Maryland free press., 1862-11-28


side, and for the remaining half with not more
than an aggregate of 70 600 men against host
which Ia admitted to have consisted of 10000
men, and may have been much more. No battle
of the war has done more to convince the Confed
crates that It matters little what is the disparity
of numbers between themselves and their foe
The old and insolent contempt of their enemy
originally held by the southerners in this war is
confirmed and ratified by the experience of he
last nineteen months.
This, then, is one of the battles with respect to
which Gen Mcclellan, admitting a loss on us
own side of Is 900 men, estimates his enemy :
loss at about 25, 900 dead wounded and missing .
The reader who remembers the position occupi
by Gen. lees forces, will smile at Gen. McC
lans credulity. True 1t is that many Confeder5
ates, who have more regard for Gen. Mcclellan
than is felt by his own Government, affirm that
the dispatches put forth in his name rarely
| his own fabrication. / am told by the highest au-
thority that the official statement, comprising the
most minute details of the Confederate loss at
Che battle of Artietarn Creek, estimates the whole
loss in dead, wounded and missing at e,00O men.
! Another circumstance is noticeable. A Federal
loss of infinite ma sgnitude would evoke no sigh of
sympathy, no moment of sadness, except SO far as
| it was supposed to oefer the restoration OF the
| Union. But the whole Confederacy bewails the
5000 victims at Antietem Creek with brotherly
affection ami sympathy. Nor is that appalling
indifference which amazes and paralyzes the spec
! tator in Washington and New York affected here.
Scarcely lady but wears mourning, proud to
display that she has lost relative fighting in
cause dearer than life scarcely a person but
speaks sorrowfuly and with affection of loss
which seems to them appalling, though not much
more than one third of that inflicted upon their
! poco curanfe foe. That thebattle in question was
no Federal Victory 's hest evnced BY the inaction
on both sides the following day. Thursosy
passed and no attempt to press Gen Lee was made
Notwithstanding the enormous numerical superb
ority of his foe. At length, slowly and uumoles-
| ted, on the night of Thursday, having effected
the reduction of Harper's Ferry, and fought on
| equal terms with his enemy, the Southern army
was drawn to the southern bank of the Potomac
| without loorinG cannon or wasting life.
AsuFrREssED rHolDEnT.
| We come next to an episode in the war which
is naturally ignored by Mr.. Stanton and the
Northern Press. 1t appears that, discovering
that his enemy had retreated across the rive,
Gen. Mcclellan, on Saturday, the goth of Sep
tember, threw some 600 across in pursuit The
movement was observed by Gen. A. p. Hill, who
left a few field pieces in position. from which he
fired feebly upon the advancing Northerners Civ
ing orders to his to retreat hastily as they ap
preached. The Federas rushed on the guns, and
followed eagerly after what they imagined to be
a broken and pspicstruck foe. But when they
had got about mile and half, Gen. Hill opened
upon them with grape and canister, and the
s.a ghter Is described as having been the most ar-
- A. hoa y
sured that not one-tenth of the invading force
caped-that the river was literally choked with
the dead and dying, who had rushed into the
stream and struggled frantcsl'y with each other
TO escape the pursuit. 1t is evident that the les
son taught on that day: to Gen. Mcclellan has
borne bitter fruit, ana that bis pursuit will hence
forth be more wary. In fact, there is great rea-
son to suppose that bis next move will be, not
against Gen. Lee at Winchester. but against
Richmerd by some new approach.
REBEL PLANS FOR THE WINTER.
We hear that large force is gathering in
Hampton Roads, add it is thought that the next
approach against Richmond will be by the South
bank of the River James With his right resting
O. the river, and his left thrown Southwsrds into
the interior, NcClellon may attempt another ad
vance. 1t would i'll become me to disclose tho
preparations which await him at Drury's Bluff
(called By Federal papers Fort Darling,) aud else
where but it is safe to assert that be viii find
the lower bank more difficult of access than he
has already found the upper. Nothing is more
kelly than that the withdrawal of many troops
from before Gen. Lee will oren Maryland ag lin
T., the latter. The Federals have just as much as
they can do to keep roofs their heads in
Washington during what remains of fighting
weather. The mysterious movements of the
Northern newspapers that some great movement
is in contemplation excite little interest or appre
hension here. The experience OF tie past gives
such confidence about the future that it is felt no
Northern army will ever capture Richmond with
out such effdsion of its own blood as would
change the howl of Northern sxultation idto
nations wall of woe.
THE SPIRIT OF THE SOUTH.
Well may a nstion be confident of winning its
independence which can exhibit such spec acles
as every day produces wherever Southern army
is in tie field. There, in poverty, hunger, and
dirt, shoeless with shirts ragged and rent, often
without hats, their feet bleeding as they drag
their weary limbs through dust and briar, are
serving in the ranks the gentlemen of the sangree
ezul of the South! Many a mau who, until the
mmencement of this war, had scarcely thought
beyoud the Cafe Foy and the Boulevards of Paris
and to whose morning toilet every diversity oi
cosmetic was as necessary as water has f1r month
been marching under musket, without one sin.
gle change of rament, feeding often on green |
maize and raw pork, lying at night on the bare
earth, with asingle blanket between him and the
canopy of heaven. Where all are fearlcrs il |
were .invdous to select one State in preference to
another as bearing away the palm but it seems
generally conceded that Gen. Butler has convert
ed the sons of Louiaiana moth ers, the husband
and brothers of Louisiana wives and sisters, in 10
demons of mere than earthly ftrocity.
1t is but too probable that, with unopposed com.
maud Of the sea and the great rivers during their
Autumn foods, the South may lose thousapds
of he- sors, in addition to that great sea of
blood which has already been cheerfully poured
out in her defense. But let her be left without
single city or village, with nothing but her in
tcrnal Businesses sni her immense are of terrific
~, and though every man in the North under
ffty to take the field, they would be insuHi
cent ever to make such nation as the South