New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-09-02
TIE CAPTURE OF THE HATTRnAs
FORTS.

We repubsh to-day the d atch Of yesterday
morning, which maDy Of our readers will not
have seen, announcing the important and bril-.
liant success Of the expedition under Commodore
stringham and Gen. Butler, ct Hatteras Inlet,
on the Coast of North CaaOlina. Hattcras Inlet
is about twelve miles south Of Cape Hatteras,
about one-third of the distance between that
Cape and OcracOke Inlet, and il the principal
entrance to Albemarls and Pamlico Soundi BY
its possession the insurgents are cnt of, in
great degree, from all cgress OF ngress seward
through North Carolina and Virginia, AID by
way of the two broad, inland seas extending
nearly from Cape Henry to Cape Lookout. The
navigation Of these waters leaving open Neubern,
Norfolk, and other ports, whereby their inter-
course with the interior was uninterrupted,
through the Albemare and Dismal Swamp
Canals and tho various rivers which empty into
the Sounds, has been Of vast importance 70 the
| rebels and they have used them with the great
est diligence, for months pass, to send their
own products to pr stable market, and
! to receive from various sources arms,
provisions, and much else leedfu to vgorors
prosecution of the rebellion. To cut of entirely
| that whole region of the South from all maritime
intercourse it is only necessary 10 follow up this
/ first blow, SO well struck, BY taking possession Of
the smaller iness along tie coast, and especially
the larger and only very important one remaining,
which commands the entrance to Beaufort This,
we trust, is to be the next work Of Thu, or a
similar, expedition. The stOne.laden vessels are
doubtless to be sunk in the smaller inlets or
possibly at the mouths, or rivers, or canals far
Their in shores while the forts erected at Hatteras
Inlet BY the insurgents will be held BY Federal
/ troops to command this principal entrance to the
| two Sounds. Having this entrance, the Navy
Department only needs to keep sufficient force
of small vessels in these inland scss to control
completely all the commerce of tho,o waters, so
| important to those in arms against the Govern
ment aud profitable to the traitors who traffic in
their countTy's distress.
Should this or some other expedition proceed
10 Beaufort, though they may, and probably viii,
find q more difficult task and q less easy victory
await them, their success. viii be all the more
important as a completion OF the work begun so
WELL To hold Beaufort is to hold the key Of
North Carolina aud may even without another
blow, by the help of the Union nsn Of that
State reduce her insuTrectionists 70 obedience.
1t will open way to that region of North and
South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama, where
Union men are largely in the majority, and call
the rebels to the defense of something more than
Virginia and Missouri. The possession Of
the Railroad would enable the Federal forcei
to cut off Charleston, s. c., at GoldsbOro
from its most direct communication with the
North, and by pushing still further into the State
all communication by rail between that city an(
the North would be interrupted. The mere
threat of the possibility OF such an isolation o
South Carolina by the possession of Benufor
would inevitably domOralize the insurgent arm.
in Eastern Virginia. The reflection that SUE
may be the consequences Of the possession o
Hatteras Inlet and the forts there must certainl
be considered very serious blow BY the rebel
Themselves But beside this possible danger, I
held possession Of Albemarls Sound is TO threaic
Norfolk and Richmond = The rear, 50 ill.,, Nj
JEFF. Davis viii DC competed to keep 4 lccAo.