, 1864-03-26

SteafncrK-Curloux F1EMAcNOu 94
exntcs, Phaian1) Joins The Potomac
Army.
From our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, March q, 1861
TIE POTOMAC ARMT-AcTtV1TT OF TEE REB-
ELs-MEADE ON THE DEFENSIVE.
Since Friday last, there have been rumors
from the 'front.', of rebel cavalry raids, and in
fact Of forward movement OF the.e entire reb-
el army. These have produced an uneasy:
feeling here aud In the army, proving either
that the position Of the latter is a bad one,
and It's morale not what 1t ought to be, or
that the rebels vastly excel, us in numbers.
On Friday all the sutlers at Culpepper, had
all their goods piled up ready to burn, onr
troops We're, under arms, with camp equipage
packed up, tents struck, baggage teams har:
messed, and everything ready for forward
movement-no,, On the contrary, Tor q rapid
retreat towards the city. It YVES feared that
the rebels had commenced another of their
flank movements up the Shenandoah Valley,
and that every next ;;honr might find them
pouring down upon the right flank Of the
army, through Thoroughfare, or upon its
communications, through Manassas Gap
What gave more color : to: this idea
was that Lee had :. burned tho
nuts which had sheltered his troops during
the winter between the Rapilan and the
Rappahannock, md had CONSEQUENTLY inau-
gurRted the. spring campaign, probably with
ono. of those vigorous movements which
have been heretofore noted tor the startling
celerity with which particular rebel corps
has been flung upon some exposed portion Of
our lines. ~StnHrt'a cavalry are also reported
as maesed at Charlottesville on the right! !and
Fredericksburg, on the left: of our line,
waiting for q raid in two divisions, or q
.clusion is that the division ut Charlottesville
| is destined for the Shenandoah Valley, Tie
| 1act tlat our army is ut this moment prepar-
ed to retreat, and only waiting for an advance
Of the enemy to do so, leach man being sup.
piled with eight days raions) proves the
insecurity Of this route for an army destined
to reduce Richmond, and the ease with
which the enemy may ut any moment
iall upon it's flank and cut off its COM
munications. The fact is that, the
moment VIC move down towards Rich
Shenandoah Valley. towards Maryland, and
threaten Washington The Potomac army,
! then, besiegcs Richmond, and the rebel army
bcs,ges Washington They change places,
tAat's all; with this material difference, how
ever, for while the rebel commnnications nrc
open ours are completely cut of. wlong
tllis game is to be played remains to be seen.
Our officers now, however, offer us IN excuse
for The present prepare skedaddle attitude
Of the army, the fact that Lees Is one-tAird
larger than ours. They say that our army,
which some time since was composed Of the
LIST, I'd, Sd, 5th, 9Th, 9lh, 11th and 18th corps,
;, now embraces but the 2d, Sd and 9th. If
this be SO, and have no reason to doubt 1t,
then Gen. Meade does we'll to be prepared to
retire within tie fortidcatlons Of Wishing
T. of Lee breaking, up bis quarters, for be has
no assurance, from hour to hour, that the rebel
General will not be laundering in his rear
between his army. and Washington,' and
+ thus compelling him to fight ut such dlsad-
vantage as would end in terrible dlsastcr.
+ Gen, Grant, in the present condition and
, position Of the army Of the Potomac, should
not think Of coming here unless he is backed
by at least forty thousand Teterana, Western
, ! troops. men who have never known defeat,
. md thus arc full Of ardor and at any time
ready to come to conclusions with the enemy.
that its repeated defeats have had very bad
effect upon: its morale, rs regards both officers
: and men This is the condition OF affairs
here, and It is due to Gen. Grant to say. that
be comes here, not to lead numerous and
, victorious army to certain victory, but to
organize scattered aud depleted. one, and to
Wrest victory from ont the very jaws Of dis
: aster and defeat It. may be unpleasant 'tc
tell the truth at NIL times but on this occa
sion it Is far better to do so than to raise
hopes which are not destined, at least, to as
quick realization as the country has beer
led to expect.
THE WESTERN SPRING cAA1pA1GN-DE1AY IN
CONSEQUENCE OF rT5 FAILURE.
