Item: Editorial, The Daily Journal (Wilmington, N. C.), 19 May 1863, page 2, column 1.

Transcription:

Now that we know that General JOHNSTON has got down to the vicinity of Jackson and Vicksburg and taken the management of things in his own hands, we begin to breathe more freely and to cast our eyes towards the Southwest with less misgivings than we had last week.

It is said, and we believe with truth, that General JOHNSTON had previously sent orders to General PEMBERTON, directing certain alterations to be made in his (Gen. PEMBERTON’S) plans, but that PEMBERTON quietly put these orders aside as unworthy the notice of so exulted a personage (in his own conceit) as the PEMBERTON aforesaid.  JOHNSTON hurried in person to the scene of action, having made the journey in an unprecedentedly short time.  He arrived and took command the very day the enemy advanced upon Jackson, but without having time to concentrate troops or make new dispositions, so that after hard fighting with an overwhelming force of the enemy he had to fall back to Canton, from which there is a road direct to Vicksburg.—It is evident that the concentration of our troops and their new dispositions under the personal control of General JOHNSTON have compelled GRANT to fall back, and we trust the position of affairs in Mississippi will soon be reestablished, but after a loss of property estimated at not less than ten millions of dollars, all, or nearly all of which might have been saved, had the proper measures been taken in time.

The changed position of affairs in Mississippi, by throwing GRANT on the defensive, may occasion some change in ROSECRANZ’S programme, and compel him to make an advance upon BRAGG, which is just what the latter wants.

Citation: The Daily Journal (Wilmington, N. C.), 19 May 1863, page 2, column 1. North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; call number C071 Z.