, 1862-09-29
fCoueepondeuce Of the Chicago Tr1bune.1

HGfltt Of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS q tTtA. H01k~ |
e,,s 0Hcial Rtpost-Facts not bJors Stated
WHO and W2a il Fstz5ohn RrtH.
Correspondence OF the Chicago Tf1buno1
WASHINGTON. Sept. So, 1859.
The xublcon is crosaed. The president has
It length unsheathed the terrible sword Of
freedom. and the rebellion is doomed. Not
10 eoon aa4t would hsye been had the set been
but surely within elK months,
tbe r,roclsmatIon be enfoaced to the letter, and
eyery general and every military governor,
who will not do his Utmost to make it effectu-
i. removed. The South will be conquered
and co1ouIzed By new race Of white men.
Tbs friends of the South in the loyal States
viii be unmasked, and the men who want the
rebellion put down, regardless OF all other
will form, what they could hardly claim to be,
while Delphic orac1es only come from the |
White House, m administration party. The !
result, in word, Will be that The South will |
be subjugated By Ta1, and the peace party OF |
the North will be Vauquished at the polls In I
the fall elections. The word Of dcliVe1ance
has come late, but It has come, I trust and be-
lieve, in season.
I ta7e no doubt that the great majority Of
the people, civilians and soldiers, will support
the administration heartily In this as they
hare done in every other vigorous measure
against the rebellion. A majority would have
yoted to issue the proclamation, had It been
left to the people to decide. That majority
will be immensely swel1ed By that large body
Of men, who have no opinions Of their own
except that 1t is their duty to support the gov
eminent, or who side with the stronger party.
There is foolish talk about the army. "I'm
afraid" said an old gentleman OF the National
I,atsuigeneer school, "that Mcclellan and lis
troops vii march upon Washington" be-
licye, on the contrary, that Mcclellan will
give In his adhesion to the principles Of the
proclamation. know that most Of his gen
erale do. Burnside, Banks, Hooker, Eeintzsl-
man, Sumner, Keys, Sise1, Dana, sedgwlck,
are most Of them certainly, and all probably
in its fayor. Are not Hunter, also, and Cur
til. and Butler, and Mitchell, and Grant, and
Logan, aud Mcclellan, and Pope? don't
believe that even Buell. will take ground,
cperly against 1t. If he does il will
be an the easier for the government to
do, aB it should have done long ago, remove
him. There are grounds for thinking, by the
by. whatever he does, unless it be the cx-
tremetY improbable thing Of gaining victory.
Buell. will coon be superseded. ueiotzelnar
and Hunter have been thought of for his
p3nce-bua nothing has yes been dedaiselg de-
teT1uincd.
No, West Point will submit, with an Ill
grace, In the case OF some of its representa-
tires, bnt it will submit to swallow the dose
Of freedom. The reign OF West Point politics,
paragraph concerning which iu previous
letter, has caused tie peace Democrats and
the National IAteligencer SO much yexation Of
spirit, is at an end. Its sceptre is broken
uryer to be resumed, unless slavery shall
1catn get possession OF the government.
| Thanks to The president-Tictorg did not, IS
tie Western senator whom quoted, affirmed,
put us back six months, by putting the con-
| duct Cf the war into tue h1ncs Of men not in
| dead earnest as to suppress the rebellion. On
the contrary 1t opened still wider the the DOOR
| OF the temple OF Janus, not to DC closed again
TIL shyery, as well as its rebell}ous past:sans
has been conquered.
| letter to sou, as prc-eminent among ill the
| officers " who took part" in the battle o. An.
| tietam Greek, I did not mean to di6parage
General Mcclellan, but simply to exclude him
from consideration at the moment, since he
Gid not actively stake par" " In the light. IN
|
tack, ard caused it TO be executed, are ques'
tions lot necessary to discuss 1ere. No one
| claims TINT he was actively engaged himself
| think that It will appear in Gen. Hooker &
| Official report tha. he was in command OF the
right, and that he conducted the battle there,
Is stated the o:her day, at his own discretion
and upon his oEu responsibility untralua1tled
By crdtrs. His report will, il am corre:'ly
| Informed, In all material points canfTm tue
general srnthfulness OF the admirable deserip
lion Of the battle by q special correspondent
Of the New York Tribune, which Journals al
| ever, add some facts not hitherto known to tht
pubic That Cen HooGe:'s design, as the lc:te
which he received yesterday from Gen. McCle1
lan indicates, WIS to gain the main road in th'
enemy's rear, the only road Of retreat, wh!c'
IVES about mile from the advanced position
taken by Hooker; that this would ha7e bee:
done, and thus the enemy'6 flank turned anl
lis Tout rendered complete, had not . wouu
fcrccd the general of the field at the u1omen
when he was preparing to lead Cen Summer
{ corps to the attack; that Gen Sumner, 7roh
ably in consequence Of not understanding tn
. Jay of the lnnd or the naturu Of tho prnpe
movement threw away his strength, are fact
| which either appear In the report or are d.
