(From the Memphis
Avalanche, Feb. 26.)
We are gratified to find that the opinions expressed by us
with regard to our proper line of defense in the State, are gradually being
accepted by all reflecting minds. Some
of our journals have gone astray on the absurd idea that the enemy intended
making their strong demonstration against Nashville, strangely concluding that
the capital of our State, on a small stream, was of more value to our foe than
the command of the great inland sea.
Last November, some of our most intelligent and sagacious
citizens regarded Columbus as the point mostly coveted by the enemy, and urged
instant and adequate preparations for its defense.
One of our cotemporaries, the Appeal, with more zeal than
wisdom, ridiculed the idea of there being any necessity for such preparation as
men of sounder judgment and greater sagacity thought advisable, and did much to
dampen that spirit which is always essential for any great emergency.
We are glad to see the Appeal returning to a sensible view
of this question of defense, and in so nearly our own language as to convince
us that it has derived much benefit from the perusal of our late articles upon
the importance of defending the Mississippi river, at all hazards. Our cotemporaries south of us have never committed
the blunder of the Appeal, in supposing that our invaders ever intended making
anything like a serious demonstration against this valley by any land route nor
have they made the worse blunder of discouraging our people from the active
preparation in which consists our safety.
The chief object of the enemy was and is too patent for men of sagacity
not to see it, and we may rest assured that the country now properly estimates
the importance of the question involved, since the Appeal has at last
comprehended it.
As we have said again and again, the enemy’s great blow will
be struck in his attempt to gain command of this valley. If Columbus and Memphis should fall he would
have uncontrolled sway for two thousand miles of the richest agricultural region
in the world, extending from the lakes of the North to the Gulf of the
South. He can move his gunboats and
transports at will – not five miles per day, as he now moves his army on land
but fifty or one hundred miles per day.
He will garrison towns as he goes with troops enough to keep down all opposition. He will thus penetrate the heart of our
cotton and sugar region, and it will be no ordinary task to drive him from
it. At least it will not be done till
cities, towns, villages, hamlets and private dwellings are laid in ashes, and
manhood and womanhood be made to drink the cup of bitterness to the dregs!
It is strange, passing strange, that any citizen of this
valley could ever have been deluded as to the chief design of the enemy! And it is strange – we had almost said criminal – that any respectable journal
of the South could be found trying to prevent our people from making that
preparation for defense called forth by the magnitude of the interests at stake
on both sides.
Let Nashville fall, as it probably must but that need not
create the panic which now seems really to have seized upon some of our people,
a panic which most unfortunately has not been allayed by the adjournment of our
executive and Legislature form Nashville to Memphis – a measure deemed by the
Executive, Governor Harris, proper and necessary. We repeat it – let Nashville fall – its value
to us is nothing compared with Memphis and this valley!
Our duty is before us, and it is plain. We must defend the Mississippi river and the
Memphis and Charleston railroad! While we
would not pluck our opinion against any commanding officer at Columbus, we are
frank to confess that we think Fort Pillow is the point for a stand on the
Mississippi, if it be not too late to abandon Columbus. The latter place is too far from the great artificial
line of support and defense – the Memphis and Charleston Railroad – and if Fort
Pillow can hold the enemy in check in his advance by water, he will never advance by land.
Be it Columbus or Fort Pillow, one or both must be held, and
a point on the Tennessee river (say Hamburg).
With these two river fortifications made impregnable, and others between
them, in easy supporting distances of each other, we can defy the advance of
the foe for all time to come. Men, however, are needed for this
duty. It will not do for us to rely upon
President Davis, or any other great man, for help, in this hour of trial.
Much is said about President Davis sending us aid. This may be so. We trust it is so, but we confess we do not
know what point on our Potomac or coast lines, can be safely weakened just
now. Large forces are threatening us in
all quarters, and we must rely upon ourselves! Upon the men from this great valley! The Legislature will probably soon authorize
the Governor to call the militia into active service. For the sake of honor and manhood, we trust
no young unmarried man will suffer
himself to be drafted! He would soon become a bye word – a scoff – a
burning shame to his sex and to his State!
Leave that for old and married men but in the name of patriotism let us
not see young men parading our streets as militia,
when the guns of hundreds of sick soldiers are waiting for them at Columbus.
We invoke the attention of our girls and wives upon this
subject, and if young men, in pantaloons, will stay behind desks, counters and
molasses barrels, let the girls present them with the garment proper to their
peaceable spirits. Success will make
demons of our invaders, and success in the invasion of this valley will be more
cheering to them than victory at any other point.
– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye,
Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 8, 1862, p. 3
