Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1863-02-04
COMPANY /.
A Remarkable Confession

1t is not altogether an empty boast on
the part OF the Yankees, that they hold
all that they have ever held, and that an
other year or two of such progress as they
have already made will find them masters
of the Southern Confederacy. They who
think that independence is achieved by
brilliant and inconsequential victories,
would do well to look with the natural
eye at the magnitude of the Yankee pos
sessions in our country. Maryland, Ken
lucky and Missouri are claimed as con-
stituent parts of the Confederacy; they
are as much in the power of Lincoln as
Maine and Minnesota. The pledge, once
deemed foolish by the South, that he
would ''hold, occupy and possess" all the
forts belonging to the United States Gov
eminent, has been redeemed almost to
the letter by Lincoln. Forts Pickens
and Sumpter We still retain, but, with
these exceptions, all the strongholds on
the seabosrd, from Fortress Monroe to
the Rio Grand, are in the hands of the
enemy.
Very consoling and easy to say that it
was impossible to prevent all this, and
that the outer edge Of the Republic
amounts to nothing. Drewry's Bluff and
Vicksburg give the lie to the first asser-
ton, and the onward movement of Rose
Grams toward Alabama, the presence of
Grant in North Mississippi, and Curtis in
Middle Arkansas, to say nothing of Banks
at New Orleans and Baton Rouge, set at
at rest the silly dream that a thin strip of
sea-eoast only is in the possession of our
foes. The truth is, the Yankees are in
great force in the very heart of the Con-
federacy they swarm on all our borders,
they threaten every important city We. in
our hands. and nearly two hundred thou
sand of them are within two days march
of the Confederate capital. This is no
fiction. 1t is a fact so positive that none
can deny it.
Nor is that all. President Davis tells
us, in his message, that the troubles with
the Indians nave been removed, and no
further difficulty is anticipated. The in
t~elligence we obtain is from a private and
trustworthy source, does not confirm the
Presidents sanguine assertions. The
trouble with the Cherokees was, in great
part, due to the fact that some 1000 or
5000 of them now in arms, had not re-
ceived a cent of pay in IA months. 1t is
true that paper money has been sent
them and ere now it is to be hoped has
reached its destination. But Indians do
not like paper money. Under these cir
cumstances, we shall be fortunate indeed,
if we escape further trouble with the In
dams. Moreover, we get from Missouri
members and others distressing accounts
of the condition of things in Arkansas.
Gen. Hindman is very far from being a
favorite, even among his own people, and
so destitute are the new levies who have
volunteered to come out of Missouri TO
Join our armies, that whole battallions of
them have been seen marching barefoot
through snow three inches deep. Add
to this the fact that so far as the public
are permitted to know, New Mexico and
Arizonia are for the time being lost to
us, and that the state of disaffection in
Tennessee and Mississippi growing out of
the appointment of incompetent officers
and the neglect of that country by the
Government-not from any
lack of fervor in the cause, which Presi-
dent Davis visit was intended heal, is
likely to revive under the depressing in
fiuence of Bragg's retreat, and his con
t~inuance in command-add all this to
the foregoing, and it will be seen hat the
Yankees have much to encourage them
in the prosecution of the war, and we
a little to excite serious apprehen-
sions as TO the future.-Rickmond ErGmin-
Jan. 20tI.