Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1861-07-13
oRnER NO. 1.
HEADQUAETERs DIVISION No. Q, }
Iufv IA 1851 {

MEMPHIS, July 10, 1851.
Having been assigned to the charge of the
defense Of that part of the valley of the Mis-
sissiPPi which IS embraced within the bound
aries Of Division No. 2, I hereby assume com
mand. All officers on duty within the limits
will report accordingly.
In assuming this very grave responsibility,
the general in command is constrained to de-
clare bis deep and long settled conviction that
the war in which we are engaged is one not
warranted by reason OF any necessity, politi-
cal OF social, Of our existing condition, but
that it is indefensibls and Of unparalleled
atrocity. We have protested, and 10 protest,
that all we desire is to be let alone, to repose
in quietness under our own vine and our own
fg.tree. We have sought, and only sought, the
uadisturbed enjoyment Of the inherent and the
indefessibIe right Of self-goyernment a
right which freemen can never relinquish, and
which none but tyrants could ever seek TO
wrest from US. Those with whom we have
been la'ely associated in the bonds Of a pre-.
tended fraternaI regard, have wished and endes-
vored to deprive Is Of this our great birth-right
as American freem en-. Nor is this all. They
have sought to deprive US of this inestimable
right by a m%erciless war, which can attain no
other possible end thar the ruin of fortunes and
the destruction Of lives; for the subjugation Of
Christian freemen is out of the ques-
ton. A war which has thus no
motive except lust or hate, and no object ex-
cept ruin and devastation, under the shallow
pretense Of a restoration Of the Union, is
surely a war against heaven, as well as a war
against earth. Of all the absurdities ever
enacted, of all The hypecri les ever praetised,
an attempt to restore a union Of minds and
hearts, and wills, like Tat which once existed
in North America, by the ravages Of fire and
sword ARE assuredly among the most prodigious.
As sure as there is a righteous Ruler of the uni
verse, such a war mast end in disaster to those
by whom it was inaugurated, and by whom it
is now prosecuted with circumstances Of bar
barity, which it was fondly believed would
never more disgrace the annala Of a civilized
people. M nbers 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 heart. Almost as ore man
this great section comes to the rescue,
resolved to perish rather than yield 10
the oppressor who in the name Of freedom,
yet under the prime inspiration of an
infdel horde, seeks 10 reduce eight millions Of
freemen to abject bondage and subsection. All
ages and all conditions are united in the one
grand and holy purpose of rolling back the
dosolating tides Of invasion, and Of restoring to
the people Of the South that peace, indepen-
denee and right of self-government to which
they are by natIro and natures God as Justly
entitled as those who seek thus ruthlessIy to
enslaye them.
The general in command having the
strongest confidence in the intelligence and
frmness of purpose of those belonging to bis
department, %enioins upon them the main
tenance Of a calm, patient, persistent
and undauntsd determination to resist the in
vssion at all hazards and to the last extremity.
1t comes bringing with it Il contempt for con-
stitutional liberty, and the whitening influence
Of the ~in6delitY of New England and Germany
combined. It's success would deprive US of a
future.
The best men among our invaders opposed
the course they are pursuing at the frs, but
they have been overborne and swept into the
wake Of the prevailing current, and now under