Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-02-16

Letter from the Cumberland Army,
From letter, DATED Chattanooga, Feb.
7th, we make the following interesting e1-
tracts:
THE RAILROAD To KNOXVILLE
Will be in running order in less than
q week, and all the bridges completed, with
the exception Of that across the Tennessee
70 Loudon, where the ferry will be called
into ..requisition. The. enly important
bridge 10 be repaired between Cleveland
and Loudon is that ACROSS the HisWssse,
which sustained SO little damage that it
can be repaired in three days. A number
of frstclsss engines for this road are at
Jacksonville, Indiana, awaiting the COM
pletiOn of the road here, when they will be
brought forward and placed on the route.
A sufficient number Of freight cars viii be
brought up. In five or six days you may
expect to hear that supplies are being
rapidly shipped to the front by rail, and a
| few weeks after that an uninterrupted
route extends across the Tennessee to Knox
vile. There is upon the road sufficient
force 10 protect it from raids. As far
as bushEackers are concerned, we have
little to spprehend, as all the inhabitants
hail the opening OF the road as an omen Of
replenished larders and peace in the fu'
ture.
THE POOR FED By GOVERNMENT.
Something Of q correct idea Of the desti
tn ton Of the people here can be formed
from the statistics obtained from the post
commandant, of the number fed by tn
Government Orders are drawn on tn
commisssry every five days, for rations TO
the subsistence Of families in and srount
Chattanooga. Last Monday one hundre'
and ffty-nine families, averaging sever
to family, were supplied; this will max
an aggregate of about one thousand on
hundred persons subsisted by the Govern
J ment. A few of them, probably two hun
a dred, purchase the rstions-the balance sr
fed lgratuitously. A few Of the fsmilie
1 have members in Government service, bu
a the larger portion of them are families &
: men fighting in the rebel army. On sol
|. der days." the scene at the post command
i. ants Office beggers description. Ali clal
. ses Of the "olden time" are met here, sn
: it is not an unusual thing to meet in Il
e motley greup of brown and ebony, blscl
white and tan, the Vestiges Of high Dor
Southern ladies, who before the war, spor
ed their carriages aud spurned the idea
r dirtying their minty feet with earth, no
: appealing to the officers of Uncle Sam fl
their daily bread. They do it with q vel
excruciating, but there is no slternativ
L They must overcome their hduteur
T starYe.
q THE cogTRABANps.
il Mr.. spooner, the agent of the Cover
= ment for the enlistment Of colored troop
informs me that he receives about two hui
dred per week. The contrsbands arri'
! from Georgia and Alabama in squads
n from FIVE to twenty. Many Of them hn'
g shsckles upca them on their arrival
q town. Nearly all of them enlist. In
future letter I will refer more fully
n what is being accomplished by the Cover
d ment in this particular.
n FLEEING FRoK THE DOOMED CITY.
!, Yesterday met an intelligent gen1
l. man from Atlents, Georgia, who has be-
- in business there for seven years, and hi
accumulated considerable property. !
II was originally from New England, and
true Union man. His description
r. what he saw in the Confederacy, the suffe
>. ings of the people, the sentiments Of 4
inhabitants, SC, was unusually point
% and intelligible His statements in 4
J. main confirm previously well authentic
ted reports; but regarding the fOrtifc
n tions, military resources Of the enem
available force, and other matters bsaril
IL on impending movements, his ststemen
seem 10 be carefully guarded. He believ
IS. that The enemy can raise sufficient provi
~ ions, such as corn and bacon, to subsi
90 the army during the summer campsig
90 but that it will require a force equal
st numbers to that which the sweeping 90
,t scription gathers in, to work their cor
- growing plantations and manufacture Il
ss nIpmenfs Of -r0r. Hv consequently CO
Te cludes that the Army of Tennessee will
IT no better off in the spring, either in me
r. arms, or commissary stores, than at pre-
ent. He owns that the stories Of disaffe
ton and threatened mutiny in the arm
3 are well founded, and that were the slav
= owners assured that the slaves they no
u possess would be secured to them, q
y Georgia would elect for instant peace.
A other States he cannot speak from persol
y al knowledge For months he has bee
II endeavoring to escape from the doomC
Confederscy, but was foiled. By the al
l. Of S15, 1000 in rebel bluebscks, he bribt
e persons 10 convey him and his fsmi
Y through the woods and on side roads, fro
one depot to another, until he reachC
Cleveland, after Journey of two weeks