The extent of the disaster is not to be disguised. It was a heavy blow to the Confederacy. It ahnihilated us in Louisiana; separated us from Texas and Arkansas; diminished our resources and supplies by the loss of one of the greatest grain and cattle countries within the limits of the Confederacy; gave to the enemy the Mississippi river, with all its means of navi gation, for a base of operations;, and finally led, by plain and irresistible conclusion, to our virtual abandonment of the great and fruitful Valley of the Mississippi.-It did all this, and yet it was very far from deciding the fate of the war. CHAPTER XIII. CONCLUSION. Prospects of the War-The Extremity of the South.-Lights and Shadows of the Campaign in Virginia.—Jackson's Campaign in the Valley.-The Policy of Concentration.-Sketch of the Battles around Richmond.-Effect of McClellan's Defeat upon the North.-President Davis's congratulatory Order.-The War as a great Money Job.-Note: Gen. Washington's Opinion of the Northern People.-Statement of the Northern Finances.-Yankee Venom.-Gen. Pope's Military Orders.--Summary of the War Legislation of the Northern Congress.-Retaliation on the part of the Coufederacy. The Cartel.-Prospects of European Interference.-English Statesmanship. -Progress of the War in the West.-The Defence of Vicksburg.-Morgan's great Raid. The Tennessee-Virginia Frontier.-A Glance at the Confederate Congress.Mr. Foote and the Cabinet.-The Campaign in Virginia again.-Rapid Movements and famous March of the Southern Troops.-The signal Victory of the Thirtieth of August on the Plains of Manassas.-Reflections on the War.-Some of its Characteristics.-A Review of its Military Results.-Three Moral Benefits of the War.-l'ronpects and Promises of the Futuro. We have chosen the memorable epoch of the fall of New Orleans, properly dated from the occupation of the enemy on the 1st of May, 1862, as an appropriate period for the conclusion of our historical narrative of the events of the first year of the war. Hereafter, in the future continuation of the narrative, which we promise to ourselves, we shall have to direct the attention of the reader to the important movements, the sorrowful disasters, and the splendid achievements, that more than compensated the inflictions of misfortune, in the famous summer campaign in Virginia. In these we shall find full confirmation of the judgment which we have declared, that the fall of New Orleans, and the consequent loss of the Mississippi Valley, did not decide the fate of the war; and, indeed, we shall see that the abandonment of our plan of frontier defence made the way for the superior and more fortunate policy of the concentration of our forces in the interior. The fall of New Orleans and consequent loss of our command of the Mississippi river from New Orleans to Memphis, with all its immense advantages of transportation and supply; the retreat of Gen. Johnston's forces from Yorktown; the evacuation |