by John Beauchamp Jones
JULY 15TH.—Clear and cool; subsequently cloudy.
The Washington Chronicle of the 12th, received yesterday, indicates that Washington or Baltimore, or both, were in danger of falling into our possession.
Lieut.-Col. G. W. Lay said, this morning, in my office, that Grant would not leave—that he held a most important position—that he would not fail in his campaign; that our operations beyond the Potomac were not of sufficient magnitude to produce important results; and, finally, that Germany and Ireland would replenish the armies of the United States, while our last reserves were now in the field. The colonel had come into my office more than a month ago and said Grant had outgeneraled Pemberton, and would captureVicksburg. I reminded him of this to-day, and asked his opinion on the present aspect of affairs. He has been recently on Gen. Beauregard’s staff, and is irritated at the supposed hard treatment which that general receives from the President. He is a little bitter against the President, and is no special admirer of Lee, who, he thinks, committed a blunder in not fighting Grant at Hanover Junction. And he thinks, if Gen. Johnston forbears to fightSherman, in pursuance of orders fromRichmond, disaster will ensue. But neither he nor any one is capable of sounding the profound plans of Lee. Grant’s forces are now far away fromWashington.
2½ o’clock P.M. An officer just fromPetersburg, arrived at the War Department with the intelligence that aWashington paper of the 13th inst. had been received at headquarters, announcing the capture of BALTIMORE by our troops! The inhabitants within, or a large proportion of them, co-operated with our army! Our people are in ecstasies! This is the realization of the grand conception of a great general, and Lee is immortalized—if it only be true.
