Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1863-01-14
From the Special Correspondent Of the New York
Tribune.

VIC ulhfs-PrOEFebs OF the EtEht-A-Nllan
try Of the Decentralization Of TIA,
Army Of the Frontier.
ST. Louis, Jan. ., 1868.
The rebels have avenged The capture OF Van
Buren,. With great boldnc3s and excellent
management, they have thrown q cavalry
force, nearly five thousand strong, in this STATE
By an unirCquUntCd route, and attacked Spring,
field, the key position Of the Southwest
Hardly any hope IS lon TO hang n doubt upon
that they arc this morning occupying this
place; and ere this they have probably accom-
plibhCd the destruction Of army stores designed
for Gen. SChohcld's army, and valued n u"arI,
million dollars. Our information OF the stu
alton OF affairs has bCCu received, Of course, by
telegraph.
The lost dispatch was received at . a. M At
! 4. III. the operator ceased to respond, and the
Lebanon Office said, "Wircs have been cut b.
tween this and Springfield" Communication
was only kept up by the Springfield operator ar
late as 3 4. M, by using a pocket instrument 4
short distance from the tow. Tho vcrls of
tclcgraphing from town pending an attack
from the enemy may be- Inferred from the cir
cumstauCe that, while the operator Was send.
Ing Gen. BlUut's dispatch at y. m. TO Gcu.
Curtis, three shells entered the building. and
ono ui them cracked through the eide Of the
room where he was engaged. Had il exploded,
n speedy end 10 that dispatch would have been
reached, and Instead Of Zinc down." as the
newspapers sometimes say, the winding up
would have been Operator down"
The rebels approached Springfield by the
Ozark road With great cunning, they avoided
the main roads until within short distance Of
the place. BY this means they avoided giving
the alarm to the garrisUns at Ozark Crossroads
and at Cassvillc. The latter garrison cuu fall
back upon the Army Of tho Frontier. The
Ozark garrison vas probably taken prisoner.
They arc represented as $50 strong, and cuIu-
ltN.f Ant tlaorf
Missouri state militia. The rebels fret struck
the State In the viclDIt" Of Forsyth, on the
White river, and succeeded In etircting O c,,n--
plete surprirc.
The officer in command At Springfield i,
Gen. +. B. Brown, Of the state militia scrI Ice.
He was formerly agent of the Chicago and Al.
ton railroad in ST. Louis. aud entered the ser
vice as lieutenant colonel Of ono of the frst
regiments Of volunteers raised in this STATE
His military ability Is questionable, hut hi,
bravery and gdllantry UudUubtcd. His first in
timaLlOn Of the nCaruess Of the rebels Vr OF
their strength wac conveyed by the residents Of
the vicinity, who flew to town on Wednesday,
and informed him of the fact. A suspicion
was created that something was wrong In the
forenoon Of that day, by the cutting of the
telegraph line south Of SprinGeld, and of the
failure to hear anything from the man sent out
TO repair II. The day was fine, and the line
unless ntcrlercd with by rebels, ought TO have
worked.
However, as soon as the rebels were reported
near at hand, Gen. Brown did everything in
his power to offer vigorous resistance. Faml-
lies were hurried out Of houses on the out
skirts, and loop-holcs made for musketry
Extra ammunition and arms were distributed
to every citizen willing 10 handle a gun for the
defence OF their town. COnvalcsuent soldiers
able to bear arms were brought from the hos
Pltal wards and assigned to companies. The
entire force was ordered under arms immc-
diatcly. The few Offic.r present held a con-
sultation, and agreed never 10 surrender while
a hope of success remained.
The troops available for the defence number
ed about 1000, and excepting a majority of
the convalesccnt soldiers and 800 of the Eigh-
tcenth Iowa volunteers, they were all State mi
litlamen mounted as cavalry. The horses were
OF course dispensed with, and every man served
as infantry. The only artillery In the place
consisted of two field pieces, six Founders,
which were OF course brought into rCQuisition.
One OF them being upon stationary carriage
In one Of the recently erected forts, could not
be used TO advantage TO repul the first assault
of the rebels.
On Thursday yesterday morning the first
5klrmi6hinS took place, oil the estate of the
Hon. John y. Phelps, about four miles from
Springfield. A party of cavalry, after the gun
had been fired, captured it, but not until a spike
had been driven IN by one of the artillerists.-
ms piece was manned BY couvdlGsCcnt soldiers
OeiohBinS 10 batteries IN the Army OF the From
tier.
nc dclchco oil the town was kept up Vlgor-
GG"sly from the houses, and by the Eighteenth
iowa, 80 mat IN every attempt to gain access to
the heart of the place the rebels were rcpulsed
once they almost reached the public square,
Out the muskctry from the houses was too Sc
we're, and they retired with a severe loss At
1 =. IN, they occupied school house opposite
the Cemetery, on the Ozark road, where they
concentrated Tor final attack. Our partiCu-
lars Of the prosrCos OF The fight arc nCcC5sarl-
mcagfc, having been tclegraphCd at various
tlmc' and under circumstances not at all cnlcu-
lated TO give Us any very elaborate statements
The rebels had DIX pieces Of artillery, and
with unparalleled atrOCty opened Iru with
shell upon the town, without allowing the
oiIShlesI time Tor removing the women and
children. The cannonddtns, however, proved
comparatively harmless, do the aim was bad
and the shells failed to explode. \ few chin
heys were shocked over, aud temporary panic
caused, but no further damage. The rebels
then charged upon the BiX-pounder held bv our