Guciale from it. The preoediug narrative
in tritf this: On Tuezday night, Gan. Hoot
| er being On tie extreme right, 1Oried til
: Antletam and pushed the rebel pickcts whos
lie found on the opposite bank, steadily ba.
9 for four miles, following along tue crest Of
= ridge which ran at a ah0rt distance from tt
river and almost parallel with It. After fot
: hours of this wors, he found, at o'clock, tt
" corps, too heavy to be attacked by OF
+ corps, unsupported, at that hour Of tt
right So Hooker halted his men who Il
= on their arms within easy rife shot OF the en-
J my, and ut once dispatched message to Ge1
t Mcclellan, embracing the facts OF the stu
[ *Se&, ny<1 that the rnsF4 Of Gan
Mansfield and Sumner be ordered to suppo
C him at daylight The request was gran'e'
l. but not q mau.of the supports arrived hsfo
9o'clock. for what reason is not clear Rel
J forcements or 10 reinforcenlents. there ",
n nothing for Gen Hooker to do bat to attlcl
At dawn be mounted his horse, examined tt
ground, estimated the strength Of the enem
u and rapidly made bis dispositions. he co.
+, puted the rebel force opposed to'him ut st, 90
- nis.corIs numbered only 5000, but on
u left the ridge descended to low, swamp
- fully thanked, and Gen. Doubleday firmly he
bis right with heayy batteries. Hooker CO
q cluded that his Is ,000 were match at Il
point Of attack for any number th
u tic enemy could mass on this nj
le row ridge. So ho pushed forWa
=. beating the enemy back for a mile or mu
- until his centre reached = corn field. Doub
lc dsy en- the right and Ricketts, On the Left NC
a flerce1y cnntending with the enemy, but
- front OF Meade'e division, which fortRei t
III centre and at the same tina was supp ortf
G. the wings, there appeared to be no euen
:. Gen. Hooker halted the advance of this
IL vision behind the slope o. the hill and zc
le forward to rcconnoitre. Cannonading q
=, musketrY to right and left; In front only
III rust1ing corn. "But," he thought to hims'
er "wereI the rebel general Iwonld mask
IA troops in the hollow beyond and would s.
~ dtnly attack the cuemy's centre in the IL
Is Of piercing it, lie rode back aud orle
.]v one brigade to be put on its belly, just o
- the hill and out Of sight of the enemy. Hsr
had this been done before the sound Of hes
bodies OF men silently marching up ca
IL from the direction Of the quiet corn field.
the front rank reached the crest OF the b
NS the recumbent brigade rose With yell,
.nt lirercd It's fire and pursued the surprised i:
- flying enemy" running In all direction
IL says an eyewitness" rs I never saw mca
he before" Our whole line took advantage
AZ this cpportuue repulse and pushed on, halt
e9s ou1y at the positions assigned. This, bcc1
ors Gen. Hooker was unwilling to advance
ia corps too far from its supports, and beca
:, he had not acquainted himseI with the nat
J. Of the ground Beyond. Gen. Hooker intea
ere to keep bis own corps at the points vt
- they had Just won, ard to advance at the b
u ofSumncr's corps, which Was then only
Of miles 10 the rear ard FAST coming. up, uu.il
- Rad reached the main road, to Which retere
III was nade above But as he was making 4
to arrangements, he WAS disabled. Aud tut
mr. what Is meant by the assertion, made on
- hands. that the enemy would have been rou
ere had Booker contfrued in command.
of Another fact, which will not, 1 presu
appear In any official reports, but witch i:
tes dubitable. On Monday night, the Mop
the after the battle OF South Mountain, and
TT ~ t~.kf Atny.s