The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1910-04-07

which Porter and Banks escaped from
Alexandria, kept Gen. Smith advised of
the enemy's movements and condition.
Conriers and staff afficers were sent to
implore him to return and reap the fruits
of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, whose price
had been paid in blood. Not man was
sent me; even the four-gun battery with
Liddell on the north of the river was, with
out my knowledge, withdrawn toward Ar
kansas. From first to last, Gen. Kirby
Smith seemed determined to throw pro-
tecting shield around the Federal army
and fleet.
"In all the ages since the establishment
of the Assyrian monarchy no commander
has possessed equal power to destroy a
cause. Far away from the great centers
of conflict in Virginia and Georgia, on a
remote theatre, the opportunity of striking
blow decisive of the war was afforded.
An army that included the strength of
every garrison from Memphis to the Gulf
had been routed, and by the incompetency
of ITS commander, was utterly demoralized
and ripe for destruction. But this army
was permitted to escape, and it's Nineteenth
Corps reached Chesapeake Bay in time to
save Washington from Gen. Early's attack,
while the Thirteenth, Sixteenth and Seven
teenth Corps reinforced Sherman in Geor-
gia. More than all, we lost Porter's fleet,
which the falling river had delivered into
our hands; for the protection of an army
was necessary to it's liberation, as without
the army dam at the falls could not have
been constructed. With this fleet, or even
portion of it, we would have at once re-
covered possession of the Mississippi, from
the Ohio to the sea, and undone all the
work of the Federals since the winter Of
1861. Instead of Sherman, Johnston would
have been reinforced from west of the
Mississippi, and thousands of absent men,
with fresh hope, would have rejoined Lee.
The Southern people might have been
spared the humiliation Of defeat, and the
countless woes and wrongs inflicted on
them by their conquerors.
est was for this that Green and Mouton
and other gallant spirits fell! 1t was for
this that the divisions of Walker and Polig-
nae had held every position intrusted to
them, carried every position in their front,
and displayed constancy and valor worthy
of the Guards at Inkermann or Lees vet
Grams in the Wilderness! For this, too,
4 lon ~ 1ofk I, 4
been taken from us, follow hard on the
enemy, attack him constantly at any odds,
beat off and sink his gunboats, close the
Red River below him and shut up his army
in Alexandria for fifteen days! Like
Sister Ann from her watch tower, day
after day we strained our eyes to see the
dust of our approaching comrades arise
from the north bank of the Red. Not a
camp follower among us but knew that the
arrival of our men from the North would
give us the great prize in sight. Vain, in
deed, were our hopes. The commander of
the Trans Mississippi Department had the
power to destroy the last hope of the Con-
federate cause and exercised it with all the
success of Bazaine at Metz.
'From the action at Yellow Bayou on
the 18th of May, 1864, to the close of the
war in the following year, not a shot was
fired in the Trans Mississippi Department
Johnston was forced back to Atlanta and
relieved from command, and Atlanta fell.
Not even an effective demonstration was
was made toward Arkansas and Missouri
to prevent troops from being sent to re-
enforce Thomas at Nashville, and Hood
was overthrown. Sherman marched un-
opposed through Georgia and South Car
DINA, while Lees gallant army wasted
away from cold and hungerin the trenches
at Petersburg. Like Augustus in the agony
of his spirit, the sorely pressd Confederates
on the east Of the Mississippi asked, and
asked in vain: 'Varus! Varus! Where
are our legions!'"
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