Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 1.
Frank Moore, Ed.

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[205] States, identified with her in sympathies, in interests, and institutions — with the new born republic of the South, which, like another Mars, has sprung into existence full armed — a young giant, whose tread is already on the pathway of victory and national renown; whose prowess, power, and resources challenge the recognition of civilized nations, and to whom a future of unexampled prosperity and glory has already opened.

We congratulate Tennessee and the Confederate States upon the mutual good fortune of this auspicious alliance. She brings into the new republic the rich dowry of her unsullied patriotism, her ancestral valor, and her mighty and varied resources, while from it she receives the protection and respectability of a powerful and rising nationality.

We hail this decisive step of Tennessee, as the glorious realization of patriotic hopes, long and fondly cherished by us, amid the gloom of discouragement and despondency, as the fruition of years of struggle, and toil, and anxious, and often despairing effort, in the cause of Southern rights.

There is a moral sublimity in the triumph of a great cause that stirs the deepest emotions of the soul. Not in the narrow spirit of political partisanship have we battled in this cause, but as a son of the South, prompted alone by an ardent desire for her safety, her freedom, and her honor. The exultant pleasure of this triumph is enhanced by the reflection that it is shared by all classes of our fellow-citizens alike, without reference to former party distinctions; all past political prejudices being obliterated by the noble and irrepressible patriotism which now animates and unites all Tennesseeans in the common cause of their State and section.

This important change in the political relations of Tennessee creates new and weighty duties and responsibilities, while it awakens new hopes and aspirations. At this moment they urge her to instant and strenuous action. The advent of the new republic has invoked the red thunderbolts of war upon its devoted head. It is no sooner born than it is called upon to defend its right to exist. It seems destined to pass through the fiery ordeal of the fiercest and bloodiest strife which, perhaps, history has yet recorded.

The faithless, meddling, and overbearing North, foiled in her long-cherished scheme of sectional domination, usurpation, and tyranny, by the unexpected revolt of the South, gnashes her teeth, and threatens the extermination of her victim. Her people are frenzied with rage; the hell-born passions of avarice, hate, and revenge, sway her infuriated mobs, thirsting for the blood of a people from whom they have received only benefits and favors. A spirit of wild and bloody atrocity, akin to that which raged in the French Revolution, has seized the entire Northern people, extinguishing at once all the sentiments of Christianity, and the feelings of humanity. Schemes of fiendish cruelty, at which hell itself might turn pale and stand aghast, and demons blush, are now discussed and approved by the sleek and sanctimonious clergy of the North. Even woman, repressing the instinctive humanity and tenderness of her nature, clamors for the massacre of Southern women and children. An imbecile, but perfidious and atrocious Government, leads this wild and bloody raid upon the south. Its armies are now mustering and advancing upon us, with the insolent boast upon their lips that they will either subjugate or exterminate us.

Such are the black and threatening clouds of danger, charged with the lightnings of destruction, which now darken the horizon of the Southern Republic. Tennessee, in this tremendous crisis, will do her entire duty. Great sacrifices are demanded of her, and they will be cheerfully made. Her blood and treasure are offered without stint at the shrine of Southern freedom. She counts not the cost at which independence must be bought. The gallant volunteer State of the South, her brave sons now rushing to the standard of the Southern Confederacy, will sustain by their unflinching valor and deathless devotion, her ancient renown achieved on so many battle fields. In fact our entire people — men, women, and children — have engaged in this fight, and are animated by the single, heroic, and indomitable resolve to perish rather than submit to the despicable invader now threatening us with subjugation. They will ratify the ordinance of secession, amid the smoke and carnage of battle; they will write out their endorsement of it with the blood of their foe — they will enforce it at the point of the bayonet and the sword.

Welcome, thrice welcome, glorious Tennessee, to the thriving family of Southern Confederate States!--Memphis Avalanche, May 6.