East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1863-12-30

.iP& "'~oe Sho-hhhu
or, practically, the country lying ives
Of the railroad that runs from Mem
' phis TO Mobile; and the navigation O
, the Mississippi. In Arkansas, tn,
chief difference between the beginning
and the end of the year is, that ther
: the rebels occupied the Arkansas Riv
, or, which is now occupied by us.
From this it will be seen that tn,
gain in territory on the part Of tn,
Federal Government is very small.
| Strateglcally, wo have made greater
progress than in territory. AT the be
ginning of the year the rebels held
Vicksburg and Port Hudson, through
which they were able to avail them
selves of the enormous productions Of
Texas and Western Louisiana. Al
, Duck River they guarded Chattanoo.
ga, the door of which opened into the
very heart of the Confederacy, and
also secured to themselves the pos.
ession of East Tennessee, the granary
of the Confederacy. From Texas
they obtained immense supplies OF
cattle, and from East Tennessee, hogs
grain and saltpetre without limit.
In capturing Vicksburg and Port
Hudson, we cut them off from the live
stock of Texas, and in getting East
Tennessee, we deprived them of on in
exhaustible source of cereals and a
vital constituent in the manufacture
of gunpowder. In these two positions
they have sustained an irreparable loss
The plenty which rcigned in the South
during the years preceding has de-
parted, and in its place comes the grim
monarch Famine.
In other respects we have inflicted
slight damage upon the Confederacy.
The siege Of Charleston, has, as yet,
done nothing more than close that
port against vessels running the
! blockade. At Wilmington, we have,
by large and expensive addition to
our squadron, succeeded in stopping
much of the contraband trade while
the same is the case at Brownville in
Texas.
The victories at Vicksburg and Chat
tanooga, especially the latter, give us
other advantages, which, however, are
rather prospective than present The
rebel line of defense, owing to the sit
uation of streams and railroads in the
South, must be formed with its left on
Mobile, its right covering Richmond,
and its centre fronting Grant at Allan
Ia. 1t is only by thus forming their
line that they will be able to preserve
communication between the wings
q condition absolutely essential to the
strength and integrity of this Gordon
of defense. Small bodies may for a
while dispute the possession of such
points as, Jackson, Meridian and Dal-
ton, while it is certain that guerrillas
! will infest the whole country north of
lperntions stfc' rrfcgurar ,fn1 vuideIess
beyond the temporary annoyances they
may cause TO an advancing enemy, as
they do not at all effect the vital issues
which must be met and settled at Mo-
bile, Atlanta and Richmond.
This new hne upon which the rebel
armies are thus forced is their last
and by far the most indefensible one
which they have at any time occupied.
Its air line length is much shorter than
any of the others, but its actual length
owing to the tortuosity of the rail-
roads which connect it, so much great
er. The condition of preserving their
communication from wing to wing
will be greatly enhanced in difficulty,
from the fact that the Confederacy
lacks of rolling stock and means of re-
pairing its railroads. The result will
be that the communication at first will
be exceedingly slow and difficult, and,
in little while, from the complete
wearing out of cars and tracks, impos-
, sible.
But while the rebels will loose
many conditions of great value, in be-
ing forced upon their sole remaining
line of defense, they will gain one i'm
mensc advantage. Every foot that
they yield enables them to concentrate
upon the shorter inner line of defense,
while it correspondingly weakens us
by lengthening our communication as
we advance. Our armies are now so
far from their bases Of supply that a
very slight opperation would be fatal;
it is necessary to guard absolutely
against any such contingency by leav-
ing small army at every point as we
leave it. This weakens enormously
our capacities for offence, and is one
of the main reasons why the North is
obliged to call for men necessarily, in
order to preserve its advances and at
the same time render its movements
effective.
The battles of the present year have
in magnitude, exceeded those of any
previous campaign. Among those
which stand out in bold relief as first
class contests are: Fredericksburg,
Chancelorville, Gettysburg, Vicksburg,
Chickamagua, and Chattanooga. In
addition to those, we have had myr-
lad of small affairs, whose title is le-
gion, and whose name can scarcely be
remembered, save by one with an en-
cyclopedian memory. Among them
may be mentioned: Arkansas Post,
Prairie Grove, Jackson, Thompson's
Pass, Morris Island, Milliken's Bend,
Little Rock, Helena, Knoxville, and
the thousand skirmishes and contests
that have occurred between Washing
ton and Richmond.
Of all these battles tho lesser affairs
that have occurred, we can regard but
three as decisive: that of Champion
Hills, before Vicksburg; Gettysburg I;
and the last battle of Chattanooga
Even this scant number may be re-
duced one-third, for the battle of Get
tysburg, although grand in its pro-