e, he might take Baltimore, which should
be Capua. He entered Maryland, and his movements struck dismay into
Pennsylvania. Harrisburg was marked for seizure, and the archives of the
second State of the Union were sent to New York; and Philadelphia was
considered so unsafe as to cause men to remove articles of value thence
to her ancient rival's protection. That the enemy meant to invade the
North cannot well be doubted; but the resistance they encountered,
leading to their defeat at South Mountain and Antietam, forced them to
retreat. Had they won at Antietam, not only would Washington have been
cut off from land-communication with the North, but Pennsylvania would
have been invaded, and the Southrons would have fattened on the produce
of her rich fields. While these things were taking place in Virginia and
Maryland, Fortune had proved equally unfavorable to us in the South and
the Southwest. We had been defeated near Charleston, and most of our
troops at Port Royal had been transferred to Virginia. Charleston and
Mobile saw ships constantly entering their harbors, bringing supplies to
the Secession forces. Wilmington and Savannah were less liable to attack
than some Northern towns. An attack on Vicksburg had ended in Federal
failure. By the aid of gunboats we had prevented the enemy from taking
Baton Rouge, and destroyed their iron-clad Arkansas; but our soldiers
had to abandon that town, and leave it to be watched by ships, while
they hastened to the defence of New Orleans, a city which they could not
have held half an hour, had the protecting naval force been withdrawn.
The Southwest was mostly abandoned by our troops, and the tide of war
had rolled back to the banks of the Ohio. Nashville was looked upon as
lost, Louisville was in great danger of being taken, and for some days
there was a perfect panic throughout the country respecting the fate of
Cincinnati, the prevailing opinion being that the enemy had as good
a chance of getting possession of that town as we had of maintaining
possession of it. There was hardly a quarter to which a Unionist could
look without encountering something that filled his mind with vexation,
disappointment, shame, and gloom. All that the most hopeful of loyal men
could say was, that the enemy had been made to evacuate Maryland, and
that they had not proceeded beyond threats against any Northern State:
and that was a fine theme for congratulations, after seventeen months
of warfare, in wh