BIG NEWS FROM THE CONFEDERACY -- May 31, 1861

Early Texas volunteers at Camp Clark, Texas, March 1861. (Library of Congress)

[Richmond Daily Dispatch May 31, 1861]

The Lone Star of Texas.

     The Enquirer pays a just tribute to the heroic character and proud deeds of this brilliant and energetic people. Texas, says the Enquirer, has swept her whole State of the troops of the federal government. She has compelled the surrender of over two or three thousand of well-armed and well-drilled United States forces. The military supplies taken by her exceed a million and a half of dollars. She has turned over to the Confederate Government between seven and eight thousand stand of arms, large numbers of mules and teams, artillery, powder and ball. The large Receiving Steamship now employed by our Navy, at New Orleans, was captured by Texans in Texas waters. This vessel, with some nine hundred barrels of moat, flour and commissary stores, were delivered up to the Confederate service, untouched by Texas. She has also a fine Revenue cutter to add to the vessels of our navy, taken from the United States. The order of the Black Republican Government at Washington was for the United States officers to burn her, but the design was timely thwarted by the superior and unceasing vigilance of the Texans, and she is now at the command of our Government.

     General Young, one of the officers of the Texan Army, has crossed Red River into the Indian Nation, to render assistance to Governor Harris in capturing some five hundred U. S. troops, and stripping them of their arms. From the information we have received, we believe that the victory is already accomplished.

     It is also stated that Texas had previously sent Commissioners to the Indian country, and secured their hearty co-operation. When Governor Harris asked the assistance of Gen. Young, the former had demanded that the United States troops should surrender to him. This they haughtily refused, and he then called on the Texas General to compel them to do so. The call was promptly obeyed, and he was in close pursuit at last accounts. It is ascertained, adds the Enquirer, that there are 20,000 fighting men among the Indians, and these Texas will secure to our aid, and bring them to Virginia, if they are wanted.

     That young State also promptly sent Commissioners to Arizona, and by well directed efforts, has secured that Territory to the Confederacy. We understand that the response will soon be in the hands of our Government, and that they will send a delegate to Congress as soon as advised of our action.

Texas has now raised eight thousand men at the call of the War Department of the Confederacy. They are anxious that at least a portion of their forces shall march to the seat of war in Virginia. We trust that their gallant aspirations may be gratified. A more heroic and effective body of warriors the world does not contain.

                                                               

BIG NEWS FROM THE CONFEDERACY -- May 29, 1861

[Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 29,1861]

The invasion of Alexandria.
The capture of Capt. Ball's Cavalry and Subsequent treatment.
Shooting of Col. Ellsworth.
Disgraceful conduct on the part of Lincoln's troops.
&c., &c., &c.
[special Correspondence of the Dispatch.]

Manassas Junction, May 27, 1861.

      Messrs. Editors:--Having seen no authentic statement of the occupation of Alexandria, it may be of interest to your readers to know some of the details.

     Early on the morning after the election, (about 3 o'clock,) notice was given that preparations were in active progress for the occupation of Alexandria by the Federal troops. The Captain of the Pawnee came over with a flag of truce, and notified Colonel Territt that the troops in town must surrender or evacuate by 9 o'clock. By order of General Lee, commandant of Virginia forces, the troops were

Death of "Heroic" Jackson.
(Library of Congress)

ordered to evacuate. Having done so twice before, the order was not promptly obeyed, our indeed was the notice sufficiently exciting to make them do so.

     In accordance with the Punic character of the Administration thus far, the Federal troops were buried in, and captured the larger portion of Captain Ball's company, and, it is said, handcuffed them, put them on board a steamboat, and marched them up to Washington and through their streets in triumph. As remarked above, the capture of the troopers was partly the result of negligence, but more the result of the Punic faith of the Black Republican soldiery, it having been well understood, time and again, that the troops would have until 9 o'clock to evacuate.

     Mistrusting the characters of the Black Republicans, most of the troops collected and returned to the west end of the town, while the Republican troops were not over two hundred yards distant, and might easily have had an engagement even with the small force of 600, without artillery, and having it well understood that no stand was to be made.--The Republican troops, to the number of several thousand, formed in front of the river, under cover of the Pawnee, whilst the Flying Artillery came down by the turnpike. The Confederate troops retired in perfect order, and without any hurry, and having stopped the train about three or four hundred yards from the depth, about 6 o'clock the cars left for Manassas Junction. The troops stationed in Alexandria had to have the necessaries of comfort. There all had to be left in consequence of the shortness of time allowed. The troops are now here having left many articles of clothing and camp equipments.

      It must be all right, now that delay has put us behind in preparation; but it galls Virginians very much to have to yield their soil, even for a moment. Trusting to the skill and bravery of our commanding officers, we hope soon to see the vandals driven from our borders. The vandals are driving out our citizens, whilst such men as Close, late of the Southern Protection Office; Liggon, bookseller; Bennett, daguereotypist, and other "Union" men are acting as special guides to the demons who hold reign in Alexandria.

