The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1865-04-15

against an enflading fire from James Islam
and from points down the bay. At the uu
per end of the battery Oh the Cooper Rive
side the rebels had two 600 Founders, bot
:. of which they blew into atoms the nigh. G
evacuation. On the south side of the S.t,
along the Ashly river, series Ofstrong fsrt
hcations cover every available point, ais
along the bayou which forms the inner chan
mel around James Island. Similar work
line banks of Cooper river on either side Vi
AS tar as Magnolia Cemetery, where the mail
land de.ences begin and extend across tn
peninsula to the Ashly river then again from
the Ashly southward to James Island bayou
, and from there across James Island to th
, arm OF the sea, which divides James ant
Morris Island. The lenght of this line o
works is about II niles aud would require
about 10000 men of all arms to successfully
man them. Three miles beyond this line
IS another line consisting of rifle pits and
forts. Bnd one mile still further out is the
entre nched picket line. 10 fully arm all the
works around this city would require over
1000 pieces of ordnance and 100000 troops
of all arms. 10000 however could hold the
city against any force that could be brought
against it, for the reason that the swampy
nature OF the ground out side the works would
render it i'm mpracticable to bring a much larger
force to bear OH the works at one time. All
! the heavy armaments of these numerous forti.
fications were abandoned bv the rebels at the
! evacuation. In many instances the guns
were left in excellent condition with maya.
zines filled with serviceable ammunition, in
| others the guns were spiked and :he amuni-
tion partly destroyed, while in but few did
! they blow up their magazines.
| Since my stay here have visited most of
! the notable localities around the City and
! have carefully examined the ground covered
by the fire OF the detences and am satisfied
that all the ombarding of For; Sumter and
the sheiin5 of the City from our batteries
at Cummings Point and the bloody conquest
Of Morris Island were not even drop IN the
| bucket towards taking the City. Had our
fee crushed Sumters wall into atoms and
sunk them below the water line; swept
away ever. work on Sullivaus Island dash.
ed to pieces the nonderous walls OF Fl. John
son, knocked down the under pinnings Of
Fit. r ply and rased the symmetrical parapets
OF Caste PickreY, there would still have re
ma ned an armament sUihcient'v strong along
the wharf 10 have sunk every vessel in our
fleet before 1000 men could have been land
ed IN the cltT. The attempt, therefore, to
take this city by force Ct arms or BIZ storm,
was simply useless waste Of blood and
treasure. Sherman fankins process was
the only trde way of accomplishing work
which has puzzled our Eastera army aud
large portion of our flee. for the past four
wears To what extent our Eastern army is
complimentcd at the bloolless fall Of thi, Gi-
brater let the world decide.
Since our arrival an the Atlantic coast and
the opportunities | have had 10 visit the places
of note thus lar, 1t seems TO me that, had the
Western army been ass igned the job of clear
ing this cols. they would have performed ;hc
task long ere :hi5 Strong rs .ac works Of the
enemy are along the coast they are not 4
whit more iJruii,i;tbe than those W. clc1Int-
cred in the west and in no instance were they
near as stronely manned. To take them
therefore onlv required boldness and skill,
q General 1;ho. when he finds the barriers IN
his front too strong, has got the courage to
dispeuse with base lines and march hundred
or five hundred miles regardless of mud or
weather to pass round the obstacle, cut off ali
its communications and destroy its sources o:
supplies. ii this can be done the stro ghCid
falls with all its elabo.ate WORKS.
While vet in Tennessee, | often heard it
reriErked, after reading the accounts OF the
advance and retreats of the army Of the Poto-
mac, that the western army would vet have
to take Richmond. Appearances now are
that this prediction will be verified.
War news have none. All the infJrma-
tioa we have Of the operations OF the armies
we de.ive from the y. Y. Dapcrs. All com
munication bc.aeer< It's 'iace and the army
has been stopped except as far as official
business is concerned. This is an out OF the
way place. Hilton Head is the miliatv cen
tire. Gen. Gimore's head qua ters are there.
Port Royal is the Cnly place on this coast
where the large steamers Can land. First
class vessels cannot pass the bar out side the
/ Charles o. harbo~ All our mails go to Hill
ton Head before they are opened. and there
! is no regular line between here and there we
on'y get mail scm-occasionally.
: There seems to De slng o. drspe radoes
/ in the City of Charleston whD are d.tertn ned
to reduce her to ashes. Daily fires occur in
various parts. and almost every night the
sky is Illuminated by the bsrniug buildings.
| All agree that citizens are the incendiares,
! and not our soldiers.
! The city Is garr;soned BIZ negroes and one
3 division of New York and Massachusetts
! troops. BIT little sympathy exists between
| those troops and the detachments here oi
/ Sherman's army. The western boys, how
ever, understand the art of self defence and
are rapidly impressing their eastern nei-h.
| bors with the fact that tiay are not to be
trifed with. It is strange 10 notice the Jealousy
with which the eastern troops regard those
! of Shermins army.
There are about 1900 of Sherman's men
here ava ting an opportunity to rejoin their
commands. Many of them had been home
on furlough, or had been left back sick OF
wounded. The ret are new recruits, desert.
ers and bounty jumpers. They are organic
ell into battalions for tie purpose of nstruc-
ton in drill and general camp discipline. AS
soon as communication with our command
is opened we expect to leave this place
AS soon as l rejon the ri iment shall en-
deavor again to continue my letters and
make them trust more interesting to youl
readers than this one. NJ.