Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1862-04-26
We Musf Eight

The crisis, as We have repeatedly said, demands
hard, desperate lighting. knowledge of tactics,
strategy and good management are all important,
but nothing is so imperiously needed now, as hard
fighting.
As yet we have had but little of it Most of the
time since the war began has been spent in naction.
Since the battle at Somerset most of our strength
has been wasted by retreat. Failing back" with
few exceptions, has become the order of the day.
And wha: have We lost by itH Missouri, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Maryland and Virginia are nearly lost to
US by this policy. If it be much longer persisted
in, can any one doubt the resultG
Already, in spite of the declarations of the Vir-
ginia press to the contrary, in spite of the disgrace
and the ruin it must bring we find the idea still
haunts some minds that Virginia is to be abandoned
and that the army must make successful stand in
the Cotton States Why so? Is it because the
Cotton States will not rally to the rescue of the
Border States as they ought 20 do We hope not
We will not allow such an idea for a moment And
yet it is understood that after all the blood and thun
der talk of the fiery of the sunny South scarce
ly one regiment out Of ten of their twelve months
men would re-enst, before the passage of the con-
script act We hope, for the honor of those who
Claim to have brought about the revolution, that it
is not so. Virginia and North Carolina have breast
ed the storm-have poured out their men and money
without STINT and shall they be overrunP Never,
never.
We must fight If we have officers and men in
the field who afraid to risk their lives for the
cause of the South who will back and back for fear
of having their shins cracked, let them be sent
home and put others in their places. Let every
man understand that the time has come when all
must fight. Let them build wall of bayonets
around Richmond and Norfolk, and say to the enc.
my, thus far shalt thou come, but no farther"
We protest in the name of Southern independence,
that our armies shall not give back another inch.
Determination, desperate courage, even if our nun.
bers are small, will overthrow myriads.
What are we fighting for? Is it to show our own
skill-our prowess-to win glory for our leaders +?
If SO, let the end. But if we are fighting against
| tyranny and despotism-for liberty and ndepend-
ence-for our rights and our homes, let US fight as
never men fought before.
| The war has given US some specimens of good
| fighting. We had some of it at Bethel, at Bull
| Run, at Manassas at Leesburg, at Springfield, at
| Pea Ridge, at Fort Donelson and Winchester. We
had some for while at Roanoke Island, and New
bern. We had good fighting at Shiloh and the
other day at South Mills, when Col Wrghts hand
full drove 1000 Yankees to their boats. But we
must have more of it and harder yet, if We drive
the enemy from our borders. The roar of cannon
the sharp crack of the riAe-the cleaning bayonet-
the shrieks of the dying, do not make sweet music,
but must familiarize ourselves with it, or are
conquered people. We must fght-every man
| who can, must fight, and we must do it up as our
men did at Shiloh A participant in that fight says
1--WE drove the Federals from hill to hhl and from
ravine to ravine all day long could not conceive,
before witnessing 1t, the desperate bravery of our
! men. We exhausted our cartridges time and again,
! and continued on with the bayonet. l never want
| to see such sight again it makes my blood run
| cold to think about it the dead werespiled up on
every field by the hundreds, with the most CHASTITY
! looking wounds you ever looked at. Most of the
! Yankees that saw dead shot through the
head, and their brains had oozed out on the ground
and the groans of the wounded were awful to hear