      Both journals have been discontinued, and the editor of the Sentinel retired with the soldiers. As yet the offices have not been destroyed, nor any special violence exhibited How much longer this will continue we can't sell, as the vandals declare their intention of holding the place for all time.

The affair at the Marshall House you have already heard. Poor Jackson fell like a hero, having singled out his man. He was asleep, when he was awaked and informed that a squad of the Zouaves had mounted his roof on the inside and seized his flag. He immediately put on his pantaloons and shoes and met Ellsworth as he came down with the flag in his hands, and shot him through with a double-barrelled shot gun, loaded with buck-shot. The squad of Zouaves, close by, immediately fired upon him with Minnie rifles, shooting him in the face, and stabbing him afterwards.

      P. S.--There are many other matters of interest which could not be put in this communication. It is reported since the above was written that a number of stores have been broken open, the Mansion House seized and occupied, the depot books torn up and the safe rifled of $75, the Court-House seized and the papers all burnt, besides a number of arrests made — among the rest, Robt. Ashby, the merchant, than whom a better man does not live.        

      In addition to the above, it is positively stated that a number of rapes have been perpetrated, and all the deeds which you might naturally expect from an unprincipled set of men who are following in their train.

      These facts are in the main fully authentic; the rest well sustained by current testimony. It will thus be seen that we must put out our whole strength, and humbly invoking the blessing of Heaven on our cause, advance to the rescue of our people, before the vandal hordes gather strength by our delays and overrun the State. There is no doubt that Richmond is the great end and aim of the set now sent upon us, and you may rely upon it the thieves sent among us will burn and pillage as they go, when they are fully under way.

Observer.

                                                                                 

BIG NEWS FROM THE CONFEDERACY--May 26, 1862.

Private Samuel H. Wilhelm of I Company,

 4th Virginia Infantry Regiment, the 

Stonewall Brigade, with knife.Died as 

POW of acute diarrhea at Fort Delaware, 

Del., on September 22, 1863.

(Liljenquist Family Collection, Library of Congress)

[Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 26, 1862]
Another victory in the Valley.

     It was announced yesterday early in the day that a dispatch had been received, giving intelligence of a victory over the enemy by the forces under Gen. Jackson. Upon inquiry at the Departments, we learned that no official information of an engagement had been received, but that it was generally believed that our forces had encountered a body of the enemy at Front Royal, in Warren County, and had routed them, capturing several pieces of artillery, a large quantity of ordnance stores, and a considerable number of prisoners.

      From a gentleman who left Staunton yesterday morning we learn that a courier from the army of Gen. Jackson arrived at that point on Saturday evening, and brought dispatches to Gen. Johnson, substantially confirming the above statement. Information received from private sources deemed entirely worthy of credit, assure us that Gen. Jackson was within four miles of Front Royal on Friday morning, and the town was occupied by about 1,500 Federal troops. We presume that it was this force with which he had the engagement reported, and the hope is reasonably entertained that he had succeeded in bagging the whole party. There is no probability that "old Stonewall" will permit the Yankees to stagnate during their sojourn in the Valley, if he is permitted to continue his operations against them.

      We learn from a gentleman who left Winchester in the early part of last week, and succeeded in flanking the Yankee pickets, that the unscrupulous scamps have commenced a system of incendiarism in that town and the counties of Jefferson and Clarke. During the week they burned the Medical College in Winchester, in which was deposited the carcass of John Brown's worthless son, who met his deserved fate at Harper's Ferry. Denning's regiment of Cincinnati Dutch, which rendered itself notorious in Hampshire co. last winter, by burning and wantonly destroying everything within reach, had gone down into Clarke and Jefferson, and from lights continually observed in that direction, from Winchester, it was believed that they were indulging their favorite mode of warfare, by applying the torch to the property of defenceless citizens. A few evenings before our informant left Winchester, a brilliant light was noticed in the direction of Charleston, and apprehensions were entertained that the town had been fired by the desperadoes.

                

BIG NEWS FROM THE CONFEDERACY -- England and the Confederate States, May 22, 1861.

Northern fears of European intervention in the Civil War on behalf of the South are manifest here.Uncle Sam, in the form of a bearded Union soldier (closely resembling Abraham Lincoln), unceremoniously routs John Bull from a fenced garden where the latter has been poaching. Grabbing him by the scruff of the neck, Sam warns, "John, You lost your Non-interfering Principle. I'll lay it on your back again." (Library of Congress)

 

[Richmond Daily Dispatch]

England and the Confederate States.

