, 1862-08-27
FROM WARRINGTON.
EXPLANATION or PnPE's ADVANCE
TO THE RAPlnAN AND RETREAT
T0 THE: RApPAnAhk0cK,
Nominal Strength Of the Rebel Army
Narration Of ". 4. Hurlbut.

kNOllEEFouAElCe tk LIE |A4CnEO 4AAoAA4E"i |
WASHINGTON, August %, 1862.
It cannot be too soon for me to write and
ou to print what know of the situation In
7ireinia, now that Genera1 Pope holds his
ew position strongly in the face of the
uemy, and now that large portion of the
ate army of the Potomac has debarked at
Aquia Creek and Alexandria. 4 part Of what
shall write You will have known before this !
rrives; part Is, I trust, news-at least In its
|etailB,
The advance Of General Pope toward the
lot Of attacking, but Of threatening, Rich
nond, and Of taking attention from Harrison's
landing long enough to ALLOW General Nc
JleIlan to withdraw in safety the remains Of
he army Of the Chickahominy. Pope was not
strong enough to venture much more There
was possibility, to be sure, that he might
achieve decided victory over 8tonewau Jack
son. before his reinforcements could reach
him from the rebel capital; but that hope was I
frustrated by the premature attack By General
Banks with his small corps, which, however,
must also hare had the effect Of disappointing
the plans Of Jackson, by checking his forward
long enough fer Pope's purposes. |
Whether Jackson could have been again at |
tackled successfully, after the battle Of Cedar |
Mountain, By our fresh forces, is a question. |
sigel proposed to move Immediately upon his
works that same night; but Pope, perhaps |
not oyer-prndent1y considering hoE much was
at stake, vetoed the proposition.
The main design, the credit Of which must,
we presume, be given to General Halleck,
succeeded. The enemy marched ont Of Rich
mond and massed his whole force in front Of
Pope. On Monday last (the 18:h) that gene
rails scouts brought him word that eight army
corps commanded by General 10. Johnston in
pereoD, and numbering not less than 1901
meD, was marching by his left flank with the
design Of preventing his junction with tbs,
forces from the Peninsula, and Of cutting him
off from Washington, and Of either destroying
him or capturing the national capital. General
Pope ut once made up his mind Whist to do and
set about doing it. His army received march
ing orders the trains were Immediately put
in motion and at midnight he was himself IN
the saddle. A gallop Of few minutes to ward
Cnlpepper, and he Was in the midst Of tile
wagons az artillery, which seemed hope1es5ly
stopped for the night Pope immediately
constituted himself chief wagon master, that
member OF his staff having been sent of By
| another road, with Sige1's train. He woke up
drivers. swore ut them. threatened to cut their
heads open, whipped up their horses, turned
whatever hopelessly blocked the way into the
| fields and started the train. Ga1oplng for
ward he found fresh distractions and re-
newed stoppages, and re-enaeted the scene:
| Cu1pepper, and now there was movement.
Pope-all this I learn rom an eyewitness
| took his stand On the side walk and goaded
| every man into energetic progress, exercising
| lis gift Of profanity and employing divers
! tongues to enforce the same lesson. His staff
were sent off in all directions, one to see that
| the teamsters didn't stop to water their horses.
another that theydid not mistake the road, until
| be vas left on the Cnlpepper curbstone almost
entirely alone. Staff shoulder straps grumbl-
ed, but if he were content to be Wagoa-nasteg,
| they were still his subordinates, as they didn't
| need to learn, after living with him fortnight.
Thus for four hours that Monday night, the
| major general commanding waited for the
Wagons and and forbade the wagons to wait,
Seventeen miles Of them ther1 we're and when
all bad passed, the troops followed.
| In about forty-eight honrs the move
men was accomplished, the Rappahanuoek
crossed and headquarters established at Rap
| pahanDock Station, near its left bank, on the
Orange and Alexandria Railroad. and withir
easy reach Of Fredericksburg and Burnside
| a 1G" IOuTB mDIE AuQ 0iHEl y pbS HIlNl
had marched around By Warrentou Springs
breaking the bridges over the Hazel aud Rap
pahannock Rivers behind it, Joined the res
Of the army Of Virginia
That army now stretches tor ten miles ant
more along the Rappahanneck: guarding Wit
heavy force ct artillery all practicable forda
and awaiting the arrival ofthe peninsula army
| The corps Of Fitz John Porter ana Heintzel
man have already got within marching dis
tance: other corps are on their way and vi
! be in the field days before this reaches you.
