The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1863-06-11
The Importance OF Vicksburg.


of Vicksburg to the rebel cause, we must
take their own admissions upon that
point Previous to the final movement
of Gen. Grants army, and while the
rebels were boastfully confident of their
ability to hold the Mississippi Sebastopol,
the jackson appeal said:
The enemy that is now making such
Herculean efforts to wrest the river from
us are fully aware of the great advantage
to them and the iaeStimdbLe detriment TO
as that such a result would work out
Their efforts
should and must be thwarted. If neces-
sary, Gen. Pemberton should be furnish.
ed with one hundred thousand men to
beat them back. Such force would be
required only for about the space of two
months, after which time the heats of
summer and low water will do our fight
ing for US.
Our hold upon the Mississippi once
arrested from as, is gone .toreUer, or at
least so long as the war continues, tOhich
aoould isolate the Government from the
Vest, cut off all intercourse, and place
as at disadvantage when we shall enter
upon the adjustment of terms of peace.
A great deal has been said about guar
anteeing the free navigation of the river
to the Northwest, but with what plausi-
bility could our Government come for
ward with such a proposition when the
entire river, with all its Notifications,
erected by the Confederacy, is already
in their possession -? Of course, they
would laugh at such proposition COM
ing from US under such circumstances.
and hence 1t is Of the first Importance
that our present positions on the rirer
be permanently held Better far ,could
1t be to sacrifice Richmond, Charleston,
Savannah or Mobile than to yield the
riUer, by ,0hich the Confederacy aciU be
rent in train, the Vest hopelessly cut
of. from the East, and vast section of
the best producing portion of the coun-
try subject to the depreciation and spoli-
atoms of the enemy W, a5..sS aas ss5g the'sg@
Some time back Richmond paper
published correspondence from Vicks-
burg, speaking of the strength of the
works at that place and of the confidence
of the rebels in their ability to hold them
against any odds. 1t was said:
AT no point is greater spirit of con-
fdence felt than at Vicksburg; and our
informant shares in this, in feeling as
sured that the place can neUer be carried
by the Yankees. The garrison there
feel confident of holding the place, and
the people there feel as unconcerned OF
their danger as if the Yankees were a
hundred miles of.
It is mentioned as rather a remarka.
BILE fact that among the troops at Vicks.
burg every State in the Confederacy is
represented, and that their homes range
ali the way from the Potomac to the Ric
Grande."
The Augusta )Ga.) Chronicle of later
date, MAY Sth, } spoke as follows:
ave have watched the progress of tht
enemy with painful anxiety, and the
massing of his forces for the desperat,
and final attack upon the stronghold!
that defend the Mississippi Valley. The
latest dispatches from Jackson represen
the situation there in no enviable light
We have seen the forces of the enem,
threatening Vicksburg at every point
the army of Grant alone numbering on
hundred and twenty thousand men, a
we learn from Northern sources. Blu
we can now breathe freer, for we ar
assured that the Government at Rich
mond has made such a disposition of it
forces as will not only secure the safety c
| Vicksburg and our other defenses bu
insure the utter rout of the enemy, an
render probable the capture of a larg
portion of his forces. We feel almos
positive that the troops near Edward
depot, now threatening the Eeqr E. of aj NjjGI'
pudg VIII soon be compietely oaggeu'