The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1863-05-09
Gbc Cecil \uble.
IIcrOisn Insurpassable.
ELkTON, MAY 9th, 1863.

IIcrOism Insurpassable.
Sift all his Dry, ancient aud modern,
and see if the annals of war afford dis
play Of heroism that surpasscs-we feel
disposed to say that equals-thc one
narrated in the following letter, which
we copy from the New-York Tribune.
TO volunteer on what in military tech
mics is called ga toriorn hope" is recog.
nizcd as the scvcrest ties of he stuff he
true soldier is made of. 1t is SO con-
silered even when the duty assigned TO
such " forlorn hope" is to :mount the
perilous breach,' amidst the heat and
fury and the numberless excitcmen of
charge at the head of a orming party
What language, then, can do justice
to the qualities displayed in this instance
by the citizen soldiers who. quitting fo
a tine the peaceful pursuits that have
constituted the occupation Of their lives.
have taken up arms in defense of their
country's life A rebel ba cry on the
Pauilco river has for days kept at bay
whole fleet of our gunboats, defying
their attempts to silence i, or to force
their way past it. \ few miles above.
that first battery is another, known to
have clean sweep of the channel, so Il.
nj, t,,n la Il
vessel even af err she may have sue
cceded in passing the frs. The river is
barrcaded by row Of piles extending
from shore to shore, piles whose tops
have been Gu. of several fees below the
surface, so as to make them invisible
and through this barrlcade there is but
one narrow passage, an opening once
marked by buoys, but those buoys have
been removed by the rebels.
Such, in faint GU line, arc the circum-
stances under which Regiment of those
ci izcn soldiers of ours-thc now INNER
tai "FIFTu RHODE ISLAND" volunteer
to run that terrific gauntle Ito run it
in frail transport steamer, laden with
supplies for their belcagered General ami
comrades above, hemmed in by an over
wheining force, a force GU numbering
them some ten or wcnty to one. Those
supplies consist in part of food, in part
of ammunition.
Coolly and dispassionatels hose fe.
low-citizens Of ours, those specimens of
the AMERICAN MAN, descend into he
hold of that vessel, to form with their
bodies u carpet for tina ammunition and
there they remain hour after hour,
patiently awaiting The result of what is
doing on deck by their commander and
those whose pos of du y are there. Not
man of them but knows full we'll the
point which he has volun erred to force.
A single shot through the steam chest
or the boilers, and instant torture and
sutfoca ion is their inevitable doom. A
single she'll into that hold, and all will
be hurled together into the air, mass
of mangled trunks and limbs. Not IA
man of them but knows, that the slight
est casualty to the machinery, and swift
destruction for them all, in the one or in
the other of those appalling ways-very
possibly in both getber-be comes for h.
with the almost inevi able consequence.
Talk of Balaklava and that English
Light Horse Theirs was indeed most
gallan charge. But, in the presence of
sclf-devotion and fortitude, such as that
now before us in the hold of that steamer,
what does that charge amount to p
What does any charge" amount to.
, that the annals of war can furnish. or
that mans imagination can fabricate out
Of the materials there to be found
WASHINGTON, N. c., April l6, 1868
Eighteen days ago the Rebels invested this
town, closed their lines, threw up intrenchmcnts
on the nights about, and opened fire. A flag Of
truce came in and when the Rebels found that
Gen. Foster was here they expressed great sur,
prise. Again they demanded the removal of the
woman and children, but Foster replied that he
did not receive flags of truce, and if another
came he would fire upon it. Communication