New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-05-07
Military Correspondence.
peclal to the New Orleans crescent
HEADQUARTERS Louraraaa Rne.l

hEADVuAhthfs AipulatAsa hEtslAANIs
Ed. Cresceat-The greatest blnnder or the
greatest misfortune which has occurred to the
Confederate States, since their glorious moTemens
commenced, was the failure to occupy FeF1
Pickens when this Navy Yard was taken possession
of by the troops from Florida and Alabama, The
strangest part of this affair is that this oIaEsaio
was freely discussed and commented on IN The
Navy Yard by the officers, and was desired by the.
United States officers, and by none n0re than,
Sleumer, who occupied Barrancaa, and who meyer
moved to Pickens, until ordered to do SO freHFs
| Washington. There was an ample force here to
| take and occupy the fort. This could have been
done by the volunteer companies In this county,
as Semmer had but fifty men with him. and long
after Pickens had 4 been occupied by him, fhs fort
| was defenceless, the guns not being available. D
fear that the source of this great binnder that
great obstacle in all revolutionary proceedings.
ladftanettsfn. It was this that came near defeat
ing the occupation of the forts in Louisiana. The
consequence of this great bunder of the party
who directed the operations at this place will be
of the most serious and expensive character
Here is an army of seven Thousand of the best
fighting men, who could, in eight or ten days, be
thrown upon Washington City, and would Rweep
from that place every vestige Of the Abolition dJ
nasty, drive the Yankee soldiers into the Potomac
or impale them upon their bay onets, kept waiting
and working for Weeks in the sand until batteries
canbe thrown up, and breach effected in q fort i
which two months ago could have been taken bsg
500 men.
Some Of cur friends made pleasant visit day
before yesterday to the United States feet on the
island. They went in a little tug steamer, whiea
| is employed, under the command Of Lieutenant
| Renshaw OF the Navy, in guarding the harbnF-
| Dispatches have been sent 10 the officers 8f Me
Sabine by Gen. Bragg. They carried flag OF truce,
and were received with great cordially and h0spi
! taty by Capt. Adams and officers They care
fully inspected the ship, and report that she ia IN
| fine condition, with powerful battery.
conversation was held by Lieut.. Colonel Adams
of the First Louisiana Regiment and other gentle
men of the party, with the officers of the Sabine
and other officers of the feet, who On board
the Sabine, but whilst they all deplored the uhfor
tunate state of affairs in the country, nothing was
said by them to justify any hope of the resignation
and retirement from the service of the enemy OF
the South, of even those officers who, like Cap
tains Adams, Pore, Lieutenants Murdangh and 9TH
ers, who are bound to our people by the strongest
ties of blood feeling and interest. Is not this hor
rible to contemplate? Father and son. brother
and brother-aye, even father and daughter r- ar
rayed against each other in deadly strifei THAT
wretched fanatic and negro ihief, like Brown
who commands at Fort Pickens, should feel no
remorse at the idea of opening his batteries upon
" the wicked slaveholders,u awakens no surprise
It will certainly involve great sacrifice Of feel
ing or violation of conscience, our part, to blow
him and his fort into the sea; bnt that aaicers
who have blood relations in this army, ard who
daily receive letters from brothers, sons ana
daughters, entreating them to abandon the service
Of the enemy and ,oppressor Of their ooantry
should be employed by the miserable Abolition
kangaroo at Washington, in q war OF FaBdalicz
destruction and determination against their own
families and friends. is surely melancholy spec
tacle in this boasted age of Christian civilizations
and enlightenment. Such results give confirraa-
ton and force to the arguments against standing
army and navy, which were urged in the early days
ofthe republic. These officers have no other apolpgg
or argument for their course, but that which villa
justify the most abject servilty to power ands
render the employees Of the Government the most
contemplate mercenaries. Even the officers ss
Napoleon refused to obey his orders when they
deemed them outrageous and in violation of alB
right and justice. We all remember the noble
reply of his great surgeon when twas proposed to
him by Napoleon, to get rid of his prisoners, taken
in Egypt, by poison that "his mission was to cusEs-
not to kill-that he was a surgeon, not an assas
SIM" Now here are men who know and acknowl
edge the fagitions and unholy character Of the
which Lincoln has forced upon u.s. who see
their own family and relations on the other side,
and yet prate of their duty to their flag, Of their
honor as officers of the Government, and are ready
to open their batteries upon the people who
ESTABLISHED and constructed that Government, an9
only abandoned it when it was perverted 10 their
oppression, and who have been taxed for the snp
port of these very officers and ships that now
employed to destroy them and devastate their
country. If a standing army and navy engender
such ideas of honor as these, it would be better to-
have NEITHER but to rely for the defence of the.
country upon the honest and ineorruptibls hearts
of the yeomanry, the citizens of whom there are
now encamped around this bay fully seven thou-
sand as true soldiers as ever shondered Tasssket
great namber of them men Of ample fortune
oil of respectable social position, many having re-
signed high civil posts to serve as common sodieIss
all determined to shed the last drop Of their blood
to repel the insolent invader from our soil
This letter will probably be handed osyon By
Mr.. Edwards, the enterprisng Photographic, who
is indebted to your energy and hberaity for ihe
great success which he has achieved in photo
graphing the various interesting scenes u this
vicinity. His views are admirable. They inclnae
distant views OF Pickens--ofthe U. s. feet of tbs
island, of Fort McRea of Fort Barrancas, Of which
several views are given, which will convey to the
unmitary very definite idea Of the constructen
of fort, fthe ten-inch Columbad batteries, nnia
of various other batteries; of the encampments OF
the several regiments and companies. hfr. Ed
wards returns to the city to make further arrange
nents for continuation of his series of views,
which, when completed, will possess great inter.
est to people, and especially to the soldiers in