Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-01-19
WAsHrxerox. Jan. s.

which Gen .RosecraBs has gained over the enemy
under Gen Bragg. at Murireesboro'. it j. under
stood here that il will be barren of results. owing
to the fact that R0secrans has not got troops
enough TO follow il up properly and that Haleck
will not send him more With c0O,O00 trpopS
at the disposal of the Government, it has been
demonstrated that we cannot gain decisive vic
tory over the enemy as long rs the disposition of
those troops Is regulated by Halleck Ever since
he has been General in Chief, his policy has been
to cut up forces into small detachments and
to keep on foot multitude of detached expedi
TONS scattered al, the continent. so that the
enemy, by cODcentrat ny their forces, would be
enabled to defeat them in detail.
Now that the facts in regard to the battle of
Nurreesburo' are known, it is seen that our army
came within "a hairbreadth OF being defeated and
annihated there: and that nothing but the per-
sOnal courage and intrepidity OF Gen RoSecrans
and his officers. and the ndomitable perseverance
and unc0nquerable spirit OF the soldiers, saved
our army frem defeat. So far indeed. as success
depended upon Halleck. anything That he had
done. the army wds doomed TO defeat before the
battle had been fought; Tor, knowing full well,
for some weeks past, that the relative strength
OF the two armies befUre. the battle about
equal, and that the enemy would certainly be re
iuforced from Virginia. he neglected. To send
to ROsecrans the reintOrcemenis which the latter
needed. and for the want OF which he will now
be unable to reap the fruits of his brilliant but
barren victory.
IL my be said that Halleck had not troons
which could be sent Co the West. but know bet
ter than that The enemy knows very well that
Burnside army amounts 10 300 900 men |
say they know it very well, because their cavalry,
in strong force may be said To be in constant pos
session of both Dumiries and Occoquan. 80 often
do they visit those places During the last week
they have made two more visits to those places,
Il
prisoners, among whom were some officers The
last of these aff,irS $50 honorable to Hale-k's
watchiulne>s. being right under his eye) took
place the 5ih inS. ut F'irfax Court House.
only fourteen miles from Gen. Halieck 5 Office
OF this occasion the Washington Star saws: Two
OF our picket quarts at Fairfax. amounting in all
To sixteen men, were gobbed up by the rebels
yesterday" The Star is only mistaken to the
number Of men captured There were sixteen
men ia each of the pickelS, and the whole lot
taken, making thirty Two in all From prisoners
taken i'm this manner, and from the residents at
Falmouth who cross the river every night, the
enemy knows, as | have said. that BnrnSide's
army amounts to 2)0,00 men. I he Surgeon
Generals report shows that there are 6,aD0 men
in the hospitals Ii there are $4,000 Union
troops operating against Vick>burg from the
| North. and the same number, including Buffers
old troops and Banks new ones, ready to co-up-
crate from the Southland if, the papers have
stated since the ba:Ile, Ro>ecrIns has 75.n00
troopS-all these troops would only amount 10
! SAL 900 and would leave 259 900 still at Hal
/ e,k'; disposal.
Let it be conceded that Gen Foster, in North
| Carolina, and Gen Wright. in Eastern Kentucky
have between them 5000 troops. or even $4,000
| land the enemy knows precisely how mlny they
have got while do not know and there are
/ still 1863 900 troops. of the 00.u0O, unls-
/ posed of When il is remembered how mrily
troops we have in Florida, ia Texas, in Arkansas,
and on the coast of South Carolina, all utterly
useless; 10 say nothing OF the sariisOns at Nor
/ folk. mt Fort Monroe ut Gloucester Point, at
Williamsburg, at Baltimore. at the Washing ton
forts, all twice strong as there IS any necessity
for-and Of the troops i'm Western Virginia and
at points the Upper Po,omac-it is easy TO see
how these l69 900 troops are lrttered away. In
| Florida, in Texas, and on the coast OF South
1 Carolina there must be at least 50,000 troops,
/ every man of whom could have been Withdrawn
weeks ago, and indeed ought To be Withdrawn
| Instantly. for they are utterly useless there.
/ From points near this city $1,000 troops might
be sent and there would still be abundant garri
/ sons Here are 1900 diSposable troops at
once And, as for Burnsida's army. il is ridicu-
! lnus To keep 200,0O0 troops gazing AL winter at
IS 900 ragged rebels for that is Just the strength
| of Lees army at fredericksburg | have demon
>trated in former letter the utter impOssibiiity
of the Army of the 'Potornac resuming offensive
operations this winter and the equal npos>ibility
OF any attempt on Richmond before spring. la
the msantime. If HaIleck's strategy is to prevail,
| BurnSide's army will waste the winter in inslo-
riOus inaction, ut a time when 100 A0 OF them
might he sent to the West Here, therefore. are
2D0, 900 troops that might have been sent to make
Rosecrahs' victory Il decisive one. Ii, for the
want of one quarter OF that number. he is lei on
! to TuliahonIa and defeated by the Confederate
fho
know who Is To blame Tor the disaster.
| 1t the subject net too grave for laughter.
! Abraham 5 emanc patiun proclamation would fur
niSh fund of iHexhauStible jokes. Is not that
n rich idea of his exhoriing the slaves whom he
has made free Ia remim on the plantatlOns and
work for reasonable wages? Mr. Lincoln knows
the negroS nature too we'll think Tor II
ment that he will do anything of the kind. The
nesro's idea of freedom is simply free om from
work When they hear themselves proclaimed
Free theiefo they understand that hencetOrth
they are 10 work more And they will act
upon this idea. wherever the proclamation has
any effect at all. The New York Times. there
fore. radical as il Is, seeing the necessity OF com
polling the negroes To work. SAYS that II will be
necessary to appoint overseers and force the
grOes to perform allotted tasks. Certainly that
will have to be done But what better tn an ,lav-
cry will that be7 The slave Is compelled To work
now, and his labor is profitable 10 the whole
world. The negro will be compelled to work
under the new order OF things, but his labor will
Oe unavoidable both to himself and to his self-cOn-
stituted new masters He will be paid stipend
! for his unwilling toll. This he will squander.
and il will do him no good. As for his forced
labor, it will not be one teith productive as it
is now aud its results will finally ruin those who
expect to profit by it. And, Enally, after the
costly experiment has been tried for ten or twenty
1 years. aud the country and the world have been
impoverished thereby. we will be compelled again
tn reduce the negroes TO slavery for slaves.
and slaves alone, can the labor of Africans in
America be profitable. either to themselves the
white race That decree is written and all the
puny efforts of vain man cannot eradicate al
ter il. X
NASHVILLE, Jan IA Wheeler's rebel cavalry
with battery attacked three of our boats at
Harpeth shoals Yesterday The boat Trio. with
two hundred sick and wounded. was fred into
and the men captured and plrosed The other
boats with Commissary stores were burnt. The
guuboat Sdell engaged the rebels, but surren-
dered. Her guns we're thrown overheard and
the boat burnt Lieut.. Van Dorm taken
prisoner.
It is raining heavily. and the river.is rising
rapidly
FORTRESS MoSsoE. January l3.--The Rich
mond Examiner OF the 18th. says: We believe
the theater OF the war large scale is about to
be changed to North Caroliana. Stirring scenes
are imminent our soil.
/ Gen Kirby Smith and staff arrived in Rich
mopd on Saturday morning from The west.
| To day at moon both houes of Congress con-
vene. The President has his message ready to
a. ali Il i l.rt hah