The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-09-13
4 Glimpse Behind tho Rebel Lines.
Correspondence Of the New York Tribune.
WASHrNoroN Sent K 1890

"ANVAON, 0cPS. " AoOZs
A little drawing aside of the curtain which has
hidden the battle-6elds from our sight has given
US . glimpse behind" the rebel lines. Words
dropped, and stories told by our men, who have
been released from captivity, aud the sad sight
Of hunger.worn, tired. battle-worn soldiers. and
the corrob0ratiDg admissions of rebel prisoners.
give us sharper, somberer picture Of the rebel
conditien than We have been willing to make for
ourselves. The panic.stricken wretches, who
come first from battle and last on q march,
have been all along spreading stories that our
enemy was fresh when We we're weary, we'll. fed
when We went hungry, that he had all talent for
victory, all chances for success, and that, from
the Rapidsn to the banks Of the Potomac. he
had crushed and overwhelmed us BY his fearful
supremacy of numbers.
. Are miracles performed by God for the bene-
ft of the enemy. Has He placed the springs of
eternal youth by their paths, 60 that they can
drink and be new men? Ia it given tolhea and
their beasts to live without food or slseps And
if not, why should Northern papers say, and
Northern people believe, that jackson and Lee
are heading an army great in numbers IS aswarm
Of locusts, thoroughly supplied with provisions,
and better or as we'll armed az our ownp Why?
Because the blind guidea forbid the papers 10
tell the TRUTH and these pretty theories Of rebel
heated bed of . smothered public intelligence
The enemy has had no more men. not 70 much
ordnance, nor provisions nor transportation fa-
cilities, nor nearly 20 much escumbering bag
gage, but be has outgeneraled rs from Slaughter
Mountain to EdWards's Ferry, and God knows
but be will do 90 hereafter. Make your display
Of capital headings TO your war news, harp upon
your driving the enelny . mile this morning, and
four rods the day after TO morrow, but take your
map and see how that enemy has crowded 10
@iles upon miles, and leagues upon leagues, from
psPspper to the very gates Of the Capital. flank.
- o. at will on the right or the left. See how
" have gone zigxsg day after day, repelling
fetats that some Of our Generals believed real
attseks, sacrificing brave men BY hundreds to no
purpose, burning stores that should have been
saved, losing men that should never have been
taken prisoners, abandoning territory that should
have teen held. See how, pursuing the even
course of fixed aud definite purpose, the enc
ny bafaed our oounsels, wrestsd victory after
victory from us, and 10 now threatening Baiti-
more and Washington. This 10 the plain uuvar-
nished truth; We have been whipped BY an infe-
rior force of inferior men, better handled than
our own.
4 few facts from the personal experience Of
our officers recently captured aud justS released
on and without psroIs show that the condition of
the rebel army is actually not % eDod - oar own.
The Rsy, Daniel 6 Asilsryy, Chaplain fist p.
Vols. (Renos di vision) who was captured OF Sat.
urd.y last and has just reached town, gives me
the following particulars:
At the time when. the tight fxasr hottest, NJ
Hsllery moved off to the left of his regiment to
search for the ambulance corps, and strayed
away 60 far that the brigade moyed of before he
could rejon it. Wandering about, he fell in
With our skirmishers, was arrested BY them, and
sent toward the rear for identification, but on
the way was captured BY the eebel skirmishers
That night and the next morning he passed on
the battlefield among the heaps of dead and
wounded of both parties, which lay BY hundreds
there. With him we're some 50 officers and over
1000 privates, representing b0regiments- whists
would seem 70 indicate plainly enough that they
were stragglera 2EET'a ''' 7'a''sas2s I. -
These men had nothing given them to eat un-
I'll Sunday afternoon, when each had little bit
of meat which might weigh perhaps Dix. ounces,
ont no crackers OF any other kind of food. 4 The
tebel guards Jared no better, however, and, in
deed, they told Mr.. Nallery that sometimes they
had gone two and three days together without .
bite of food, except such berries or what not a.
they could find on the line of marcb. Their pur.
suit OF our columns had been 90 rapid that they
NJ ..u ."sy I!on 'ue.s supply tsains.-|
What they captured from us ia theifrsids 70 the
rear they could not carry away, except what
each man could stuff In his haversack, 80 it bad
TO be burnt Over and over again the escort of
Me- AaIeryS party would beg tle,n NOT to walk
90 tast, Tor they were 80 weak and weary they
Gould not keep ur This to men who had been
retresting ninety miles, With their supply trains
far IN advance to keep them out Of harms way!
,. Monday morning our men got another little
piece OF meat, but no moro food that day, none
Tuesday. and none Wednesday, until, after their
long circuitous homeward march, the fainting.
famished men came within our lines and we're
saved from starvation.
At the 6rst place Of rendezvous. NJ. kailery
encountered Dr.. Calvin Cutler, Renos Acting
Division Surgeon. Although nsminally pfis-