The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1863-06-13
NASHVILLE, Tenn. June 5th. 1868

10 tie Free Trader In my last letter,
you will remember, | predicted .o1e
strategic movement close at hand. ] an
tcipated it from the fact that there had
been so many contradictory rumors set
atoat by those in high positions | knew
there must be something close at band,
but as all important movements In an ar
my must OF necessity be made with as
much secrecy as possible, ] was Of course
unable to ascertain exactly what 1t was.
l have noticed this fact, that whenever
any thing Of moment is about to transpire,
tie camp becomes filed with all sorts OF
reports, of contradictory character
Ever, man YOU meet has heard new o.
der which he is encouraged 20 circulate
as coming direct from head quarters
The real object in view, however, is care
fully concealed by this means the rebels
VINO hang around our campo are 40 CON
founded that they are unable to give any
reliable information TO the enemy; and
should they ever hit on the real facts IN
the case the enemy would not kno"
whether TO believe 1t or not. And now
for the movement
On Thursday night, orders were sent to
all the regiments at Brentwood to be up
at clock in the morning-have break
-
men was made from the whole command
to report at e clock at Col Moor head
quarters for fatigue duty All the picks,
spades, and axes, We're collected together,
and brought into the fort. Every one was
curious to know what was to happen, but
no one knew, until al o clock the order
was given TO destroy the fort and out
works. Up 10 this time. no one, except
those few III the secret, had dreamed OF
such a thing But the order WAS given
and Of course. the 1000 men pitched into
the massive ea-thworks The heavy abat-
It's work outside the trenches was piled
up In immense piles and converted in
magnificent bonfires, while the parapets
and riflepits were level.d with the ground.
By 3 o clock. the work of destruction was
complete. That we were about to evacu
ate the place was evident, but beyond that
we were Just much IN the dark As to
the real 1biect o! all this as before. Dur
ing the destruction of the works the altil.
iery drew Oft; then the cavalry moved
away, ard shortly after We got orders to
be ready to move al . o clock in the even
ing Sill our destination was unkn own.
By ! o clock we were under motion, head
ed towards this place, and by ii we were
here We bivouacked for the remainder
Mourton Yesterday morning we moved
to our present encampment, which is
within the city limits, on the south side,
with our front resting on the Murtresboro
Rail Road. At this moment the mystery
of all this shifting around is just as pro-
found as it was when we first received
the order 10 destroy the works at Brent
wood which had taken months to con
struct
The report Of heavy rebel forces In the
vicinity of Brentwood, of which have
frequently spoken, was no doub, correct.
They were something: like the reports we
used to get al Buena Vista For weeks be
fore that battle, you will remember, our
scouts would come in there almost daily
and report the approach OF the Mexican
army. But no army came. They had
seen Minons cavalry lowering about in
the mountains; and tavarly make Il big
show Men are apt to mistake one thou
sand cavalry for five thousand, and two
or three thousand will generally repre-
sent 10000; in the opinion of men not in
the habit Of seeing cavalry forces move
1t was so at Brentwood Our scouts would
go out rec detachment of FORESTS caval
ry in the mountains and they would re.
turn and report ten times the number.
No sooner had we evacuated Brentwood
than the rebels pitched in; about 2OOO of
Forests cavalry passed through there
yesterday morning, and pushed on to
Franklin where a small force of our troops
still remained. believe we had two reg
iments there. Forrest made a desperate
attack upon them. We could hear the
cannonad;ng here quite plainly ali the af,
| ternoon, but as it is all quiet this 4. NJ,
! and no reports of a disaster afloat it is
generally believed that Forrest was lie,
pulsed.
Gen Rosecrans army is now in full
motion. Burnsides has got through with
his advance columns They took posses
sion of McMinnville last Sunday. The
| Chattanooga and Knoxville rail road is
also at the mercy of Burnside. This move
has forced Bragg to abandon his de-
signs on our left and compelled him to
shift his whole base from Tallahoma TO
Shelbyville, and form his lines at almost a
right angle to the position they were in
previous to Burnsides arrival. This is just
what old Rosy wanted. He now compeIls
Bragg to leave his works on his former
line while Rosecrans makes his works
at Murfresboro, the pivot upon which be
swings round his left wing to follow up
! the retresIing right of the rebels. Thus
the great game goes on. l have no faith
in the report that Bragg will send rem
foreelnents to Vicks"urg. Such step
wo'd remove the cudgelh he holds over Ken.
lucky, and Just as soon as that is removed
all our forces in Kentucky will be sent
down the river to assist Grant, while those
| in Tennessee would close in upon him,
and his utter ruin would be inevitable
Our march into northern Alabama, Geor-
ia, and Mississippi would then he unmo'
Tested, a calamity more disastrous to the
cause of the Southern Confederacy even
than the loss of Vicksburg. Thus it is
! evident that the present month is por-
tent'us with great events, aud may the