Editor’s Note: This article was transcribed by Jackie Martin.
THE WAR NEWS.
The usual quiet reigned along the lines in this vicinity yesterday1.
There was a rumour, which seems to have taken great hold upon the popular mind, that Grant was withdrawing from our front and about to abandon his position on the James and Appomattox rivers. After the most diligent enquiry we have failed to ascertain one single fact in support of this rumour, and are therefore forced to conclude it is but a theory springing out of the knowledge that Washington city is seriously menaced by our armies. People very naturally conclude that Grant does not intend to sit idly in the marshes of the Appomattox and allow the capital of his nation to be captured.
All, however, that we certainly know is, that the belief is entertained by military men that Grant, during last week, has sent off to Washington considerable bodies of his troops. That he himself designs following them we see no reason for thinking. He occupies an entrenched position behind two rivers, with unobstructed water communication. A comparatively small force should be able to hold such a position, and Grant is not the man to abandon it while his doing so would be a confession of the failure of his grand campaign, and involve him in everlasting disgrace with his army and people. There are but two things that we know of that can drive him away—our army and the climate; and one or the other will do it before the leaf is yellow.
By private advices from Petersburg we learn that all was quiet there yesterday, except that the diabolic shelling of the old town was kept up as usual. There were many vessels at City Point, but whether they were transports or vessels sent by the Sanitary Committee with onions for the Yankee army, no one could undertake to say.
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Editor’s Note: Portions of this article which do not pertain to the Siege of Petersburg have been removed.
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HEADQUARTERS LOMAX’S BRIGADE,
July 9th, 1864.TO THE EDITOR OF THE EXAMINER:
Will you please mention in your next issue that I have in my possession two (2) bonds taken from “Wilson’s raiders?” Bonds of $1,000 each, and dated April 30th, 1863.2
Respectfully, &c., L . L . LOMAX,
Brigadier-General. 3
Source:
- SOPO Editor’s Note: July 12, 1864. ↩
- SOPO Editor’s Note: Many inferences appear in the Richmond newspapers in July 1864 that the Yankee troopers involved in the Wilson-Kautz Raid were thieves. This appears to be another instance of that meme. ↩
- “The War News.” Richmond Examiner. July 13, 1864, p. 2 col. 1 ↩