VOLUME 1.
The American Citizen,
oppoe te to Jack " Hotel-office up ftairs in the bflck
formerly occupied by Eli Yetter.asa store
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Wrst six month*; or $2 if not paid until afior the expira
tion of the find «ix months.
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ding paper, • 4 <v,
*>rd of 10 line* or loss 1 year without paper
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Late Military Intelligence.
Secretary Stanton's official bulletin of
yesterday morning announces that dis
patches from Gen. Grant, dated theprevi
ous day, reports no operations in front ex
cept from our own guns, which fire at the
bridge at Petersburg, some two thousand
yards distant. The amount of labor being
performed before Petersburg is enormous,
but is of a character that cannot properly
be commented upon at present.
The attack on Sheridan's cavalry on
Friday was a determined and bloody af
fair, which resulted in a general battle be
tween our mounted and dismounted ca\ ai
ry, and the infantry, cavalry and artillery
of the enemy. General Sheridan acted
on the defensive, and repelled several ol
the niost desperate assaults that could pos
sibly be made. His light artillery was
brought into play, and it was admirably
served. The fighting was at short range,
and canister shot was used with terrible
effect At the end of the conflict lie suc
ceeded in beating them oil, though great
ly superior in number, and resumed his
march to James river without the loss of
a gun or wagon. Ilis killed, wounded
and missing may reach five hundred,
among whom are four Colonels.
Gen. Hunter's movements in South
western Virginia have been carried out
on a grand scale, and up to Monday noon
had been highly successful, nltwithstand
ing Lee's efforts to overtake and defeat
him. It is known in official quarters that
Gen. Hunter has adhered to the A irginia
and Tennessee Railroad with a pertinaci
ty unparalleled, lie produced a conver
sation at Lynchburg that the rebels of that
vicinity will never forget. While one
portion of his force was engaged in tear
ing up tliß*railroads, the other portion
fought the enemy. Rebel accounts agree
that the damage done by General Hunters
forces was very extensive. 1 hey say that
the scene of desolation and ruin in the
neighborhood of Lynchburg is positively
appalling. All available supplies for the
rebel army were destroyed, and grain, cat
tle and other stock confiscated. After
leaving Lynchburg, Gen. Hunter pushed
on westerly to Liberty, on the same road,
destroying the Big and Little river rail
road bridges, the jails and sleepers dh the
road, aud rebel supplies. From there he
moved along the same road to Salem,
where he destroyed a large number of bridg
es including the railroad bridges over the
branches of the Stanton river. At this
point ho turned north-ward, passing Fin
castle, and, at last accounts his command
was out of the reach of any lorces sent
against him by Lee. lie has performed
a great work. lie has not done it, of
course, without hard fighting and losing
lomc men; but he has done his work and
has done it well. Petersburg papers of
the 25th state that Hunter is striking
Jackson river depot, about forty miles
north of Salem, and says if he reaches
Covington, which they suppose he will do,
with most of his force, but with the loss
•of some of his material, he will be safe.
From Gen. Wilson's cavalry, we have
the fact through rebel sources that a few
days since they tore up several miles of
the Petersburg, and Weldon railroad, be
low Petersburg, and then moved next for
the railroad connecting Petersburg with
Lynchburg, and on Friday tore that up al
so. Later intelligence from Gen. Wilson
states that he has reached Burksvillc, the
Junction of the railroads leading from
Danville and Lynchburg to Richmond and
Petersburg , and destroyed a large portion
of both roads. The cutting of this com
munication, the accomplishment of which
is acknowledge in the Richmond papers,
is one of the most important achievements
now going around Richmond. This, to
gether with the results of Hunter's expe
dition, cuts all of Lee's communications
with the South and Southwest, and is the
beginning of the great work of investing
the rebel capital. Petersburg papers
state that Gen. Wilson destroyed a train
of cars loaded with cotton aud furniture,
burned a depot, and at Burksville destroy
ed the track, and was still pushing South.
All the railroads leading into Richmond
are now destroyed, some of them Ladly,
A dispatch from Sherman, received yes
terday morning, reports that on Monday
morning he made au unsuccessful attack
011 the enemy's position. We lost between
two and tlueo hundred, particularly heavy
in officers Gen. Harker is reported mor
AMERICAN CITIZEN.
tally wounded; Col. Daniel McCook com
manding brigade; Col. Ilice, 57tli Ohio,
very seriously ; Col. Barncdell, 40th Illi
nois, and Col. Augustiuc, 55th Illinois,
killed. We took a few prisoners, but don't
suppose we inflicted a heavy loss ou the
enemy, as he kept behind parapets.
