Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-03-30
Special corresponarnce Of the Chicago Times.

Special Correspondence of the Chicago Times.
WASHINGTON. March 81.
The whole of March, thus far. has been ex
ceedingly cold md stormy; much more like JAN
uarv, indeed than March. The roads In Vir-
ginia are still impassable for artillery, and will
remain so for fully two weeks vet During all
that time Gen. Hooker's large and finely ap-
pointed army will be forced to remain inactive
They cannot leave their present position. al
least to go any distance from this city, be
canse, in that event, they would leave fhe cap
ital uncovered and exposed. and the enemy are
known to he in strong force at Fredericksburg
To day we are having another violent snow
storm, with a bitter cold air, and everything
liquid is frozen up. The soldiers in Hooker's ar
my will suffer terribly. .
While our army, however, is thus inactive. the
enemy is not so. They are continually making
incIrsions on our fanks and in rear. gaining
information of our position. plans and condition
and carving off prisoners Two more affairs OF
this kind have taken place since the capture OF
General Stoughtoa at Fairfax One of them took
place at DrainsviIle. twenty miles northw west OF
this ctv and twelve miles east of Aldie At the
latter place. the Confederates have strong force
Watching their opportunity. they have sent a
strong party of cavalry to Drainsville. which is
one of our outposts. and where Union cavalry
picket, unused 10 the country. had Just been post
ed The usual result followed Our whole party
was captured A NJ jor, two Captains. -four
Lieutenants, and about hundred privates fell
into the hands of the Phsiines. with all their
horses, of course
Now, these things are too bad If General
Hooker can do nothing else. surely he can pre-.
vent these dsgraceful incursions under the very
walls of the capital When the history of this
war comes to be written. il will be seen that il
was only during the Peninsular campaign that
the neighborOood of Washington was free from
the presence of Confederate troops: that Confed
crate troops were encampel within few miles OF
the national. capital during the whole period of
the war. excent between the 10Th of March and
the 10Th Of October. 1862. during which interval
General Mcclellan was defending Washington
bv besieging Richmond, md by fighting the Con
federates in Mrryland
During that internal Of seven months. and dur
ing that interval alone. there were no Confeder-
ate troops rear this city: and this was sllely ow-
ing 20 the fact that Gen. Mcclellan was engaging
them elsewhere During al the rest of the two
wears of the war. the National Cautal has been
dsgraced by the close proximity ot Confederate
troops so that = person cond not ride twenty
miles from Washington. in any direction west of
the Potomac without being in danger of being
captured hy the enemy twas so from the time
Bull Bun Ii was so from the hattie of Bull
Run till the commencement of the PennsuIar
camnaien a perod of seven months, during
which time Gen Mcclellan was forming his
magnificent army tand until he had done this we
literally had no armv,) and building the thirty
two forts that afterwards saved the capital And
il has been from the time that Burnside was
placed in comm aud of the army until the present
hour. Is it too much to say that il will continue
- Il,
continued in command? History will record
therefore. that while the Union armies threat
ened Richmond for -four months, our own capital
was actually beeisured by the Confederate ar
mics for nineteen months
In regard to Gen. Bntler the Administration is
like the man who drew an elephant i'm a rattle
Ii don't know what to do with him. 1t can
safely be said that no man has given the Admin
istrati0n more trouble than this Extra Plea
vune IL was almost settled Ut one time that
he was TO be the new Provost Marshal General
under the rms -ription act The rneracious and
odinus dunes nf that office are exactly suited II
the low and grnveling instincts of the man. II
Congress had rem incl IN session Il week Longer
he would hqvP been the m ~: for the conscrptior
bill would have heen amenle'i rs to give 70
the Provost Marshal the rank oi a Msj1r General
A it was the buneling Congress had only giver
him the rank "f Colonel, ana that Pcayunt
would not accent.
Hence then. the efforts to induce Stanton and
Halleck To resign. in order that Butler NAV ht
appointed to fll one of the vac incies (which
mentioned in former letters have been renewed
with greater periinacitv than before. But al
these efforts are nnavailng. and will remain so
Both Stanton and Halleck have a hold on tn,
President which nothing can induce them to re
linquiSh Thev will remain in their respective
Offices rs long n Mr. Lincoln holds his As re
gnrls Halleck not only is he nineuvering fol
the next Presidency. hut he alreads believes tha
he has sure thing of ii He fanries that he ha.
got rid Of Mcclellan, Fitz john Porter, Fr,nklin
Sumner and Sisel, al of whnm stood in his way
and that he has now no competition that he neet
fear
Ibelieve it is really true. too. that it is Hallecl
WHO has prevented the President from giving te
Fremont the important separate command
suited to his rank(l and poSiiion(,)" which Fre
monts friends have been Dragging he was TO re
cere Fremont has been great deal at tn,
White House of late. and. his views being in per
fec. accord with those Of Mr. Lincoln, he had pre-
vailed on the latter to promise him that he should
soon be placed at the head Of an important expe
diton But Halleck bad seen enough of Fremont.
campaigning to know that his appointment to tn,
command of any expedition would be equivalent
to the failure of that expedition. Halleck there
fore, for thus preventing Fremont from having M
important command, deserves the thanks of tn,
country.
During all this time Butler remains an idle anG
useless encumbrance.
Some facts concerning the battle of Fred
cricksburg, on the 18th of December. have jus
come to light. which place in a clearer an,
stronger light than ever before the utter in
competency of Gen Burnside Twill send yo,
these facts in fnture letter. They are peril
nent at this time. because il Is again proposes
to invest Gen Burnside with an important sep
arate command
Gen. Foster ne you are aware, has been sen
back to North Carolina, where he is expected t
perform impossibifities. while his troops hav
been taken from him and given to Gen Hunte
ut Charleston IL is now proposed to superced
Gen. Foster by sending Burnside to North Caro-
lima again Gen Foster will do all that an
General can do there. IL he is promptly pro
vided with troops, he will accomplish good re
suits. Ii will be the hight of FOLLY to super
cede Foster with Burnside, however; but tina
is just what NAV be expected Of this Admins
tration.
observe that the Times publishes rumor t
the effect that Hooker will be ready to move I
about week He will march direct tn Rich
.mond by way of Urbana" fool Of the frs
water originated that rumor. The week" is al
ready up. Hooker cannot move at all before th
middle Of April
he march to Richmond by the route indica
ted in the rumor j. utterly impracticable. II
may get as far as Urbana. but he cannot eros
the Rappahannock there. or can he advance
single step past the Rappahannock. Richmon
can only be reached by the route and in the mai
ner indicated in my former letters. X.
- Samuel j. Wilkinson, ESQ. late CORE.
pondent of the New York Tribune. from IN
city, has ceased his connection with that journa
owing TO the peculiar JEFF Davis policy of NJ