We have received copies of New York papers of Wednesday, the 16th instant.
Sherman's New move — he is going to the Atlantic coast — speculations upon his Plans.
The Northern papers are filled with speculations, and here and there a fact, about
Sherman's new move.
It would appear that the movement has been familiar to them for some days.
The Chicago
Journal says:
‘
The movement was decided on several weeks ago, and kept admirably well concealed from the public and from gossip.
General Sherman knows what he is about, and has taken his own method of making it known to the rebels themselves.
He furnished a quaint and significant hint to the Sanitary Commission at
St. Louis, as elsewhere given.
Our suffering boys in blue will be glad to see him at
Andersonville, which he can reach by sending a column a little northward of his main line of march across
South Carolina.
It will be safe to await the forthcoming rebel howl before seeking to decide positively at what point
Sherman aims, but,
beyond all question, he is on his way to the Atlantic coast, and will exchange signals with Admiral Porter off the coast in due time. The distance from
Atlanta to
Charleston, as a bird flies, is nearly two hundred and fifty miles, and to
Savannah a little over two hundred miles. Intermediate stations may possibly be "made" at
Augusta and
Milledgeville, both important points to the rebels.
’
The Louisville
Journal claims that the situation is very encouraging to those who understand the "stupendous strategic movements of the
Grand Army of the
Mississippi" in the detail.
It goes on in the following grandiloquent style about
Sherman:
‘
He is now constructing one of the grandest enterprises that was ever originated by the fertile brain of military genius, and we are convinced that the leading objects of the undertaking will be accomplished, and that the effort will prove a perfect success.
We are not at liberty to mention in what theatre this expedition is likely to operate, nor to mention its numerical strength or its ulterior designs.
It is enough to state that great good will doubtless be accomplished by the Army of the Mississippi in a few weeks.
A more important military movement has not been undertaken since the commencement of the rebellion, and the
Confederacy will soon receive a shock which will shake it from the centre to the circumference.
The most startling intelligence may speedily be expected as the natural result of the execution of the programme laid down for the guidance of all the subordinates who feel a lively interest in the success of the enterprise.--Much has been written in error and ignorance concerning
General Sherman's situation and movements.
We can assure the country that there is no such thing as a retreat, a disaster, or a miscalculation in the evident intention of the retrograde movement of a part of our forces, and there are no grounds of apprehension as to the final result.
As a matter of interest, we compile the following table of distances from
Atlanta to the several points which have been mentioned as likely to be visited by
Sherman:
’
Atlanta to
Macon, 103 miles;
Macon to
Savannah, 190 miles;
Atlanta to
Augusta, 171 miles;
Augusta to
Savannah, 132 miles;
Augusta to
Charleston, South Carolina, 137 miles;
Atlanta to
Lynchburg, Virginia, 380 miles.
A letter from an officer at
Atlanta says:
‘
We are under orders to prepare for a sixty days campaign; so you see that does not look much like spending the winter in
Atlanta, as many have hoped to do. It is not supposed that any below a major-general knows what is to be the programme, nor do they; but it is generally conjectured that a large force is soon to start for
Savannah via Augusta and
Milledgeville.
General Thomas will have force enough, with what will be left him by
Sherman, to "do the agreeable" to
Hood, and but little may be expected to meet our "On to
Savannah" or wherever-it-may-be movement.
You may expect that "something may turn up" before this army settles down for the winter.
The people in this region are generally rebellious, but fortunately there are not many of the fighting men left.
Since Hood cut
Sherman's communications, and stopped the incoming of supplies from our base, we have done some pretty heavy foraging.
Four foraging parties have already brought in not less than twenty-four thousand bushels of corn, with hogs, chickens, sweet potatoes, &c., in abundance.
If
Hood can afford to meddle with
Sherman's rear he can afford to subsist this army, and I fear the citizens where our parties have been are not now luxuriating in their plenty of which the "Confederacy" is so boastful.
Atlanta has been, and is being, fortified, to make it almost a Gibraltar; but as it can no longer be a strategic point for the rebels, I think it not certain that it will not be abandoned when we start on the contemplated campaign.
This, of course, is only conjecture.
If it is abandoned it will only be because it is not necessary to hold it.
’
The
Toledo (Ohio) Blade says:
‘
We get no direct official authority for the statement that
General Sherman has cut loose from the north, abandoned
Atlanta, and moved south; neither do we get any official denial of it. Unofficial evidence to that effect is rapidly accumulating from many sources, which leave very little room to doubt its truth.
