Several prominent citizens telegraphed President Davis
to-day to hasten to Virginia with as many troops as he can catch up, assuring
him that his army will grow like a snow-ball as it progresses. I have no doubt
it would. I think it would swell to 50,000 before reaching Washington, and that
the people on the route would supply the quartermaster's stores, and improvise
an adequate commissariat. I believe he could drive the Abolitionists out of Washington
even yet, if he would make a bold dash, and that there would be a universal
uprising in all the border States this side of the Susquehanna. But he does not
respond. Virginia was too late moving, and North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas,
Kentucky, and Missouri have not seceded yet — though all of them will soon
follow Virginia. Besides, the vote on the ratification in this State is to take
place a month hence. It would be an infringement of State rights, and would be
construed as an invasion of Virginia! Could the Union men in the
Convention, after being forced to pass the ordinance, have dealt a more fatal
blow to their country? But that is not all. The governor is appointing his
Union partisans to military positions. Nevertheless, as time rolls on, and
eternal separation is pronounced by the events that must be developed, they may
prove true to the best interests of their native land.
Every hour there are fresh arrivals of organized companies
from the country, tendering their services to the governor; and nearly all the
young men in the city are drilling. The cadets of the Military Institute are
rendering good service now, and Professor Jackson is truly a benefactor. I hope
he will take the field himself; and if he does, I predict for him a successful
career.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 26-7
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