The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-01-23

| Cunperland tap and KNOXVILLE. This
fact seems to us exceedingly significant
ana may be accepted as an indication O.
what the rebel plan for 1864 is. Decidedly
1t cannot he the purpose of jeff Davis tt
make his last desperate stand in Virginia
tie KNOWS the immense advantage we have
in the possession of Chattanooga, and oui
ability To make it the base operations that
would cut through the Corfederacy and
devour its vitals. The question for him to
consider is what he can do to prevent
this result Of the disasters to his arms in
| 1863.
1t is q clear case that the army now al
Dalton, under Joe Johnston, is not suf.i-
eient 70 resist the advance OF Grant in the
! spring. Grant can master not less than
10000, and, perhaps, 10000 efectives for q
march upon Atlanta. There is but one
way in which the rebels can make stand
against this grand mass Of veterans. It is
by accepting tho situation as they did in
1852, recognizing that they have again at
tempted 10 bold too much ground, con-
/ tracing their l5nes and concentrating their
troops. This means the abandonment. OF
Virginia and perhaps the transportation OF
Lee army, with Lee himself TO lead it, to
georgia 10 meet Grant by a repetition and
enlargement Of The tactics by which they
outnumbered Rosecrans at Chickanauga
They might leave 4 few thousand ntan-
/ try and all their cavalry IA Virginia, to
spread veil before the Army Of the poto-
mae, and to hold as long rs possible .he
The fortidcations around Richmond. The
! possible success OF This movement would
depend largely upon its secrecy, for, tho
oar lines Of transportation are longer, we
could, taking an eTen start, send troops
| west and TO he front, as fast as they could.
We must not look upon tho abandon
ment of irging. by the re5elsas an impos-
sibility. Though Il contains their Capital
and IS in every way important. It is OF
vastly inferior consequence to the interior
Qi 6eorgia and Alabama. II was hard for
The rebels 70 give up Nashville, but they
dld 1t to meet us 1T Shiloh. 1. may be hard
indeed for them TO abandon Richmond.
but they may do ii 10 meet us on the Coosa
Riyer Or at Atlanta. When III 1862 jeff.
Davis saw he was attempting too much,
he made two points of cOncentration-Rich-
mond and Corinth. Knowing in 1864 that
he cannot stand his ground east and west,
he may mass all his troops at Atlanta, and
risk everything on one battle. Or, ne may
move Lees army down TO Longstreet's pO-
sition thus looking upon Grants flank and
anu menacing his line of communications.
Put The Army of northern Virginia in east
Tennessee, as soon as campaigning on q
large ale is practicable, and il can sud
denly make its appearance at Cumberland
Gap, position which may be strong and
wel!-.aanned, but which can be hanked
with ease by half dozen minor passes,
and, which, should we attempt TO hold it
against a greatly superior force, would be
a trap for us as it was for the rebels last
greatly if, while he was looking toward
atlanta, he should hear Of Lee in East
! tennessee, either ii Cumberland Gap or at
/ hnoXvllle, in the one case threatening an
advance into Kentucky, in the other men
acing the communications Of the Army Of
( Cumberland.
The rebel s,rategists sitting a. Richmond
and j oiiing upon the desperate situation,
have two lines OF railroad westward, and
two armies in the Vest at the end Of those
roads -Longstreet, whose railroad base is
Bristol, and Johnson at Dalton. If they
conclude to send the Army of Northern
Virginia westward. they have an opportu-
nifty Of attomp;ing 10 deceive us as to which
IS to be their ;nove-where Lee is 10 strike
in East Tennessee or North Georgia. Our
superiority Of force will enable rs 10 be
ready at all points, but II is important 70
associate vigilance with our strength
Knoxville mas been proved a good defen-
slble point, bot not an hour should be lost
in strengthening the Notifications to the
utmost, for il IS The position at which to
defend Grants communications. If the
rebels should be erratic enough to under
take the Cum berland Gap operation, in a
spasmOdic effort to try the offensive again,
they would be taken care Of in Kentuck Y
by the militia OF the north west and the
Army of the Potomac, and Grant could
attend to his legitimate business Of occu-
pying and possessing Georgia.
/ We may remark that there are, aside
from Longstreet's attitude, incidents and
rumOrs pointing to concentration OF rebel
troops westward. There are stories con-
stantly received OF the great shifting OF rep
el properties from Richmond, and other
points in Virginia, southwark. There are
runlors Of the movement of their seat o,
government. There is reason to believe
there actually IS a packing Of traps for a
move, among the knowing ones in Virginia.
This certainly is not done through any fear
of an immediate advance of the Army OF
the Potomac. for that army was never more
"Gniet." 1t is as quiet or the Rapidan as
ever it was on the Potomac. Then we may
! count upon it, II there ls any retrOgrade
movement in Virginia by the rebels, II is a
menace rather than retreat. But their
tactics are too well understood, and the
possibilities of the situation are too clearly
known, for them to take us by surprise in
a matter so mOmentOus as the opening Of
the campaign Of 1854, in the West; and no
objections will be offered to their making
! the West the battle-ground, and hazarCling
every thing IN comprehensive effort TO
defeat Grant. The fortunes of the war have
! been against them in the West from the
beginning, and there is nothing to discour-
age the conviction that they will so contin-
ue to the end tncifaigdti Commercial.
! Mrs. STOVES ESTIMATE or ABRAHAM
/ LINCoLN-Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe
writes, IN the Boston WG;chsaa and he
fdetor, u biographical sketch Of President
I Lincoln and good analysis Of the strong
points of his character. We quote from
The latter:
/ The world has seen and wondered at the
] greatest sign and marvel OF our day, to-wi.,
plain working man Of the people, with
no more culture, instruction or education
than any such working man may obtain
for himself, called on to conduct the pas
sage Of a great people through a crisis in
volving the destinies of the whole world.
The eyes OF princes, mobiles, artstocrats, Of
dukes, earls, scholars, statesmen, warriors,
all turned on the plain backswoodsman,
with his simple sense, his imperturbable
simplicity, his determined self-reliance,
his impracticable and incorrnptible homes
ty, as he sat amid the war Of conflicting
elements with nnpretending steadiness.
| striving to guide the national ship through
a channel at whose perils the world ) old
est statesmen stood aghast. The brilliant
| of Er,r,po Laval IpJ THAR prpra lace.