The Corinth war eagle. [volume], August 07, 1862, Image 1

About The Corinth war eagle. [volume] (Corinth, Miss.) 1862-186?

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E. D. PENN, Editor
VOL. I.
(the Corinth War &i0fc.
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY MOBNIMJ BY
Ebridgc D wight Feiin.
Q TERlvia OF GtJBPCRT-PTIOT.
.a " t
PRINTING
.We are supplied with a fine assortment of
tevery description of Job Type, and have ev
ery facility for the execution of "
PtAiN AND FANCY PRINTING,
in ft style unsurpassed in thd State. Orders
for Handbills, Cards, Circulars, and till kinds
of Blanks, promptly attended W.
The Vying Soldier.
MAVP MULLFR.
It was the holy Sabbath evening !
The gun lingered in the west, casting
A radiant halo far around and above,
Till one fancied the gates of the heavenly
City thrown wide open, and its beauty
And brightness gleaming down upon us.
Far as the eye could reach. shono the
Tents of the Northern legions, and from
Them, borne on the gentle wind; caiuo
The voice of one whose years had not
Yet reached a score, btit whtisc" feet wcro
Entering the Valley of Death, telling of
Ilopes blighted Anticipations never to be
reahzdd,
And all the old sad tale of AzraeL
And I must die ! slowly my breath conies
now
And death's chill dew3 are gathering on my
brow.
Around trty heart I feel the subtle toueh
Of hi3 coli ley fingers. Oh ! how much
I long far but a moment's sight df those
Best loved ones, ere I seek the grave's report.
Oh ! it is hard to die in life's fair spring
With honor's path before infc Opening,
How londiv nave I dream Wl n wm a narrin, 1
"With thoso who deemed lt.'.rt the years gone
For home and country, sweet and beautiful
to die.
Oh, comrades brothers ! gather closer rOdnd
My bed, and let me har again the sound
Of your kind voices, Crci I start upon
The path so many of our boys liave gone.
Like they, and I, Oh ! may'yb'u' hbver know
Of dying far from hOHib the utter, titter woe.
Ah, well ! 'twill sotm be past. Tho bitter
, blow
Is lessening nofr ; rind round mo soft and
low,
Float sounds of sweet angelic harmon.
The opening gates of Paradise I gee,
While thb'.so dear ones,- who've Crossed the
strcatn before,
Stand waiting, watching for rriC, on the eth
er shore;
You'll tell ray rtidthcr, boys, when yoii get
hoine,
I thought t!f her, amid death's gathering
gldoiri,
My FistcnJ., tod, tell them I wait them there
Where coirtcs nd war nbr parting, pain hbr
care,
And father, hot to mdiirn my short race tun,
That many other fathers weep for other sons.
There, that is all. Noiv, boys, a last farewell,
We'll meet tl&ain, how soon, we cannot tell,
i'or the last time thd south wind fails my
Rwteet peace fend calinncss steal upon me how,
liow light it prrtws ! I see th further shore
With all the shining hdsts; There, boysj avo
part rid more;
HOW CbNSCRtFfS ARE lUlMfcD IN ArkAII-
6Ab. A letter fiord Madison, Ark., says :
I find tho utmost consternation existing
-irjng the lOJpIeali along the route, in re
gard to the terrible military despotism thoy
nffl laboring under. Almost every man
capable of bearing arms is being forced into
the rebel army. It works thii3 : An order
COfees from an officer of General Hindman's
and by tho way there are hundreds in this
tdtvn wild would willingly take the lifo of
that niah that a person shall have three
days in which td report himself to head
Quatters or procure & suitable substitute. At
the end tif the specified time, unless the man
notified tomes forward, he is hunted out and
fotced into a guard house, where he is kept
Until he expresses a willingness to shoulder
a musket The majority of tho army of
12,000 men, which Hindman has in this
State, are conscripts raised in this manner.