A private letter, received this morning from one in a position to know, assures us that this report is true.
We are satisfied that the incredulous will have but a short time to wait for conviction.--They may look for proof first from
Richmond, say as soon as the middle of next week.
It is believed that the movement was decided on several weeks ago, and kept admirably well concealed from the public and from gossip.
General Sherman knows what he is about, and has taken his own method of making it known to the rebels themselves.
His highly significant letter to the
President of the Western Sanitary Commission is now quoted.
It seems that, some time ago, that Commission sent large supplies to
Atlanta for our prisoners at
Andersonville, Georgia, by request of
Sherman, arrangements having been made with
Hood to deliver them.
Military movements prevented their delivery, and now
General Sherman writes to the
President of the Commission that he "will hold the articles for the purpose designed, but that
it may be necessary for him to go to Andersonville to deliver the supplies in person."
’
The Philadelphia
Inquirer has five different theories for
Sherman's movements.
One is, that he is bound for
Charleston; another, that he is going to
Mobile; a third, that he is aiming at
Savannah; a fourth feels convinced that his first design is to liberate the Andersonville prisoners; a fifth, that he intended more than a month ago to strike for
Columbus, Georgia, when he would have a new water base on the
Chattahoochee; and a sixth is certain that he is on his way to
Lynchburg to take
Lee's position in the rear at that point.
It says:
‘
By no means least probable is the surmise that
General Sherman designs marching eastwardly through
Georgia and
South Carolina.
This strikes us as being best supported by all the known circumstances of the situation.
It is said that when
Sherman heard that
Hood had crossed the
Tennessee, he telegraphed this farewell address:
’
"
Hood has crossed the
Tennessee.
Thomas will take care of him and
Nashville, while
Schofield will not let him into
Chattanooga or
Knoxville.
Georgia and
South Carolina are at my mercy and I shall strike.
Do not be anxious about me. I am all right."
It will be observed that
Georgia and
South Carolina are the fields which he regarded as at his mercy, and at which he intended to strike.
This route through those States is fertile, and has never been ravaged by the presence of strong armies.
A portion of it lies through districts thickly populated with slaves, the blacks far exceeding the whites in numbers, even when the latter were all at home.--They must be five to one at this time.
Sherman would, therefore, be marching through a country in which he could not only support his army, but he also surrounded by friends.
A telegram from
Louisville, Kentucky, dated the 14th instant, says:
‘
The rebel attack on
Atlanta, made on Monday, the 7th instant, was directed principally upon the Twenty-eighth and One Hundred and Forty-seventh Pennsylvania regiments.
The "boys" stood up manfully to their work.
They received the enemy with lively sallies, such as "Here come the
McClellan men after our returns!" They kept up, too, a brisk fire until the rebels retreated.
’
The attack was a bold one, and was evidently made on account of the newspaper rumors of the evacuation of
Atlanta.
Sherman still holds that stronghold securely.
Very few citizens are remaining there, and
Chattanooga is filled with thousands of refugees.
A speech from Beast Butler — he Wants more stolen property.
Beast
Butler has returned to the command of the Army of the James.
Before leaving New York he made a speech.
It will be seen that the old spoon thief still has his eye on the plate.
He is still after the fair lands of the
South.
He said:
‘
We are in a condition now, not taking counsel from our fears, not taking counsel from our weakness, but taking counsel from our magnanimity and our strength, again to make an offer for the last time; to call upon them — and then shall we not, in the eyes of the country, have exhausted all the resources of statesmanship in the effort to restore peace to the country!
[Laughter.] Who shall hinder?
Not for the rebel to come back after he has fought as long as he can, and then chooses to come; but to get some time, perhaps the 8th of January--for the association will be as good as any — for all to come back.
And when that time has come to every man, who shall scout the proffered amnesty of a great and powerful nation, speaking in love, in charity, in kindness, in hope of peace and quiet forever?
We say to them, to him who scouts that proffered love and kindness, let us meet him with sharp, quick, decisive war, that shall bring the war to an end, to the extinguishment of such men wherever they may be. [Applause.] But how is that to be done?
Blood and treasure have been poured out, spent without measure, until taking advantage of supposed depletion of treasures first, bad men have banded together by speculating in that which ought to be the circulating medium, and raised upon the poor man the price of the coals upon his hearth and the bread upon his table.
