Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1862-03-08
Ffompho \. y Tfibvbs.
Two Mohlhs OF War.

Missouri, lIaving his headquarters al
Springfield is most important city, while
his guerrilla hands roamed and ravaged
throughout the Southern, Western and
Central porlionsiOf the State, capturinp
Government trains on the Usage, threat.
ening The border. settlements Of Knpsas,
and bnnling Bridges onithe North Missoari
Railroad. Now, be fugitiye in Western
Arknnsas, With his army greatly reduced
by capture and desertion, and Missouri IS
virtually cleared OF armed Hebek. foa q
On the lst Of January, The Burnside
Expedition still fingered in tile hatbors OF
this city and Annapolis, and seemed unable
ever 10 get away. The delays Which im
pended its sailing had given the Rebels. full
time to ascertain its destination and prepare
for giving tia warm reception, SO that
there vas every probability that il would
prove failure. How gloriously it has
disappointed all gloomy SPECIFICATIONS. let
Roanoke Island aud its consconence bear
witness "
On the ar4 Of january, SONS Three
Thousand Union Soldiers mainly lost at
Bull Ron and BalI's -lahgnished in
rebel prisons. where some of them had spent
six weary months Several Of them, after
seeing their comrades shot dead unwarued
for merely looking out Of tlle window of
their prison, had been themselves Under
sentences OF execution, and confined IN lone.
some dungeons TO awaitIheir doom. Their
friends we're holding meetings aud raising
designed 10 mitigate their
sutfermgs. To-day mos, of them have been
restored 10 their country and friends, and
tie residue will lie within a week. And
after giving full measare in exchange for
the very last Of them, we shall have not
less than 1900 Rebel prisoners, including
Generals, COIonels, aud any number Of min
or officers riff s1H eN tHh hap i
Two moiitls age, tie Rebels held a large
portion Of Kenturky, aud were confidently
expecting to take the residne. Humphrey
Marshall bad not eaten his. Christmas din,
not in Louisville as be had promised, but
the Rebel forces confrou ed ours on line
drawn through the heart Of the State, from
Columbus on the West through Bowling
Green 10 The Virginia line. CrittendeuS
and u lliccGcr's army, strongly posted bar,
red the way TO the Cumherlpnd Gap and
East TcnheSse. Silnty johnston aid Buck
ner at Bowling Green covered Nashville
and rnenaccd Louisville. B shop POLK at
ColumbuS---lhe strongest and most irnpor.
tant position in The Great Valley observed
ST. Louis and Cairo aud barred the way
down the Mississippi Since then, tie ront
Of Crittendcn aud Zollicofer at Mill Spring,
with loss of nearly all their material, and
the complete decentralization of their follow.
ers ; the qaiet evacuation of Bowling Green
and Russelville without firiug shot, have
cleared the State of Rebels save in and inst
about Columbus aud This Western Ma
mass" if not already evacuated, soon must
be-
Two months ago no Union flag floated in
Tennessee, and tlut State was regarded as
the one WHICH Of all others had contributed
most lighting stfepgth % the rebellion The
loyal mountaineers Of the East. had been
crushed out with bloody sternness the
T thousands Of unchanged Unionsts in the
West and Center dared not lisp their devo.
tion to the Gag of the Free "King Har
ris" ruled with q rod of iron, and no man
dared dispute bis fat. Nashville had been
once resolved on as the Rebel capital, and
Beauregnrd had been. dispatched from the
army Of The Potomac TO render the triumph
uf treason IN The State of Jackson soc6rc
and perpetual. Floyd, with division
from Western Virginia, and regiment after
regiment from every Cotton State had been
called 10 this frontier with evident Fremont.
lion that here the decisive struggle vas 10
he made.
AT length, tie hour, long awaited had
struck. A land force, under Gen. G rant
and few gunboats, under Com. Foote en-.
tered the Tennessee River. The Rebels
had for months devoted their best engineer.
ing talent 10 barring the ascent OF this riv.
er. Fort Henry was supposed to command
it effectually : it stopped the Union feet
just an honr aud u quarter, not long enough
to let our lapd force come 10 their aid
Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland. was
next attacked it was defended by Iover
Twenty Thousand Rebels under Floyd.
Pillow, Buckner and other Rebel chiefs; it
was invested by about Thirty Thousand.
Col. Mulligan, With Three Thousand, held
Lexington for Eve days, against eight Or
nine times bis numbsr Fort DdHelson
(immcnsely sirouger) held out three days !!
i was taken by seyerc, hsrd Sighting wuh
which gencrashp had little 10 do, and 10
have done that little badly the lombard
meHt by the Beet. though gallant aud heavy
seems To have harmed tie besiegcd very
little. The contest was virtually decided
by the heroic rrpuIse Of the great. sortie
made against Gen AI'CIer1ands diyisinn.
where Three or Fonr Thousand Unionists
with5tood for honts llie utmost efforts of
'rweIEe Thousand rebels The assault by
Gen. Smiths diyisien that soon followed
was less bloody, bot not less heroic or less
effective. The sego and capture of Fort
Dohelson was the most sauguinary
and the most decisive passage Of arms
that sOeeured within the limits Of our
country, and the prisoners taken
nearly eqnal in number all our soldiers ac.
tuaily engaged at Bull Run,
The evacuation of Bowling Green had
do1btless become a military necessity but
the fact that it bad speaks volumes 10
quit position 50 strpug By nature aud by
art, and steal out of Kentucky without FIR
ing a shot, Is In effect TO admit that the
Rebels should have never beeuthere
But that Nashyille---the eaDital of Ton.