Year: 1864

! Hb DllhHh ol HlChmOnut ana ii ne cOulQ senu q
portion Of his army into the fertile fields Of
Maryland, TO gather the fat Of The land he would
be quite likely to make desperate effort to do
SO, And now was his time, while Petersburg re-
mans impregnable The prospect of its falling
into hands eventually is as sure as anything of
! the kind can be, but not 50 immediate as we
would wish to have it. We have tried to carry
their works and have failed. The bare facts
are the rebels are too strong in their position
to be beaten in direct assault, and every day
theJ are adding to its strength. By our failure
to 'apture them at first they have gained time
and have improved 1t. So long as they act on
the defensive they have the advantage One
man behind good breastwork is worth three
outside, ard unless we can oblige them to fight
US 10 open field, or, what would be better, make
them attack US 10 our breastworks they have US
to serious disadvantage If Lee could supply
his army be could hold out against Us indefinite
ly II part Of bis forces could hold the works
agan,t us and leave another part to operate
elsewhere it ISM beyond the capacity Of a child
to see exactly what " old Bob Lee " would be
likely to do There is no very great display Of
rebel sbrewdness in i. after all Petersburg is a
city that We cannot very well siege The rebel
heights that command the city are separated
from our army by the Appomattox river which
rnlus th,i. stronghold doubly secure. Heavy
artillery can sometimes batter down forts but
they can have no effect in reducing river.
Place ~ in position as strong As the rebels
lu'e gOt, with a river between " and them and
we would defy tn. whole coniederacy to drive
us ont And 1t il the same with them. The
rebels know how to fight. We showed them
how it was done when we fought them in the
Wilderness, and they know their advantage if
We attack them.


The only thing We can hope to DO at Peters
burgh is to cut thor railroads and give them
no chance to procure supplies for their army and
city 1t vas at first thought by many to be
impossible Tor US to do this, but we have
occupied every road except tbe Danyille road,
and that is so much at the mercy of our raiding
parties Mat 10 is I'D same as ust.Css II the
rebels could get no supplies over these rouds,
they would be Iorced to do one Of three things


to come out and tight u, with glorious chance
OF getting licked, to starve in Richmond, or else
make raid into Maryland with the iororn
hope Of collecting supplies u,re 1t seems
they have chosen the lakt alternative Neces.
sity drove them TO it. Lee sends bic test corps
into Maryland for plumber, and Grant sends
bis best corps to intercept them.


was d dusty march We had Saturday peht
| doubt If ihere IS another place in the world,
where so much Of this annoyance is 10 be found
in q dry time as along the James River Dry,
light dust, as light ar ashes, was piled along in
the road several inches deep, and it yielded to
the feet like light snow It was literally " over
shoe" 10 the road, and often the dense clouds
oI it that We had TO pass through, was almost
sutiocating Cleanliness was not TO be thought
Of Sweat and dirt was supreme.


We reached City Point about sunrise, having
marched sixteen miles. TINS city, at the Junction
Of the Apromattox and James rivers, occupies a
site level and beautiful, though already Scared


by the visitation oil war. There was much
activity al the landing New wharves were
being made to accommodate the rapid trans
portation Of supplies by boat and rail. But
little delay will be necessary, when the whole
work commenced there is completed. Cars run


from the wharf to near Petersburg. The boys
will be pleased If they perfect their arrange
ments so that soft bread can come through from


Alexandria before it becomes moldy. 1t would
appear as If this place was intended to be per-
: manently occupied but those long acquainted
/ with army operations know how short time
it takes to evacuato place like this, and destroy
t all that has been done.


The Sanitary Commission in its work OF be-
, neyolence was represented here. A large boat
load OF every thing that a soldier can imagine
himself in need Of was waiting at the wharf to
be unloaded. Many OF their articles of food
were distributed to the boys as they were get
ting aboard the transports Pickles, soda crack
ers, hot coffes aud other luxuries were given to
many that had not tasted for long time Of
such neoessaries as these are TO an army in a
Q hot climate like this. At one place they had a
table fixed up where they gave any hungry SOL
der dinner that needed one The fare was
simple-hard tack and pickles, with hot coffee
but it came at n time when we could not have
: got anything elsewhere half ass good. The COM
mission has wonderful tact Of supplying the
right things at the right time If they have
, tobacco to give away it is when the boys are
entirely destitute with no money to get any
: more. II it is in the shape of food it comes
when there is no other way to get il. Here,
we had plenty OF hard tack and pork in our
havresacks, but doubtless the most Of us would
: have gone on in dinnerless condition but for
= the Sanitary Commissions pickles and hot
coffee which some OF us eat US we were waiting
there at the landing.


, We left tho landing about the middle Of the
afternoon, ami steamed nearly down to the
0 mouth of the james river, wherc we anchored


Tor the night llarrison's Landing was pointed
out to us, where two evcntful years ago VIC
had camp alter being driven from in front OF
Richmond, and we could but hope that its
i counterpart in history was not begun in the