crossed operate sat s a C t o r l v.
though, fortunately. without
"AeS' serious results:
Last night. at ten minutes to IL
| o'clock. a fire was discovered in
wooden shed or stable in the rear OF
the residence of Mr.. William Johnson,
on Sth near X street north. The near
est signal box for the telegraph was
| No. 81, and the policeman declares that
the signal was given from that accord
| ing to directions, but the alarm was
given at the central office from box -.
| The fire department answered the
alarm Immediately and in few MN
utes all the apparatus was in the vicln-
ity of the fire. Upon inquiry being
made at the central Office relative to
| the alarm, it appears that the patrol
man at box 81 turned the crank TOO
| fast, and there being no alarm given IN
| response the patrolman at box "a
| signaled. and when he had done sig
| nal from box 81 was ascertained, but
the alarm was given for box "a. The
shed was destroyed and the loss was
| small. No other property was injured
! The fire was supposed to be an incen-
diary act. The conflict of the signals
| in this instance is easily accounted for
by the anxiety of an officer for the
| first time operating upon an instru-
! ment which he had never before
/ touched
! 1t has been a long time since Wash
ington saw a political torchlight pro-