Speech of Gen. Pemberton at Brookhaven, Miss., June, 1863.
soldiers: In assuming the command of so brave and intelligent an army as that to which President Davis has assigned me, I desire at once to win your confidence by frankly declaring that I am a Northern man by birth; but I have married, raised children, and own negroes in the South, and as such shall never consent to see my daughters eating at the same table or intermarrying with the black race, as the Northern teachers of equality would have them.
I take command of you as a soldier, who will not fear to lead where any brave man can follow — I am no street soavrnger--no General Lovell.
(Cheers.) If any soldier in this command is aggrieved, or shall feel himself aggrieved by any act of his superior officer, he must have no hesitation in applying to me personally for redress.
The doors of my headquarters shall never be closed against the poorest and humblest soldier in my command.
Come to me, if you suffer wrong, as fearl
e last pound of beef; bacon, and flour — the last grain of corn, the last cow and hog, and horse and dog, shall have been consumed, and the last man shall have perished in the trenches, then, and only then, will I sell Vicksburg.
On the 14th
June, 1863. Johnston sent him word that all he could attempt to do was to save the garrison, and suggested, as a mode of extrication and conjunction, a simultaneous attack upon Grant's line at a given point by his own troops without, and Pemberton's withithing to save the beleaguered garrison, but in vain, for he could not. collect troops sufficient for the purpose, while Pemberton, still hoping for succor, fought on, and suffered with the heart-sickness of hope deferred.
Finally, on the 21st
June, 1863., he sent a messenger to Johnston, who had moved out from Canton as far as Vernon, near the Big Black, recommending him to move north of the railroad toward Vicksburg, to keep the attention of the Nationals attracted to that side, while the gar
ne another, and there was more than one line of them.
To me they appeared thus:
Obstructions near Fort Moultrie.
When we landed on Sullivan's Island (February, 1865), several telegrams came into my possession.
One of them, dated Sumter, April 8, 1863, runs thus:
Blue and red Coston lights indicate the enemy's boats trying to cut the net; the batteries will open with grape.
Colonel Freemantle, of the Cold stream Guards, in the published account of his visit to Charleston, June, 1863, says:
There are excellent arrangements of — and other contrivances to foul the screw of a vessel between Sumter and Moultrie.
As soon as the picket and scout boats of the fleet were able to approach the entrance, the presence of the obstructions was verified; but in the obscurity of the night it was difficult to ascertain precisely what they were, particularly as the rebels were then in strong force at the locality, and very little time was permitted for examination.
General G