The greatest number do not wait to be
forced into the ranks. If notified, they wait
until their time nearly expires, and then
come voluntarily forward. But I am assured
by hundred that they only do this because
they are compelled to, and that they do not
proposs to rgbt
& Proprietor.
coniXTii,
PigftUawfluis.-
The Editor's Tragedy
A strange and painful tragedy has just
been records! which should touch some-
A,
uer iiirn.c, u:o vojeci oi ims tragedy, ap
pears to have been -one of that class of pro
vincial editors in whom the possession of
literary capacity inspires a deep pride and
sense of power. We by no means which to
attribute such feelings exclusively to cur
provincial brethren. The habit of tracing
Swift comments, often cf passing hasty judg
ment, on human beings and their actions or
rather on thoro particular phantasms of our
own minds, which for tno'hlomont we as
sume to represent the men and their 'actions
j inspires- sc-.ncthiiig of this tone iri all
critics of passing events ; and tills is, indeed,
their characteristic danger. Cut in none is
this sense of empty power mere likely to be
intoxicating and dangerous than in those
who are bt.it half-versed in the' supreme un
certainties of literature, who do not see that
even the highest literary estimates of men
and things are vague half-views, with much
that is essential to the truth still left iu
shadow, lo this perhaps self-elevated class
Of border-laud literature Mr. Birnio apparent
ly belonged. lie had been editor cf the
UhesUr-U-Slred Literal in ' Durham; and
there; apparently, had so far succeeded as to
aspird after a more independent position. He
became editor and proprietor Of the FaftirJc
Literal to which he was in the habit cf con
tributing a weekly leader, signed "The dock
of thd Steeple," a nom deplarte probably in-
fmrW r in!V thn .;. ,u lit oit--1 . -
vey wmen tns eaitonai minu tooiv 01 tne
towri and its neighborhood, as it looked to
every quarter cf the compass. Unfortuiiato
ly he1 never taught himslef td distrust wide
intellectual surveys; at least in his own case,
and his IlxVcirJc Liberal failed; Leaving his
wife and family still in Chester-le-Strcet, he
then went to Kdinhurgh to seek work, fell
into bad living arid bad company, was rob
bed of almost all he had, and in the remorse
for thd injury hd had thus inflicted on his
wjfe and children, attempted suicide by an
overdose of laudanum, which, however, he
took in such largo quantities as to make him
sick ; and this for the time saved his life.
Still the cock would not come down from his
steeple. The editor had proved not only the
ingratitude of the public, but on a .small
scale that unsoundness iu his own surveys
of "men and things," which might well
have taught him to distrust them still more
on a larger scale, and yet the pride which is
so often fed by this wonderful pdwer of writ
ing out our glib, false views, or at best half
views of human affairs, clung to him to the
last. He set out on foot on his return to"
Chcster-ld-23treet, apparently with a design
Of killing himself by' exhaustion, certainly
with a fixed resolve not to avert this fate by
any concession of pride. Ho had but a few
pence in his pocket, and a few of the cher
ished literary " contributions ' of his own
pen. Ho kept a journal by the way, editing
as it were his last bouts, and specifying with
care the exact details of his suffering ; and
we mut say that the" brief sentences which
he entered during tho last few days of his
are not tainted by any touch of literary af
fectation, btit the simplest utterances cf hu
man anguiib. For days, wo arc told, he
never had his clothes off, never rested on a
bed, and seldom under cover at all ; tasted
no food btit what his pence would buy, and
drank Only water. . On the night of the 12th
Febrtiary he reached Morpeth, spent his last
penny on a roll, mistook the road, became
overpowered by suffering and fatigue, and
crept into a stack, near Stobhill brick-works,
to die. For nine days he lay there without
either food or drink, but on the ninth found
strength to creep out for water, yet would
solicit no help, and crept back again. On
the twelfth day he records that he can no
longer creep out for water. On the fourteenth
day of (February 25th) he was discovered
and taken to the workhouse hospital, whero
he died of. mortification of both legs the
!c 3u$t anil few km"
4f
Mississippi, Thursday,
same night, his feet being so swollen at it
was necessary to cut off hisboot3. Tho fol
lowing tvere his last entries in tho diary
entries singularly pathetic, whether vrl sup
pose them to be his last excuses to the .rorld,
Ot lha true vJtcrturr of h's tr-;. nr.
