The Telegraph column this morning is full of joyous intelligence. Another stronghold of the enemy after a persistent siege of 20 days has fallen, and the nation is thrilled with great joy! Island No. 10 is ours! Immense quantities of stores and ammunition have fallen into our hands. Cotton is dethroned forever, and the Lord Omnipotent reigneth!
In one respect the capture of Island No. 10 eclipses all other achievements of the War. The victory was bloodless and yet overwhelming! There was no sacrifice of life on the part of our brave soldiery. The country, in this memorable conquest, is not made to mingle lamentations with rejoicings! No ghastly list of dead and wounded comes up to mar the great triumph. Our soldiers fell at Mill Springs, at Donelson, at Pea Ridge, and Newbern and at Winchester. The shouts of victory were intermingled with the groans of the dying; but in this last achievement, the glory of a signal triumph is not obscured by the ordinary casualties and horrors of war.
We now wait to hear of the success of the Federal Arms on the Tennessee river. If the rebel army has made a stand, the decisive battle of the war is now in progress. The capture of Island No. 10, and the defeat of the grand army of the Confederacy, at Corinth, will be followed immediately by the fall of Memphis, and the occupation of the lower Mississippi by the Federal forces. New Orleans will offer no serious resistance to the advance of the victorious army of the Republic; and the next stand made by the Confederate Chiefs will probably be in the Gulf of Mexico.
– Published in the Daily State Register, Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, April 11, 1862
In one respect the capture of Island No. 10 eclipses all other achievements of the War. The victory was bloodless and yet overwhelming! There was no sacrifice of life on the part of our brave soldiery. The country, in this memorable conquest, is not made to mingle lamentations with rejoicings! No ghastly list of dead and wounded comes up to mar the great triumph. Our soldiers fell at Mill Springs, at Donelson, at Pea Ridge, and Newbern and at Winchester. The shouts of victory were intermingled with the groans of the dying; but in this last achievement, the glory of a signal triumph is not obscured by the ordinary casualties and horrors of war.
We now wait to hear of the success of the Federal Arms on the Tennessee river. If the rebel army has made a stand, the decisive battle of the war is now in progress. The capture of Island No. 10, and the defeat of the grand army of the Confederacy, at Corinth, will be followed immediately by the fall of Memphis, and the occupation of the lower Mississippi by the Federal forces. New Orleans will offer no serious resistance to the advance of the victorious army of the Republic; and the next stand made by the Confederate Chiefs will probably be in the Gulf of Mexico.
– Published in the Daily State Register, Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, April 11, 1862
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