The President has certainly conferred on Bragg the position once (1862) occupied by Lee, as the following official announcement, in all the papers to-day, demonstrates:
WAR DEPARTMENT,
ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR GENERAL's OFFICE,
RICHMOND, February 24th, 1864.
GENERAL
ORDERs No. 23.
Gen.
Braxton Bragg is assigned to duty at the seat of government, and, under
direction of the President, is charged with the conduct of military operations
in the armies of the Confederacy.
By
order of the Secretary of War.
S. COOPFR,
Adjutant and Inspector General.
No doubt Bragg can give the President valuable counsel—nor can there be any doubt that he enjoys a secret satisfaction in triumphing thus over popular sentiment, which just at this time is much averse to Gen. Bragg. The President is naturally a little oppugnant.
He has just appointed a clerk, in the Department of War, a military judge, with rank and pay of colonel of cavalry—one whom he never saw; but the clerk once had a street fight with Mr. Pollard, who has published a pamphlet against the President. Mr. Pollard sees his enemy with three golden stars on each side of his collar.
The retreat of Sherman seems to be confirmed.
Gen. Beauregard sends the following dispatch:
CHARLESTON, February 23d—2.15 P.M.
TO
GEN. S. COOPER.
The
latest reports from Gen. Finnegan give no particulars of the victory at Occum
Pond, except that he has taken all of the enemy's artillery, some 500 or 600
stand of small arms already collected, and that the roads for three miles are
strewn with the enemy's dead and wounded.
G. T. BEAUREGARD.
The Examiner has the following remarks on the appointment of Bragg:
The
judicious and opportune appointment of Gen. Bragg to the post of
Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate Armies, will be appreciated as an
illustration of that strong common sense which forms the basis of the
President's character, that regard for the opinions and feelings of the
country, that respect for the Senate, which are the keys to all that is
mysterious in the conduct of our public affairs. The Confederate armies cannot
fail to be well pleased. Every soldier's heart feels that merit is the true title
to promotion, and that glorious service should insure a splendid reward. From
Lookout Mountain, a step to the highest military honor and power is natural and
inevitable. Johnston, Lee, and Beauregard learn with grateful emotions that the
conqueror of Kentucky and Tennessee has been elevated to a position which his
superiority deserves. Finally this happy announcement should enliven the fires
of confidence and enthusiasm, reviving among the people like a bucket of water
on a newly kindled grate.
The day before his appointment, the Enquirer had a long editorial article denouncing in advance his assignment to any prominent position, and severely criticised his conduct in the West. Today it hails his appointment as Commander-in-Chief with joy and enthusiasm! This reminds one of the Moniteur when Napoleon was returning from Elba. The Enquirer's notion is to prevent discord—and hence it is patriotic.
The weather is still bright, pleasant, but dusty. We have had only one rain since the 18th of December, and one light snow. My garden is too dry for planting.
We have not only the negroes arrayed against us, but it appears that recruiting for the Federal army from Ireland has been carried on to a large extent.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 157-9
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