March 26, 1863, The New York Herald
The cheering news from the Mississippi, which we have the pleasure to submit to our readers this morning, opens a splendid prospect before us. Admiral Porter, by a convenient bayou, has succeeded in running five gunboats into the lower Yazoo, and into the very position desired above Haines’ Bluff. Thus he is enabled to move up the river to the support of the descending expedition at Fort Pemberton, to reduce the rebels there to a speedy capitulation or evacuation, and to bring down the combined land and naval forces of our two expeditions to the flank and rear of Vicksburg, preparatory to a general assault or complete investment of the place. We therefore confidently expect very soon to receive the news that the rebels, to save their army at each place, have abandoned Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and that the whole line of the Mississippi is cleared of rebel obstructions.
It appears that the rebel report that only one of the vessels of Admiral Farragut’s squadron had run the gauntlet of the enfilading batteries at Port Hudson was a deception. The latest reports state that all of his vessels are now above Port Hudson. Two of them have reached the mouth of the canal opposite Vicksburg, while the remainder are stationed at Red river, doubtless to look after the ram Queen of the West and other rebel craft.
While it is evident that we are near a general collapse of the rebellion in the Southwest, with the capture or evacuation of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, the general reports of the day, including those from rebel sources, and all the signs of the times, indicate the speedy expulsion of Jeff. Davis from Virginia. The scarcity of subsistence of itself is powerfully operating to the abandonment by the rebel armies of their exhausted Northern frontier lines. We dare say that the principal object of Longstreet’s advance into Kentucky, from East Tennessee, is to secure subsistence for his troops, and some needful supplies for the army of Jo. Johnston in front of General Rosecrans; but in this foraging foray we predict that Longstreet will be far less successful than Bragg.
The skies are brightening. The rebellion is evidently upon the point of exhaustion and dissolution. When one gold dollar in Richmond commands six dollars and a half in Confederate scrip, we may reasonably assume that the rotten paper fabric upon which the rebellion stands is falling to pieces. The time has come, and President Lincoln has now the opportunity, the means and the power, to bring this war to a speedy conclusion. Let him exert his authority, and push on the war with an overwhelming pressure, and he will soon achieve a glorious, comprehensive and lasting peace. In view of the hour of our great deliverance, who can attempt to portray the glory and grandeur of the future destiny of the United States of America, fully reunited and all powerful for peace or war?