Year: 1863

y
iournment, and my desire to have the
aid Of your counsel on other matters of
grave public interest, render your pres
ence more than ordinarily welcome. In
deed, but for serious obstacles to con-
voking you in extraordinary session and
the necessity for my own temporary alb.
sence from the seat OF Government, |
would have invited you to an earlier
meeting. than that fixed at the date of
your adjournment.


Grave reverses befell our arms soon
after your departure from Richmond
Early in July, our strongholds at Ficks-
burg and Port Hudson, together with
their entire garrisons, cspitulated to the
combined land and naval forces of the
enemy. The important interior position
of Jackson next fell into their tempora.
ry possession. Our unsuccessful assault
on the post at Helena was followed at a
later period, by the invasion of Arkan-
sas; and the retreat of our army from
Little Rock, gave to the enemy the con-
troll of the important valley in which it
is situated.


The resolute spirit of the people soon



cy naturally resulting from these rever-
ses. The gallant troops so ably com
manded in the States beyond the Missis
sippi inflicted repeated defeats on the in
vading army in Louisiana and on the
coast of Texas. Detachments OF troops
and active bodies of partisans kept up so
effective war on the Mississippi river as
practically to destroy it's value as an
avenue of commerce.


The determined and successful defense
of Charleston against the joint land and
naval operations of the enemy afforded
an inspiring example of our ability to
repel attacks even of the iron clad fleet,
on which they chiefly rely, while on the
Northern front ier our success was still
more marked.


The able commander who conducted
the campaign in Virginia determined to
meet the threatened advance upon Rich
mond-for which the enemy had made
long and costly preparations-by forcing
their armies to cross the Potomac and
fight in defense of their own capital and
homes. Transferring the battlefield to
their own soil, ne succeeded in compel
ling their rapid retreat fl ON Virginia, and
in the hard fought battle of Gettysburg
inflicted such severity of punishment as
disabled them from the early renewal of
of the campaign as originally projected.
Unfortunately, the communications upon
which our General relied for receiving his
supplies Of munitions were interrupted
by extraordinary floods, which so swell.
led the Potomac as to render impossible
the fords by which his advance had been
made, and he was thus forced to with
drawal, which was conducted with do.
liberation, after securing large trains of
captured supplies with constant but
unsccepted tender of battle. On more
than one occasion the enemy has. since
made demonstrations of purpose to
advance, invariably followed by a pre-
cipitate retreat to intrenched lines on the
approach of our forces.


The effective check thus opposed to
the advance of invaders at all points was
such as to afford hope of their early ex-
pulson from portions of the territory
previously occupied by them, when the
country was painfully surprised by the
intelligence that the officer in command
Of Cumberland Gap had surrendered
that important and easily defensible pass
without firing shot, upon the summo
of force still believed to be inadequate
to its reduction, and when renforcements
were within supporting distance and had
been ordered to its aid. The entire gar
rison, including the commander, being
still held as prisoners by the enemy, |
am unable to suggest any explanation Of
this disaster. which laid open East Ten
nesse and South Western Virginia to
hostile operations, and broke the line of
communication between the seat of gov
ernment and Middle Tennessee.


This easy success of the enemy was
followed by the advance of Gen. Rose
Grams into. Georgia, and our army evacu-
ated Chattanooga and availed itself of
the opportunity thus offered of winning
on the field of Chickamauga one of the
most brilliant and decisive victories of
the war. This signal defeat of Rose
Grams was followed by his retreat into
Chattanooga, where his imperiled posi-
tion had the immediate effect of reiev-
ing the pressure of invasion at other
points, forcing the concentration for his
relief, of large bodies OF troops. with
drawn from the armies of the MississIp-
pi Valley and in Northern Virginia. The
combined forces thus accumulated against
us in Tennessee. SO greatly outnumbered
our army as to encourage the enemy to
attack. After long and severe battle,
in which great carnage was inflicted on
him, some of our troops inexplcably
abandoned positions of great strength,
and by disorderly retreat compelled the
commander to withdraw the forces else
where successful. and finally to retire
with his whole army to position some
twenty or thirty miles to the rear. 1t is
believed that if the troops who yielded
to the assault had fought with the valor
which they had displayed on former oc.
casions. and which was manifested in
this battle on other parts of the lines,
the enemy would have been repulsed with
very great slaughter, and our country
would have escaped the misfortune, and
the army the modification of the first
defeat that has resulted from misconduct
by the troops.


In the meantime, the army of Gener-
al Burnside was driven from all its field
positions in Eastern Tennessee and for.