Let some measure be taken to stop that, or perhaps a better measure than any other is to let it be understood that hereafter we pay no more bounties from the taxes of the
North; but taking counsel from the
Roman method of carrying on war, we say to the young men, look to the fair fields of the sunny
South, and unless they take our amnesty, let us go down there and you shall have whatever you get by a fair division; we will open new land offices wherever our armies march, distributing lands among the soldiers, to be theirs and their heirs forever.
A harsh measure, everybody will say; but is it not quite as just as it is that we should tax ourselves and raise the prices of the necessaries of life for the purpose of giving bounties and support to the soldier in fighting these men whom we have three times over solemnly called to come and be our friends; in 1862, to come in June; in 1863, to come in September; and in 1864, to come by the 8th of January, 1865. And when the clock strikes the last knell of that parting day, and then all hope of return for those who have not made progress toward that return shall be lost forever, no longer can they live in the land of
America.
Mexico, the
West India Islands, or some place that I care not to name, because I know no land hard enough to be cursed with their presence, shall be their dwelling place.
They shall never come here again.
’
A letter from New York, commenting on the speech, says:
‘
I speak only of the effect on the public mind, or that portion of it which favors, or seems to favor, some formal tender, on the part of our Government, of such terms of reconciliation as the rebels can honorably accept — that is, submission to the laws — giving them till the 8th of January next to think of it, and if by that time the olive branch is rejected, then that the war should go on with renewed energy until every rebel is exterminated and his "lands, tenements and hereditaments" given to our Northern soldiers.
’
These ideas appear to take well with the people Democrats, even, are inclined to say, amen.
The great question now is, does
General Butler speak the sentiments of the
Government?
It is believed that he does; but there is an anxious expectation of some early confirmatory demonstration of the fact.
Dispatches from the
Southwest state that attempts were again being made by the
Confederates, on the 7th instant, at
Lines's landing,
Arkansas, to get a portion of their Trans-
Mississippi forces across the
Mississippi river from
Texas into the
State of Mississippi, for the assistance of
Beauregard and
Hood.
The movement, which was a formidable one, was thought to be under the direction of
General Magruder, and to have for co-operation and assistance a force on the opposite side of the river.
A brigade of Union infantry was on the spot to prevent the crossing, and a brigade of cavalry was momentarily expected.
These, it was supposed, would be sufficient for the purpose.
The Confederates recently succeeded in getting three thousand cattle from the west to the east side of the
Mississippi, and had crossed
Black river with them, on the way to
Hood's army, when
Colonel Farrar, commanding at
Vidalia, Louisiana, started in pursuit, captured one-third of the beeves, dispersed the remainder, took prisoner the
Confederate General Carver and seized several wagons, mules and horses.
From Hood's Army.
A telegram from
Cincinnati, dated the 16th, says:
‘
The
Gazette's Nashville dispatch says that the rebel army, numbering thirty thousand men, is still encamped in the vicinity of
Florence, Alabama. One corps is on this side of the river.
The condition of the roads prevents active military operations, and the rebel army remains comparatively quiet.
’
A letter from the Army of the Potomac says that on Saturday night the rebel pickets in front of the Second corps made a noisy demonstration, and the sounds indicated that something of importance might result; but the next morning all was quiet, and the line remained the same as previously.
It is stated that probably they only managed in those diversions on account of the coldness of the night.
A ride along the centre line does not enable a correspondent to obtain even an item, affairs being uncommonly dull.
We find the following significant paragraph about
General Hancock.
That "reconnaissance in force" has done it for him:
At his own request,
General Hancock has been relieved from the command of the Second corps, and will remain in
Philadelphia for several months, under medical treatment for wounds which he received some time since.
Miscellaneous.
The citizens of
Alexandria and the vicinity of the Orange and Alexandria railroad recently arrested and placed on the trains as a protection against attacks from Confederate cavalry, have been released, and details from the
Confederate prisoners confined in
Alexandria will be sent out in future for the same purpose.
Some Confederates having crossed the
Potomac, the citizens of
Chambersburg held a meeting and organized three companies for defence, one of which will be armed by its members with first- class repeating rifles.
Companies were also organized in
Greencastle,
Waynesboro' and
Mercersburg.
General Order No. 282 announces the resignation of
Major-General George B. McClellan, and the appointment of
Sheridan as major-general in the regular army.
A dinner was given to
Captain Winslow and the officers of the
Kearsarge at
Boston on the 15th. --
Edward Everett was bugler for the occasion.
The monitor
Dictator has proven a success in a trial trip at New York.
There was snow in New York on Wednesday.
Gold was quoted in New York on Wednesday at 230½.
