, 1862-12-18

new theatre Of war, Of which fredericksburg /
is the centre. The scale on which it is drawn |
gives territory Of about forty miles from |
north to south. To give al adequate idea Of
the difficulties before which the army Of
Burnside is temporarily Withdrawn, it must |
be understood that our force did hot i,npingc /
upon position freshly chosen and hurriedly
fortified by The enemy; SO far from this, it
was Il line Of defense chosen early III the war.
This line may be traced on L larger map, ex-
tending along thc PERCEPTIONS bank Of the Rap
l..hannock River, from Port Roya1 up to
fredericksburg, thence along the South bank
Of tlc river up as far as the junction Of tile
Raj 'idan with the north FORK Of the Rappa-
lln;lock, 4 distance of about seventy miles,
=sas carried thence alung the Rapidan as far as
the base Of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Thus Pope'@ army struck this line Of de-
fensc on the EaIidan and recoiled before its
strength.
At the breaking out Of the rebellion it was
! lu;.stcr Of ssri"i.s discussion By Bcauregard,
Lee and Johnston whether this should not be
the line Of fo, ;;;cation instead Of Bull Run
and Manassas The Manassas railroad bring
ing provisions f:,.:, the valley, caused them to
select Bull Ru1., l::c Rspidan and Rappahall-
uock being made strong by extensive military
engineering III '''t '''eaill'ihe' 1uele e11inot
hc less 'ilan 1eo,ooo feocls alohs tms llhe OF
Fertilization, between Port Royal and the base
Of the mountains. Upwards Of 10000 have
been 1T Fredericksburg since the 10th Of May,
| 1861, aud laboring men have been at work on
'af7ons 1ort'hea'lohs all :iohs 'ne ri'er oanA
4. IN
1of months 3'ast. 1hls lne o. o'1eose WAS ".
gun anterior 10 1he 'ostanca'lons alons Dun
hnn' ai'a was ues.inea Us SOIL O. cover IN
case OF defeat al bnl run.
| Inns understanding OF inc situa''on Is nee.
| essa1s 1oi Aa!i eohcep'1on " 'ne nasu'e -
tece,.t ope.'e.ons' :'i.u ~. eneeA ouf afn9
'ne Ns' - 'ao4eheo - q 'iu' 'e"en1os no1n
have reee1'ed- 4he river IS deep and narrow
below frederlcksonrg-i6o yards VIDE ana
t fifteen feet deep Above Fredericksburg and
nj Falmouth the great falls OF the Rappnflan-
mock begin, and extend all the way to the
! source The banks arc rugged, broken, and
| PERCEPTIONS, and covered with the original
growth Of timber The river here is deep and
rapid. rising ut timcs--in the spring and carly
summer-as much as thirty feet, sweeping
the bridges away at Falmouth and Frederieks-
burg, as has been the case twice during the
last twelve months
The country Immediately south Of the north
course just marked out is strikingl5 like that
OH the south side Of the Potomac above
| Georgetown, very hilly-both wild, deep ia
vincs' particularly Is TINS tue case Tor soms
. eissn' ul1es peio" rleoei1chsou's,a an LUZ way
~ ~ tne D''s' ~ 'Ae r,o"n'i1 i4 1ae''
o,-o,. +,,o po,,noi,onnoc,- ond +ho ao7n+.- :,
. Stafford. and one at tie village of Falmouth
, which is in Stafford county, leading over th
f''er III Tue county o1 epo.S,l'an1a' fa'
s,.>,. 49, -:-o~ ,.st..s,
Fmaer;ck shnrr and the maintains.
, By the map we give the general. position Q
our forces IS given the rebel line reachin!
> 11o.u ~ nosa - ui"ao ~ "noss III
H.. 1;nes If tha onnosinr or,n;es ,Saro ~ :
roscd thus:
= SUMNER, HOOKER, FRANKLIN,
~, 1v"g@'ett' '"e@so"'
TSnasn 11th fanaht +ha w ,,at+,a @ 'ol n.1a. nil.
yacca along the whole line on Saturday. IN
+ under the cover Of darkness and storm
}. Sunday night rccrossed' cutting of all col
; nsetions BY , removing the rontoons: 9
Monday Inc ehen5s plchets were again CO.
l, fronting our OWE On the South bank of IL
Rann,l,annock.
h Especial Dispatch to the Chicago Tribune.l
g = hALG14ohE, oee' u: 1901.
III Ane so'oon ~ ' o' s.4O pi'1'N>'