Showing posts with label Parson Brownlow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parson Brownlow. Show all posts

Monday, March 13, 2023

Major-General George B. Crittenden to Judah P. Benjamin, December 13, 1861

RICHMOND, December 13, 1861.
Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN,
        Secretary of War:

SIR: I arrived at, Knoxville about the 1st day of December, assumed command, and established my headquarters there. At that time Mr. W. G. Brownlow was absent from Knoxville, where he resides. Very soon some friend or friends of his approached me on the subject of his return to Knoxville, and I had several interviews with the son of Mr. Brownlow, who was interceding and acting for his father in the premises. During several days Mr. Brownlow's son was very importunate in calling upon me and making solicitations in behalf of his father of some sort or another. In the beginning, the letter of Mr. Brownlow to General Carroll, dated November 22, and received about the time of my arrival, was handed to me and discussed between myself and the son of Mr. Brownlow. In this letter Mr. Brownlow stated that he was willing and ready at any time to stand a trial upon any points before any civil tribunal, but sought protection from troops and armed men on a return to Knoxville, denying at the same time having had any connection with arming men or with armed bodies of men or with bridge-burners or bridge-burning. General Carroll also handed to me his reply to this letter.

In the several interviews between the son of Mr. Brownlow and one or more of his friends and myself Mr. Brownlow's innocence of any treasonable conduct was vouched as the basis of any disposition to be made towards him, and I stated to Mr. Brownlow's son, who was acting for his father, that if he came to Knoxville he must submit to the civil authorities.

Finally, about the 4th or 5th of December, I think, Mr. Baxter, a friend of Mr. Brownlow, together with his son, called upon me, and Mr. Baxter delivered to me an open letter from yourself, brought by him, dated November 20, and referring to Mr. Brownlow's departure beyond our lines. Thereupon, and on the solicitations made to me in behalf of Mr. Brownlow, I directed my assistant adjutant-general to inform Mr. Brownlow in writing that if he would come to Knoxville within a given time I would give him a passport and send him with an escort beyond our lines. I designed this escort to convey him directly through our lines, so that he could see nothing of our forces and fortifications. At the given time Mr. Brownlow came, and I made arrangements with him as to the time and manner of his departure, which were satisfactory to him. I designed sending him off the next day, but he desired to stay over a day, and on that day, before his departure, was arrested with a warrant by the civil authorities on a charge of treason.

Mr. Brownlow addressed a note to me, stating his arrest, and that he had come home upon my invitation, and claimed to be under my protection. As I had stated explicitly to Mr. Brownlow's son, who acted for his father, and who went after and did conduct his father into town, that if he came he must submit to the civil authorities, and as his innocence of any treasonable conduct was considered in the arrangements for him, I directed one of my aides to reply to his note to the effect that, in view of all the facts, I could not interfere with the civil authorities so as to protect him from an investigation by them of charges made in their tribunals against him, which I clearly understood from himself and his friends he would not seek to avoid.

Of course, if the civil authorities release Mr. Brownlow, I shall proceed at once to give him a passport and send him with an escort beyond our lines.

I remain, very respectfully, yours, &c,

G. B. CRITTENDEN,        
Major-General, C. S. Army.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 763-4

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Monday, November 25, 1861

It was now very cold, and the ground was frozen hard all day, in consequence of which our wagon train did not get as far as Jamestown. In place of moving with his train, or at least going no further than it could go over the frozen roads, McNairy pressed on through Jamestown, down Cumberland Mountain to Camp McGinnison Wolf River—a march of about a thirty-one miles. The result was his men were without tents and rations one very cold night, and until late in the afternoon the next day.* The following explains itself:

HEADQUARTERS,        

KNOXVILLE, November 26, 1861.

Hon. J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of Ilar:


Sir-I have the honor to report that I arrived here on Saturday last, by order of General Zollicoffer, and assumed command of this post on Sunday. I found stationed here Colonel Wood's Battalion and several companies of infantry and cavalry.


. . . There are now in custody here about seventy persons, many of whom, it is believed, were either directly or indirectly connected with the burning of the railroad bridges. Colonel Wood (Sixteenth Alabama), who was in command here before my arrival, had in contemplation a court-martial for the trial of those upon whom proof of guilt seemed to be strong. I concurred with him, and ordered the meeting on the 28th. . . .


It is important that steam power should be secured for the purpose of driving the machinery necessary in the alterations of arms. I therefore took possession of the printing establishment of Brownlow. The steam engine and building are suitable for our purposes, and it was the only one that could be procured here.


