The New York herald., 1862-03-18
Our Baltimore correspondence.

BAIrxoRE, March l6, 1862.
Plans of e Rebels for tAe Spring Cdmpaigs-TAer Naval
Preparations Hdps Retrieve Their Recent Disas.
ersby Series of Facts Respecting
the Typography Of TIE Country NoW Occupied by the Late
Rsba army of the Potomac-The F0rtifcations on the
Line Of RoppahaSsOck and Rapidan Were Ertc.ed
Months Ago, DC.
have been put in possession to-day OF the following
additional facts in regard TO- the present position and
probable movements Of the late rebel army Of the Poto
mac. Htrue, as have every to believe, they
how that that army, nearly 175OOo strong. has bcon
Withdrawn y line that can be defended for two weeks
u least with half its force, while the other half
70 be used for active and immediate Of
snsive operations. II is stated here, on good
authority that week before the evacuation proper had
commenced Gen. Jos. E. Johnston had detached twenty
I've thousand Of his best troops by railroad TO Saolk
Md Weldon order 10 cooperate with anQsner rebel
army the latter place. in an attack on Gen. Burn
sGe; and that after the evacuation and after seeing his
troops in the proper position tho defensive lins
Gen. Johnston went down TO Weldon 10 take command
this movement, leaving the command Of the army on
she Rapdan 70 Gen. GustaY.s Smith. " s also said
here that, while the Mfrimsc is the largest she is by
no means the only vessel Of the kind the most eec
i've one Tat the Confedoratss have; that they have no
@ss eight Of these mpenetrsbe monsters near.
y ready, and that in few days they will set sail in
company, and infct blow upon the North which will
entirely change the present aspect Of the Il
serted positively that the Merrimac 10 all injured,
but that she is being fitted with additional apparatus
which viii enable her 10 carry OF The Monitor
prize.
In spite Of all that has been saa TO the contrary the
ConFedsrates are amply abba 70 MAINTAIN their second
line Of defence, along tho Rap,ahannock and Rapdan
S6eve aOnins NJ ha rnio Thcv
have 100 900 troops distributed along this line, FOL-
VwsS 600 at the upper ford Of the Rapan, where the
'oadom Front Roy~l and Manassas Gap to tho Town Of
Osmee Through Msdsona that stream 10 GOO
he junctcn Of the same stream with the Orange and
bsiow Is 900 II de iowa of orange 5000 At GerxiOns
le 10 00Q pOintnn the Rapidan, seven miles north
,ast ef thN rsalsAd6sge a. tAs junction st named
peppsr) wooden br5Age; $500. at
aermania where the road Rappshannc0k 10 Bowl
miles fcihe mouth OF the north branch Of the RaIpa-
sanneck 600 At Falmouth 20 600 at fredericksburg
10000 IN troAt% Newport, and 10000 q Port Royal
ali theseVompse part Of the late army of he Potomac
The principal fortncations along the rivers are At the
poiass Cove. The most extensive are those a
edsrcksburg. On these works the ltbor Of thousand
ssAdksand 'nve thousand soldiers expended from
ne middle Of May till the 26th Of July last They are
mouitcd with part Of the guns brought from the
n0t0anAc river batteries and il is said that the
samers are sheltered BY classmates. The right bank
II the river, between Fredericksburg and Port Royal
yOuD6tS " nlgn Sv0ruXu8 mtoen W
est hkh and for the most part with nearly preciptous
sitSs The river ID i've six huudred feet wide and
sixteen twenty feet deep. is therefore, TO be
supposed that the Union army could croes between
hove two points, particularly aho engineers Of the
~e6Al army have crowned these bldns with several
terong batteries For miles around Bowling Green too
place and Port Royal the Of the
ground In such (being filled with deep Bwamps and
uHxssss) that army could move there. Higher uT
the river between Germania and Fredericksburg, hort
feries OF deep ines running at right angles with
me stream The intervening ridges osns covered WIZ
min ovtne liar
cannot operate and without artillery the On army
.annot From Germania TO the head waters OF ID.
sRapidan and for distance Of from three TO Ave miles
souh OF the stream, the country counterpart
Of that just southwest Of Washington, namely ranges
'ogh hills thickIy wooded and with ravincs or passe
between.
The natural defences Of the line above indicated hav
sbsen improved the utmost the rebel generals who
for months past, have contemplated the moment whe
they would be compelled TO abandon Manassas.