| From the Richmond Daily Dispatch |
| |
| March 9, 1864 |
| |
| The Mississippi campaign |
| A correspondent of the Montgomery
Advertiser, writing from Demopolis, Ala, February 28th, furnishes the following interesting review of matters
in Gen Polk's Department, |
| ***** |
| On Sunday, the 14th, Lieut. General Polk
evacuated Meridian, with his little army, heavily pressed by an enemy thirty-five
thousand strong. Before the evacuation, however, every article
belonging to the different departments of the Government had been
moved. The rolling stock of four important railroads had been saved
— not a car was left, and scarcely a
wheel left. The locomotives and cars belonging to the Mobile &
Ohio road were safely housed in Mobile. Those of the other roads were brought to the
Tombigbee
and safely placed upon this side of the river. It was a moral and
great railroad centre. The little town of Meridian
stood lonely amid the silence of pin barrens, without a noise to
disturb its solicitude or a thrill whistle to arenas its inhabitants.
The garrison belonging to Mobile
had been safely returned to their duties there, and
Mobile
was as safe as the department at
Richmond
intended it to be. General Polk with his band of heroes, retired
safely to this place, ready and prepared for an emergency. |
| ***** |
|