Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-11-22
Correspondence of the New York Times
Ihe movement of Gen. Burnside's Army
to Falmouth.

FALMOUTH, OPPOSITE FREDERICKsBURG.
VA, Tuesday, Nov. Is, 1852 long,
range cannon that have for the past hour been
engaged in silencing a rebel battery pIanted
across the Rappahannock, opposite us. in
Fredericksburgh, have stilled their thunder
We are safe ip the town of Falmouth, and at
length it is possible to send you word of the
operations OF the past three days. The right
grand division of the army of the Potomac.
under command of Major General Sumner.
now rests on the Rappahannock BY the
time this reaches you, the centre and left will
doubtless have formed junction with us here.
The whole army
y" isoi multitude like which the populous North
POURED never from its frozen lOins''-
will then be massed here, and thence march,
ed on to-but we shall see what we shall see
II 1t be toward that charnel house, Richmond.
where, according to the official returns. more
than hundred thousand sick and wounded
victims of the rebellion lie, we have now the
satisfaction to know that but sixty miles-a
three hours ride by the Richmond. Freder-
lcksburg and Potomac Railroad-intervene
between us and there-that is, so much SDace
lnterveneS. But what material obstacles are
10 be encountered, and what passages of glo-
ry or gloom are before us ere that intervening
space be traversed, is not within the scope of
mortal ken.
RICHMOND BEFORE CHRISTMAS
When we left Warrenton, on Saturday, it
was the opinion of some well-informed men
that the confederates would abandon Rich
mond, and show no fight between here and
that point; and in support of this opinion it
was urged that they had already sent their
treasure southwark to Danvlle, N. c., and
were fast sending their stores in the same di-
rectlon. We find little to countenance this
hypothesis as we approach the rebel capital.
II movement is made against it, we shall
doubtless lind it met by the same desperate
and skilled resistance that has thus far barred
our progress tmtherward. There appears to
be little doubt that, with the exception of
Jackson's command-which at the latest adj
vices was at Front Royal and holding Chester
Gap-and Stuart's cavalry, which hangs
around our flank and rear-the main body of
the confederate army has been drawn down
and massed Immediately around the rebel
capital and on the lines Of approach thereto
L know nothing, OF course, of what the inten-
tons OF Gen. Burnside are, but it Is a proof of
the fresh life and spirit infused into the army,
that every mans thoughts again turn Rich
mond-ward A little faith springs up in our
languid and skepucal souls. 1t begins 10
seem possible that we may attack and Ike
that rebel stronghold. Do not count this
small progress, for under the late 9eqime of
'impossbilities, that faith had died out of
mems minds, and no prompting more vigor-
Gus than winter quarers possessed them.
One thing is satisfactory-we shall presently
know our fate. Christmas piu either see as
an Richmond, or shattered in oue2achsla,ing
defeat. With our powerful forces and skilled
combinations on foot, we ought not to fear the
latter. 4 hundred and fifty thousand men
confidently anticipate the former.
WHY BURNSIDE DELAYED.
You may perhaps have observed that it
took Gen. Burnside precisely one week to get
the reins Of power into his hands and set the
wheels OF the grand army a-rolling. On Sat-
turday, the 10Th, we were awakened long be-
fore daybreak by the rumbling of artillery
through the streets Of Warrenton. Twas the
army in motion southwark. Figure to your
selves the enormous mass of details to be
mastered by a commander ere he has in his
grasp the material elements with which he
has to work. Understand that all this had to
be mastered by Burnside since he assumed
command-foT he tcaS not an the confidence of
Gen. McCtelLGn,-and you will have some
conception OF the amount of labor that has
mad to be crowded into that pregnant week
GU Will doubtless have, before this, received
ana published the order, constituting the army
OF the Potomac into three grand divisions
the right grand division under Gen. Sumner;
the centre grand division under Gen. Hooker;
and the left grand division under Gen. Frank
lin, with the reserves under Gen. Sigel Can
you say that the army is not on a fighting
footing?
THE REsIGNERs RESIGNED.
When last wrote you from Warrenton, it
was to discuss the demoralized condition of
the army, and calculate the number of wagons
required to carry off the shoulder straps of in
dignant officers who would resign all along
because Of the removal of Gen. Mcclellan,
We have forgotten all that, and already it
seems like tale a century old Scores of
the officers who sent in their designations,
(not to Washington, but to their superior Off
GERS in the field have begged the privilege of
recalling them. AS for the men, when sol.
diers march, as we have done the past three
days, at the rate of fifteen to twenty miles per
day, their hams are too wearied to allow of
very hot polemics as to conflicting claims of
generals. In fact the subject is dead. "Burn-
side is our leader now" Under his guidance
L report an army confident, high-spirited and
tsAn ali i VV IL