Brownlow has left, and no certain information of his whereabouts can be obtained. It is, however, certain that he is aiding and abetting our enemies. . . .


With high respect, your obedient servant,


WM. H. CARROLL,        

Brigadier-General Commanding.1

_______________

* As I was just out of a spell of fever, I did not wish to take the frozen ground that night without even a tent for shelter, so I rode over to my friend Lathan's, with whom I staid while sick of the measles in September (about one mile from Camp McGinnis), to see if I could get to lodge with him another night. As I neared his house, and before I saw him, he called out, “Yes, you may get down.” I yet feel grateful to Mr. Lathan for the comforts of that night.

Rebellion Records, Vol. VII., pp. 704 and 705.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 84-5

Brigadier-General William H. Carroll to Judah P. Benjamin, November 26, 1861

HEADQUARTERS, Knoxville, November 26, 1861.
Hon. J.P. BENJAMIN,
        Secretary of War:

SIR: I have the honor to report that I arrived here on Saturday last, by order of General Zollicoffer, and assumed command of this post on Sunday. I found stationed here Colonel Wood's battalion and several companies of infantry and cavalry. There seemed to be much uneasiness and apprehension felt in reference to the disaffected portion of the population. I have put the city under military rule and have restored peace and security.

I have detailed and sent to the various districts where I had information there were any gatherings of disaffected citizens and had them dispersed, and in many instances the leaders arrested. As soon as possible, I dispatched companies of mounted men to scour the country, with instructions to arrest and send here all persons who were inciting rebellion or were found with arms, resisting the authorities. In all instances where there was no proof of disloyalty I have discharged the prisoners upon their taking the oath of allegiance.

There are now in custody here about 70 persons, many of whom, it, is believed, were either directly or indirectly connected with the burning of the railroad bridges. Colonel Wood, who was in command here before my arrival, had in contemplation a court-martial for the trial of those upon whom proof of guilt seemed to be strong. I concurred with him, and ordered the meeting on the 28th. The board will be composed of some of the most intelligent officers within this post, and I have no doubt their action will be prudent and discreet.

It is important that steam-power should be secured for the purpose of driving the machinery necessary in the alteration of arms. I therefore took possession of the printing establishment of Brownlow. The steam-engine and building are suitable for our purposes, and it was the only one that could be procured here. Brownlow has left, and no certain information of his whereabouts can be obtained; it is, however, certain that he is aiding and abetting our enemies. I have assured his sons, who profess to have sold the establishment to a Mr. Baxter, that full indemnity for the use of the establishment would be paid by the Government. I have every assurance that the sale to Baxter was a false one, and feel that Baxter is not reliable in his loyalty to our Government.

In obedience to your instructions, Novemeber 22, I have given orders that all contracts for hogs or cattle made with the agents of the Confederate Government shall be complied with, and have dispatched several armed parties to see that it is properly executed.

There are 1,140 sacks of salt here. I have directed 400 sacks should be delivered to D. Morris & Co. and 400 sacks to Wilson & Johnson. This is sufficient to meet their present wants, and the balance will be returned, to meet such other demands as may arise. I will report to you again soon.

With high respect, your obedient servant,
WM. H. CARROLL,        
Brigadier-General, Commanding.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7 (Serial No. 7), p. 704-5

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Major-General Don Carlos Buell to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, March 15, 1862

NASHVILLE, TENN., March 15, 1862.
Major-General HALLECK:

Your dispatch of yesterday received this morning. Undoubtedly we should use the river to get supplies, but I am decidedly of opinion that my force should strike it by marching. It can move in less time, in better condition, and with more security to our operations than by the river. It will have also the advantage of driving out the scattered force of the enemy this side of the river, and operate powerfully on the minds of the people. I had designed to commence moving to-morrow. We will have to repair our road somewhat as we go. It is important to choose the point of crossing so that it shall be safe, and yet not too far from the enemy; if, then, we could by a possibility effect it by surprise or at all at Florence, getting in between Decatur and Corinth, it would have many advantages. As for the point of attack, wherever that may be we will be pretty sure to meet the principal force of the enemy, and if we threaten him low down I am confident the island and New Madrid will be abandoned. I hope I can certainly see you in regard to those points.

Parson Brownlow has just arrived from Knoxville. Kirby Smith is there, with eighteen regiments from Manassas, and has seven more at Cumberland Gap.

 D. C. BUELL.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 10, Part 2 (Serial No. 11), p. 39

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

George S. Denison to Salmon P. Chase, September 19, 1862

New Orleans, Sept. 19th, 1862.