. truty.pihr.p, t'tiu:jvr: .yLtC. a ,
hursday, February 13th
-I I'd ;
ncv
laid under some straw, by a hay?tacK near
Morpeth, last night and all clay ; God nows
if ever I will be able to proceed further. I
would like to have got to Chcstcr-le-4;:rcet,
j to bo buried there, that my poor wife , when
she looked cu my grave, might foigh. and
weep.
" .Saturday, 15tll.One week niy punish
ment has lastod. i still lie here, buvery
weak and much pained in tho bovVe!".,
"Sabbath ICth. Another day hout
feodor drink; cold. When will thTrial
be over ?
" Monday, 17th.0 Cod ! grant mo pati
ence. " Tuesday, ISth.'Alone, without tf foul
to see or speak to; a bit of bread, or ; Sop
of drink for six days and niglits ; howjbng
can it bo ? .
' 14 Wednesday, l9th.This cannot hold cut
long. Help, 0 Lord ! ' i
; "Friday, 21st Tho ninth day v.i'hcut
food ; got a drink of water last night. ;
" Sabbath, 23rd.- Eleven davs : mv cgs
are useless. 0 God ! when will it end ?
"Monday, 21th. Oh, I, am weary; ;me
part of my body appears to bo dead. .' 1 tan
not go for a drink now. 2lth February.
Seventeen days' suffering ; diking that n:rie
had twice a "piece of bread, twelve C'iys
without a morsel.
wan.
1
meet him without fear. Jcfs is
all. Oh, Ho has saved me, yet so as by fire,
these thirteen days. 0 bless Him for them ;
to Hint I commit my soul; my meruon-, ruy
familyj my all. Amen."
The strange absence, herd, of that self
horror which the intention of suicide usual
ly creates, and the curious appearance in its
place of that glow ot unhealthy enthusiasm
unhealthy in the agony of such a death
which lights up the poor nian's reeling brain
in hi3 last hour, are singularly painful the
more so, perhaps, if they were intended for
the woild than if they were not. Ju these
last days the poor editor's sutvey of himself
can scarce have been more complete or faith
ful than his intellectual surveys of Falkirk
from tho steeple-lop. Mixed with the
prayers for help and the hope of pardon
there must have como many a bitter doubt,
or, if not, at least many ail image which
would havo caused doubt had his miikl been
clear. Yet; perhaps, after all, these brief
editorials on his own fate were not much
less incomplete or distorted net only tha'n
this particular editor's liberal teachings to
Falkirk, but even many of the most valuable
products of our editorial clas3 in general.
Those precious literary contributions in his
pocket that aided no doubt to nerve -Jr.
Birnie, in the midst cf the most terrible
pangj of famine, against admitting- th&cts
cf beggary, and the consequent duty of bc
Hncr from his fdlow-mcnagainst how many
equally stern facts of life do tliey rot nervo
the literary class to rebellion? How few
men of us all can look at the fact as it is, if
a literary reputation intervenes betvreen it
and our eyes ? This man is not the only
beggar who has impilted to himself a literary
righteousness that he' had not. To us there
seems something representative as vrcll as
tratric about his career. The confusion b'e-
O
twecn the prido of writing and the pride- of
seeing, which took his editorial imagination
up to a pinnacle from which he couU see,
not indeed all the regions of the earth, but
all the dwellings of his audience ; the over
throw of his ambition causing iutoxitiou
rather than humiliation ; the stubborn litera
ry pride, which urged him to a double act of
suicide, and kept him to the last from appeal
ing to the mercy of his fellow-men , and,
finally, the triumphant register of his suf
ferings, M-ritten in the tone of a martyr, with
the eternal world so close upon hia and so
augt 7, isgs.
dimly seen these things should have more
than the interest of personal details to litera
ry men. It recalls something of poor Hay
don's history. Artistic and literary pride,
and the thick veil it interposes between those
- which the' profess to ceo more clearly than
other men, constitute one Cf the mdst pain
ful phases of intellectual culture. Crit:cisni
is a blinding task. Those who glory in their
own successful editing of this strange world j
and its events are seldom able to acquiesce
in that only authorized edition of their own
life which is warranted by the Providence of
God.