Gen. Pope arrived at the Repentance
. from before the enemy, and had the satisfa.
tion Of watching from his headquarters th
| eWarthy clouds of dust rising from rebel co
| umus as they marched toward that river. Ye
terday there Was artillery firing across tt
: vas forty or fifty killed and wounded and ta
!, OF three guns disabled. It vas reported tn
t division of rebels succeeded in crossing ar
capturing two guns, bns becoming soon Il
locus Of fffy pieces Of artillery, were oosig
to skedaddle. This, however, lacks confirm
i was positively denied by Gen. Pope.
- TIE estimate Of the enemy's strength !
II ported to Gen. Pope by his scouts WIS prob
i bly, not SO much above the truth as usu<
+ though it Is quite doubtful whether C0.000
~ not nearer the real number Of men than 15f
- opportunities OF information We're Of cous
- not first rate, set it at even more than the Il
ter figure. But VIM. Henry Hurlbut, form
editor Of the N. 7. Times. who has Just
capped from Richmond, where he was at 1lr
ls ard good means Of knowing, as he has go
oe powers Of judging says that the rebel ar9
IS and cannot be more than $50 GOO, and in
h Judgment Is not above 10000 strong.
=. Eays that it is under the command Of Gene
le Lee, but other authorities put Gen. 10. Jot
!, tton at its head. Estimating il at the high 3
d, figure, we need feel no appretensions. !
G, week has nearly gone, at the end Of whl
he Gen. Ha,leck is reported to have said,
r. should dismiss all apprehension, not to h<
re- been forced to fight until the national arm
ss Of Virginia have made junction, is to HI
won victory.
L word Of what Mr. Hur1but, who ?
o. coon publish 8 narrative Of his personal e2
TIence and observation, says, touching one
or Two much mooted questions. He believes
is rebellion stronger To-day than eVer. befc
!: but weaker in fighting strength than Is ger
N, number fmen under arms in the South N
ng they had, according to his rosit
st knowledge, as he says, only
all They haresundoubtedly added more than I
to 600 more since that time; but it must not
cid forgotten how rapidly an army wastes aw
The theirs, more rapidly than ours, because
lie. transportation, commissarias, aud medical
the sanitary matters, We are greatly their sup
rLy OTE. LII. Hurl0ut psayS tnat all Well-1n1OrC
;rY, persons in Richmond admit that Gen.
~. C1elan had four If not five oppo
bic mites Of capturing the rebel capi
on. Once, before Manassas WAS evacuated, sit
eat according to the positive assertion Of c
ing Jo. Johnston, he had at no time more t
cry 10000 soldiers there, large proportion
ON whom could not be accounted able bodied
iar. that he commenced his preparations to c
se- uate as long ago as October. intendin
yho stsrt the instant he WAS seriously threate
i'm McClellan's second opportunity, RaGs.
lty, but, wss after the. battle Of Williamson
teg- his third after Fair Oaks or Scyen Pines
II Of fourth, after Malvern Hill; his fifth, he
de- lityes, but Is not SO positive about that,
for the attack upon Fitz John Porter over
ChickahominY.
L. Mr. Hulbut, who is Charlestoniar
birth, and went South firm in the belief
the rebels were contending for their cons
e,,u tional rights returns disposed to regard
~, to treat them as a nation Of enemies, OF y
'oS' what few Tnionists there may be have
,oru more backbone than chicken" He il
lont var ~ tne NV "a rau ~
pou po"eA'1A Nv "
light orrr, sr r.n11rs I,ET1wu
IL of "Ae 0Vo-' - ~
nee nee liismuri Gueril1as Sque1ched 0W-Hou
.oas, ~. can Be kxpt dosea herentter-Tde prf'
~ , ~ gang retyeatiug to -4rkanSas-The s.
!. ua1e az fry asoidtng Union troops-A Tabid :
s, asn f5om conservative Go,'crnor-An IN
, - f1ditoa''S Jaaoruc eacspd2er-1TvuhleS 9
a.: role prisoners, ETC., etc.