Terrible news has just reached me. In Vicksburg, Mississippi, the Union's gunboats have crossed the river "spreading themselves over our fair Southern land like red ants." Grant and Sherman cut off the Confederate army from food, supplies, and all communication. When I heard a man read the headline from a newspaper, I almost fainted. It was like a stab to my heart when I found out that our boys were practically starved to surrendering on, of all days, July 4th. I now fear the worst of our Southern states.
http://books.google.com/books?id=oRtCAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=mary+chesnut#PPA205,M1
http://www.nps.gov/archive/vick/vcmpgn/siege.htm
The worst has come and now my options as the leader of the Confederacy are limited. There is not much to hope for.
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