The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-02-28
How McClellan's Plan OF CampaIrn
Strikes tho Confederate. -

| d.
vance upon Nashville. Zol!icoffer and Gritten.
den have fallen back to East Tennessee. The
Virginia and Tennessee Railroad is TINS in
jeopardy. Selling this the first part of the
programme is complete. Buell. may then turn
his forces eastward through East Tennessee
and western virginia, and threaten Richmond
from the southwest. Meanwhile Burnside
has possibly located himself at Weldon. North
Carolina, seized the railroad there, cut us off
| from the South, and threatens Beaurepard
from that direction. The moment Beauregard
turns himself from either of these armies,
Banks and Mcclellan make their advance from
the front; and thus totally isolated and impri
Sherman is then to strike in South Carolina
Butler seize jackson, Mississippi, and Halleck
immOrtalize himself by descent upon New
Orleans via the Father of Waters.
Such, am confident, is the scheme of the
demonstration which is, in the language of
war;" Thirty days more will determine the
crisis. 10 be successful. the Northern armies
have in that time world of bloody work to
peform. If they fail, the war is terminated ex
necess'tate. 1t is the dying effort OF the hydra
headed monster already struggling in the folds
OF dissolution. But will it fail? The Burnside
eXpedltlon. the key of the gigantic under
taking, has been dispersed to the four winds of
heaven. Babel-lke, confusion is upon it.
Looking to the past, may We not predict
| that Buell. will meet with the same fate Plea.
yune Butler do; Halleck do; and that while
Albert Sidney Johnston, Van Dorm. Heath,
Price and jeff Thompson, interpose a living
wall OF hearts in the West, Huger at Norfolk.
Lowell at New Orleans, Lee at Port Royal, Tat
nall at Savannah, Magruder on the Peninsula,
and Beauregard, Smith and Jackson along the
Potomac, will roll up their solid barriers of
hre, and sweep back the red tide of invasion
Let us pray God that it may be so.
The Charleston Courier has truthfully
sketched the plan of the campaign deter
mined by the young General at the head of
the Federal army +; and while the plan, as
the Carrier says, is worthy i" the genius of
Marlborough or Napoleon" the execution
of it thus far has been as brilliant as its in
ception.
The Burnside expedition, the key note
OF the gigantic undertaking." instead of be-
ing dispersed has already cut off internal
water communication between Virginia and
the South, and, at this writing, has doubt.
less, possession of the Southern railroads at
Weldon or Suffolk. Burnside threatens
Norfolk, Richmond, and Beauregard from
the South /; and when the reoel General
turns to defend himself, or protect those
cities, he will have Mcclellan in his rear,
not venturing upon Bull Run experiment,
but striking rebellion at its heart, and with
the certainty Of overwhelming success.
Generals Buell. and Halleck have more
than performed the part assigned them.
Humphrey Marshall has been defeated and
driven from Eastern Kentucky. Thomas
and Schepff, after scattering to the winds
ZoIlIcofer's army, are on their way to Knox
vile, Tennessee, by different routes. "The
Virginia and East Tennessee Railroad is
thus IN jeapordy." The centre of Bueli's
column occupies Bowling Green, Oh the di
rect road to Nashville. Sidney Johnston
has not interposed ''living wall OF hearts"
quite the contrary.
The reduction of Forts Henry and Dom
e'son, and the occupation of Clarksvlle,
to say nothing of the capture OF $4,000 re.
bel prisoners, gives US the control of the
Tennessee river into Alabama, of the Cum.
berland to Nashville, and threatens CO.
iumbus end Memphis from the rear. The
Jeer that HaI!eck may immortalize him>
self by descent upon New Orleans on the
"Father Of Waters" there to form juno
ton with Picayune Butler" from Ship
Island, may turn cut to be no joke. Co..
lumhus is already within the coil OF the an
acoDda, and, with it, Memphis falls.
The wall of living hearts" interposed
by Price, Van Dorm, and JEFF. Thompson,
in Southwest Missouri, has proved as fee-
BILE, as that of Sidney Johnsion's. Their
army has been driven out of the State, the
banner of the Union is unfurled in Arkan
sas, and, unless Price is even more nimble
than usual, be will fall between the Scylia
and Charybdis of Hunter and Curtis.
On the South Atlantic, Sherman and
Dupont hold Savannah in this group, aud
when it tails, will devote their attention to
Charleston. Butler, at Ship Island threat
ems Mobile and New Orleans, and will soon
accomplish something worthy his renown.
The Carleston Courier must now appre
ciate the fact, that " bewiIderingly stupen-
dous as McClellan's plan of the cam
paign is, the genious of the Federal com.
mander is equal to the task of making the
execution of it a part of the history of the
war. The time, too, is rapidly approaching
when be will take the field in person on the
Potomac, and, closing in his lines from Ro-
secran's position in Western Virginia to
the most extended post on the Lower Po-
tomac, retrieve the disgrace of Bull Run,
by driving the rebels from their almost i'm.
pregnable position at Manassas, and thus
strike the most destructive, and. we trust,
the last blow necessary to crush out the re-
bellion.
The following is the number of rebel
prisoners taken since the beginning of the