Dear Sir: Hon. A. J. Hamilton will present this letter to you, and also a letter of introduction from myself. In this private letter I wish to add a few statements not proper for an open letter.

Mr. Hamilton refused to leave his seat in the House of Representatives, when Texas seceded. After his term expired, he returned to Texas, and has constantly fought secession up to the time of his forced departure from the State.

Mr. Hamilton is well known throughout Western Texas, and probably has more influence there than any other man. He is brave and determined, and stands high in the estimation of all honest men. Whatever statements he makes to you you can rely on implicitly.

Mr. H. thoroughly appreciates the character of the present struggle, and imposes no conditions upon his loyalty. This is the man to make Western Texas a Free State and he will do it wisely and surely. He knows the country and the people and is such an orator as they love to listen to.

Col. Hamilton can raise a Brigade of Union troops in Texas more quickly than any other man in the State, and I believe he only wants an authority to raise such a Brigade when an expedition goes there.

Mr. H. is to Western Texas, what Brownlow, Maynard and Johnson are to East Tennessee.

In common with all Union men of Texas, I hope he will receive that encouragement to which his abilities and unfaltering loyalty entitle him, and under his wise management Western Texas will be freed, at the same time, from rebellion and Slavery.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. ChaseAnnual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 314-5

Friday, June 10, 2016

Major Charles Fessenden Morse: Notes From A Journal

NOTES PROM A JOURNAL.

When we first came to this place, General Slocum received a telegram from headquarters which said that if we needed any scouting or important secret service done, we had better use a certain John Douglas, who was very faithful and efficient. The General told me he wanted me to take charge of everything in the scouting department, and that I had better see Douglas as soon as possible. At this point, it is very necessary to depend on scouts and citizens, as our force is very small and we are entirely without cavalry, so I sent for Douglas and he came to see me the next morning.

I was very much struck by his appearance; he was the first man who came up at all to my idea of what a scout should be like. He is a man about fifty years old, I should think, medium size and a little bent over, but with a very tough, hard looking frame; his striking features, though, are his eyes; they are jet black and piercing in their expression, with a restless, eager look, as if he was always expecting to see the rifle of an enemy sticking out from behind a tree or bush; his eyebrows are also black, but his hair has turned gray with age. His walk was very peculiar, and was exactly like that described of Leather-stocking in the “Deerslayer,” a sort of gait which, without seeming to be much exertion, was equal to what we call a dog trot. He made me think of all the old backwoods heroes I had ever read of, from Daniel Boone down.

I found that he had papers from Rosecrans, Burnside, Dupont and several others, all testifying to his marked ability and energy, and his entire knowledge of every part of Tennessee and northern Georgia, and Alabama. I talked with him some time and found that he was very intelligent and well informed.

A few days after my first interview with Douglas, I received a telegram from Murfreesboro stating that they had certain information that a band of six or eight hundred guerrillas were in the neighborhood of McMinnville. I sent for Douglas and told him I wanted to know the truth of the story. He didn't stay five minutes after I had told him the rumor; this was about seven o'clock in the evening. The next afternoon, about three o'clock, he made his appearance and said the story was true; since he left me, he had ridden nearly seventy miles to within three or four miles of the guerrilla camp. The next day we were told by some citizens that this cavalry was supported by infantry, and that it was the advance of a portion of Bragg's army. We didn't believe this at all; still I was anxious to find out just what the force was. I sent Douglas out again, telling him to find out every particular before he came back. He was gone two days, and on his return, he said he had spent several hours inside the enemy's camp; his information proved that we had nothing at all to fear from them except depredations. I asked him how he got inside their lines; he said that the picket he passed was a very green-looking countryman; that when he approached, he was ordered to halt; he rode up to the picket and said he was a bearer of dispatches to the commanding officer. “Who is the commanding officer?” said the sentinel. “That is nothing to do with your instructions, and you will get into difficulty if you don't let me pass.” The sentinel passed him, and he went inside and talked with the men and officers and saw the commanders. There was nothing remarkable in this, but a man discovered as a spy by these guerrillas would be hung or have his throat cut five minutes after he was caught.

The pay Douglas gets as chief of scouts of this vicinity is only three dollars per day, very small compensation for the risk. He has told me a number of stories of the sufferings of East Tennesseeans; they are equal to any of Brownlow's; he says there is no exaggeration in the latter's statements.