An army correspondent gives further
interesting details of the attack by the
rebel eighteen gun battery upon General
Smith's Eighteenth Corps on Friday morn
ing. The cannonode is said to have been
one of the heaviest of the campaign, and
the impression on people at a distance was
that a tci-rible battle was in progress. The
enemy wasted a largo amount of ammu
nition in a concentrated but harmless fire
upon our troops and batteries. The ball
opened at about 6:30 o'clock, a. in., and
closed at about nine. Our own batteries
during this time were not silent, but re
plied in spirited style. While this artil
lery fire was raging, a charge was made
on a position of General Stannard's Divis
ion, (formerly Gen. Brooks.) of the 18th
Corps, by Haygood's brigade of rebels.—
About four hundred of them succeeded
in entering our front line of rifle-pits!—a
mere picket line, our skirmishers retiring
to the main breastwork of the front Hue
of battle. While these were coming in
our troops did not fire from the rear that
they might hitonrown men. The rebels,
encouraged by this, advanced boldly to
wards our entrenchments, but the moment
our skirmishers had all gone in a volley
was immediately firedinto the ranks of
the enemy, and mowed them down fear
fully Their progress was all at once
stopped, and to retreat was as much out'
of the question as to advance. While
placed in this dilemma our men continued
firing rapidly upon them. They made
signs of a desire to surrender, which was
not at first perceived, but soon as their
wish was ascertained firing was discon
tinued and they received a cordial invita
tion to come in. The number of prison
ers taken was one hundred and sixty-six,
and thirty-six wounded were brought off
the ground. The remainder of the four
hundred must have been either killed or
too badly wounded to get away, as the
men captured say none went back. Ma
ny of the prisoners appeared to be rather
pleased than sad at the lot which had be
fallen them. One, a sergeant, exclaimed
fervently, as he jumped into our intrench
ments, " Thank God, I'm a white man
again," a rather emphatic way of an
nouncing that ho considered himself re
leased from slavery in becoming a prison
er. Another one. a Captain, expressed
the opinion that the entire brigade to
which he belonged would come in if they
could do so without being fired on. It is
worthy ftf remark that these men appear
to be chiefly South Carolinians, and judg
ing by the feelings they express, one
would infer that the State which inaugu
rated the war was ready to cry " hold,
enough," but these men are of the poor
er class, and their views and feelings are
eutirely distinct from those of the weal
thy oligarchy who rule them, and wield
them forthe accomplishment of theirown
aims by combining a system of the most
shameless mendacity with a rigorous ex
ercise of power. Some of the prisoners
taken this morning say they have been
told constantly that the Yankees, if suc
cessful, will reduce them to a condition
almost worse than that of the slaves, com
polling them to work for seven pence a
day, or whatever they may see fit to give.
I was particularly struck by the natural
ness aud evident sincerity of the reply
made by a wounßed rebel to some one who
inquired whether he came into the anny
on his own inclination. " No. indeed,"
he answered, " I ought to be at home
ploughing corn this very hour." The
look of care in his eye as he said this be
trayed anxious thoughts of his distant
wife and children, and the crops he had
planted wilting under the hot sun for want
of his culture.
A NATURAL CURIOSITY.—A natural
curiosity, which completely puzzles nat
uralists aud geologists, is now in possess
ion of Isaac S. Joscphi, the wholesale jew
eller on Washington Street, San Franeis
co. It is an irregnlar hexagonal quartz
crystal, about oue inch in diameter, aud
two inches in length, pointed at one end
and broken squarely off at the base.
Within the body of the crystal, rising
from the base like a miniature mountain,
and occupying about half the entire
length of the stone is a mass of beauti
fully crystallised gold, silver and copper,
each metal distinctly defined, and all em
bedded in the stone which is as clear as
glass—in exactly the style of the flowers
and other objects in a glass paper-weight.
