| From the Wilmington Journal |
| February 16, 1865 |
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| We do not think that even the
fact that Sherman or some of his forces has reached the South Carolina
Railroad necessarily implies a stoppage of communication between the
Carolinas and the South West. It is true there will be a short gap, but
not as long as most people imagine, and the new route will be an
interior and much safer route than the present, not dependent even upon
the possession by us of the city of Augusta, although of course that
would be important from other considerations. |
| We need not indicate this
route, although indeed we cannot suppose that by doing so we would be
giving any information to the enemy. An inspection of the railroad map
will show two points in upper Georgia and upper South Carolina where
branches one from the Georgia Road and the other from the South Carolina
Railroad approach each other much more nearly than the Railroad systems
of the two States approach each other at Columbia and Augusta. The
distance from Columbia to Augusta is probably about seventy-five miles.
The distance between the points referred to would not probably be much
more than half that length. Of course, with moveable columns and an
enterprising and powerful enemy like Sherman, no line is
necessarily safe because of its location, but the line of which we have
been speaking is about as safe as any line can be, and as capable of
defence. With an efficient wagon train the transportation on the short
gap could be maintained quite as effectually as it is over the
unfortunate Piedmont Road in this State. |
| But without sufficient force
of determined men, it is next to useless to talk about holding any line
or any point. If this force can be mustered and rallied to the repulse
of Sherman and the checking of his career, it will do very much towards
encouraging the people everywhere throughout the Confederacy -- no will
its effect be less marked or less valuable at the North. It will dispel
the vain delusions of conquest and subjugation, under which the people
there so generally labor. |
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