He told me of one young lady who lived with her mother near Knoxville, whose brothers and father were strong Unionists. They had hidden away among the mountains. He described her as a very refined, well educated young woman. One day, a party of guerrillas came to her house and took her and her mother out in the woods and tied them to a tree; they then asked them to tell where their men relations were hidden; they refused to tell them; these brutes gave them each a terrible whipping, but they still refused to give them any information. These chivalric gentlemen then put nooses round their necks, untied them and threatened them with instant hanging if they didn't tell what they required. The young girl told them they might be able to torture her more than she could bear, but before she would say one word that would compromise her father or brothers, she would bite off her tongue and spit it in their rebel faces.

They raised them off the ground three times, nearly killing them. Afterwards, this same girl became a spy for our cavalry and led them on several successful expeditions. Douglas was on one of them, and said that during a fight that occurred, she insisted on staying under the heaviest of the fire. She used sometimes to go inside the rebel lines and act as nurse in one of the rebel hospitals; after she had got all the information that she could, she would return inside our lines and tell what she had found out.

Yesterday there was very near being a terrible accident on the railroad, about fifty miles from here, in amongst the mountains. Some infernal guerrillas put a species of torpedo underneath a rail, just before the passenger train from Nashville was due. Fortunately a locomotive came along just before it and set the machine off; the explosion was tremendous; the engine and tender were blown to pieces; railroad ties and rails were blown as high as the tops of trees; the engineer was thrown twenty or thirty feet and severely injured. If it had not been for this locomotive, probably hundreds of men would have been killed and wounded, as the cars go crowded with officers and soldiers. The perpetrator of this outrage, of course, could not be discovered, but a man living near by seemed to be implicated, and his house and barn were burnt.

They are very summary in dealing with guerrillas in this country when they catch them. There is one despatch from General Crook to Rosecrans on record to this effect: that he (Crook) fell in with a party of guerrillas, twenty in number; that in the fight, twelve of them were killed and the rest were taken prisoners. He regrets to state that on the march to camp, the eight were so unfortunate as to fall off a log and break their necks.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 152-6

Sunday, July 19, 2015

John M. Forbes to Congressman Charles B. Sedgwick, June 2, 1862

June 2,1862.

My Dear Mr. Sedgwick, — I see I forgot the 21stly, as the old parsons used to say, of my sermon; my amen to your emancipation speech.

If you have such a devilish poor set in Congress that they are afraid to pass your bill, for freeing such slaves as come to our aid, you had better give up trying for any emancipation bill until Parson Brownlow, General Rodgers, and other pro-slavery border state men have cultivated the manliness of Congress up to the Tennessee standard! Why, I hear that the border state Unionists everywhere are in advance of Congress, and go for strangling the rebellion through its vitals, not pinching the ends of its toes! Rather than take anything worse than your bill, I would trust to old Abe's being pushed up to the use of the military powers of emancipation. What infernal nonsense is your present law, making freedom the reward of those who serve the enemy, while their masters only promise them hanging and burning if they serve us.

You carry on the war in such a manner that either slaves or other loyal men in the border and rebel States have one plain road to safety open; namely, to help the rebels. You reward the slaves with freedom for such help: you offer them no reward, except the chance of being shot by us and hanged by their masters, if they come into our lines! . . .

Your lame confiscation bill will be no terror to the rebels, but rather an indication of the mildness with which you will treat them hereafter, and the many exceptions you will make if you pass any confiscation acts.

I only wonder with such a policy that any Union men show their heads! All your efforts seem to be to make rebellion cheap and easy, and loyalty hard and dangerous.

In great haste, I bide yours,
J. M. Forbes

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 315-6

Friday, June 14, 2013

Southern News

FT. MONROE, April 29.

A flag of truce from Norfolk to-day brought down the wife and family of Parson Brownlow, and also the wife of Congressman Maynard.  The party, consisting of four ladies, two gents and six children, are all from Tennessee.  They bring the report that all the Union families of Tennessee have been ordered by proclamation to leave within 36 hours.  1,800 Union men left for Kentucky a week ago Friday.  Of a party of four hundred attempting to leave, one hundred had been killed.

There can be no doubt of the capture of New Orleans.  The Southern newspapers speak of it in the most dismal strain, and demand that the mystery of the surrender of the city shall be explained.

The Norfolk Day Book, in an editorial, says: “It is by far the most serious reverse of the war.  It suggests future privations to all classes of society; but most to be lamented of all, it threatens our army supplies.”  The raising of meat, and corn and wheat, instead of cotton and tobacco, is earnestly recommended by the disconsolate editor.

The Richmond Dispatch of yesterday, says when the enemy’s fleet arrived opposite the city and demanded its surrender, Gen. Lovell refused, and fell back to Camp Moore, after destroying all the cotton and stores.