This curious specimen of the handiwork
of nature, when in an eccentric tone of
miud. was found by a miner at Gold Gulch,
Calaveras county, some four years ago,
and has been carried round in his pocket
ever since, until some two months ago,
when it was purchased by the superinten
dent of a cOpper-uiine. aud sent to the
present possessor as a cuviosity. Geolo
gist who have examined it declare that
nothing of the kind has ever been seen or
hoard of before, and are utterly at a loss
to account for'its formation.
" Let us have Faith that Right makes Might; and in that Faith let us, to the end,dare to do our duty as we understand it"— A - Lnfcotrr
BUTLER, BUTLER COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 1864.
Interesting to Woo Growelrs.
. The Ohio State Journal publishes the
following interesting letter addressed to
ProfiSsSor Klippart, Secretary of the State
Board of Agriculture, by an eminent
House in New York, on the subject of the
wool clip in the West, prices, &c. The
Journal says the New York House is one
of high standing, and the views express
ed by the writer —though not intended
by him for publication—arc well worthy
of the consideration of the Ohio and
other Western Wcol Growers:
NEW YORK, June 20J 1801.
Mr. J. 11. Clippart, Columbus, Ohio:
DEAR SIB:—I enclose you au article
published jn the Economist of the 18th
by which you will sec that there is reason
to suppose that the wool clip this year is
(or ought to be according to price of cot
ton) really worth at least 25 per cent.
more than it was last year. The tariff
alone (on foreign wool) will be equal at
the present price of gold to near 70 per
cent, against 5 per cent, last year. Cot
ton having reached so very high a price,
it is believed by all the best business
men, that it will throw the demand large
ly on wool as a substitute. I leel a great
interest in having the Western farmers
obtain a full value for tlieir wool clip.—
Whenever the farmer is doing well, busi
ness men do well. If I were in Ohio now,
I should advise the farmers not to be hasty
in disposing of their wool. In all human
probability the army will be increased,
■'l this of itself will produce a greatly
increased demand for wool. It is almost
certain that the army will be kept in the
field next winter, ami there will be prob
ably a million of men to be furuislied with
wool clothing, in addition to the increased
supply required for civilians wear conse
quent upon the cutting off of importa ;
tions by the high tariff on woolen goods.
The wool growers have a harvest before
them, or my judgment is greatly at fault.
Ninety cents a pound was offered and re
fused to-day for a lot of wool that would
average about equal to the medium of
Ohio wool. On Saturday I was shown a
letter from a manufacturer to his agent in
this city directing him not to sell his wool
en goods except at an advance, for the
reason that he was expecting to pay a dol
lar a pound, " if not more for his fall sup
ply of wool. There is a very strong spec
ulative feeling here in reference to wool
and the market is being rapidly cleared
out of all desirable lots."
The manufacturers are all afraid of
each other and arc quietly buying every
pound they can at market prices. Here
tofore it has been the custom to make auc
tion sales of wool at low figures in order to
establish the price for the new clip, but
this year they feared to try that experi
ment. Wool is to-day altogether the
cheapest article of merchandise in the
catalouge, and if the farmers part with it
at less than $1 a pound for the good clips,
they will be unwise, and have occasion to
regret it.
I will be mncli obliged to you if you
will write mc stating your opinion as to
what the average increase in the clip will
bo this year over last. Very truly yours.
P. S.—The manufacturers will make
the farmers pay about double prices for
all woolfcn goods the coming season, and it
would be unjugt if they are inveigled in
to selling their wool at less than it is fair
ly worth.
DEMOCRATS LOVE SECESSION. —We
see no reason why the Democrats should
work themselves up into such a fever as
they have over the postponement of the
Chicago Convention. They think that it
will result in disaster to them—that the
postponement willgive time and opportuni
ties to the various factions to widen the
breach already existing among them. We
confess that we arc unable to perceive that
it will make any difference when the Con
vention is held, for we are satisfied that
their candidates will be handsomely de
feated at the November election. The
postponement may turn the defeat into a
rout, but the general result will be about
the same.
"Itis said that Tom Florence don't like
the Belmont management of the Demo
cratic machine, and that he intends cal
ling together the debris of the old Breck
inridge faction. This would be in accord
with the history of the party for the past
four years. Even before the secession of
the Southern States, the faction of which
Florence claims to be the chief establish
ed the heresy of secession by seceding
from the Charleston Convention. We arc
not surprised that they arc in love with the
doctrine—their defection at Charleston
and their active sympathy with the seces
sion of the rebel States prepares us for
their quarrel with the Belmont concern.