A French StOry;
In 17G9, a gentleman was pissing late at
hjght over Hont Xenff,(Paris with a lantern.
A man came up to him and said :
" Bead this paper." r-
Hc held up the lantern and read as follows:
, 4 Speak not a word when this you've read,
Or in an instant you'll be dead !
Give um vour money, watch and ringp,
With other valuable things
Then quick in silence, you depart.
Or I, with knifo will cleave" your hc'tlrt!"
Not being t man of much pluck, the
affrighted gentleman gave up his watch and
money, and ran off. He soon gave alarm;
and the highwavman wa3 arrested.
' What have you to say for yourseif?"
inquired the magistrate before whom" the
robber was arrainged.
" That I am not guilty cf the fobhe",
thoilgh I took the. watch and money.''
"Why net guilty? asked the magistrate.
" Simply hecausc I can neither read ntfr
write. I picked up the note just at the mo
ment I met this gentleman "with a lantern-
1 A
politely asked him to read it for rtic; He
complied with m request, and presently
handed me his vratch and purse, arid ran off.
I supposed the reaper Id be of. great value to
him, and that he t!iu3 liberally rewarded me
for finding it. He gave mo no time to" return
thanks, which act cf politeness i was ready
to perform. . - '
The 'gentleman Accepted the plga tfthe
robber, a"nd withdrew his coniplaint.
Vely Lucid. That valiant wit, Orpheus
C. Kerr, of tho Mackerel Brigade, after de
scribing a fierce equestrian combat between
" Villiara Brown," of the United States of
America, and Captain "Munchausen," of the
Southern Confederacy, closes as follows :
"Ha!" says " Villiam," gazing severely at
Company 3, Regiment 5, as it came pouring
forward, "has the Southern Confederacy
concluded to submit to the United States of
America ?" What the answer was, niy boy,
I am not allowed to say ; but you may rest
satisfied that a thing has been done which I
am not permitted to divulge; arid should
this lead, as I hope it will, to' a ntoverrient t
am not suffered to make public, it cannot fail
to result in a consumption which 1 arri for
bidden lo make known. But if, on the other
hand, tlic strategic movement which t am
not at liberty to describe should bd followed
by a stroke I ani restrained from explaining,
you will Cud tho 'effect it would net bo judici
ous iri mo to set forth will produce a con
sequence which thoWar Department denies
me the privilege of developing.
A Railroad Cak Built in One Day. An
English paper states that a railway car was
built complete, filled with goods for the great
Exhibition, and conveyed from Manchester
to Lcndoti, in twenty-four hours. This feat
T7as performed at the works of Mr. Ashbury,
Manchester, and several distinguished per
sons were present to witness the operations.
At 7 o'clock, A. M., the iron to bo used was
in the pig and tho timber in logs. In. 43
minutes the latter was cut. The planing,
mortising, etc., was finished in a few minutes
after 10 o'clock, when the smiths began.
Their work ended at 2:15 P.M. At 1 o'
clock the wrought iron work, such as axies,
tires, ete., was done, and at 6:16 P. M. this
had left the planing shop finished. - The car
was completod at 6:35 P. M., and hair an
hour subsequently it started for the great me
tropolis, with a lead of articles for the Exhi
bition. . ..
TERMSPay ill Advance.
NO. 2.
Frohi the Kew Tdrk fexpress.
Gcucral ItlcClcllan.
ti eneral McCJellan is no hetvspaper herd.
