Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1861-09-29


There is no locality in the war 90 much spoken CT
and yet about which so little is known a. the Ar
hDgton Heights, near Washington. They Ere the
SevsssOpOl Of the war. The correspondent Of the
New Orleans PicayRs thus writes Of them and he
surrounding topography;
These heights, a. is well known, begin = littls
above Georgetown, and following the Line Of the
Potomac extend as far down az Alexandris. The
distance ls about twelve miles, eight of which are
fortified. Neither the heights nor the fortfcatons
however, are continue Is, but separated from each
oth?r by depressiOns Of greater or less extent
First, on the left, are Arlington Heights proper
on " lich Il Arlington House the headqu4rs Of Gen.
Mcclellan. Near By Is Fort UrcOran, WeIlbuilt
earth work With angles salieDs. bastions parapets
q after the nest approved style Of furtI6cations.
The work is immrrse IN extent aud Federal flags
lnnumerabie wave over it, - over Arlington House.
DI. ectly below tbs and s-mt Two or three miles
distant. ls what IS known aS Ualb1W Hill N which
are wcrk5 Of a Imisr character bus less extensive
ald l=ss perfect IN ih-ir structure. They are,
however, as yet incomplete, Is evident from the
activity Of WOrkmen upon them. This activity,
however, doubtless appears much greater than il
really IS from the circumstance that the enemy are
encamped in considerable numbers around it, and
have frequent communication with it,
Still further down the river, and separated from
the heights abovO by one Of the principal roads
leaiing over the LOog Bridge into Washington, is
Shutters HL on one side Of which is Fort Ellsworth
fertilization similar 10 Fort COrcoran. This and
the works connected with it command Alexandra
and the roads leading to it and TO the Long Bridge
In front Of Shutters Hill IS another Commanding
enllt nee, whereOn fourth extensive fertilization
has recently been thrown Up 1t consists, however
OF bUt series Of loose earthWOrk, and it is quite
lmperfect n its structure The greater part Of it
has been thrown up since We came IN possession Of
h1nsOn's Hil which rises directly il front Of il,
about thTes mics distant From our work we can
see yJhlng that goes there, even the squads
Of lOUngers shat hourly collect and talk over the
news Of the day together.
About a mile and half this side Of these new
works appear TO be an encempmant Of the various
regiments on picket duty. Their place of rendez-
yOuse Is soma half mile nearer, at q turn Of the
road leading hither through oak shieket- From
this place, at change Of pickets the file 70 the
right and left and take up thei position for the day
where assigned to them, here covered by 3 snake
fence, there by orchard oak thicket corn field
as may be the fortune Of each.
To the left OF these still another encampment, ap-
parently of cavalry. They smuse themselves with
scouting Jut in the HeighbOring country, but they
not very venturesOme. It is very that they
are seen beysnd the safe line of their pickets.
To the naked eye these successive elevations aP>
pear TO b. continuous range OF bills, nearly eres-
SAINT in form, from the chain bridge to the TheolOg
cal Seminary, near Alexandris. Il is only By aid
of glass that the outlines of the successive eievR>
tinns and depFessiOns can be distinctly seen. And
the same may be said OF the fOrtaeatons and en-
csmpmeats.
By the aid of a good glass, however, not only
these heights, but those OF the opposite, or Maryland
shore, be distinctly seen and everything on
on them The view. however, is frequently OBJ
scured by clouds OF smoke arising from neig hb0ring
woods on ire-set On fire. as we suppose, for the
purpose CT opening up the country, to prevent
surprise through the extensive Intervening forests.
With the same objec. doubtless, the enemy are now
excCt dngly busy with their axes, cutting roads and
clearing up the country in every direction. For
II ID khnr haetF
sides of the river, this work Of telling or burning
down the forests is daily going on thereby giving
employment to sach Of the backwOodsmen Of fhaine
as have not been sent to the Dry Tortugas.