But, gentlemen, as Abraham Lincoln is
to be your President for the next four
years, would it not be as well to preserve
peace among yourselves, and " dwell to
gether in unity 112" We think it would
«ave you a vast amount of vexation and
trouble. Take our advice.— Pitts. Com.
&ST The Excesses of our youth are
drafts upon our old age, payable with in
terest. about thirty years after date.
SONG OF THE AMERICAN GIRL.
Our hearts are with out native land,
Our song is for her glory;
Her warrior's wreath is in our hand,
Our lips breathe out her story,
lltr lofty hills and valleys green
Are shining bright before us;
And like a rainbow sign is seen
Her proud flag waving o'er us.
And thero are amiles upon our lip*
For those who meet her fi>eman ;
For glory's stir knows no eclipse
When smiled upon by women.
F<»r those who brave the mighsy deep,
And scorn tho threat of danger,
We've smiles to cheer, and tears to weep
For every ocean ranger.
Our hearts are with our native hind,
Our song is for her freedom ;
Our prayers are for the gallant band
Who strike where Honor leadi them.
We love the taintless air wo breathe—
'Tis Freedom's eudle*« dower;
We'll twine for him a fadeleiw wreath
Who scorns a tyrant's power.
They tell of France's beantles rare,
Ot Italy's pr»»ud daughters:
Of gcottlaud's lassies, England's fair,
And nvmplis of Shannon's waters.
We need not boast their haughty charms,
Though lords uround them hover;
Our glory lies in Freedom's arms—
A freemau lor a lover.
WIT AW&JV
NEITHER the sun nor Death can be
looked at steadily.
A COUNTRY editor's appeal.—Sixty
two aud a half cents wanted at this office !
THE marriage contract of a tlaxen-hair
ed girl to a silver-haired man only shows
that silver can buy flax.
A rERSON, who had been traveling
" Down East," says that he saw plenty of
pinc-orcliards, but no pine apples.
ARTEMUS WARD says: experience is
an excellent schoolmaster, but charges
dreadful wages.
BE careful of your table-talk. Do all
your biting on your food. Don't be bi
ting in your remarks.
A rooß, thoughtless old gentleman sat
down the other day, on the spur of the
moment. His screams were frightful.
A GOOD conscience seats the mind on a
rich throne of lasting quiet, but horror
waits upon a guilty soul.
IF there be ne> tints of affection in the
morning haze of life, it will be in vain to
seek them in tho staring light of the late
noon.
A CONFECTIONER in New York has
brought his business to such perfection
that he is now offering to the public his
candied opinion.
A GENTLEMAN lately heard a laborer
gravely inform two comrades that a scv
etity-four-pounder is a cannon that scuds
a ball exactly seventy-four miles.
INFURIATED principal opening fast
clerks telegram by mistake, reads—" we
are having great sport. Tell old Gripes
you are sick, and come. Polly is here."
THOSE who arc most weary of life, and
yet unwilling to die, are such as have liv
ed to no purpose—have rather breathed
than lived.
" EXCUSE me, madam, but I would
like to know why you look at mc so sav
agely," said a gentleman to a lady strang-
" Oh! beg pardon, sir. I took you for
iny husband !" was the reply.
YOUNG WIFE. —" Oh, my dear, there
is a most lovely set —pin car-rings and
sleeve buttons. Do go buy them."
MR. TIGHTSTRING. —Yes, my dear, I
mean togo by them as quick as posstblc.
THE girls of Northampton have been
sending a bachelor editor a boquet of tan
sy and wormwood. He says he doesn't
care: he'd rather smell that than matri
mony.
PRETTY nearly all men are benevolent
when it don't cost them much. Tom
Jones never sees poor John Smith suffer
but he thinks Sam Rogers ought to help
him.
A VERY absent-minded individual be
ing upset from a boat in the river, sunk
twice before he remembered that he could
swim. He fortunately remembered it
just before he sank the third and last time.
A great invention is memory.
A COUNTRY girl was spilt from a wag
on at Columbus, Ohio, and had all her
finery mussed and dirtied. She lay some
time insensible. Her first trembling ex
fclamation on recovering was : " I hope
there was no editor in sight!"