Tho failure Of the spring campaign in the
! West, principally owing to the repulse oi
Gen. ". s. Smiths cavalry expedition, will
= also somewhat Interfere with and necessarily
; rctard Gen. Grants plans. The plan Of thai
, campaign was to contract our line which en-
! closes the rebel States rs yet unsubdued, by
an advance to Meridian, and with the co-ope.
ration Of Gen Banks' forces, to secure The
! capture Of Mobile. Had Gen. Sherman been
enabled to hold Meridian, and thence threat
: have driven the rebels into the Atlantic
q. States, 1anked Johnston's army, aud confined
Lees TO virginia and North Ca1oHnia. o,
& compelled him to retreat and unite. Witt
Johnston for the:ifinM battle Of the war.
{ This would hare set free large force ready
4 for work e1seWhere-that IL, for the coup d.
= Jraec, to be given to Lees army In Virginia,
y or Johnston's in Georgia It will be neses,
eary now" to gather, fu all our scattered
l. forccs,, sent here md there. apparently with
q people, and to destroy the discipline Of thu
army, uor these detached expeditions are
simply ralds on q large scale, and generally
: attended by useless blunder and wanton des
n t1uction OF property and concentrate them
c on some one point Of attack That lpoini
- appears to me,-just now, at least-to be
Richmond, and On that Gen. Grant haf
fixed his eagle eye. Let the people be pa
tiant while the preparations orc being msde
If for there Is much more to be done, and wha
a is to he done should be done well, as d great
deal, In fact nearly all, depends upon thlt
j.. ssst and most important part Of the pro
gTamme.
ARMY APPROPRIATION DnL-sp1cT DEBATE
a spicy debate took place in the 'Hous,
yesterdry On the army appropriation bill, be
: : tween Mr Stevens, Of Pa;, {union) and "
Kelly: sf Pa, (unlon) and Mr: Broman, o
Pa, Union). Mr. Stiles, Of Pa Cooper
y hcadj aud Mallory, Of Ky., {Copperheadj alst
took hand In. The Coppcrheads charged
&c that money had been paid by the Govern
n Union men proved that not u dollar had beer
r SO expended. In the course Of the debatl
e Mr.. Kelly charged that Judge Woodward, O
Pa, late Coppcrhcad candidate for Governor
said, Just before the war broke out that h.
wanted the dividing line between the Nortl
T. and South to run north Of Pennsylvania
E The Copperhcads denied the statement, bu
d Mr.. Bromal1 testified that be heard it,madc
l. Mr.. German wanted G commftte. to invesu
a gate the charge about civilians being paid fol
s ca the matter referred to the Committee OF
the Conduct Of the War already appointed
i. Kcrnnn's motion was lost, br yeas f.; nays
03. Mt. Kelly was particularly happy in biz
0 remarks during the debate.
= THE NAVAL STATION AT MOUND CITY, ILL.,
! ArTENPT TO REMOVE IT. p
An attempt i6 being made by two Missouri
| members to have the Western naval station
a. removed from Mound City, Illinois, to Car.
y ondelct, Missouri. -Captaln {rear Admiral
= Dahlgrcn first established au ordnance yard
: at'Mound City, and subsequently, Amiral Por.
ter established or located the Western Naval
. Yard there, and there 1t now is with its ways
= for vessels, work shops, foundrIes, arniories,
&c. The adjacent woods, abound IN the
: best descriptions Of timber for ship building,
from this point to Ca5ondelct, 1t. Louis, aud
even Cincinnati. Here have been built some
. . Of the best, most seryieeablo, and most snb.
stantinl gunbonts on the Mississippi river,
All know that the southeast corner Of Illinois
: Is one Of the finest timber regions in the
: West: In spite Of the superiority Of Mound
: City, however, Frank BlIr ind Henry Z.
Blow have tor once ''burfed the hntchet,,
and actually "hltched teams,n for the pur.
!. place md transferring It to Carondelet.
: fearing that an attempt Of this kind may
: succeed by some hoc'ss 17oc1ts some gentlemen
: | from the southern part Of Illinois are here to
: | represent the interests Of Mound City.
Among them notice Newton r. Cas- y: Esq
OF Mound City, brother to Samuel r: Casey,
6 Esq, Of your city, and q native Of Illinois.
: Mound City is one OF the henlthfest locations
! ! In the West, for which reason Government
: las also established q fine hospital for inya
= lid soldiers there. Our%1llinoe and even In
: diana members, should sec to it that no such
~ injustice as the contemplated removal Of the
Yard from Mound City shou1d be done to III
Z I fnois.
FOREIGN sIAus-ARSED MERCIAST sAEAMERs