The Daily Dispatch: September 6, 1862., [Electronic resource]

What the Yankees said before the last battle.

‘ "The rebels now stand in our front, numbering, at the outside, 125,000, while to meet them we have already 200,000, which will very speedily be increased to 250,000 or 300,000, and can be increased, if necessary, to 400,000 men. Our position is strong, and although the enemy seems to be making desperate attempts to turn our flanks, or break our line, there is not one chance in ten of his achieving any important success. By destroying the bridges across the Rappahannock, we have rendered their passage of that river impossible, and have secured for ourselves all the time needed for preparation.--The remainder of the army of the Potomac will speedily take its position, and then without waiting to be attacked or putting himself upon the defensive even for a day, the country expects General Hallock to put himself at the head of this magnificent and irresistible national army, and march over the rebels into Richmond."

’ We beg the public to take notice of what this writer says with regard to this army. It is already, he says, 200,000 strong. It has been beaten, routed, driven like chaff before the wind. It is, at this moment, either hiding behind its ramparts at Alexandria, or cowering under shelter of its gunboats at Occoquan, or flying for life before the avenging squadrons of Stuart and Robertson, or the fleeting of infantry of Jackson and Longstreet. Let us, then hear no whining, no whimpering, no excuses for cowardice, on the plea of being overwhelmed by numbers. That has always been the apology for Yankee defeat heretofore. Let it no longer be made, since here is a boast that they outnumber us two to one.

But it seems it was ‘"impossible to cross the Rappahannock."’ Yet the Rappahannock has been crossed. There was not ‘"one chance in ten"’ of Jackson turning Pope's flank. Yet he did turn it. According to the showing of the Times, when read by light of subsequent events, our troops have performed impossibilities. This is more than we claim for them ourselves. Marvels, they have performed; miracles, if you will. But impossibilities! they are a horse of a different color. They have beaten, although their full strength was not there, the combined forces of Pope, Burnside, and McClellan.--They have given these veracious gentry food enough for a whole broadside of bulletins. They have furnished them with material to manufacture Yankee victories out of for six months to come. For if McClellan was victorious when he was driven thirty miles from his original position and forced under the protection of his gunboats, where he lay shivering and skulking until he got an opportunity to steal away — if Pope was victorious when he was routed at Cedar Run, and when he was hemmed in and beaten to death on Friday--what will they be after Manassas? Having lost eighty cannon and 10,000 prisoners, as if is said they have, doubtless they will announce themselves as having gained the most glorious victory ever accorded to leaders on this continent. We await their bulletins with the liveliest curiosity. The London Times was right when it said that if the Yankees should really gain a victory, the people of their cities would be sure, if they told the tale themselves, to go in mourning for it. A victory by Pope or McClellan always means a disastrous defeat.

Nothing can equal or abate Yankee impudence. It is as indestructible as the Yankee propensity to lie. Mark how the Times talks about marching over the ‘"rebels,"’ and marching into Richmond.--One would hardly think that these are the same Yankees who were flying before our troops like a flock of sheep, a few weeks ago, on the Chickahominy. Precisely the same kind of language was used when McClellan set out with his grand army, four months ago. We were to be run over by the invincible Yankee heroes as though we were so many insensible objects, incapable of raising a hand in our own defence. Anybody but a Yankee, remembering the vaporings of that period, and the end of them all, would be ashamed to repeat them after the lapse of so short an interval. But the Yankee is incorrigible. He resembles the Bourbon more than anybody else. He learns nothing, and he forgets nothing.

We hope, however, this threat of another invasion will not be lost on Congress. It is wrong that the whole weight of it should fall on the brave troops who have already fought so well. That it will be attempted if we should fall to drive them from Washington, does not admit of a doubt. In the name of the country, then, we entreat Congress to perfect its measures for increasing the army as soon as it can.