      Views of an Irish Journal.--The Dublin Morning News, of the 7th inst., contains an editorial on the troubles in this country. It denounces the resolution of the Confederate States to fit out privateers, and thinks that an energetic protest from the maritime powers will put a stop to it. The News then proceeds.
      It is now quite plain that in this quarrel, despite all that has been said and written about slavery, England sides with the Confederate States. She does so, indeed, compelled by the strongest motives of self-interest. Her cotton manufactures cannot flourish, or even exist, without the usual supplies of raw material from the South. The North has just adopted a Protectionist Tariff, very unfavorable to English interests, and, in resisting the enforcement and extension of this prohibitory traffic, the South is virtually fighting England's battle. --Still more, the jealousy of the United States, as a maritime power, is a fixed principle of British statesmanship; and we may be certain that the news of the blow just inflicted on a navy which, in some respects, was formidable to England, has given satisfaction, not loud but deep, to the great bulk of Englishmen. It is so easy to bring about a collision, and, under present circumstances, it would be so safe and advantageous for England to pick a quarrel with the Government of the United States, that we shall not be surprised to find. Her Majesty's Government assuming a position with regard to this civil broil which may easily lead to war. That they will allow the cotton supply to be cut off by the blockade of the Southern ports, is hardly to be expected.
      Doubtful questions of right are easily and promptly settled when there is no doubt about the question of force. The burning of Gosport dockyard has, for the moment, placed the United States Navy at England's mercy; and if, on this occasion, England is found to spare a rival and foe, we must be nearer to the Millennia than is popularly supposed. The decisions announced to the House of Commons by Lord J. Russell point strongly in the direction of a rupture between England and the United States. Lord John declared that the British Government would not recognize the blockade proclaimed of the Southern ports unless it were made effective, but that they did recognize the legality of the letters of marque issued by President Davis. Now, the Washington Government threatens to treat the holders of these letters of marque as pirates, and unless the spirit of Yankeeland has sunk very low, they will probably show fight also on the blockade question. It is evident that Lord John knew more about this matter than he chose to communicate to the House and the public. And it is also evident that no more favorable occasion than the present is likely to offer for striking a blow at one of the few maritime rivals England has cause to dread.

BIG NEWS FROM THE CONFEDERACY -- May 19, 1862

Scenes from around Richmond, Va., by Alfred Waugh.
(Library of Congress)

[Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 19, 1862]

Richmond must not be surrendered 

The determination of the authorities to defend the city of Richmond has been announced and received throughout the country with joy. As an evidence of this we make the following extract from the Petersburg Express:

     Every Southern eye is now turned with a painful anxiety to the Capital of Virginia and of the Confederate States. Every Southern heart throbs with the most intense emotions at the changed aspect of affairs in and around that beautiful city, the pride of this ancient and noble Commonwealth, now about to be the theatre of one of the most thrilling events of the war, that will win for her a historic celebrity not interior to that of any city that has hitherto figured in the annals of the world. Napoleon found his doom in Moscow. The funeral pyre on which his colossal power was consumed was lighted by the torches of the heroic citizens of that proud metropolis. He saw in its voluntary conflagration the signal of his approaching down fall, and infinitely terrible to him was a spectacle at once so grand and portentous. Moscow rose in triumph from its ashes, covered with glory and crowned with prosperity Napoleon sunk beneath the tremendous blow which it inflicted on him, and the memory of what he had been was all that he could snatch from the tremendous wreck of his fortunes.

     A city destroyed may be rebuilt and flourish again. Liberty once lost is irrecoverable. Sublime examples of self immolation on the altar of freedom for the salvation of her sacred cause are not in Time's chronicles confined to a single community or individual They are strewed up and down through the historic record, and are beacon-lights to guide and cheer, through all centuries, a people struggling to be free.

.     These remarks have been prompted by the pleasing intelligence that the city of Richmond is to be defended at all hazards and to the last extremity. Our information on this head encourages us to hope that the vandal foe who is exulting in the anticipation of its speedy conquest will meet with a resistance that he little expects. Unquestionably the possession of that city, under existing circumstances, would make him delirious with joy. Unquestionably such a success would be in the highest degree disastrous, but not fatal, in its immediate effects to the Southern cause. These considerations will stimulate the Governments there, State, Confederate and municipal, to the most intense and unshrinking efforts and measures for its preservation from so great a calamity. The people of the city and the brave army in its vicinity will vigorously co-operate, fearless of consequences, and with a determination to baffle the expectation of the enemy. We like the tone of the Richmond journals in speaking of the dangers which they are confronting. They breathe a lofty spirit — a spirit worthy of the occasion and of the South. It has the ring of the Moscow metal about it, and if it shall lead to corresponding acts, let the result be what it may, Richmond will be immortalized.

BIG NEWS FROM THE CONFEDERACY -- May 18, 1863

[Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 18, 1863]

Mr. Vallandigham--Lincoln and the North.

