Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-08-12
FederaI Vie,E ed tle situalion % 8Is,l.pI.is

| time cut of Cen Grants railroad communics
| tons with tho North The movement viii give
| ths1n possession Of the Mobile and Ohio railroad
! above Jackson, while similar occupation Of
I Grand Junction and other points divides Cen
/ McClernard from COrinth. Bolivar is the poin.
of rendezvous for our divided force, and no
! doubt beloro this reaches you battle viii have
/ been Tough. there, or, az least one viii be in
/ pending.
Ths rebels have made a Strategic move by
! which they have collected large force eff men
| in Western Tennessee. This has been done by
sending troops up in small detsehmeuts. The
| object is to cut US of ffom the North, and they
/ will probably succeed, so far as railroad commu-
nication is CONCERNED. The remainder Of their
! programme is to take possession Of Fort Pillow,
and, if possible, of Fort DOnelson, aud then
| they viii have cur army isolated aud at the
mercy Of the hOrdes Of coEscripts who have
! poured into the Southern army until its NUM-
ners exceed even their own hopes. By their
| own accounts they have hundred aud twenty
/ thousand men TO do this with. This may be
/ probable, since the abandonment Of the siege OF
/ FicksbUTg releases about twenty-five thousand.
! They captured ct Grand Junction three hUn-
| dred bales Of cotton, al LsGranEe large qG2n-
/ iity OF stores, at Brownsville stock Of cotton
! and $4,000 ia cash, and at Humboldt "a army
/ poymaster with vsriously estimated amounts Of
/
! money haI fallen into their hands. The troops
/ to whom these m nsraCders belong are commanded
| By General Pdce. To his experienced hand
| alcne-wOuld General Bragg entruss the task Of
cutting our army of frOm the North. When this
is accomplished, Bragg viii advance with his
main army and attack Grant while, at the same
! time, Memphis viii be threatened b. powerful
! force irom tive directions. These facts may be
/ relied upon, a5 they are derived from reliable
rebel sources, which have furnished evidences fCr
weeks OF what has already transpirgd. There
| can be no good reason for this secret and clan
! des5in9 movement oi rebel troops, which has
culElinaied in the above outbreak, except TO ge.
I IN north of Memphis and Jackson and cut Cfi
| our communication, and in no way can the Oh
/ ject bs 80 elfectusly carried to complexion as by
/ taking possession Of the Mississippi and Isnnes-
see rivers Aud, with this DAGGER staring us IN
| the face, we ere takirg 40 steps TO prevent IT,
| Probably we shall wake up when the mischief Is
| accomplished.
| Here, at Memphis, we have no communication
/ with General Grant We have tie route open
to General Custis, and upon him viii be our re-
nance. A junction viii place a strong tJTcs IN
! Memphis.
| The abandonment Of the siege Of Yicks5urE
is bitter pill for Cuiouists 10 swallow. Our
! advance into the heart Of the enemy's t-rritory
has been so steady and triumphant until now,
| that sudden check and a Tetrograde movement
can hardly be reslizsd. The sweep of our con
! queriDg arms has been arrested, and backwaI
! wave comes upon Us, which will Overwhelm q e
! eIultant aud basty with dismay Our lines are
being preci ipitateiy drawn ia, and, as we retire,
! the enemy advances, confident and eager. You
know already what he has done, and there is
/ more to come.
1t IS not ct all improbable that Arkansas will
/ have to b. abandoned, and Curtis i0iued with
the forces here, in order to save tie city and its
/ garrison. When we sTe cut of entirely from tae
/ North, our forces must be concentrated and put
! in a defensive position. The enemy IS strong
| enough to assume the aggressive and has already
| commenced operations. The cOnscriUtiOn has
/ transformed every man in three SLates-Aiissis-
/ sippi Arkansas and LoUisiaGa-iGto p soldier.
