The Richmond correspondent of the Charleston
Courier, pays an eloquent tribute to the sacrifices and heroism displayed by
Virginia, which has chiefly given her own domain as the battle field of the
South, and interposed her own heart between the sword of the usurper and its destined victim.
The writer says:
‘
"When the revolution burst upon the
Border States, in April last, and the old fogies of the
Convention were driven by the overwhelming force of public opinion to recognize the existence of war, the
State was barely prepared to make a respectable defence.
But the indomitable people rushed upon the
Navy-Yard and
Harper's Ferry and captured them.
They armed with whatever weapons they possessed and marched to those points most threatened by the enemy; and from the time when few in numbers, poorly armed, uniformed and disciplined, they threw themselves into the breach to stem the tide of Northern invasion, until this day, when they have in the field a splendid army of fifty thousand men, under command of one of the ablest and most distinguished
Generals in the service, they have participated in every battle and skirmish with the enemy, and in every case but one the main causes of victory were due to them.
At Fairfax Court-House,
Aquia Creek, Pigs' Point,
Mathias' Point,
New Creek, and
Romney, our forces were composed principally of
Virginians.
Their artillery companies did very much towards gaining the battle of Great Bethel and the fight at
Vienna, and they were well represented at
Sewell's Point.
The gallantry of such men as
Jackson, the hero of
Alexandria; the brothers Ashby, who slew Hessians at
Romney as Richard Cœur
de Leon slew infidels in
Palestine, and
Capt. Marr, is not outshone in the annals of the old Revolution."
’
It gives us pleasure to witness this generous appreciation of
Virginia, an appreciation which, we believe, with an occasional exception, is universal in the whole
South.