     The latest Northern news received here brings the rumor that Mr. Vallandigham has been sentenced by the drum-head court that tried him to two years imprisonment at hard labor on the Dry Tortugas, Florida. The Herald discredits the rumor on the ground that the rigid rule of secrecy prevailing in such courts as tried him would prevent its decision from gaining publicity until made public by the court itself. The same paper takes occasion to say that such a sentence would make certain Mr. V.'s election as Governor of Ohio in the fall.

Rep. Clement Vallandigham
(Library of Congress)

     In the meantime there are indications of some popular excitement on account of Mr. Vallandigham's arbitrary arrest and trial — especially in New York, where a large meeting had been held on the subject. Mr. James Brooks, of the Express, made a very strong declaration in his speech to that meeting. He said, "In my judgment and belief it is not so much the intention of the Administration to subjugate the South as it is to subjugate the North!" Mr. Brooks is mistaken in this much. That it is the intention to subjugate the South, and the execution of that intention renders it necessary to subjugate the North! The very process demands the exercise of arbitrary power that is utterly inconsistent with freedom at the North. Both North and South must be free, or neither. It is impossible that the Southern States can be conquered and held as provinces by the Washington Government, while the Northern States retain their independent sovereignty under the Constitution. The Federal Administration is certainly not more humane in its purpose towards the South than the North. It merely ignores the State and personal rights of the North as a means to make more complete the crushing of all right, all justice in the South--the general subjugation, robbery, and ruin of the Southern people. But Mr. Brooks is bold in his language, and may have to follow Mr. Vallandigham to Tortugas, if Lincoln has the courage to send him there.

     Will Lincoln order the sentence of the Burnside court martial to be carried out, if that sentence has been correctly reported? Whether he does so or not, be must suffer damage. If he sends him to punishment, he must arouse a deep sense of outrage in the public mind, except amongst his own immediate party. If he fails to approve it, he will appear as too timid to enforce the natural and unavoidable decrees of the tribunal he has had the hardihood and tyranny to establish. To what other termination could such a court, with such accusers, under Burnside's death order, arrive, than that of the cruelest imprisonment, or death itself, for publicly opposing the measures of the Government? He must have known that such would be the result when he ordered such a court to try and punish such an offence. If he now remits its sentence he will betray a fatal indecision — the sceptre will tremble in his hand — a woeful sign for the despot, and one which is sure to lead to his downfall.

     Mr. Brooks is certainly right as to the purpose of the Administration to subjugate the North--and to-day the Northern people are more in danger of permanently losing their liberties than are the people of the South.--That gentleman said that New York and New Jersey were the only free States in the North. The honorable gentleman may speak a little too fast. It certainly has not appeared yet. The tyrant has not tried conclusions with them. Those States have not yet failed to respond to his demands for troops to crush the South' and no issue has been fully presented. When one is, if they prove their claim to be regarded "free and independent States," it will raise them high in the estimation of the world, and very much surprise us of the South!.

BIG NEWS OF THE CONFEDERACY -- May 17, 1864

From General Lee's army.

[from our own Correspondent.] [Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 17, 1864]

Army of Northern Virginia.
Spotsylvania C. H., May10, 1864.

      I have written you regularly since my arrival at the headquarters of the army, but tear that some of my letters have not reached you. The Federal cavalry have been in our rear, and may have captured some of our mail carriers. But little is known here of the operations of the raiding party that passed down the telegraph road towards Beaver Dam Station, on the Central railway; we have heard that they destroyed the houses at the station and a large quantity of army supplies, and that they recaptured 300 prisoners and a few hundred muskets on the way to Richmond. It is a matter of surprise here that the party was able to pass to the rear without the knowledge of our own cavalry.

Gen. Robert E. Lee

     We have had more bloody work to day, and again, as at the Wilderness, our losses are miraculously small. It has been a singular battle, not only in its results, but especially in regard to the manner in which it was delivered by the Federal commander. The greater part of the forenoon was consumed by him in an attempt to make Gen Lee developed his plans and position. Artillery was used freely, and skirmishers and sharpshooters were pushed forward along the lines, and vigorous efforts made to provoke Lee to unmask his batteries and show his hand. At length Grant seemed to grow weary of this kind of work, and ordered an assault to be made. His infantry came up to the work in handsome style, and yet they seemed to have no stomach for the fight; for three separate assaults upon Anderson's corps (late Longstreet's) were repulsed by his skirmishers and sharpshooters alone. The result was not dissimilar in front of Ewell. The heavy masses of the enemy were pushed back with the case with which one puts a drunken man away from him. The Confederates fought behind field works thrown up hurriedly, and they appeared to relish the run amazingly. The last assault made upon Anderson's position was late in the and was headed by a regiment of the old United States army. The enemy succeeded after a hard struggle in gaining a salient shale occupied, I am told by Gregg's brigade, but of who cleared the entrenchments not one lived to return; they were all either killed or taken. They met with a temporary success also in front of division, corps, where they captured a portion, it not all, the guns belonging to the Third company Richmond Howitzer, of Gen Alexander's artillery command. The guns were soon recovered, however, and the off with heavy loss.

