June 27, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
It is high time for the State authorities to do something towards furnishing labor, if it is expected that Charleston is to be saved from destruction at the hands of the enemy next fall. There is a vast deal of work to be done which the soldiers we have cannot possibly accomplish. Much precious time has already been wasted, and it will now require every effort on the part of all parties concerned, to get ready to fight twenty iron-clads, besides the land forces. The times require resources and boldness and energy in all those who, in the public service, have any hand in controlling the destinies of our people. The legislation of the tempest-in-a-teapot Legislature may be very bungling. It may satisfy legal technicalities to say that requisitions have been made and certain forms have been gone through. The public care nothing about personal records and shiftings of responsibility. They have a right to judge, and will judge, every public servant, whether in the army or out of it, by results. Papers and writings may do very well in ordinary times, but in a crisis of difficulties and dangers like the present, when such enormous interests are at stake, nothing but successful results can satisfy. Difficulties must be expected, must be met – ways must be found to overcome them. To fail is to prove unequal to the occasion. We tell the people of Charleston and of South Carolina that without more effort and more progress in our defences, the fall of Charleston and the whole Low Country of the State, are events not improbable. These […..] are of truth and soberness.’ ‘They that have ears, let them hear.’ Labor is wanted; work is absolutely essential to our safety, and no small amount of it. Richmond has been fortified by the incessant labor of fifteen thousand slaves for nine months. Cannot enough labor be got in South Carolina to save Charleston? A few weeks delay may render all subsequent efforts fruitless. A pressing need is upon us now.