The Burlington weekly hawk-eye., 1863-01-03
BURLINGTON WEEKLY HAWK.EYEI
NO WINTER QUARTERS.
Correspondence Of the New York Tribune.

NO WINTER QUARTERS.
Correspondence Of the New York Tribune.
Army OF THE PoroxAc,l
Thursday, December, 25th, 1862.
The troops are making themselves very com
Portable. Many are domesticated in snug log
cabins, heated BY underground furnaces. Wit
iron covers, or ordinary fire places, with out
side chimnies of sticks, plastered with mud.
Some interpret this as presaging long sea
son of idleness but they are false prophets. :
We are NOT to 60 into Winter quarters W.
are not to be inactive long.
A large number of artillery officers have beef
recommended to the President for brevet pro
motion, to take position afterward by thei
breyet rank. The proposition ought to be car
ried out In no other arm of Our service hav.
merit and experience been SO poorly rewarded
Many officers in the regular artillery we're offer
ed commissions in the volunteer infantry at tn
beginning of the war. Some were permittedt' Il
accept. The most were refused, and told, "Yo,
cannot be spared from the artillery"
Many of those who we're allowed to leave arr
now Major Generals Of Volunteers Those WHIT
remained, often their seniors in the regular SER
vice, and fully their equals in ability and gsl-
lantry, have not received promotion. This in
cludes men who have grown gray in their coun-
try's eervice-sone who have not only fought
and fought well, in every engagement of the
Army of the Potomac, but who won renown in
the Mexican War. The officer who led the stor
ming party at Chepultepec is still only the Cap
tain Of battery, while many of his Juniors, who
did not enter West Point until long after be
graduated, and who have done their duty DO
better than be, now wear the two stars. There
are numerous other cases of the same nature.
1t is but right that these men should have the
honor of brevet 1t is but right that they should
be superior in rank to the officers of the Vol
unteer Artillery, who, however great their ex
celence, have not the qualifications which come
only from long experience.
The Report of the Congressional Committee
on the Battle of Fredericksburg reached as last
night in one of the Washington papers. The
non-arrival Of the pohtoons is evidently vital
point in the responsibility for the disaster. Per.
haps Gen. Halleck is technically right in stating
tina. it was purely Burnside's duty; that after
giving the order TO have them sent forward, be,
Halleck, had nothing more to do with the mat
ter. But think he will never regain the sob
riquet OF "Old Brains" which - soldiers used
to apply to him in the West
Gen. Halleck is a student Of military history
and writer on military science. Did he ever
hear of competent General -in-Chief, from
Hannibal to Napoleon, who contented himself
with merely giving an important order, vital to
the success of his army? Does he deem it the
index ofa great Captain, to merely issue such
an order, and then eschew all further response
blity, giving himself no trouble to ascertain
whether it is executed Or not?
Burnside had duties of the most pressing i'm
portance Immediately about him. He was NOV
ing great army from one base to another in the
face of vigilant, powerful enemy. The pom
toons were to come from Washington. Even if
it was his duty to have them forwarded, when
he saw Gen. Meigs write the dispatch ordering
them, and Gen. Halleck sign it, had he not q
right to understand that they assumed it?
During the late battle, Gen. Sumner, in PURSE.
ance of an imperative order from Gen. Burnside,
remained on this side of the river. That order
at least saved US one Major General. There is
usually good deal of euphemisn about General
"eadipg" his troops In military language he is
leading them when he occupies his appointed
place, far in their rear.
But such ia not Summers mode. Forty years
of fighting Indians, Mexicans, and Rebels, have
not toned down his boyish enthusiasm. He goes
into battle CON dmore, as poor Kearney did
There is touch of the old-tlme chivalry, in the
way this veteran of nearly seventy-erect and
agile as youth of twenty-dashes into battle,
with his white hair and beard streaming in the
wind-rides up aud down his front line, where
ever the bullets fly thckest, cheering, rallying,
and literally leading his men. He really seems
bullet proof g.
He is usually scratched; often has his hat,
coat, or boots torn, and men killed all around
him, but escapes without harm. Once, in Mex
leo. bullet struck him square in the forehead.
The soldiers insist that it dropped to the ground
as the ball drops from the forehead of
the buffalo Whether this be true OF not Sum-
ner certainly lived to fight many other days.
Had he been permitted at Fredericksburg, he
would doubtless have led the van; but by all hu-
man probabilities he must have shared the fate
of Bayard. Death permitted no liberties there.
No man on horseback, who went out on that
fiery front, returned to tell what he saw. Gen.
Burilside's order saved US the life of an honored
veteran. 1t was time, too, requiring no im-
petuosity, but the highest caution and discrimi-
nation-whcn such Generals as Couch, Hancock
and Howard were compelled to exercise their
utmost circumspection.
Gen. Sumner ranks both the other Grand Di-
vision Commanders, and, in the absence of Gen.
Burnside, is at the head OF the army. He is
honored by all for his most emphatic loyalty, his
gallantry, and his many esteemable qualitiea-
But his special aptitude is that department of
the service to which he belongs in the Regular
Army-the cavalry. How grandly he would
lead any body of horse, from a squadron to q
corps How he would head one of those charges
which shine down through history, which end
in sweeping victory or fiery death!
The most of the wounded able to move have
been sent to Washington and Alexandra. They
have been better cared for. on the whole, than
the sufferers after any previous battle. The
New York Soldiers Relief Association, through
its agent, Mr.. S. V. Boyd, the United States
Sanitary Commission, and the agents Of nearly
all the States and local Associations have con-
tributed to the good work. A. D. R.
Correspondence Of The N. Y. Tribune.
The French at Jalapa.
JALAPA, Dec. l, 1862.
Tho oolpmn of Con Rprthier nOO asrcnr ;e