     Towards noon it was ascertained that the enemy were moving upon our left and centre with cavalry and infantry. Early was sent with Heth's division to drive them off and repossess us of the bridge over the Po, one of the branches of the Mattaponi. He accomplished the object of his mission in his own gallant manner. Heth's men were glad of an opportunity to prove to all that the temporary confusion into which they were thrown at the Wilderness was the result of accident rather than of a lack of spirit. The enemy were well punished and driven entirely from that part of the field.

     I have spoken of our casualties to-day as miraculously small. They were less than one thousand; and including the loss resulting from the heavy skirmishing yesterday, they will not exceed 1,200. The enemy's loss, on the contrary, since our arrival here, is estimated as high as 15,000, and at the Wilderness as high as 30,000, including prisoners. These figures are probably too large, though they reflect the opinion which obtains in high official circles here. The calculation rests upon the number of the enemy whom we have buried--2,700 --and the 4,000 prisoners who fell into our hands.--It is proper to add that papers have been captured since the battle of the Wilderness which admit a loss there of 20,000. These papers contain a confession also that Grant was beaten badly on his right, (our left,) where Ewell commanded, and that Cordon in his night attack inflicted heavy loss; but they claim that he was successful on his left, (our right.) the first is true, but the latter is not. Our victory was complete on every part of the field.

      It is reported that Grant, just before opening the battle this morning, issued an order in which he announced to his troops that Butler had taken Petersburg, and was then investing Richmond, with every prospect of reducing it at an early day; also, that Johnston had been defeated at Dalton, leaving his dead and wounded in the hands of Sherman. We have not heard from Dalton for some days, but we know that the order utters a falsehood when it claims that Butler has occupied Petersburg and invested Richmond. The courage of Grant's army, however, like that of the man in the play, is oozing out at their fingers' ends, and it requires to be stimulated.

Wednesday, May 11th.

Unbroken quiet has reigned to-day. The two armies still confront each other, lashing their sides and glaring upon each other like lions about to engage in mortal combat. A report prevailed in high quarters this afternoon that Grant was retiring in the direction of Fredericksburg and Germanna Ford, but it is probably without foundation. He is not the man to yield so easily. Some things that have come to my knowledge to-day satisfy me that he did not mean to offer battle yesterday, but rather sought to feel of our lines, and ascertain their direction and strength, with a view to a real attack to morrow or next day, and that the great battle is still to be fought. There can hardly be any doubt but that he has made up his mind to fight us here. The chief danger to be apprehended arises from the impaired morals of some of the brigades, which lost heavily in officers at the Wilderness, and which occupy the weakest part of our line of entrenchments, embracing the salient angle that was lost temporarily yesterday. It has been Gen Lee's opinion for the last two days that the real attack will be made on the right wing, and all Grant's maneuvers and demonstrations on the left have failed to create any diversion from the right.

shipBrig

     Gen H H Walker, of this State, commanding a brigade in Wilcox's division, received a painful wound in the foot yesterday.

Sallust.

BIG NEWS FROM THE CONFEDERACY--May 15, 1863.

The summer campaign. [Richmond Daily Dispatch]

     The summer campaign has begun auspiciously for the Southern Confederacy. The battles of the Wilderness and Fredericksburg (the second) have added largely to the renown of the sons of the South as a warlike and resolute people, determined to be free. The bold cavalry raid under Stoneman is more than offset by that under Jones and Imboden.--Stoneman did very little injury to the railroads and none to the canal. He burned some bridges spanning the canal, and a very substantial one at Elk Island built by Mr. Randolph Harrison; but these were all for the accommodation of neighborhood communities. The transportation along the canal is

Gen. Fitzhugh Lee

not at all interrupted by anything the raiders did. These facts illustrate the wanton and ruthless spirit of our invaders. Driven by Fitzhugh Lee from Columbia, where their main feat of diabolism was to have been performed, they attack and destroy the little neighborhood bridges, imitating the mastiff, who, kicked out of the kitchen, falls upon the first innocent duck that is in his way.

     On the other hand, Jones and Imboden have returned safely with 600 prisoners and several thousand horses and cattle, after having seriously injured the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.--They, moreover, penetrated into Maryland and Pennsylvania, exciting the wildest alarm lest our men should imitate the vandalism of the Yankees in their invasion of the South.--Their raid will certainly offset Stoneman's. --The merit of a raid consists in its destructiveness, and that of our raid makers having done more injury than that of the Yankees, of course it is the better raid of the two.

