April 30, 1861
The Charleston Mercury
RICHMOND, April 27, 1861.
I observed that THE MERCURY of Thursday, received this morning, contains no letter, and only one of the dispatches sent you. A letter has been written from this point to THE MERCURY every day this week, and why they have not been received passes my comprehension, for the Charleston papers reach here regularly, and as yet Old ABE has been kind enough not to carry out the war programme of the New York Times, which contemplates the capture of Richmond if not sooner.
Mr. RIORDAN, of your office, with whom I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday, tells me that the Richmond mails are exceedingly irregular of late, and, like myself, is at a loss to account for the fact. Mr. R. goes with the Carolina troops wherever they may be ordered, as war correspondent. He spoke of leaving this morning for Alexandria–that being the point of greatest interest just now. In good time, we hope to move the theatre of operations as far North as Baltimore, if not further. But no one seems to have any idea of the plan of the campaign.
This letter is written in an office which has been hurriedly vacated in consequence of its being selected as the headquarters of Brigadier General BONHAM. Your correspondent is put to his wit’s end by the necessity of writing at railroad speed in the midst of a confusion surpassing any thing he ever witnessed; for, through the open windows (the day is very warm) comes a din of a thousand conmingled noises, not the least of which is the steady tramp of soldiers marching out to the great encampment at the Fairgrounds.
Beyond the tolerably authentic report of the capture of Gen. HARNEY at Harper’s Ferry, and the rapid concentration of troops at Washington, we have nothing very new this morning. While it is undeniable that ‘Rome was not built in a day, it strikes me that Virginia is hardly quick enough in helping gallant little Maryland, and the well-grounded fear is that the Unionists there may yet succeed in turning the State over to the Abolition despot. Baltimore and Eastern Maryland are now sound, but can they remain so unless supported by the whole power of the Confederate States? We are looking every day for President DAVIS, confident that he will answer this question satisfactorily.
Beyond the tolerably authentic report of the capture of Gen. HARNEY at Harper’s Ferry, and the rapid concentration of troops at Washington, we have nothing very new this morning. While it is undeniable that ‘Rome was not built in a day, it strikes me that Virginia is hardly quick enough in helping gallant little Maryland, and the well-grounded fear is that the Unionists there may yet succeed in turning the State over to the Abolition despot. Baltimore and Eastern Maryland are now sound, but can they remain so unless supported by the whole power of the Confederate States? We are looking every day for President DAVIS, confident that he will answer this question satisfactorily.
The South Carolina boys attract great attention. Whenever a group of them passes a group of Virginia soldiers, the greetings are ‘Hurrah for South Carolina!’ ‘Hurrah for the Old Dominion.’ Your men are far better fitted for service than the vast majority of ours–better drilled, more inured to camp life, more thoroughly tired of inaction, and consequently more eager to bring things to a close one way or the other. One of them told me that he would certainly have deserted if the fight at Sumter had been postponed two weeks. The roar of the guns and the victory achieved, roused his energies and made him anxious for more work.
Much speculation exists as to the probable duration of the war. The venerable EDMUND RUFFIN thinks it cannot last more than six months, as we have a commercial bit in the mouth of the North which will effectually check the rage into which it has thrown itself. Where there is so much barking it is unreasonable to expect much biting. But we shall see what we shall see.
General BUTLER, who seceded from the Charleston Convention because justice was not done the South, and Commodore STOCKTON, who was profuse in his profession of attachment to the South while he was in the Peace Convention, have both gone by the board, and now swear to sustain flag–that is, LINCOLN. In Chicago, McCORMICK, the Reaping Machine man, and McCOMAS, both Virginians, the one owning and the other editing a prominent journal there–the only States Rights paper almost in the Northwest–have yielded to the mob and run up the black war flag of Mass’ ABE. There are some bad signs in Kentucky and in Northwestern Virginia. Thus, day by day, our enemies accumulate and our friends diminish. So be it. We shall make good our independence in spite of numbers. The greater the odds, the greater the glory.
RICHMOND.