Going Down

We have the happiness to announce to the world of mankind, that the Des Moines River commenced to recede slowly yesterday. Like the rebels at Pittsburgh, it has been contesting ever every inch of ground, making its assaults where the defenses of the people were weakest. It will take us about a week to recover the vantage ground lost during the watery invasion. It is a mater of public gratulation that we are coming out of the conflict without the loss of a man, woman, or child, albeit a vast amount of commissary stores and other property has been captured by the enemy. The last act of spoliation – the capture of a part of Market Street Bridge – was the most mischievous and wanton act of the enemy. It was a nocturnal theft for which there is no excuse of palliation of civilized warfare.

– Published in the Daily State Register, Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday April 19, 1862