     The summer, we repeat, begins auspiciously for our arms in Virginia. What if we loose a good and great man and some of our best troops — it was the will of Providence — They perished, if they did perish, worthily as they wished, in their country's cause, amidst the shouts of triumph. But they perished not — their spirit and example live, and we know that the cause which made such Heroes will continue to vindicate itself to the day of final deliverance!

In the Southwest the combined aquatic and land fights have been all gloriously in our favor. In the skirmishing and manÅnvring on the land there is merely the premonitory of greater conflicts and imminent events that are to follow. But in most of these we have had the advantage, and they display the maintenance of the high courage and constancy of the soldier of the South, which in the battle-field have made him equal to the immense odds brought against him. The great achievements in Virginia will cheer up the Southern heart, and we hope and believe will be imitated in the Southwest by deeds alike honorable to our fame and strengthening to our cause.

     The midsummer sun will soon be upon the South, and what the enemy does he must do quickly. Faithfully confiding in our men and our cause, we cannot believe that the enemy is destined to gain any material advantages, near or remote. If we foil him, however, now, he will soon have to encounter the Southern sun and the Southern malaria, which will be equal to a large army against him, while at home he must sustain the damaging consequences of a retarded advance and a postponed subjugation of the South. The elements of dissatisfaction and discord will be powerful in marring the schemes of the Washington despotism in proportion to the firmness and success with which we repulse its armies in the South.

This is the conclusion to which we must always come. After all, it is alone upon our own courage and fidelity that we can rely.--Discord at the home of the invader — aversion to him amongst civilized people abroad — can only be made active and efficient for his discomfiture by our own undying and unflagging devotion to our beloved country. Thank God! we have the men who can exhibit these virtues in their noblest form.

BIG NEWS FROM THE CONFEDERACY - May 13, 1861.

Blockade Runner Teaser
(Library of Congress)

The blockade of Southern ports — why we believe England and France will not submit to it. [Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 13, 1861

About a month ago, the London Telegraph made this significant remark:

"With regard to the blockade question, we have stated that it cannot be solved by any Government in America, but must be left to the maritime powers of Europe — which, acting upon the law of self-preservation, must, of course, forbid all attempts to exclude their commerce from the ports of the South; the rain of which, though-it might gratify the passions, would not serve the interests of the North. Such a policy of coercion, therefore, would be at once short-sighted and ineffectual."

In this connection, we beg to call the attention of our readers to some facts which we have before published, but which are at the present time of pecullar interest, bearing, as they do, upon the probable policy of the European powers in connexion with the blockade of Southern ports.

The quantity of cotton consumed by the cotton manufacturers of Europe and America is nearly three hundred million pounds in excess of the American production, yet the Southern States are the sole dependence of England, Europe and the two American Republics for a supply of cotton clothing. There are many sources of supply in existence, but this country alone furnishes more than it consumes, and alone produces the requisite quality.

In a paper read before the British Society of Arts, by J. B. Smith, Esq., M. P., from Stockport, it is observed--

"That every one seems impressed with the necessity of multiplying the sources of supply of cotton; but that one branch of the question, though a most essential one, appears to have been nearly overlooked. We need, says Mr. Smith, not only a large supply, and a cheap supply, but a supply of a pecultar kind and quality.Mr. Smith then classifies into three divisions the cotton required for the trade of Great Britain. These divisions are the long staple, the medium staple, and the short staple. For the purpose of British manufactures, only a limited quantity of the firts and third qualities are required, but of the second quality, they need and can consume an almost unlimited supply. 'In this fact,' says Mr. Smith, 'lies our real difficulty; for, while several quarters of the world supply the first sort, and India could supply enormous quantities of the third sort, the United States of America alone have hitherto produced the second most necessary kind.' And again: 'Our great consumption and demand is for the soft, white, silky, moderately long cotton of America — the quality usually called 'Uplands,' 'Bowed Georgia,' and 'New Orleens.' We need and consume nine bags of this cotton for one bag of all other qualities put together."

Mr. Smith proceeds to state that there is cotton enough in India, "but it is its quality that, is in fault, and, as far as the past is a quide, it would seem irrecoverably in f?ult." Every effort has been made to improve the character of the India cotton--American seed has been planted, American planters and American gins have been sent over — and the result has been a combination in cleanliness and color, but scarecly any change in specific character. From some peculiarity of soll or climate, or as some say, from adulteration by the airborne pollen of the inferior native plant, the improved and altered charactes of the cotton has never been kept up.

