The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-09-05
Frorn the Army or the CumbeF.
Hand

From the Army or the CumbeF.
land.
CAMP MILES NORTH OF STEVENSON,
ALA, Aug. 2.-Stin we rest in the valleys
which run down the sides Of the Cumber-
land toward the Tennessee. Any good map
will show them: Crow Creek Valley, Bat
tie Creek Valley, Lequatchie Valley and
the Valley Of the Chicamanga. Our entire
army is in line after several days toilsome
mach across the mountains, line, how
ever, which at present it would be impro-
peJto indicate. When we shall cross the
Tennessee, is, at present, an unsoived pro-
bEm, and /, for one, am willing to leave It's
s,lution entirely to the wisdom of the
commanding general. We may cross be-
ore this letter reaches you; we may remain
here for several weeks. When We do 60, it
will be with q consciousness OF power
which the Army of the Cumberland has
not always entertained. We have hereto
fore marched against the enemy oehevlng
we could conquer; this time we shall knoU
it. There is no rebel force in this region
that can at all resist our advance, any one
ATTEMPTING it will be ground to powder.
As have said before, l know nothing
about the plans Of the Commanding Cen
eral of this Department. 1 know not
when, where or how the army will move,
not. OF this only l am certin; that if it
does move, it will 60 straight forward to
victory, as far as anything that Bragg can
interpose is concerned. The story of the
rebels having forty thousand men at Chat
tanooga is all bosh. Bragg had not a man
more than that previous to the departure
of Folks corps to reinforce Lee; and at the
present time, the Commander Of the rebel
army of Tennessee, cannot, with its ut
most exertions, muster more than twenty
i've thousand me1t Buckner has perhaps
ten thousand more, and these are, under
present circumstances, the only force upon
which the rebels can count for resisting the
progress of our army and that of General
Burnside. And the Union soldiers under
Burnside and Rosecrans are threatening
the very vitals of the Confederacy!
Nothing better proves the weakness Of
the rebellion, to-day, than this contrast
OF opposing force in the neighborhood OF
Chattanooga.
Should we wish to occupy Atlanta and
Macon, we can do so in spite of Bragg, and
the possession of those points by our ar
mics, together with that of Chattanooga,
would involve the ruin of the rebellion, so
hat even it's desperate and determined
chieftains would abandon it as hopeless,
throw themselves upon the clemency of the
Government, or take refuge in fight. For
the occupation of Chattanooga, Atlanta
nal separation of the Gulf States from Vir-
ginia, the destruction of all possible COM
municatiOn between Johnston and Lee,
and the severance of what remains of the
Confederacy, as completely as the whole
was divided by the capture of Vicksburg
the rebel leaders is, that as our armies close
around them, driving all their troops with
in circle of whose diameter becomes con-
tinually less and less, their opportunities
for concentration will become more and
more formidable, and they will be able to
crush in detail the various portions of our
more extended line. OF course it will be
easier, too, for us to concentrate as the cir
Gle contracts, but as it will take less and
less time for the rebels, operating upon
their interior lines, to effect any desired
combination, our opportunities for know
ing their intentions will continually dimin-
ish, and we shall be ever less and less pre-
pared to battle their concentrated armies
by counter concentrations of our men. But
let the Gulf States of the "Confederacy" be
severed from the Atlantic, let the armies
rallying around Johnston be cut off from
those whose inspiring soul is Lee; and the
whole scheme by which the rebel leaders
hope even in the most desperate extremity,
to battle and defeat us, will fall at once to
the ground; and the utter futility of con-
tnuing the contest will become apparent
even to themselves. JOhnston's army, cut
off from Richmond and the rebel Govern
ment, will inevitably go to pieces; Lees
deprived Gifts supplies from the Gulf States,
must disperse or starve; and the armies of
the Union, encouraged and REINFORCED, and
pressing everywhere upon the broken and
disjointed fragments of the "COnfederate'
hosts, will scatter them like chaff before
the whirlwind or slaughter them like sheep.
These views, slightly modified, are the
same which, not long since, heard ex-
pressed by an intelligent rebel officer, who
was prisoner in our hands, and with
whom, through the kindness Of a valued
friend IN this army, was permitted to con-
verse.-Cor. Gin. Gazette.
ONE OF Mr.. LINCoLN's COOP THINGS
Three or four days since, the Natinnal In
telligencer quoted several things spoken by
Mr.. Lincoln in conversation, during GER
tain discussions of the policy of proclaim
ing the freedom of slaves, which that jour
nal declares to have been "excellently
said" We, too, have heard of some things
excellently said by Mr.. Lincoln. The 9TH
er day he was approached in regard to the
question of permitting the slave-owners of
North Carolina to keep their work people
in bondage on the return of that State to
the Union. Mr.. Lincoln is reported to
have said in reply: ''My proclamation set
ting free the slaves of the rebel States. was
issued nearly a year ago." Excellently
said! There could be no more complete
answer to the demand for the continuance
Of slavery in North Carolina. The procla-
nation of freedom has been issued, and
slavery in the rebel States is annihilated.-
That ends the matter; there is no longer
any room for discussion, and the four col
umns, however plausibly written, which
the National Intelligencer devotes in ques-
tioning the policy of the proclamation, are
as superfuous as last years advertise
ment of the fashions.
The Inteligencer censures those who are
for carrying on the war for any other object
than to restore the Union. With the leave
of that journal, there is yet one object next
in importance to the restoration of the
Union. 1t is to keep the Union entire after
it is restored. We shall have gained but
little if, after having brought back all the
States to their old allegiance, we knit them