The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-01-23
Inc Drift Of the War Westward
The Coming Campaign.

began 10 be formidably displayed III the
summer OF 1861, the rebels recognized their
incapaci;y 10 carry the war upon Northern
Soll, as they proposed to do in their origi.
nal calculations, made in tho belief they
couid depend upon material aid from those
who had been their political friends in the
North, and when they looked to England
and France TO break the blockade and form
an alliance with the Kingdom Of Cotton
In all jeff. Davis speeches urging the
southern people 10 commit themselves to
rebellion. he had promised that if war
resulted from the attempt ut disunion, it
should be prosecuted on free soil. His
secretary Of War proclaimed tho same
ihlng n Montgomery the day after the sur
render OF Sumter, and promised 10 plant
the Confederate flag on the dome OF the
! Capitol at Washington, and also anon
Faneuil Hall, Boston. jeff. Davis has
since declared that the reason he did not
carry the war into the North was because
4 he mad not resources ~ enable him to do SO.
Seelngthe force being brought against him,
ne RETAINED from making an advance
/ upon washington, even after tho battle oi
bull KIN. and for the time being, assumed
| mat mis- defensive policy was a virtue,
ana claimed rredit for not advancing into
Maryland in aGvance Of the adoption Of
an Ordinance OF Secession in tha: State
HOW .Tucn sincerity there was in these
| professions we have seen in his subsequent
acts and Acknowledgements. lie did not
hesitate 20 order his armies across the
Potofna" on two occasions, showing that
ms res pect for S.ate rights was 40; so re-
saarkably high-toned public riftue rs he
wished - one time 70 have crets5t ior. And
when III she winter OF 1880 u ia spoke in
Jackson, Mississippi, from tie same place
that lie occupied in the Spr.ug of 1867,
when he had promised that Northern cities
lns'eaG u SoGl hern plantations, sAodld be
made deso.ate, ne admitted ,ha. the war
had grown upon his hands, tina. - ,nagni-
tude WAS greater .han he anticipated, and
thar his defensive policy was a ueces-
sitv. When. in 1861. the rebels stood upon
their 0efense. they made the attempt to
hold nearly the whole territory claimed as
belonging to their Confederacv in their
hands. They made q hard fight lu Missou-
n; fortified the Mississippi, at Columbus,
Kentucky; sert their gunboa,> up within
sight Of Cairo; fortified the Tennessee and
Cum berland rivers, at Forts Donelson and
Henry; fortified Bowling Green: advanced
from Cumberland Gap, anl occupied the
upper par! OF Cumberland river; advanced
in Eastern Kentucky to Mount Sterling;
pressed deep into Western Virginia and
posted themselves at IIarpers Ferry and
Manassas, in Eastern Virginia. They also
attempted TO defend their whole coast, and
erected innumerable batteries on the sand
banks from the capes Of Virginia to the
Mississippi. How these lines were broken
by Mcclellan and Rosecrans in West Vir-
ginia. by Thomas at Mil Springs, Ken
tIcky, and above all, hv Grant at Fort
trated by Burnside and Goldsboro in Nor, b
Carolina, and Sherman and Dupont III
South Carolina, how they receded down
the Mississippi river, and lost New Orleans
is glorious part OF our history. The
''permanent' Government Of the Contedec-
4 4 I
/ the gloom OF the defeats at DonelSON and
Roanoke Island, and jeff Davis standing
under an umbrella, read his inaugural adj
I dress. and admitted that too much had
/ been attempted n the way OF defense. The
! lines OF the Contederaey had been extend
ed and there was necessity for & concen-
! tratlON 0t forces.
The rebels in the west We're concentrated
/ az C0rinth, and we narrowly escaped a de-
strGctive defeat, barely repuisng the des-
perate onset Of the enemy at Shiloh. The
/ advance Of Genera! Buell., pursuant to the
policy Of massing our armies to meet the
com nbined forces Of the enemy, and the
shifting of Pope's army from the MISSISSIPPI
pi 20 the Tennessee, gave as the superiority
| before Corinth, and the rebels, though not
I decidedly beaten in battle after Donelson,
We're pressed back throughout Inc west,
losing vast scope of territory. In the
east they were more successful. They con-
centrated their troops; We did not as eff
ciently mass our men, and the consequence
was a failure of the Army of the Potomac
before Richmond.
In the latter part of the year 1862, the reb-
81 cause looked up, and the defensive at
titude east and west was Abandoned
Bragg advanced into Kentucky, and Lee
| into Maryland. But neither reached free
State line. and both campaigns were unsnc-
cessful. Lee fell back from Antietam, in
~ pro.p frNvSN -
Kentucky. Then the initiative was with
us, with our armies under new comman-
ders. The Army Of the Potomac was re-
pulsed at Fredrickshurg. The Army OF
the Cumberland took Murfreesboro The
campaigns of 1868 opened for us with the
disaster at Charlottesville, and presently
General Lee, with an immense army, again
attempted the offensive, but was beaten in
the murderous battle Of Gettysburg, and
narrowly escaped annihilation on the banks
of the Potomac. The South can never again
mass such an army as that with which Lee
! advanced across the Pennsylvania line, for
the reason that they have not the men
the hostile armies in the east close
lv resembles that Of a wear SINCE
They are on the head-waters, instead of the
main stream of the Rappahannock. Bot
westward the course of war has taken its
way, and here, there is no question, the
last, ana perhaps the greateSt--certainly v
the battles, are to take place. In
the west. in 1868, the Mississippi River has
been opened; the State Of Missouri has
been paci,ed; the State of Arkansas has
been largely occupied. Our lines in Ten
nessee have been advanced from Murfrees-
boro' 20 Chattanooga, and we have pos
sessed the greater part Of East Tennessee.
We hold Tennessee and Arkansas as Sc
curely now as we held Missouri and Ken.
lucky year since; and we have a lodg-
ment on the coast Of Texas. Our banners
not only float along the whole length of
the Mississippi, Cumberland and Tennes-
see rivers, but they are on the Arkansas
and the Rio Grande. Not only has the
most interesting seat OF war been shifted
from the east to the west, but we have
moved from Virginia into Tennessee three
army corps-the 9th, llth and 18th, and the
rebels have moved a corresponding force.
1t was evident when Rosecrans crossed the
Tennessee River that ifthe rebels could not
check him their cause would be speedily
ruined beyond the hope of remedy. This
was more distinctly apparent at Richmond
than anywhere else, and the best corps of
their army Of Northern Virginia was
transferred with all possible speed 10