Natchitoches union. [volume] ([Natchitoches, La.]) 1859-1864, 1862-10-16
For the defence OF Red River

or State authorities for the defence O
the River. 1t is now the 18th Oct. and
our patieuce has grown into impa-
tience at not yet haering Of plan
decided on or begun for that purpose
We have only a month and half to
the first of December, when generally
navigation is possible to Alexandria,
and within that time, the enterprise
Of rafting and fortifying the River
could only be accomplished BY calling
out very large number of hands and
pushing the work without intermis-
sion The season Of low water is Ger
tainly the one most suItabIftur en-
barassing the river and we see daily
the auspicious moment passing by
without any eXertion made to i'm
prove it BY q passenger on Sun
days stage, we hear that Gen Taylor
has sent an officer to make reconuois,
ance for the selection Of the best
place below the mouth of Black River
for a battery, hut this amounts, if true,
to on y a preliminary preparation. Pre-
Iiminarics should have been settled two
months ago and the work be now ac-
tually begun There is vast differ,
cnce between our officers and those Of
the Federals, apparently. in the carry
ING out Of precautionary measures.
They never leave a stone unturned.
We leave a good many and sleep on
the principle Of l1issey oder We lost
New Orleans, beyond question, by just
such presumption that all was right,
without d certainty Of its being SO. 1t
is useless and dangerous in the ex-
treme for US to rely on the batteries of
Vick8burg and Port Hudson to defend
our river against all comors. We
hear that the opinion is entertained
by our officers that those works may
be relied on as sufficient for the de-
fence of all the Intervening coast Of
the Mississippi. including the mouth
Of Red River This, in our opinion, is
fragile hope, or at least, an uncer
tain reliance. We must not leave this
matter to the slightest uncertainty
Our interests at stake, in case of any
such expectations being disappointed,
are entirely too large to be riskcd at
all. We need not recapitulate them.
They are patent and need no rehearsal.
All the experience of this war, shows,
in every instance, the fact that land
batteries cannot arrest the passage of
steam vessels, particularly iron clad
ones, when they attempt to pass
the strongest fortifcatfons. They
may be injured, but they always pass
Then, experience shows that the bat
teries at Vicksburg and Port Hudson
are not entirely and fully sufficient to
protect Red River There is a doubt
left, and the only way to remove that
doubt is to erect defensive works on
our own river. Besides, last week, we
met the owner of the plantation on
the Mississippi at the head of the ca
nal cut by the yankees above Vicks
burg, and he assured us that high wa
ter would cut through this canal and
make cut off for boats, the soil be-
ing crumbling and easily removed by
the action of the water. In this case,
the batteries at Vicksbdrg will be cut
of, and the river open to all descend
ing boats.
If the Confederate or State officers
cannot undertake the work, let the
Parishes on the Black and Red Rivers
unite and go on with it and look for
reimbursement, if necessary, from the
It were better to spend
two hundred thousand dollars or
twice the sum, in erecting as sure a |
defence as we can adopt, even if the
works should prove unnecessary af- |
terwards, as they would operate as an
insurance on onr property, otherwise
liable to destruction. Look at the