The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-11-22
Y OL. XXlII---NO. n.

acquai,'ahces' put adds with great roo,j
sense that the hope of ultimate recnrriI;a
ton which some persons found unon ti,',
circumstance are altoge ther deluAiye He
notices also the utter absence of $50
thy for the invading army in the co,,,,t'.-
traVersed, state OF things which deprived
the + Federal commanders Of all infort,.,io,,
a to the state OF the roads. the rnovar,,,e,.
OF the enemy, and the localities of H.
country. VIC
We were here twenty-four miles r,o,,
Yorktown, and we could not learn 49,
works the enemy had thrown I'M nor
what was his force within them, This
was the more amazing that Fortress nfon.
! rec had always been held by strong car.
r.son, which ought TO have been af1la 10
! OBTAIN some information or TO make som.
reconnaissance ia this direction. Rut h, a.
strange alteration, the fortress no,v T.
come the oase oil operations of the Avn,
OF the Potomac, had beeu suecioII, -
! tered from the command Of Gene,aI "
| C!elian, together with its garriso,, ~
though the General in charge of # Co., a.
inferior In rank Hence arose ,,iIi,-..'
susceptibilities, which were by no ,oeo.,s
favorable to the exchange Of confJo,ti,i
communications. ''"'
So the Army of the Potomac moved
on the dark toward yorktown. We were
two days on the road. The column Of the
General IN Chief had passed some fortified
positions abandoned by the enemy. A
| lew horsemen were occasionally seen at
rare intervals No sooner had we come
under the walls Of Yorktown than Wa
were arrested by the cannon A few gun.
ooats, which had appeared nj the mouth
of ork river, had found it guarded by
some forty pieces of heavy caIibre. Tho
naval officers concluded that they could
not pass this battery the investment Of
the place by water must consequently be
| abandoned. When we undertook. TO in
! vest it by land We came upon q series OF
works stretching across the Peninsula on
the edge of a malshy stream called War
wick Creek, and high enough to make
investment impossible. The COufederates
had damned this marShy stream in places
so as to convert il into a pond, and their
dams. with other accessible points were
defended by artillery, Iedoubts, and rifle
pits.
a. Gen. Keyes, in irving to pass
the river Warwick, had been the first Z,
encounter this line OF defence Hismarcl
had been very slow. The country. per
fectly fiat and covered with marshy forests.
was only trayersed by few roads scarce
worthy Of the name The rains, falling in
torrents unusual at this season of thcvear.
had made the roads, if We must 50 cal.
them, completely impracticable The in
iautry could csatrive 70 get on bv march
ing in the water thrsugh the woods bat
as soon as two or three wagons had made
ruts in the ground no wheeled vehicle
could move an inch. or course all move
ment was :mpossib.e, for we could rot
leave the wagons. The country was ut
terly deserted. Except water and food il
supplies us with nothing The soldiers
carried but two days provisions. These
exhausted, the wagons We're th-.. only
reliance. We had, therefore. to mako
what the Americans call corGrrv roads"
Here the American pioneer was in his
element; the roads were made as il bv
enchantment The cannon and the waE-
ons came in slowly indeed, luc they came
IN where 1t seemed au impesslbi,itv thew
ever should do So. a night the troops
find no dry corner for their birouac /
remember to have seen General of divi-
OH whose whole establishment consisted,
OF five or six pine branches. one end
stuck III the mud, or rather in the water.
the oiher resting on tree. Here be slept
with an Indla-rubber cloak over his head
1t was by such roads that we reached
the Confederate lines, where we were re-
ceIved by Il vivid fire of artillery. Through
out the seven miles Of the Confederate
lines we encountered the same attitude of
alert defence. Everywhere cannon and
camps. OF course the inference was that
we were arrested by forces apparently
formidable and before a position not TO be
easily carried. But this case had been
foreseen. In order to gain time and avoid
tedum Of siege, General Mcclellan had
thought out the means of turnng the po-
sition. The enemy held the James with
the Merrimac and his cuuboat- the York
was closed by the Norkto"n and Giouces-
ter Point batteries. Nevertheless, by =
Decentralization OH the Severn, beyond
Gloucester, we might carry the latter posi-
ton aud open the way of the federal gun
boats into the river York subsequent
movement up the left bank, in the direc-
ton of West Point, would put us so far in
the rear Of the enemy charged with the
defence of the lines Of yorktown that it
would have been in most perilous posi-
ton. This accomplished, the Confsde-
rates must have abandoned Gloucester,
and fallen back hastily upon Richmond.
The execution OF this cup dc main had
been left to corps of the army command
Ell by General Mcdowell. This corps was
to be the last to embark at Washington,
and it was calculated that it ought to
reach Yorktown in a body on its trans
ports at the moment when the rest Of the
army moving by land should appear be-
fore that post from Fortress Monroe.
= Instead of finding it, we received the
inexplicable and as yet unexplained intel
Iigence that this corps, 50 ,OC0 strong, had
been sent to another destination. The
news was received in the army with stupe-
faction, although the majority could not
foresee the dep!orable consequences of a
step taken, it must be supposed, with no
evil intention, but certainly with an in
conceivable recklessuess. Fifteen days
before, this measure, although it must
always have been injurious, would have
been much less so. We might have made
arrangements upon new basis. Taken
when it was, it deranged a whole system
of machinery fairly at work. Among the
divisions of McDowelGs corps was there
one that of franklin, which was more re-
cretted than all the others, as well on
recount of the troops themselves as of
their commanders. The Generalin Chief
had bestowed especial pains on ITS organi-
zation during the winter, and earnestly
manded its restoration it was sent back
to him without word of explanation,
precisely as it had been detached from
him. This fine division, | 600 strong, ar
rived, and for moment the General
thought OF intrusting to it alone the Glou-
cester expedition. But this intention was,
Then came the reflection that some.
where in these seven miles of Confederate
intrenchments there must be a weak spot.
This pierced, the army of the enemy, cut
in two, would suffer one Of those disasters
which settle the fate Of campaign This
weak point, it was supposed, had been,
found near the centre OF the lines Of War
wick Creek, at at a place called Lees Mill.
The bottom here was firm, the water waist
deem In front of the hostile works was O