Arkansas true Democrat., 1861-07-25
General Order No. ].
PHOTOGRAPHERS DIVISION No. 2, !
 ,F Ii 10 1sc1

PHOTOGRAPHERS DIVISION No. 2, MEMPHIS, July l9, 1861.
 Having been assigned to the charge of the defense of that part of the valley of the Mississippi which is embraced within boundaries of Division Mo- ,, hereby as- sume command. All officers on duty within the limits will report accordingly.
 In assuming this very grave responsi- bility, the general in command is constrain- ed to declare his deep and long settled con. viction that the war in which we are en- gagged is one not warranted by reason or any necessity, political or social, of our existing condition, but that 1t IS indeiensl- ble and of unparalleled atrocity. We have protested, and do protest, that all we de- sire is to be let alone, to repose in quietness under our own vine and our own fig tree. We have sought, and only sought, the un- disturbed enjoyment of the inherent'and the indeleasiblc right of self-government; a right which freemen can never relinqulsh, and which none but tyrants could ever seek to wrest from us Those with whom we have been lately associated in the bonds of prctended fraternal regard, have wished and endeavored to deprive us of this great birth-right as American freemen. Nor is this all. They have sought to deprive us of this inestimable right by merciless war, which can attainNo other possible end than the ruin of fortunes and the destruc- tion of liyes for the subiugation of chris tian freemen is out of the question. A b,,l, b,, ly,cf or hate, and no object except ruin and de-. vastation, under the shallow pretense of a restoration of the Union, is surely war against earth. Of all the absurdities ever enacted, of all the hypocricies exer prac- tised, an attempt to restore union of minds and hearts, and wills, like that which once existed in North America, by the ra- wages ofire and sword, are assuredly among the most prodigious. As sure as there is a righteous Ruler of the universe, such a war must end in disaster to those by whom it was inaugurated, and by whom it IS now prosecuted with circumstances of barbarity, which it was fondly believed would never more disgrace the annals of a civilized peo- pie. Numbers may be against us, but the battle is not always to the strong. Justice will triumph And an earnest of this triumph we already behold in the mighty uprising of the whole southern hcart.- Almost as one man this great section comes to the rescue, resolved to perish rather than yield to the oppressor whe, in the name of freedom, yet under the prime inspiration of an iniidel horde, seeks to reduce eight mil l;o,. .f croo,oo,1 to n b;o.+ bon .,, and sn nb- lection All ages and all conditions are united in the one grand and holy purpose of rolling back the desolating tides of in vasion, and of restoring to the people of the South that peace, independence and right of self-government to which they are by nature and natures God as justly enti- tied as those who seek thus ruthlessly to enslave them.
 The general in command having the strongest confidence in the intelligence and firmness of purpose of those belonging to his department, enjoins upon them the maintenance of calm, patient, persistent and undaunted determination to resist the invasion at all hazards and to the last ex- tremity. It comes bringing with it a con tempt for constitutional liberty, and the whitening influence of the inidelity of New England and Germany combined. Its sue cess would deprive us of future.
 The best men among our invaders op- posed the course they are pursuing at the first, but they have been overborne, swept into the wake of the prevailing current, and now under the promptings of their fears, nr tbo IeluSion of cotno ilolatrouc ravnr- ence due to favorite symbol, are as active as any in instigating this unnatural, un- christian and cruel war.
 Our protests, which we here solemnly re- peat in the face of the civilized world, have been hitherto unheeded. We are left alone under God to the resources of our own minds and our own hearts--to the resources of our manhood.
 Upon his knowing, as he does, those whom he addresses, as we'll as those with whom you are cooperating throughout the South, the general in command feels we may rely with unwavering confidence. Let every man then throughout the land arm himself in the most effective manner, and hold himself in readiness to support the combined resistance A cause which has for its object nothing less than the security of civil liberty and the preservation of the purity of religious truth, is the cause of heaven, and may we'll challenge the homage and service of the patriot and the christian.
 In God is our trust.
 LEONIDAS POLK,
 Major General P. A. c. S., com ding.