The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-11-20
FROM THE SOUTH.
The Situation Of Chattanooga.
Captured Correspondence OF General
Thomas and Gen. Burnside.

Captured Correspondence OF General
Thomas and Gen. Burnside.
From the Richmond Dispatch, Nov. 5.
This subject of deep anxiety to the
whole confederacy at this moment
the deeper, perhaps, that the late move
ment OF the enemy by the river and bis
occupation of Raccoon Mountain seems
neither to have been registered nor antici-
pated. 1t gives him at the same time, q
great advantage by placing him on our
left flank at the moment when our centre
and right are occupied with the body of
the place itself The Yankee newspapers
say they have assembled 10000 men,
and that Bragg's force is on y 10000.
We do not believe that this statement is
correct in any particular. We have no
IDEA that the Yankee force is so large or
that Bragg's is SO small. Be it, however,
as they represent; 10000 of our men,
placed as these are, may very we'll bid de-
fance to 10000 Yankees. We have no
apprehensions whatever of defeat.
The worst that we fear is one of those
furious and indecisive battles so character
istic of this war. We do not believe that
any force the Yankees can bring will be
able to carry the exceedingly strong posi-
ton of Gen. Bragg, fortified with so much
care and defended by SO many brave men
as he has with him. It is evident, in the
meantime, that a great battle must inev-
itably be fought in the neighborhood of
Lookout, if it has not already occurred.
The enemy will make desperate exertions
to break through our lines at that point.
it being his object to secure possession of
the railroad where it runs south of the
Tennessee, and thus render it an easy
thing to supply Chattanooga with provis-
ions and troops. We await the event
with anxiety, but without apprehension.
We have before given an account OF the
locality Of Chattanooga, and here repeat
it, that our readers may have clearer
idea OF the operations in progress Just
at Chattanooga the river makes bend in
the form of horseshoe, the toe of the
shoe pointing south. On this toe and on
the south side of the river, Chattanooga
is situated. To the west of it, and at the
distance of two miles and half, is Lookout
Mountain, which runs down to the very
river. Along the base OF the mountain
runs the railroad which crosses the river
twenty-five miles below. To the west of
Lookout Mountain lies Raccoon Mountain.
and between them lies the Lookout Valley,
q creek running through the middle of it.
The Yankees, the other night, left Chatta-
nooga in pontoons, foated down the river,
without being hailed by single sentinel,
so far as we can learn, landed, and occu-
pied Raccoon Mountain, almost without
resistance. They have thrown BRIDGES
across below, and are constantly receiving
reinfOrcements in that direction. Hoods
brigade, under the command of General
Jenkins, tried to dispossess them the other
day, but failed. The battle will be fought
in the Lookout Valley and it's vicinity.
The hopes of the country were very
high when Rosecrans was first driven back
to Chattanooga. 1t was believed that he
could be shut up there, and that bis sup
plies would be so etfeetually cut off as to
render it imperative upon him either to
fight Bragg at great disadvantage, to at
tempt to retreat across a wide river, and
rugged and impracticable country,
thereby running the risk of ruin to his
whole force, or to surrender. But the
exceedingly dilatory movements of our
army have lost us all the advantage we
had, or believed we had few weeks ago.
They have afforded time to the Yankees
to collect troops from the most distant
quarters, to restore their communications
at their leisure, and to threaten US with a
siege, instead of undergoing one them
selves. If Gen. Bragg should be driven
from his position, we not only lose Ten
nessee entirely, but we open the door for
the invasion of Georgia, where there is a
very large supply of cotton, which formed
the main inducement of Rosecrans' inva-
sion of that State. It will thus be seen
that the most important interests are in
volved in the operations around Chatta-
nooga. The existence of the Confederacy
is not, it is true, exactly involved, but the
length of the war undoubtedly is. Gould
that Yankee army have have been de-
stroyed, the war would have been virtually
at an end.
COL. Gift TAKEN PRIsONER-LRTTKR FROM
GEN. THOMAS TO GEN. BURNSIDE FOUND
ON HIS PERSON.
Cores. of the Savannah Republican, Oct. 20.
The following letter from Gen. Thomas
to Gen. Burnside, notifying the latter of
the change in the command of the Army
of the Cumberland, is not without inte-
rest. The original, which we have seen.
was found upon the person of COL Gift,
the chief Of the Tory bushwhackers in East
Tennessee, who was captured by some of
our scouts, and brought in to Gen. Bragg
last night. The letter is given lust az Il