A great deal has been said about the cultivation of cotton in Africa, but, apart from the great difficulty,--the quality of the article,--cotton can only be successfully cultivated by slave labor, and British anti-slaveryism has put that out of the question so far as England is concerned. Moreover, if the negroes could raise and get to market a considerable quantity of cotton, the result would be, "that all the laboriously hand-made goods now used by them would be superceded by machine goods, and the demand for these would still exceed the supply of cotton." Such has been the case with Rgypt, Turkey, South America, China, India, which, no matter how much cotton they supply, take back a great deal more in the manufactured article. The United States alone afford a not surplus of cotton above the weight of goods they buy back. There is a prospective demand for 4,700,000,000 pounds more cotton than is now grown.

Of 3,651,000 balos delivered for European consumption in 1859, the Southern States supplied 2,880,000 bales. The total English consumption was 2,294,000, of which 1,907,000 was from the Southern States. Notwithstanding these large deliveries, the stock-on hand at the close of the year did not increase.

The LondonCotton Supply Reporter estimates that at least four million persons in that country are dependent on the cotton trade for subsistence. Lancashire, which, a century ago, contained a population of only 300,000, now numbers 2,300,000--an increase which exceeds that of any other equal surface of the globe in the same time, and is entirely owing to the development of the cotton trade. Says the Reporter:

"If a war should at any time break out between England and America, a general servile insurrection take place, or the cotton crop fall short in quantity, our mills would be stopped for want of cotton, employers would be ruined, and famine would stalk abroad among the hundreds and thousands of working people who are at present fortunately well employed. Railways would cease to pay, and our ships would lie rotting in their ports, should a scarcity of the raw material for manufacture overtake us."

The London Times, commenting on a speech of Lord Brougham, in the House of Lords, says:

The importation of cotton into this country has, since the import duty was abolished, increased sixteen fold. Having been 63,000,000 pounds, it is now 1,000,000,000 pounds. This is one of those giant facts which stand head and shoulders higher than the crowd — so high and so broad that we can neither overlook it nor affect not to see it. It proves the existenoe of a thousand smaller facts that must stand under its shadow. It tells of sixteen times as many milis, sixteen times as many English families living by working those milis, sixteen times as much profit derived from sixteen times as much capital engaged in this manufacture. It carries after it sequences of increased quantily of freights and insurances, and necessities for sixteen times the amount of customers to consume, to our profit, the immense amount of produce we are turning out. There are not many such facts as these, arising in the quiet routine of industrial history. It is so large and sosteady that we can steer our national policy by it."

#x34;If France should take to manufacturing on a large seale," adds the Times,"the present supply will not be enough. France will be competing with us in the foreign cotton markets, stimulating still further the produce of Georgia and South Carolina. The jump which the consumption of cotton in England has just made is but a single leap, which may be repeated indefinitely, There are a thousand millions of mankind upon the globe, all of whom can be most comfortably clad in cotton. Every year new tribes and new nations are added to the category of cotton wearers. There is every reason to believe that the supply of this universal necessity will for many years yet to come fail to keep pace with the demand, and,"

in the interest of that large class of our countrymen to whom cotton is bread, we must continue to hope that the United States will be able to supply us in years to come with twice as much as we bought of them in years past. 'Let us raise up another market,' say the antislavery people. So say we all. We know very well that the possibility of growing cotton is not confined to the New World. The plains of Bengal grew cotton before Columbus was born, and we, with our mechanical advantages, can actually afford to take the Bengal cotton from the growers and send it back to them in yarns and pieces cheaper than they can make it up. So, also, thousands of square miles in China are covered by the cotton plant, and some day we may perhaps repeat the same process there. Africa, too, promises us cotton. Dr. Livingstone found a country in which the growth was indigenous, and where the chiefs were very anxious to be taught how to cultivate it for a European market. There is no lack of lands and climate where cotton could be produced.--It is said of gold that no substance in nature is more widely diffused and more omnipresent; but, unfortunately, it is diffused under conditions which make it seldom possible to win it with a profit. So it is with cotton.--The conditions under which it becomes available for our markets are not often present in the wild cotton which our travelers discover, nor are they to be immediately supplied. Remember the efforts which the French have made to produce cotton in Aleria, the enormous prizes they offered, the prices at which they bought up all the produce, the care with which fabrics were prepared from these cottons at Rouen and exhibited at the Paris Exhibition, and then note the miserable result after so many years of artificial protection."

Who can read such facts as these and believe that Great Britain can or will submit to the Lincoln blockade, or even to a war policy of the North which threatens the source of the Southern supply? The interest of France, though not as great, is still very large, and both these nations will retain their accustomed Southern trade, or "know the reason why."

BIG NEWS FROM THE CONFEDERACY, May 11, 1863.

Lt. Gen. T.J. "Stonewall Jackson

May 11, 1863

Death of Gen. Thos J. Jackson.

      We have this morning to announce the sorrowful tidings of the death of Lieut. General Thos. J. Jackson, which took place at the residence of Mr. Thos. Chandler, near Guinea Station, at fifteen minutes past 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon. We can partly anticipate the deep gloom which this announcement will cast over the whole country, with whose fortunes he was so closely identified, and by which he was regarded as one of its first and ablest defenders.

