New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1862-04-05

from the army between Richmond and G."-oven
the Coufederates having determined 70 sbsndon ~,
the Border States, and make o stand ia Cc,ton;a
proper. There are not, be says, 10000 men in ali
Virpoia and it ia the confident belief OF the peonIe
of Mississippi and Alabama that Montgomery will
again be the capital Of the Confederacy' in less
than sixty days.
The rolling stock of the East Tennessee Railroad
is all impressed into the Government service, to car
ny cannon troops, and ammunition from Virginia to
the new Notifications in process OF construction In
Mississippi and Western Tennessee.
The Rebels are anything but confident OF victory;
indeed, ia The ranks there exists general desp9n-
dency. The officers do all in their power TO rally
the men, but in vain. A bloody defeat at Corinth,
and sudden advance upon the comparatively I'M
protected State Of Virginia. Mr.. Wilkinson believes,
w ould speedily overthrow the rebellion.
Great fears entertained for NewOrleans, az u
is we'll known that it will be attacked soon. But
there is disposition to risk the fate OF the city
rather than that Of the CoIintb army as tho Rebels
are confident that the yellow fever will drive Butler
forces out in due time while Northern Mississippi
is q very healthy region, and an excellent base for
preparation during the heated term. The capture
of the city, and forts protecting At, will diminish
tho artillery of the COnfederates 20 materially,
however, that the further prosecution OF the war
must necessarily be trusted to the yhter arm OF the
service, cavalry and infantry, and they must de-
pend almost solely upon brilliant charges, some
thing for which the COnfederates have not yet OK
hibited an enlarged capacity.
His accoont Of the strength Of Gen. Grants army,
know much more than We dare publisb. How IL
was obtsned is a mystery TO all but few OF the
Rebel officers and the spies themselves. ..t
Nsshvlle Correspondence Of The Chicago Tribune.
The concentration OF the Rebel forces against Gen
Smith are most formidable and Threatening, and de-
mand hasty movements on our part, Zen. a. ..
Jobnston's whole force has been Withdrawn from
Decatur. There is hardly corporate guard at that
point. The forces Ct Brig. Gen. Chea,hsm were re-
moved from jackson to Corintb. Gen. Polk has
passed large part Of bis army to the same point,
leaving Brig. Gen. T. j. McGowan in command OF
Island No. 10. Gen. Bragg holds Humboldt, with
the majority OF his splenddly -crilled men from Pen
sacoa II il said that these the finest troops III
the Confederacy. and are 10000 strong.
The whole force thus concentrated against Gen.
Saith will aggregate not lees than $1,000 men
probably double bis force. Unless Gen. Halleck
pushes Gen. Buell. for ward, Gen. Smith may be
overcome, and we may meet with terrible reverse.
At any rate troops will have 10 be poured IN upon
Ten. Smith. He has assumed the position which
must be defended, aud which must be held, and i
have no doubt will be. But certain II is, that he
must have the men now or never reverse TO the
Rebels, with Besuregard in command, would be
moet terribly denoraizing. Major-Gen. Brooks oil
tbe Tennessee militia, has ordered the brigade form
ing bis division to hastily rendezvous a. point on
the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, conveniently con.
from Brgadier-Gen. Rugeesto the Tennessee resi- |
ments Of Cols. Lee aud Browder, to report at
Corinth, aud the 9TH Mississippi at the same
point, designated for the division Of Gen. Brooks.
Tho capture at Fort Donelson of such large
army Of such numbers and varieties OF arms, was
thought to have curtsed to an effective degree the
resources of the enemy. The wish father 10 the
thought The loss OF the arms fell heaviest on the
Rebel Confederacy. The men can be replaced.
| IL is not the part OF wisdom to underrate Rebel
n.la rlx l.ss TINA hQ
though they have lost Missouri snd Tennessee, and
Kentucky, and Virginia-though ten thousand men
have been CAPTURED at DoDelsoD are to-day stronger
than they were when Fort Henry was In their pos,
| session. This may appear at hrst Ike broad and
untrue assertion but IL stands to reason and this IA
the reasoning: First, they are positively strong IN
their own concentrated position, near The soufce of
supplies in a country where forces can be turredly
for any effort, and where theyare beng
concentrated.
Secondly, they derive strength, negatively, from
the fact that necessarily weakened ss we
,pQthsn the distance between our armies and their
source. Of supply. The Rebels were weak In their
former nes because so ubconcentrated. lhey as
sumed them for the purpose OF drawing their sup
ples from the States in which the lines were laid,
and when they left them they were left desolsted |
n terrible price to pay but the absence OF the
Confederates was well worth good price. When
they fell back it was not as Ii generally supposed,
20 land desoated and robbed of all its produce. On
the contrary il was upon a country which bad pro-
duced large crop OF corn, wheat and cattle, and
from which the Rebels had not previously drawn
any OF their supplies.
L IL stated here that not less than 1000 900 bead
Of hogs have been killed and packed III this vicinity
In tho little town of Sbelbyvills an told, they
packed 20 900 head, where before none had been
killed. There hogs were drawn from this State and
Kentucky All the pork from these animals has
been ira lsported TO the points south OF this Safe
which Are now occupied by the Rebels. They are
thus in the midst Of plenty, and more than this in
country peculiarly adapted TO defensive operations
aud works, and we, in the mean time, are getting
weaker in tie proportion Of the distance from home
ADVANCE OF GEN. BUELL..
Gen. Buell. took the field yesterday, March ~.
lesviog for Columbus TO place himself at the head
OF his Elk divisions.
Acting Bri.adicr. General Dufield of the twenty
third brigade consisting of the 9th Michigan, 80
Minnesota, and some Kentucky and Penney lvania
regiments, took up his line Of march yesterday for
Murfreesboro'.
Gen. Turchin has no longer the advance-his d.
vision under Gen. Mitchell, having been placed ia
the rear of Gen. McC0ok.
THE TENNESSEE RIVER COUNTRY.
The Memphis Appeal of the 2'd inst Gays:
The topography Of the country oil the tennessee
River very little understood especially as regards
the valley Of the river The landings OF the Ten
nessee River above the mouth 10 Pittsburgh, are
REGULARLY unfortunate for large settlements or towns
on the banks. The great portion OF the banks 10
these points are low, marshy and subject to over
flow. Tho bigh bluffs descending to the river merely
furnish landings for freigh,s, which are conveyed
through high hills deep raviDes and different roads
10 the INTERIOR where the plantations exist. Hence
the want of great towns on this river; also the
want Of large settlements. From the unhealthy
state of the climate in Summer, after the large spring
overfows, ague aud fever are very prevalent along
the shores.
Corirth il very important strategical point II
is situated in hily, semi-mountanous country, a
branch of the Appalachian range, which DIVORCES
from the Allegheny Mountains, and forms the