I am beginning to believe that we are even of more
importance in Baton Rouge than we thought we were. It is laughable to hear the
things a certain set of people, who know they can't visit us, say about the
whole family. . . . When father was
alive, they dared not talk about us aloud, beyond calling us the “Proud Morgans”
and the “Aristocracy of Baton Rouge” . . . But now father is gone, the people
imagine we are public property, to be criticized, vilified, and abused to their
hearts' content
And now, because they find absurdities don't succeed, they
try improbabilities. So yesterday the town was in a ferment because it was
reported the Federal officers had called on the Miss Morgans, and all the
gentlemen were anxious to hear how they had been received. One had the grace to
say, “If they did, they received the best lesson there that they could get in
town; those young ladies would meet them with the true Southern spirit.” The
rest did not know; they would like to find out.
I suppose the story originated from the fact that we were
unwilling to blackguard — yes, that is the word — the Federal officers here,
and would not agree with many of our friends in saying they were liars,
thieves, murderers, scoundrels, the scum of the earth, etc. Such epithets are
unworthy of ladies, I say, and do harm, rather than advance our cause. Let them
be what they will, it shall not make me less the lady; I say it is unworthy of
anything except low newspaper war, such abuse, and I will not join in.
I have a brother-in-law in the Federal army whom I love and
respect as much as any one in the world, and shall not readily agree that his
being a Northerner would give him an irresistible desire to pick my pockets,
and take from him all power of telling the truth. No! There are few men I admire
more than Major Drum, and I honor him for his independence in doing what he
believes right. Let us have liberty of speech and action in our land, I say,
but not gross abuse and calumny. Shall I acknowledge that the people we so
recently called our brothers are unworthy of consideration, and are liars,
cowards, dogs? Not I! If they conquer
us, I acknowledge them as a superior race; I will not say that we were
conquered by cowards, for where would that place us? It will take a brave
people to gain us, and that the Northerners undoubtedly are. I would scorn to
have an inferior foe; I fight only my equals. These women may acknowledge that cowards
have won battles in which their brothers were engaged, but I, I will ever
say mine fought against brave men, and won the day. Which is most
honorable?
I was never a Secessionist, for I quietly adopted father's
views on political subjects without meddling with them. But even father went
over with his State, and when so many outrages were committed by the fanatical leaders
of the North, though he regretted the Union, said, “Fight to the death for our
liberty.” I say so, too. I want to fight until we win the cause so many have
died for. I don't believe in Secession, but I do in Liberty. I want the South
to conquer, dictate its own terms, and go back to the Union, for I believe
that, apart, inevitable ruin awaits both. It is a rope of sand, this
Confederacy, founded on the doctrine of Secession, and will not last many years
— not five. The North Cannot subdue us. We are too determined to be free. They
have no right to confiscate our property to pay debts they themselves have
incurred. Death as a nation, rather than Union on such terms. We will have our
rights secured on so firm a basis that it can never be shaken. If by power of
overwhelming numbers they conquer us, it will be a barren victory over a
desolate land. We, the natives of this loved soil, will be beggars in a foreign
land; we will not submit to despotism under the garb of Liberty. The North will
find herself burdened with an unparalleled debt, with nothing to show for it
except deserted towns, burning homes, a standing army which will govern with no
small caprice, and an impoverished land. If that be treason, make the best of
it!
SOURCE: Sarah Morgan Dawson, A Confederate Girl's
Diary, p. 30-3
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