He declines to speak for himself. Ho bean
and forbears, and if ncrer.tcciptad ta plae
his name before the country, everi when most
grossly assailed in high and low places. He.
remains with his army, assured of their
love, confidence and respect Now and then
he enforces respect from open traducers and
half-way defcridcrsj as iri thd TirHe3 to-day
when it says :
ln tho great wdrk of organising drl arrriy
he has proved his pbssessidn" of the highest
afcility ; his siege of Yorktdwn (vhether it
might have been avoided or not) was 4
masterpiece of successful soldiership ; his
preparations ibr ah advance tlpon Richmond
were complete and pdrfect ; he has the rard
quality of inspiring cbnfidence and thorough .
respect among his troops, and his conduct of
the retreat to tho James River was a most
masterly execution of one of the most dif
ficult and dangerous rrlovements which ari
afrhy is ever compelled td make."
Sometimes it is asked why he did not gd
up the James River, instead of the York and
Pairiunkey. The answer is that "had the
Navy Department destroyed the Merrimacin
time, the dairies Rivel' would havo been se
lected, lie jvas heyrjrid Yorktown before
the Merrimac was destroyed, and his supplies
had been sent Up tho York River to the Pa
munkey. Had Jackson been engaged intria
valley by Fremont, or had Mcdowell, on the
Rappaliatinock, co-operated vigorously and
prevented the rapid flank and rear movement
of Jackson upon ifcClcllan.or had sufficient
reinfoicTOer;sbvTi sent to 3fcCMlan to pro-
iC J -Liwrxj-f.'cLi -lt.v -base .it -
White House to his advance position at Fair
Oaks arid Mcchanicsville a distance of
twenty hides there would have been nd
necessity for thanging his base ; but had lie
not done so, and done so skillfully,-his whole"
army would have been captured.
Another question is ariswero'd as fcllowi
by the "Herald:''
The query is piit; sortfctirries, why McClcliari
did not make Washington his base of opera
tions, and proceed overland, by way of Cen
trcville and Manassas, to Richmond.
Those whb ask this question are either
entirely ignorant of the ait of war, or they
maliciously iridUlgein clap trap to tickle thd
cars of the iriultitudd. Iri the first place, iri
a march froiri Washington to Richmond,
McCIellrin could have no natural protection
of a sfca or great river for either of his flanks;
and the lirid of cpefatio'ris is so extremely
long", being end hundred arid Seventeen miles
as a bird would fly; that it would have re
quired an army of double his number td
protect his cC'mmunicdtiOris with his baso;
His arrriy wouid have had td fc'a supplied! en
tirely by wagon's, and hd wduld have' need odf
about seveii thousand of tkerif ; and thy
would havd teen liable to bo cut off con
tinually by an cntcrrTiging cberriy like' th'afr
led by Jaeksori;
Then along tliat route fortification's tfere
erected and "batteries established which' would
have reuderad it impracticable', unless to'
much larger army than was placed at tmi
disposal of McUlellan: His force' would
have had to be spread over a great width' 6f
country, from the Potomac to' the' mbriritairisv
in order to prevent his flanks beln ftrrCcd
or his lines penetrated ;: so that while" hef was,
marching on Richmond', he might havo dis .
covered, when too lato to' prevent it, that t 1Q
enemy was on his vay to Washington, fan(l
that it must inevitably fall into' his har
General1 McCieUan' had! tbe cdncurr cnc0 cf
eight of twelve of his Generate iu te routQ
taken towardis- Richmond, and we believe
also that hVhad the' advice ar & approval of
General Scott. OS course, 1 .aistorv will do"
this man justice,- and so
will his loyal,
Union-loving csuntryme , notwithstanding
the assertion cf the Tir s tbat tbe
faith in his- ability ' kad an army in ih9
to ;-ttory W jeen greatly ahaten."
tcrtwr float
Where brt&Ur
st&cdard theft
A-t v ttr ' 8 ' 01 1 w&cath our fct
lw"tt -m's Bcnaf r vavirg 0'r us.
. , ' - , ( ' . " " "
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