" CABBAGE," «ays the Edinburgh Re
view, " contains more muscle-sustaining
nutriment than any other vegetable."—
This probably accounts for the fact of
there being so many athletic fellows among
the tailors.
A TAVERN-KEEPER at Leigh, Lanca
shire, has inscribed over his door, instead
of the usual pictorial notification, "my
sign's in the cellar." A man who lives
opposite says that folks who go into that
cellar always bring out the signs thereof
with 'em.
IT was Dow, Jr.—Saered to his memo
ry ! who said that" life is a country dance;
down outside and"baek; tread on the corns
of your neighbor j poke your nose every
where ; all hands around; right and left.
Bob your cocoa-nut, the figure is endod.
Time hangs up the fiddle, and death puts
out the light."
Educational jkjwrtmmt.
Christian Element in Education.
In the last number, the attempt was
made to show why the church should not
aud the State should, control the general
education of youth. It yet remains to in
dicate* how the latter may discharge this
duty, not only effectually in regard to its
owu wants, but safely in reference to the
rights of the various christian denomina
tions. But before doing this, it will be
first necessary to consider the relation of
the State to General Christianity.
The phrase " Christian denominations"
was used advisedly iu the preceding para
graph ; —the idea being, that when the
various rights of the denominations have
been respected and all interference with
their sectarian differences avoided, by a
public system of education—all has been
done that can be, cither conscientiously or
legally,required. And further, that, with
in these limits, it is the duty and office of
the School System to enstamp upon the
character of tho youth of the land the
same Christianity which stands imprinted
upon tho nation.
This is a Christian nation. Its coloni
zation was but an effort to provide for and
extend christian liberty, at various times
and under differing phases. It was not
an effort to escape from, but to purify and
elevate Christianity. Our laws are chris
tian laws, and their sanctions and obliga
tions take their form aud binding nature
from the christian system. Our public
sentiment is christian. Even our vices
are but departures from christian purity
and our sins violations of christian duties.
Our very crimes punishable in courts are
the wrongs which tho christian code had
already denounced. Wherefore it is, that
while there certainly arc amongst us those
who are not christians, —either negative
ly, by professing no creed whatever, (and
those are the greater number of non-chris
tians) or positively by professing such as
are inconsistent with that of Christianity,
—yet in all administrations of public au
thority,—be it of the Nation or the State,
or be it exercised in the framing of a law,
in the act of a court of justice, in the in
stallation of a public officer, in the organ
ization of an arm}', or the regulation of a
school system,—tho Christian Element is
alone primarily regarded and provided for.
This unquestionable state of affairs indi
cates the true meaning of that phrase
" freedom of conscience," so often repeat
ed, though so little understood, or rather
so frequently perverted. As no one will
contend that freedom of conscience es
tablishes the point, that there shall be no
conscience at all, so no one can contend
that freedom in religion shall banish all
religion. Such a violation of the relation
of man to God, in the exercise of our so
cial and national rights, never was dream
ed of by those who first guarded the rights
of tender consciences.
The man who asserts his right not to
be a christian, if he so will it, only as
serts a power which both the State con
stitution and tho constitution of his own
nature guarantee to him. But when he
also asserts, that it is right for him and all
others not to be christians, and adduces,in
support of this position, the organic law
of the land tho law of his own being, he
clearly manifests his ignorance of both.
Just such is the ignorance exhibted by
the public authority, which, underpretext
of consulting tha rights of conscience,
blenches from the recognition of the spir
it of Christianity, as the predominant ele
ment of our social orgacization.
As surely as it is true that no man may
be compelled to worship God, iu this land,,
etcept according to tho dictates of his
owu conscience,so also, it is as surely true
that tho christian system of belief and
worship, allowing for its various creeds
and modifications, is the religion of the
nation; —tolerating, at the same time, not
only all differences in the exhibition of
this great national sentiment, but also all
who wholly deny its doctrines and prefer
some other. Nay, the tolerant spirit with
which dissent its treated, goes to the
length of recognizing and protecting all
creeds, so long as the practices of their
professors do not disturb or prevent the
operation of the general christian senti
ment of all our institutions.
Hence, —coming down to the education
al application of those principles,—two
things seem necessary in the practical
working of a general school system, in a
Christian Republic:—
1. That the Christian Element should
predominate in the course of Instruction;
taking care always so to avoid particulars
of creed and observance, as to prevent
sectarian conflict.
