Year: 1863

tie Of independence is being fought in the


Eastern States Of the South. If we success


fully resist our enemies there, they will cease


at last from sheer exhsustion; or from the


interposition of unlocked for events, be COM
ipelled to declare our Independence and leave


US at peace. With that, all our cities and ter


ritories will be given up to as again. Our


armies do not fight alone for the soil upon


which they stand. They fight for the Southern


Confederacy, in all its integrity Of dominion.


No peace is possible that a5andons to the enc


my one inch Of the territory of any State


which has united her fortunes with the South,


and whose people refuse to annul the act when


allowed the privilege of suffrage.


We should have clear conviction of this


truth. 1t is dangerous to our patriotism, now,


to look only upon one portion of the country.


Prompted by timidity, love of ease or selfish


regard for property, we are apt to give to 1t


higher importance than belongs to it as part
of the whole, and wish to draw to its protection
so large a portion Of the means of common
defence, as to endanger the end which all of
US desire earnestly.


| Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, LOU
| isiana and Western Virgins have all poured
forth their young men to swell the armies of
| the Confederacy. Many-aye, tens Of thou
sands Of them, fight and yield their lives upon
the soil Of other States, far away from homes
which either rest quietly exempt from the in
vasion, or are already decorated by the vio-
lence of the invader. 1t is a narrow view to
think they died in the protection of the homes
of those whose dwellings lay just behind the
battle fields. They were no less defending
their distant homes from invasion, or contri-
buting to wrest them again from the enemy.
For blow struck upon the Potomac may turn
the enemy away from an invasion of the West,
and peace, when conquered, will fash its
benefcence with telegraphic effect to the most
distant home in the land.


Wherever our armies can do most service in
crippling the enemy, battling his plans, and
Fastening his final defeat, there they should be.
We find an example Of this in the Trans Mis-
sissippi Department. We have sent the flower
of our youth, from Missouri, Arkansas, Lou



There they have assisted in giving the enemy
those tremendous shocks which have some
times paralyzed them for months, aud compelled
them to desst from all efforts at invasion for
ourselves more efficiently and gathered new
energies for resistance. Perhaps-(who can
tell?)-perhaps but for the assistance of these
western troops, Virginia and the whole of the
Eastern States may have been overrun, and
the Confederacy crushed out of existence. A
small thing turns the fortunes of war, and de-
cides the fate of nations. Had Mcclellan
not been driven back from the Peninsula and
Pope from Manassas, the enemy might now be
in the occupation of every capital in the States
beyond the river, and the people under mill
tary governors. Elections might have become
impossible. The Legislatures and Congress
itself might have died for want Of members, |
and the Executive and his Cabinet might have
been fugitives amongst the flying and broken |
remnants of our armies. What would it have
availed this Department to have kept its SOL |
dies at home! The enemy might have left US
in peace, with our soldiers becoming demoral- |
lied by idleuess, until the whole East, 'the
heart Of the rebellion" as they truly call it,
had been rendered powerless, and then turned
their arms upon US. Long ere this the work
of subjugaton might have been effected here
also, and the enemy in occupation of every
county from Iowa to Tamaulipas. As it ie,
they have been kept intensely occupied in the
very struggle for life in the East, which the
great concentration Of our forces has rendered
necessary, and We have thus been enabled
with such sneficient means, numbers and
commanders ~ could be spared us, to resist
with tolerable efficiency any forces which they
could spare for our invasion. The Wester IN
soldiers in Virginis, Tennessee and Mississippi
have defended their own homes in this wise.
Stonewall has protected Little Rock. We are
grateful that our prayers have not been ans
wered, and that, until the arrival Of Kirby
Smith, the armies Of the East have not been
deprived of one Of the brilliant GALAXY Of he
roc generals doing us such eminent service
there. They were more useful to us upon the
real theatre Of the war. Where ''the heart of
the rebellion" is, there the forces should rally.
If that is saved, the limbs will be restored to
it in due season. II that peri.hes the limbs
perish also, and forever.


We think these thoughts do not suggest
themselves to all. We have, therefore, dwelt
upon them now, as they are important in the
consideration of the present condition of our
Department, and the duties of forbearance and
of action which devolve upon us in the emer
gency.


We are now cut off from the whole of the
Confederacy. We cannot rely upon any as
sistance from beyond the river. We must
sustain ourselves. and make such defence as
our means will afford. We are no more ac-
cessible to invasion than We were before the
fall of Vicksburg. That place only occupied
the attention of the enemy, but did not protect
US. If they can be still occupied by the armie.
of Johnston and Bragg, We may have an easy
task. For this purpose our Western soldiers
are well placed across the river, and We should
not mnrmur that they are not at home to stand
before their own fresides and affairs


But it may be that the enemy may find leizure
to divert large portion of their force to this
Department, and may press upon Us sorely.
i AI-k