Wilmington journal., 1867-01-24

strength. He shells a city, the people of
which have cheerfully conceded it sacri-
flee for freedom. He confirms them in
4 their faith. He renders them doubly de-
4 voted to the cause 81 Ruin my house, -
said a prominent citizen to the General,
!" but expect you to defend the lot" No
| other message came from any quarter
Savannah and Mobile, which might have
exhibited the resources of protracted siege
were destined to fall without trial Of their
strength Both were taken, as it were, from
the rear, and from quarter where their
guns were powerless. The spirit of def
ance breathed III them both, and would
have worked miracles had the test been
made.
What shall we say of New Orleans? Fated
city of the Crescent lost in the earlier
hours OF the war, and left to suffer all the
petty tyrannies of sIttrap rule. The days
| preceding the surrender we spent III her
midst What misplaced confidence They
had said at Richmond that New Orleans
was impregnable that no navy in the world
could pass its forts The ships came, how
ever. The forts manfully did their work,
bnt under cover of the darkness all impedi-
ment was sllrmounted. Then went down
the mosquito feet, from which the Confed-
eracy had expected SO much, in the en-
counter with huge -1en-of-war Then
famed upon her stocks our huge Leviathan
which was to threaten even the harbOr Of
New York. Then fiame,i and smoked the
ten thousand cotton bales which lined the
quays, and as the exultant fleet steamed up,
then evacuated in hot haste, and without a
| blow, and with the loss of precious stores
and munitions, the lucklesS cOnfederateS
Now insolent threats of bombardment un-
less the flag is lowered, which no citizen
will undertake to 10. Now women peti-
ton the Authorities, GO Let the tiag stand and
let the enemy do his worst" Then Butler
and Mumford, the bastile the inquisitorial
process, and the light Of the Crescent is
Quenched
We may be brief in reference to Nash
! vile. The fate Of fortress on the waters
of the Cumberland settled her own. The
| fated chieftaln, whose star set at Shiloh,
was unable longer with IL handful of men
whom he had magnitied, by his art. to with
stand the advance Of Buels host. The
Rock City, she is called, fell an easy
! prey. All efforts to recover was impracti-
cable. The last effort under the impetuous
Hood, though skilltul!y planned, was tar
Oily executed, and the delay as might have
been expected resulted in defeat, and was
about the final stroke which ruined the
vICKsBURG.
''Thc wall is rent the ruins yawn;
And with to-morrow's earliest dawn
Oer the dlsj ulutCd mass shall vanlt,
The foremost Of the fierce assault,
The bands are r3lIkCd.'
And Vicksburg fell at last, and Thousands
OF the brave everywhere, lis OF some mar
velous event of the days of Challemange,
| Z t.,41> l.,
heard the story. As the fall of New Or
leans lost us the control of the Mississippi,
Vicksburg and Port Hudson carried with
with them the loss Of all that was beyond,
| and practically divided the Confederacy for
ever. The event struck damper to the
hearts of thousands and shook, for the first
time, the faith that the success of the cause
was predestined
Marvellous pertinacity Of defence Lion
in the path of the invader, who, when the
works before New Orleans were carried,
congratulated himself, that no serious i'm
pediment blocked his way to the Ohio 1t
was the truth but for al hour At the first
summons to surrender, almost the single
gun doomed out the answer, mississippi
ans do not know how to surrender" Then
for long months was pressed the vigorous
defense and valorous assault but the lions
teeth alone were shown. The rain of fire
and iron was unheeded. Even women and
the children forgot their sense OF danger,
as we were told in a chronicle of the day:
''Amid the screams OF mortar and Parrot shells
huLso at"nltI ] ale'h as IL ,lv very uelioLS inau
awed When the enemy endeAvOrcd 10 storm oar
rlD i "it I Ieii ptia w. Ina. We
I1lti, "' 3''o ~! 'n"' 'lie 'r.ltt't
"" * 9 tir"t We I "c ti ol 'tlo
loot o'! lN1ii7 ON. o S va! u 10 '5 "toe-
q
Satcu vi. tG ms - ol'I''et 'S ~ 'o olts 20
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the rinht and to tn. left .,xha,1stnG hy
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