constituting one branch of what has been called the "V". When the
enemy had approached as near as he dared and seemed to shrink from
contact with the motionless, resolute living wall which stood before
him, the angry crack of the Mississippi rifle was heard, and as the
smoke rose and the dust fell, there remained of the host which so
lately stood before us but the fallen and the flying. The rear of our
line of battle was again secured, and a service had been rendered
which in no small degree contributed to the triumph which finally
perched upon the banner of the United States.

I am not a disinterested, and may not be a competent judge, but I know
how I thought, and still believe, that your sons, given by you to the
public service in the war with Mexico, have not received the full
measure of the credit which was their due. They, however, received so
much that we might be content to rest on the history as it has been
written. But it constitutes a reason why we should not permit any of
the leaves to be unjustly torn away.

To return to the consideration of the less important subject, the
misrepresentation of myself; I will again express the surprise I felt
that when abolition papers were assailing me with a view to destroy
any power which I might acquire to correct the error which had been
instilled into the minds of the people of the North in relation to
Southern sentiments and Southern institutions, that they should have
received both aid and comfort from Southern newspapers, and been
bolstered up in the attempt to misrepresent my political position.
When the charge was made, which was copied in Northern papers, that I
had abandoned those with whom I co-operated in 1852, to produce a
separation of the States, my friend, the editor of the Mississippian,
seeing the misrepresentation of my position, and naturally supposing,