CHAPTER XVI.
OPERATION’S OF GENERAL TAYLOR IN LOUISIANA—THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY IRRECOVERABLY LOST TO THE CONFEDERACY—FEDERALS FOILED AT CHARLESTON—THE DIMINISHED CONFIDENCE OF THE SOUTH—FINANCIAL DERANGEMENT—DEFECTIVE FINANCIAL SYSTEM OF THE SOUTH—MR. DAVIS’ LIMITED CONNECTION WITH IT—THE REASONS FOR THE FINANCIAL FAILURE OF THE CONFEDERACY—INFLUENCE OF SPECULATION—ANOMALOUS SITUATION OF THE SOUTH—MR. DAVIS’ VIEWS OF THE FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE SOUTH AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR—MILITARY OPERATIONS IN TENNESSEE—BRAGG RETREATS TO CHATTANOOGA—MORGAN’S EXPEDITION—SURRENDER OF CUMBERLAND GAP—FEDERAL OCCUPATION OF CHATTANOOGA—BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA—BRAGG’S EXPECTATIONS—GRANTS OPERATIONS—BRAGG BADLY DEFEATED—PRESIDENT DAVIS’ VIEW OF THE DISASTER—GENERAL BRAGG RELIEVED FROM COMMAND OF THE WESTERN ARMY—CENSURE OF THIS OFFICER—HIS MERITS AND SERVICES—THE UNJUST CENSURE OF MR. DAVIS AND GENERAL BRAGG FOR THE REVERSES IN THE WEST—OPERATIONS IN VIRGINIA IN THE LATTER PART OF 1863—CONDITION OF THE SOUTH AT THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR—SIGNS OF EXHAUSTION—PRESIDENT DAVIS’ RECOMMENDATIONS—PUBLIC DESPONDENCY—THE WORK OF FACTION—ABUSE OF MR. DAVIS IN CONGRESS—THE CONTRAST BETWEEN HIMSELF AND HIS ASSAILANTS—DEFICIENCY OF FOOD—HOW CAUSED—THE CONFEDERACY EVENTUALLY CONQUERED BY STARVATION.
Though indicating that stage of the war, when began the steady decline of the Confederacy, the summer of 1863 was not wholly unredeemed by successes, which, however transient in significance, threw no mean lustre upon Southern arms.
A series of brilliant operations marked the career of General Richard Taylor in Lower Louisiana. Preceded by a successful campaign in the Lafourche region, an expedition was undertaken by General Taylor against Brashear City, in the latter days of June. A strong and important position was carried, and eighteen hundred prisoners, with over five millions of dollars worth of stores, were captured. For some time the hope was indulged, that this success of General Taylor would compel the abandonment of the Federal siege of Port Hudson, and that Taylor could also make a successful diversion in favor of Vicksburg. This hope was disappointed, and Taylor, not having the strength to cope with the large force of the enemy sent against him, after the fall of the Mississippi strongholds, was forced to abandon the country which he had so gallantly won. The valley of the Mississippi was irrecoverably in Federal possession, and the Confederacy was able at no subsequent stage of the war, to undertake any serious enterprise for its redemption.
At Charleston the Federal fleet and land forces continued, during the summer, their fruitless and expensive attacks. The skill of General Beauregard, and the firmness of his small command, made memorable the siege of that devoted city, so hated and coveted by the North, yet among the last prizes to fall into its hands.
But momentary gleams of hope were insufficient to dispel the shadow of disaster, which, by midsummer, seemed to have settled upon the fate of the Confederacy. The violent blow dealt the material capacity of the South by the surrender of Vicksburg; the diminished prestige, from the serious check at Gettysburg, in its wondrous career of victory, and the frightful losses of the Army of Northern Virginia, were immediately followed by a marked abatement of that unwavering confidence in the ultimate result, which had previously so stimulated the energy of the South.
The material disability and embarrassment resulting from the possession, by the enemy, of large sections of the Confederacy, and consequent contraction of its territorial area; the destruction of property; the serious disturbance of the whole commercial system of the South, by the loss of Vicksburg; and the diminished confidence of the public, were attended by a fatal derangement of the already failing Confederate system of finance.
In the American war, as in all wars, the question of finance entered largely into the decision of the result. At an early period many sagacious minds declared that the contest would finally be resolved into a question as to which of the belligerents “had the longer purse.” In acceptance of this view, the belief was largely entertained that the financial distress in the South, consequent upon the heavy reverses of this period, clearly portended the failure of the Confederacy.