2. That, while the Christian should al
ways bo maintained as the predominant
Element, there should be no force exer
cised on the children of those who arc
not of any christian sect; but that such
should be excused from any study or ob
servance disapproved by their parents.
The first of these positions flows from
the unquestionable christian nature of our
nation and of its institutions.
The second is the result of the true
readidg of the phrase, "freedom of con
science"; and it is all that an honest but
dissentient miuority can reasonably de
mand from an equally honest but unde
niable national sentiment.
In no otfier way can the rights of the
vast majority be maintained. If they be
tamely surrendered in the school—that
fountain-head of good or of evil, accor
ding to its teacliiug, it can only be by the
uurepublicau act of making the minority
rule, and that too for the ruin of the fu
ture.
It is time to call things by their right
names. It is time to take a stand for
those who and for that great nation which
are to come after us. It will no longer
do to tamper with the trust which God
has committed to us, and which the Fu
ture, when History shall have recorded
all our actions, will solemnly but inosora
bly require of us. Other nations; sav
age, barbarous and heathen—regard us
as Christian. Shall we, out of a mis
taken idea and on a claim which never
actually existed, banish God from our
schools, lest we shock those who do not
•believe in Him, or for fear of offending
those who differ from us as to his revela
tion and attributes ? Shall we cease to be
Christians and permit this to be a Chris
tian land, for such reasons ? There is not
an idea in the broadest claim for universal
tolerance and tha largest freedom of con
science, rightly considered, that would
justify such a course. On tho contrary,
duty to ourselves whoso rights are uu
undoubtcd; duty to our children whose
future is in our hands, duty to the world
whose asylum of Christian freedom wo
are, duty to God whose foot stool we now
stand under much needed discipline—all
require us to be true to our Trust and hold
fast to the Faith.
But it way be said that nil this is but
a hogging of the question, and that it re
mains to be proved that religious instruc
tion of any kind or to any extent is at
all necessary to the completion of
the true idea of human education.—
We reply, that, on the other hand, there
are those who assert that the entire ab
sence of intellectual culture were prefer
able to any system which does not make
sectarian religious education its primary
object We write for neither of these ex
tremes, but for the consideration of prac
tical men. Only such disputants arc wor
thy of each other, and therefore we leave
♦hem to fight out their own differences;
and, while they are approaching, as they
eventually will arrive at. the jiuitfi milieu
of a mixture of both theories, we shall
take for granted that the mind and tho soul
—rcasot* and conscience—God and the
world—are all to be regarded in the school;
and in a future number will attempt to
show how this may be done.— School Jour
nal.
Foreign Military Opinion.
One of the best of French military pe
riodicals—the Military Spectator —gives,
in its May number,a critical review of the
progress of the war in this country dur
ing the year 1863, the conclusions of which
are commended, says the New York Post,
to the notice of those who see in the con
dition of our affairs only reasons for dis
couragement and censure. The third year
of the war, says this article, was signaliz
ed by the success of the federal arms. In
the space of twelve months the North ex
perienced only two important defeats—
that of .Chancellorsville and that of the
Chickamauga—from neither of which
was the South able to draw any advantag
es. The federals, on the contrary, were
able to profit largely from their three grand
victories—at Murfrcesboro, Chattanooga
and at Vieksburg—as well as from some
conflicts upon the Mississippi and in Lou
isiana. These three successes to the Fed
erals the control of the valley of the Mis
sissippi, the possesiion of tho line of the
Tennessee, and the advantage of compel
ling the Confederates to put themselves on
the defensive behind the Rapidan. The
Federals also established themselves on
Morris Island, the fortifications of which
they took by assault. Thoy, moreover,
demolishod Fort Sumter, ovorran Arkan
sas, and interposed themselves at Browns
ville between the Confederate States
and the Mexican borders on the Rio
Grande, thus blocking up a fort where
contraband commerce had been conduct
ed on a grand scale.
After this general summary of the grand
results the article proceeds to describe in
detail tha various operations of tho year.
