The news of the capture of Island No. 10, the Sebastopol of the Mississippi river is fully confirmed. This has been the longest contested battle of the war, but from the first not a doubt has arisen in the loyal mind that the rebels must ultimately submit. Indeed the prolongation of the siege was regarded as intentional, and now that the news has reached us of a great battle having occurred about the same time in the southern part of Tennessee, it would seem to be comfirmatory of such impression. Taking it for granted that the dispatches thus far received are in their details true, and the enemy has unconditionally surrendered with all its forces, stores and provisions, this may be regarded as altogether the most important victory that has been obtained since the rebellion broke out, and achieved with the lest loss of life. Com. Foote has proven himself a man fully up to the emergency, and his country will not be slow to confer upon him the honors he has so richly won. Our brave troops concentrated in Tennessee, the telegraph informs us, “have fought and won the hardest battle ever fought on the continent.” In all probability it will be the last, as the enemy will be unable to gather its forces for another engagement, and until the rebellion be effectually closed only skirmishes will mark the contest.
Memphis, in the face of such defeat, will scarcely dare to offer battle to our victorious troops. There are so many Union men in New Orleans, while the effect of an engagement there would be so disastrous to that city, that we never have looked upon its siege as one of the necessities of war. Dispirited and unable to reorganize their forces, if these victories be rapidly followed up, all of the prominent cities in the South, now held by the rebels, must fall into the hands of the federal forces. If, however, a hold-off policy be pursued, and time be given the enemy to take heart and rally, it is impossible to foretell how long the war may be protracted.
Much as we desire to see the war ended, yet it seems to us that it will be incompletely terminated if Charleston be left unscathed, and treason be permitted to remain unharmed in the bosom of the unnatural mother that first nurtured it into being. Charleston and the traitors that originated the rebellion, should be placed in the same category, and be made to suffer alike for the sorrow, bloodshed and ruin they have brought upon our country.
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, April 10, 1862, p. 2
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