      Gen. Jackson was born in the town of Clarksburg, Harrison county, Va., in the year 1825, and was the youngest of four children. Ere he had passed his third year his parents died. The subject of this sketch was taken by his uncle to Lewis county, where he remained until he arrived at the age of seventeen, when he was appointed a Cadet in the West Point Academy. In 1846 he graduated with high distinction, and was immediately ordered to report for duty to Gen. Taylor, with whom he served until Gen. Scott commenced his campaign in Mexico, when young Jackson was assigned to his command. Before he reached the city of Mexico he was brevetted Major for "gallant and meritorious conduct." Soon after the termination of the war he resigned his commission in the army, and obtained a professorship in the Virginia Military Institute. Shortly after entering upon his duties there he married the daughter of Mr. Junkin, the Principal of Washington College. She died, and he subsequently married Miss Morrison, of North Carolina.

      When the present war broke out he tendered his services to his native State, was commissioned Colonel by Gov. Letcher, and was unanimously confirmed by the Convention of Virginia, then in session. He was the first Colonel and the first man, under the provisional army of Virginia, to take command of his troops. As Colonel he commanded the forces at Harper's Ferry till the arrival of Gen. Jos. E. Johnston. By Gen. J. he was assigned the important duty of checking the Yankee General in his advance. How well he performed that duty the following extract from General Johnston's official report of the battle of Manassas will show:

     "On the 2d of July Gen. Patterson again crossed the Potomac. Col. Jackson, pursuant to instructions, fell back before him. In retiring, he gave him a severe lesson in the affair at Falling Waters. With a battalion of the 5th Virginia regiment (Harper's) and Pendleton's battery of field artillery he engaged the enemy's advance. Skillfully taking a position where the smallness of his force was concealed, he engaged them for a considerable time, inflicted a heavy loss, and retired, when about to be out flanked, scarcely losing a man, but bringing off forty-five prisoners." 

     Soon after this affair Col. Jackson was made a Brigadier-General. At the first battle of Manassas he gained the soubriquet of "Stone wall," under the following circumstances:--Gen Bee, whose brigade was being sorely pressed, rode up to Gen. Jackson, and said: "General, they are beating us back." The reply was, "Sir, we will give them the bayonet."Gen. Bee immediately rallied the remnant of his brigade, and his last words to them were: "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer. Follow me."

     In November, after the battle of Manassas, Gen. Jackson was assigned to the command of the Department of the Valley. On the 23d of March following the battle of Kernstown was fought. With a force not exceeding 3,000 effective men he attacked 20,000 fresh troops, repulsed them repeatedly, and so crippled the foe that he dared not, with all his numbers, follow him in his retreat. The next fight in which he commanded was at McDowell, where he met the enemy under Milroy, and defeated him after four hours hard fighting. In the following dispatch he announced his triumph:

"Valley District, May 9, 1862.

"To Gen. S. Cooper:

"God blessed our arms with victory at McDowell yesterday.

T. J. Jackson,

"Maj. Gen."

Pushing down the Valley he drove the enemy from Front Royal and Winchester, and on the 26th he dispatched his Government as follows:

"Winchester, May26.

"During the last three days God has blessed our arms with brilliant success. On Friday the Federals at Front Royal were routed, and one section of artillery, in addition to many prisoners, captured. On Saturday Banks's main column, while retreating from Strasburg to Winchester, was pierced, the rear part retreating towards Strasburg. On Sunday the other part was routed at this place. At last accounts Brigadier-General George H. Stuart was pursuing them with cavalry and artillery and capturing many. A large amount of medical, ordnance, and other stores, have fallen into our hands.

T. J. Jackson."

Gen. Jackson soon fell back to meet the combined forces of Fremont and Shields.--These he met at Cross Keys and Port Republic on the 8th and 9th of June, when he obtained another decided victory. The following characteristic dispatch announces his victory:

Near Port Republic, 9th, Via Staunton, June10th, 1862.

To S. Cooper, Adj't Gen'l:

Through God's blessing, the enemy near Port Republic was this day routed, with the loss of six pieces of his artillery.

(Signed,) T. J. Jackson,

Major-Gen'l Commanding.

This, for the time, closed his operations in the Valley, and his command was ordered to join Gen. Lee, which it did in time to participate in the series of battles which delivered Richmond from the siege under which it had been laid by McClellan. In all these battles Gen. Jackson bore a conspicuous part, as he did subsequently at Cedar Run, Manassas Plains, Harper's Ferry, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. At Chancellorsville fate ordered that his useful career should be closed, and over his loss a bleeding country is now called to mourn.-- Richmond Daily Dispatch.