At it# commencement the Confederates
were masters of all the region of the Allc
ghenies from the Potomac to middle Ten
nessee. Their advanced posts were near
Nashville, thoir oavalry interrupted the
Hue of communication from-Louisville and
KtJMBfeR §
made frequent incnrsicn.i Western
Tennessee. They were masters of all the
State of Mississippi, except a little circle
around Corinth. They possessed upon the
great river, the Iwo important positions 8f
Vieksbnrg and Port Hudson, and between
these places occupied a regular line pf
transportation. They were masters of
most of the territory west of the Missis
sippi, and from it obtained they- rattle
and horses, as from'themountarus of Ten
nessee they obtained all sorts of minerals
iion, sulphur, &e.
Jn a military and strategical point, of
view, the possession of the lower Missis
sippi aud of the middle portion of Ten
nessce was of high importance. Mas to to
of the first, the Confederates spread dis
affection in the northwest, kept their
Confederacy compact; masters of the see
oud, they closed the routes leading into
Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina.—
The campaign of ISG3 lost to the Con
federates the most of these advantages.
Tho movements of Roseerans at jftir
freesboro, resulting in the retreat of Gen
Hragg, arc then described, and are fol
lowed by an account of the capture of
Vicksburg Due credit is given to Gen.
Grant for the reduction of the place. Its
exceedingly strong natural and artificial
defences being enumerated, the move
ments and results of Gen. Grant's " happy
idea of turning the placo by the south"
are given. "By these movements, as rap
id as they were well executed, he succeed
ed not only in putting the Confederates
(Johnston's army) out of the field, but al
so iu establishing solidly his hasp of ope
rations from Grand Gulf to the Yazoo riv
er. The final result of these stfngetical
movements was*the reduction of Vicks
burg after an obstinate resistance."
" In tho mouth of May, Gen. llooker
decided to take tho offensive. Tho plan
which he conceived appears irreproiiclßi
ble, and for a time fortune seemed to smile
on him. He passed tho Rappahannock
and menaced the roar of Leo, his cavalry
advanced to the Jauies river, and appear
ed one day before the'ramparts of Rich
mond. Hut the genius of General Lee
disconcerted all his projects. The de
feat of Hooker at Chaneellorsvillo i.- tho
most handsome military exploit of Lee.
The Confederate General lias been re
proached because he did not destroy tho
army of his adversary, but permitted it to
retire safe and sound beyond the Rappa
hannock, as he was reproached for not
having destroyed the army of Burnside in
1862."
The critical remarks of the Sronch wri
ter on of tho Amy of tlvo
Potomac, and on the conduct of the com
manders on both sides, arc very interest
ing-
" We should remark on this subject that,
the Confederates have adopted, since the
commencement of the war, the defensive
system before Richmond and in front of
Washington. The Confederate army has
always taken and will continue to hold ari
expectant position, so that Richmond,tho
general centre of operations," may be al
ways safo; and if, as is probable, the Con
federates make an invasion of the Federal
States, the bulk of Lee,s army will re
main .frith arms in hand in face of the
Federal army of the I'ot6mac. If Q e n,
Lee is blainable for not having followed
to the end of Hooker and Burnside, the
whole general system of war of the Con
federates incurs the same reproach. It is
not the less true that fortune twice deliv
ered the Federal army of the I'otomao
to the mercy of the Confederate General
and both times he allowed it to escape."
The writer them gives a history of tho
invasion which terminated so disastrously
for the Confederates at Gettysburg, and
traces the movements in the West, result
ingin the retention of Knoxville and Chat
tanooga by the Northern armies. In con
clusion, he says :
" The year 1803 was, in fine, fatal to the
Confederate armies. The Federals) cir
cumscribed and contracted more and more
the circle in which their adversaries were
euclosed, and the Confederacy found it
self cut in two by the loss j)f its grand
line of defence. The only point on which
the Federals obtained no advantage was
upon the Rappahannock, between Waoh
ingtop and Richmond."
8S&. The New York fywii, a leading
Democratic paper, thus, completely jiwH
fies the slaveholder's rebellion ; • No sen
sible man catt deny that the cause of tho
Confederate States, in the present con
test, is much stronger, and their rights
less questionable, than were these of the
thirteen colonies in their contest with,
their mother country."
X. There are now about 2,500 rebel
prisoners at Johnston's Island, guarded
by a portion of the 128 th Ohio volunteers
and the 156 th Ohio National Guards,
(CiiK'innti Germans.) About a tbon»
and prisoner more arc dnth