t None are exempt WHO choose to 60, and rome are
allowed to remain at home who are under thirty
I i've Very few choose to remain at home, old OF
young. They are a united GGd 9 UEagimCus
| people. They are for war TO The very last, and
| in the great CutpCuTiEg may bs seen an earnest
/ Of what they will 30 in the future
I The NoTh need not deluje themselves with
the idea tha. the conscriplou is q spasmojic
! movement which win operate for a moment
/ only. The measure is iu.JIcel only IS it is
needed. Men are called into the field whom an
| army ID wanted, and certain localities only are
taxed An army was necessary IN Arkansas,
and HindmAn iEforced the ce1scTiItiOn with
/ a rigor which astoDishsd even SOutheruers
! Another army was wanted in Mississippi, and
4 its whole immense Eres was given up 10 TIE OBJ
| jset. It's male population are almost entirely
/ under arms. By these means troops are raised
/ in abundance while another abundance remains
in reserve IN the other States, to be called into
action when needed. There are nearly million
and half of men IN the South who come within
-
hsustel until all these are used up.
They are perfectly jabilant over the abandon
meut Of the Vicksburg siege and they have
pretty good cause for a more Inefficient and
useless attempt never was made. 1t is true that
the position was too strong a one to be takou by
a river force alone, but that it should be aban-
| d0ned with such g barTenness of results was
most discreditabls. In the first plaza, with
ordinary skill and energy, the canal might have
| been made TO operate perfectly. It needed to
be made quickly, and of sufficient dimensions
to insure its success, and it would have turned
! the Mississippi from its bed beyond a shadow of
doubt. Instead, it Sss mainly left TO the efforts
/ Of five or six hundred lazy negroes, who spent
their time principally in eating their rstions and
/ howling gibberish songs. Is dimensions were
that Of mere drain, and it now remains in the
/ shape Of q common faTm-dtch, SIX or seven feet
wide at the top, and tapering down to nothing
/ FIVE or six leet from the surface. The insane
effort 10 turn the Mississippi through this chan
mel resulted as might have been expected. It
| scorned The ides, and flowed on majestically
| where common sense intended It should 20.
| The negroes were mildly requested to DO less
bowling and more digging, but the attempt was
vain. They never caught the falling tide again,
and the ditch now stands five o. SIX feet above
the water, foTlOrn monument Of m!sdrected
enterprise. Even the niggers sat upon the baLk
and laughed al it,
Of the feat of leaving the Arkansas at Yicks-
burg with all her powers Of mischief unimPair-
I ed, very listie need be said. l en- inclined to
1 place the blame Of this movement on the Farra-
| cut fleet but even shat viii not excuse the
I Mississippi 10tilla, for, if 1t had gone az the
business as the nature of the case demanded,
| FarTugut must have co-OPeTated more or less,
| and By hook or by crook, the object might have
boen accomplished. There vera fifteen or
| twenty powerful steamers in the feet, aud 81
| armament which far outnumbered the rebels,
and yet one little steamer, carrying ten guns,
/ could not be captured They might have gone
! ia there, and surrounded her, and carried her
off bodily, if she had been five times as big.
They had passed the batteries twice, and, in the
operation, nOtss single boat was sunk-nOt ten
! men were killed. Nobody is insane enough to
| suppose that they coul1 not have gone into the
same fire again, and remained lo2g enough to
grappe and carry eft one little gunbost
Asis is, she is left to do her mischief at leis-
ure. and, if cur naval men imagine that she is
going to lie inactive under the batteries at Yicks
burg, they are very much mistaken. She viii
be Joined before long by two more, nearly Of
quite as formidable as herself The Star of the
West and the ocean tug Webb are both up tbs
YazoO, under process Of conversion ints gun
boats, and they will come sailing down one o
these fine mornings, and walk through what j,
lefs of our fleet above Vicksburg, Just as III,
Arkansas went through the tenfold more formid
able force at that place. Even against the Ar
kansas they were unable to cope, and what ar
they to DO with two or three like her II he
late feats are an earnest OF what she is capabl,