Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-12-04
IEW SERIES 1914
AN INTERESTING LETTER.
The War on the Sea.COaSt-she 7 an.
KEGS at Port Royal.


The following letter from Charleston,
to the Richmond Enquirer, is exceeding
u interesting:
CHARLESTON, S. c., Nov. 81.
Strange as it may seem to those who
know the peculiar rancour of the Yam
KEGS towards South Carolina, up to the
very morning when the great armada an
chored off Port Royal, the planters along
our coast could not, or would not, believe
that they were to be the first victims of
the invader, that their negroes were to be
the FIRST stolen, and that their broad acres
were to be the first selected for the work
of rapine and devastation. When the
blow fell, it found them unprepared. In
blind reliance upon our scanty coast de-
fences, they had been quietly prosecuting
their planting operations, without taking
even the most obviously prudent steps to
guard themselves against utter ruin in
the event of reverse. Perhaps they
could not realize that Yankee effrontery
would even extend so far as to attempt
to plant puritan colony upon the shores
of the hated Palmetto and the Rattle
snake. When the delusien had vanish
ed, amid the smoke and roar of hun
dred hostile cannon, reverberating over
their quiet plantations, they thought only
of the impossibility of remaining where
they might be presumed "loyap to their
country's foe, and hastily retreated from
all those portions of the assailed district
not within the lines of the Southern ar
my. A few of them were followed by
their slaves; but the plantation negro is
creature of strong local attachments,
and, as their masters had given them the
choice to accompany them, they know not
whether or no to stay behind; the slaves,
in most instances, amazed and confoun-
ded at the unwonted events going
on around them, preferred to remain
where they were. Subsequent events
have fully proven the folly of having
suffered them to stay. The Yankees have
coolly put them to their old work of
picking and ginning the cotton, and it is
not difficult to imagine that the poor
slaves will fare hard under their new
and ruthless taskmasters. Some of them
have already escaped to the main, and
say nothing but the bayonets of the in
vaders prevent the rest of the hands
from following their example.
The amount of cotton abandoned on
the plantations was very considerable.
It is not easy to estimate the quantity
with certainty, but it is generally said to
be about fifteen hundred bales. Many oi
the planters, before quitting, set fire to
their crops and such other combustible
property on their premises as could not
be removed. 1t is certainly to be regret
ted that, in the confusion that prevailed,
this very proper step was not more gen.
orally taken.
But the first surprise at the invasion
has now died away, and think the Nor
thern Government may reckon, without
fear of mistake, that it has obtained the
very last bag Of cotton, and also the last
contraband, that it can ever hope to seize
by pouncing upon the coast of South Car
olina. Concerted arrangements between
| the planters and the military authorities
have wisely been made by which nc
plantation viii in future be abandoned
| until the crop is utterly consumed, the
gin house and other buildings destroyed
the live stock driven of, and the hand.
| removed to the interior. In the most ex.
| posed localities, that is, the islands ad.
| jacent to Port Royal, on which the enemy
may at any moment make his appearance
L tuC WoIh VI 0coeIuCeioA 40 dIEcaUy COu'
summated. For the past few days gangl
of negroes from the coast, laden will
such effects as they can carry, and fol
lowed by droyes of mules and horses
have been passing through this city OF
their way to the back country. Nigh
before last the whole atmosphere in tn,
city and for miles around, notwithstand.
ing the bright moonlight, was hazy ano
lurid. Many could not account for th,
phenomenon. It was the effect of ths
wholesale confagration of cotton going
on at Edisto and other islands, inter.
vening between Charleston and Por
/ ROYAL. Wherever the marauders choose
next to land, and it is useless to disguise
the fact that they can land at great
many points, they will find nothing but
| devastated fields, deserted by all save
the avenging presence of the partizar
rifeman. The patriotic sacrifice which
has been made by our planters is all the
| greater when we consider that the crops
| of the present season have far exceeded
the best eve- before known.
| In my last letter I alluded to the
| strength of the defences of Charleston
| Savannah, also, has been strongly forti-
fed on plan, for which the conforma-
| tion of its harbour affords peculiar ia
cilities, and ] understand that General
LEE says that that city is now in con.
dition to make protracted and success.
full defense. General LEE has gone tc
Brunswick, Georgia. - -.