The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-04-05
War News OF the Week.
THE SITUATION.

The past week has been marked by no
striking events in the war-tlle contending
armies having consumed the time in pre-
paratIons on a scale to indicate that the
struggle at hand will SO far exceed in
gigantic proportions the operations of the
war hitherto, as to begin new era in its
date We copy from the St. Louis Repu5-
s.san OF the l=t inst, the following rapid
sketch Of the Situation, which applies
Q we'll to-day as it did on Tuesday;
Operations on the coast still continue,
our forces quietly gaining enc point after
another and preparing for new movements
with all possible celebrity. Gen. Burnside
has taken undisputed possession of Beau
fort. the fine North Carolina iarbor, and
though the rebels have not yet given up
Fort Macon at the entrance to the port,
the garrison, five hundred strong, Is cut oft
from all communication and must inevl-
tably surrender. j strong footing has also
been secured on the eastern shore OF
Florida, gunbo,ts going up st john
river a distance OF one hundred ana twenty
miles and melting no resistance. The
inhabitants have treated our soldiers hos
pitably and very many of them are at
least DlOIS5SSCiIS 10Y Si-hE4tStI - SUING
comfort Pensacola and Forts Barrancas
and NcRae, together, we suppose, with
the Warrenton navy yard, have been
evacuated and surrendered 10y the rebels,
and we shall soon hear, 10 doubt, OF the
occupation of Mobile by q portion Of the
troops now at Fort Pickens. \ large
ainound of cotton has been captured at
ADaIachicola The movements for the
capture Of New Orleans would seem to be
progressing in a very satisfactory manner
In Virginia stirring events are on the
eve eff Transporting The pressure for
the removal OF Gen. Mcclellan has now
become SO great that, whatever may have
been his plans, he must forego some OF the
SUCCESS that night attend patience, in
order to silence the clamors OF his enemies,
and at the same time give 10 the country
Il proof that he knows how to fight when
he wishes. His forces have been cauti-
ously approaching the main bodies of the
Cenfederates, and we think that ten days
cannot elapse before a great and decisive
engagement will take place or Richmond
be surrendered Banks column Is carry
ing everything before it in the Shenandoah
valley, whilst the left wing has compelled
the enemy to evacuate Acquia creek, and
by this time Fredericksburg. 1t would
appear that the enemy will not make
stann north of GordnnsyIlle, which is, as
we have heretofore shown, the natural
strategic point for the left wing of an army
defending Richmond
The advance of the two contending
forces are less than twenty miles apart,
and from this time on there will be repeat
ed cavalry and scouting skirmshes until
the decisive action is brought on, which
cannot. we think, be long delayed
Events are also th!cilcnin- in the West.
y tremendous array of the best soldiers
in the country is now forming for attack
on one side and defense on the other in
the neighborhOod OF Corlntl, Mss. BY this
time the main forces of Gen. BuelIs com
mand hare placed themselves in support
of tne columns of Gen. Grant at Pittsburg
and Savannah, and a great conflict is
impending Gen. Lew Wallace, with a
sufficient force, has isolated Gen. Johnston
from his " esteTn communications and cut
Off all rebel achievements in that quarter.
We hear that Gen Hailecil is about to
take the field IN person, and, placing him
self ii the head of his gallant soldiers,
direct the movements soon 10 exercise so
vast an influence upon the duration OF
the war The plans for the coming opera.
tiors are grand and magnificent, and If
they should only partially succeed we shall
be adlc 10 chronicle most important
results. Meanwhile nobody will be hurt
In feeling if the rebels remain with their
ten or fifteen or twenty thousand men at
Island No. 10, and Commodore Foote will
probably continue TO treat them as tender
~ as he can, whilst making show of
fight, 50 as not TO drive them oil. Ii we
regard Island No. 10 as the right wing OF
the Confederate line, the left OF which
rests at Corinth, Jackson aud Uumbolt
would L the center bat with Pope below
with an impossible blockade. jackson and
Humbo.t are really the left, which must
be protected in ORDER to save Forts Ran
d0lph aud Pillow. The military maxim
is not to attack two TANKS OF the enemy
at the same time, but to turn either the
right or left, or break through the center
50 considering Island No. ~ and its sup
porting Notifications either as the left
wing OF the rebels, or as an independent
position, such as JohustonS nov is at
Chattanooga, ii would not he good policy
to more than menace No. 10 whilst the
operations are going on below Thus if
Grant, Buell., Smith, and the other FEDERAL
commanders under Ialiecl succeeded in
overpowCring the enemy at Corith, COM
polling a captulation, Memphis will at
once iall. and with it the whole Clefenses
or the Mississippi river, including Island
No. ~, Forts randolph and Pillow, and
every other fertilization and battery above
the Tennessee commercial capital
ofmatters in Arkansas. little can now
he said both contending bellicerents not
being iii q condition TO fght-the rebels
having to reorganize and recruit and Gen
Curtis having to await supplies and rein
torcements to enable him to pursue.