The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-12-17
Letter from Parson Brownlow.
4 Fson to- Phn4dsl6hA Pres.
CmclNxArf, December, 8, 1862.

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point in the interior Of Kentucky TO
Cumberland Gap-or rather, from some
peint on the Ohio river 10 some point in
East Tennessee. Congress failed 20 en-
dorse this recommendation, and thus the
matter dropped. l am sorry that the
President has not revived his scheme, and
urged II upon Congress second time.
Had IL been carried out, il would have
been constructed in six months, and dur
ing the past six months would have saved
TO the Government double the cost Of
construction. lts arg1 ei nr. e8o.s1
0e5When the rebel army took possession
of Lexington, they got, as they assert,
one million of dollars worth of stores,
besides arms sufficient to arm fifteen
thousand men They also got immense
quantities of ammunition and clothing,
hogs, horses, mules and cattle. During
the past summer and fall our army Of
fifteen thousand, at Cumberland Gap,
had TO be supplied with everything by
wagon train, over q road of one hundred
and thirty miles, half of which was al
most impossible II was difficult, at any
one time, TO travel over three consecu-
tive miles of the road without finding
dead mule, or horse, or the.ramains of
wagon. After a time, il become impossi-
BILE TO get forage in the mountains, and
hundreds of Government mules were al
lowed TO stray off and die. The amount
thus lost would have built the road re-
commended by the President. Had the
Kentucky politicians pressed the con-
struction of the road it would have been
built, and if built, il would have prevent
ed the late destructive invasion of their
State by Bragg's army.
Had this road been constructed, it
would have enabled the Federal army to
take possession of the Virginia and Ten
nessee road, cut off the supplies of the
rebels, and. thus have given them mere to
do at home than they could have done
And now predict that, until that road
is in the possession of the Federal army
this rebellion will not be crushed out. IL
is the back bone of the rebellion, and it is
alone the means of keeping up the formid
able army that annoys our forces on the
Potomac.
Many routes have been suggested, but
it should go from Nicholasville to Cam
berland Gap, thence to Morristown, on
the line of the Tennessee and Virginia
Railroad, only forty five miles east of
Knoxville. At Morristown we should
connect with railroad, already far adj
yanced, running via Ashville, North Car
olina. A survey of the routes will de-
monstrate the truth of all / say. have
lived there, and travelled over the ground
for thirty years.
There seems TO be widespread i'm
preston in the country that active opera
tions in the field must virtually suspend
with the setting in of cold winter wealth
er. II such thing is contemplated
which do not credit for a moment-it is
very foolish determination. The win
ter season is the time, above all others, 70
press the rebels. We are prepared for
winter, and they are not. Besides, our
most brilliant victories were achieved
during the "deadof winter" The battle
of Mill Spring was fought in January;
Fort Donelson was taken in February, in
the midst of terrible snow-storm. The
successes of Burnside, in North Carolina
were achieved in the dead of winter"
or between November and March
Some of the bloodiest battles of the
Revolution were fought during the win
ter months The battle of Trenton came
off on cold Christmas, while the battle
of Princeton was fought on the Sd of
January. And no period of the great
struggle in 1925, was more fruitful of
heroic achievements than the dead of
winter" General jackson, fought the
battle of New Orleans on the 9Th Of Janu-
airy. Let us, therefore, press the army
into battle. We are at an expense of
more than one million per day, and il
stands us in hand TO improve every sea-
son.
If we look to other times and ooun-
tries, we shall find that war and winter
have gone hand ia hand. GustaVus
Adolphus, during his great campaign in
Germany, denounced "winter quarters"
as efTeminate. Charles the 18th of Swed.
en-, bore his victorious banners through
the deep aud interminable SHOWS of a
northern winter. Napoleon crossed the
Alps in January, and gained the brilliant
victory Of Austerlitz in December Rus
STA has done her best and most successful
fighting in winter, in that cold and in
hOspitable climate.
Our army should not be forced into a
fight because it is winter, or at any point
until it is ready, but it should no.
where remain idle during the winter
months. Inaction will, as il always has
done, beget decentralization = lead to
drunkenness, aud to struggling through
the country by thousands, as is now the
4 A
into "winter quarters" will corrupt the
troops, and discourage the people, inclin-
ing them to act with the corrupt and de-
signing men at the North, who are for a
peace even al the expense of the honor Of
the loyal States. All this, have no
doubt, the Government fully understands.
call attention to the subject because Of
what is saying by ouisiders-not because
am aware that the question of winter
quarters" has ever been entertained in
l.