The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1862-04-18
From Gen. McCieIran's Column
The Advance from Fortress
Monroe.


The Advance from Fortress
Monroe.
In the brilliant light of the splendid
victories of the West, we have had hard
" time TO turn toward the Potomac and
inquire what Mcclellan is doing upon the
lower Peninsula. We briefly know that
on Friday last the advance was made from
Fortress Monroe, and that on Saturday
some fighting was done preparatory to
the intended attack upon Yorktown it.
self. Tho correspondent Of the New
York Tribune gives the following sketch
Of the passage Of troops from Alexandria
to Fortress Monroe:
THE POINT DURING DEFAMATION.
Old Point Comfort was inevitably, al
most exclusively military during the de-
barkation. Its docks, its sandy beach,
its hotel, its fort, its miry road stretching
toward Camp Hamilton and the open
country were crowded with soldiers. You
were aroused in the morning by their
measured tread, as they trampod past,
and by the inspiritiug strains Of martial
music; you took an atter-brcakfast walk
to the pier to look at the newly arrived
transports, freightcd almost to the wa
tcr's edge with men and musket; you
/ fingered amid the uniformed crowd to
witness their devious landing, their march
onward and temporary disappearance;
4 you rode out through a road obstructed
with mules, gun-carriages and ambulun-
ces to a review OF 10000 soldiers in the
afternoon, and at night heard the steam
whistle announcing fresh accessions, re-
tiring to rest as a sentry's challenge of
l"Who goes there!" echoed beneath your
chamber window. And the odds were
that your dreams turned OH things mill
tury and beligerent.
THE HARBoR.
From Old Point Comfort to Har,rton
and Newport News, the harbor was gay
with vessels, some of them venturinp in
incuutious propinquitY to the rebel shore
insomuch that tho possibility and effects
of shot from Sewulrs Point through
the boiler of an oyer-freightcd steamer
was contingency frequently impressed
upon the mind of the spectator.
Men, mules, horses and forage, ahoat
or in process of debarkation, were visible
on every hand. Sometimes q hundred
sailing vessels, crowded with mules, ar
rived daily, the long-cared cargo being
discharged by the simple process of throw
ing it into water when it, individually and
collectively, always got safe to land.-
\ The San Jaciuto, notable for its part in
the Trent affair, lay ont in the Roads ;
the Rinaldo, which conveyed the Rebel
EmbussudorG to EDglund; two English
and two French lrigutes; the Minnesota,
the Vanderbilt, undergoing a strength
ening process, in anticipation Of the reap
pearance of the MerrimHc; hall dozen
gunboats; and best OF all, the brave, in-
vulnerable little Monitor, with her half
score ofcannon ball dnts, her cylindric
al iron "cheese-box" and submerged
"raN," confidently expecting another ma
val battle with her gigantic antagonist,
and quite ready ior it. Such was the as.
pect Of Hampton Roads and Old Poin,
Comfort, in March, 1862.
THE ENBARKATIoN.
h A hundred thousand men are not trans.
4; ported for distance of $50 miles in Q
. day. The army Of the Potomac begar
to move down the Potomac on the II
Q of March. lnnumcrable vessels had beer
quietly chartered by the Government fol
b this service, river and lake steamers, al
\ most ofall sorts and sizes, from those fa.
4 miliar with the waters of the Penobsot tC
Chesapeake Bay, insomUch that their liv
4 ing freight must have been curiously re
|. minded of the familiar geographical 10
n calities which had furnished recruits TO
such an Armada. For three weeks sub
!. sequent, Alexandria the dreary was mu
v steal with military bands; its miry ant
decuyed streets echoed TO the tramp o
n martial feet; buyonets CLEANED and flash
,r ed in its dingy thoroughfares; and trainl
/ of artillery, wagons and ambulances, al
bound riycrward, indicated the long de
sired advance of that army TO which hat
been assigned the browning achieve
ments Of the war--the final tramplnl
!. out of rebellion utterly unexampled il
,r history.
a The innumerable vessels engaged in
i, transporting four of the fvo great divis
ions of the army Of the Potomac to OIL
\ Point Comfort accomplished their tus
= more or less successfully in the altern
. ately good and bad weather churacteri2
ing the tickle month of March. Their
were days ofbright sunlight, and solemn
=. beautiful, star-spangled nights, days {
sharp wind and fierce driving rain, day
and nights of absolute storm, periling I
both the vessels and the freighting soul
U within them.
p In one instance barge containing
20 battery and men was cut adriit and flou
9 ed within short distance the rebel shor,
es lying there for two days, being finally re
n covered by passing transport, summar
d ly seized and pressed into service; in al
other the propeller, Eureka, abandonC
for similar time, drfted about Chess
" peake Bay with only negro woman c
who, when rescued. supposed everythir
he all right and according TO order! Let Il
It. readers of the Tribune fancy all this
the voyage, its incidental mischonce
p and the mighty interests involved in Il
IS, expedition-and their imaginations wi
of form picture which the pen of son
I NJ IL A.