Daily Advocate
Baton Rouge
May 24, 1861
Mrs. Donelson to Gen. Scott.—The following eloquent appeal to Gen. Scott from the wife of Andrew Jackson Donelson, we find in the Memphis Bulletin:
Memphis, April 29, 1861.
Gen. Scott—Dear Sir: I address you not as a stranger. I was introduced to you in 1834, at the White House, by President Jackson, as “my niece, Miss Martin, of Tennessee.” In 1834 I married Louis Randolph, a grandson of President Jefferson. In 1837 he died, and in 1841 I married Major Andrew J. Donelson, whom you will remember. In 1852 I saw you frequently in Washington.
I write to you, Gen. Scott, as the only man in the country who can arrest the civil war now begun. When it was announced that “Gen. Scott had resigned,1” a thrill of joy ran through the South. Cannon told the glad tidings, and my heart said, “God bless him.” Now it is said “you will never fight under any other than the Star Spangled Banner.” We have loved that banner. We have loved the Union. But the Union is gone, and forever, and I wept as each star left the field of blue and set in night. Now we have another field of blue, and soon our fifteen stars will shine upon our right. The stripes are all that is left of the banner you have borne victorious in many battles.
Of you I may ask it, but not the usurper and his Abolition band, who now desecrate the honored place once filled by our Washington, Jefferson and Jackson—of Gen. Scott I ask it— STOP THIS WAR. Say to the North, you shall not shed your brother’s blood. The sons of Tennessee and the South have buckled on their armor, and are ready for the fight. We will fight this battle, every man, woman and child, to the last cent in our pockets and the last drop of blood in our veins. The North boasts of its strength. If this boast be well founded, it were cowardice to destroy the weak. But “the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong!” God will defend us when our husbands and sons go forth to repel the invaders of our homes, our rights, and our soil. Then count the cost, Hero of Battles, and let after ages bless you.
- Winfield Scott didn’t retire until November 1861.