The iron-clad vessel Mississippi was burnt to prevent falling into the hands of the enemy.  Nothing is said about the Louisiana, but it is supposed that she was scuttled. – It is rumored that she was sunk at first fire.

Camp Moore is 78 miles for New Orleans, on the Jackson Railroad.

The following are the latest dispatches in to-day’s papers:


MOBILE, April 27.

The Yankee Commodore, Farragut, promised the secretary of the Mayor of New Orleans, who visited the fleet by a flag of truce, to make a renewed demand for the surrender of the city, but he has not done so up to this hour, 5 o’clock.

Our ship, the McRae, came up from the forts under a flag of truce, with forty of our wounded.  She communicated with the Federal flag ship, but the result is unknown.  It is rumored that the Federals refused to let her return.

The rumor that Fort Pike has been evacuated and blown up is unreliable.

In a conference held with one of the Federal officers, after the correspondence between Mayor Monroe and Com. Farragut, the officer left, declaring that he would shoot down the flag on the City Hall if it was not hauled down, and he actually brought his ship within range, but has not fired thus far.

It is reported that French and English men-of-war are below, and will enter their protest against shelling the city; and it is believed the Yankee vessels are short of both provisions and ammunition.

The city is remarkably orderly, but the excitement is intense and the feeling of humiliation deep.


RICHMOND, April 28.

The following dispatch was received to-day by Adj. Gen. Cooper from Gen. Lovell:


CAMP MORE, April 27.

Forts Jackson and St. Phillip are still in good condition and in our hands.  The steamers Louisiana and McRae are safe. – The enemy’s fleet is at the city, but they have not forces enough to occupy it.  The inhabitants are staunchly loyal.


MOBILE, April 28.

The forts on Lake Pontchartrain were all evacuated on the 24th inst.  We have sustained considerable loss in supplies and dismounting, but not in destroying the guns.  At Fort Pike all the buildings were burnt, including the telegraph office.  The operator has gone to the limits of the city to open an office if possible.

All the gunboats on the lake have been burnt by our own people.  The Mobile boats, Whiteman, Brown and several others are running troops, stores and ordnance to Manchock, after which we fear they will be burned.

The Yankee fleet was returning again to Ship Island.

In a local paragraph, the Norfolk Day Book, under the head of markets, mentioned the very small supply of edibles exposed for sale, and says it becomes a question of great moment, as to where and how the people are to be fed.

The Death of Samuel B. Todd, brother of Mrs. Lincoln, is announced.  He died on the battlefield from the effects of the wounds he received at Shiloh, in the action of the 7th.

It is reported by the flag of truce that the Merrimac has steam up.  It was expected in Norfolk last night that she would come out to-day.  She has not made her appearance, however.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, May 1, 1862, p. 1

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Parson Brownlow's Forthcoming Book

The manuscript of this new work is now nearly complete, and it will be put to press forthwith.  The title gives the comprehensive view of the scope of the work: “The Perils, Adventures and Sufferings of the Rev. W. G. Brownlow among the Secessionists of Tennessee.”  The extraordinary vigor and fearlessness so characteristic of Parson Brownlow’s pen, are well known; and are eminently calculated to render his new word, founded as it is on such material of personal adventure and experience, a thrilling and fascinating book.  Geo. W. Childs, of Philadelphia is the publisher, and Appleton & Co., of Cincinnati, are publishers for the entire West. – George W. Thompson, of this city, is agent for Scott county.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, May 1, 1862, p. 1

Thursday, May 23, 2013

A Tennesseean Released From Fort Warren


Parson Brownlow returned from Fort Warren Saturday afternoon, with Lieutenant Colonel White of the Tennessee cavalry, whose release was ordered upon the representations of Mr. Brownlow and other Union men of Tennessee, that White had joined the rebels only to save his life and had never fought for them.  The battalion which garrisons the Fort was reviewed by Gov. Andrew and Staff, and a salute was fired in his honor. – {Boston Jour.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 1

Friday, March 29, 2013

A New Book

Parson Brownlow has arrived in the land of freedom.  He is about publishing a book giving his experience in Secessia.  It will undoubtly [sic] be very interesting, and those who would know how outrageously this stern old patriot has been treated by the rebels, and at the same time give a man that has lost his all in the cause of the Union a little “material aid,” can do so by sending to Geo. W. Childs, Philadelphia, for the book.

– Published in The Waterloo Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Wednesday, April 16, 1862, p. 2

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Parson Brownlow In Cincinnati

His Straight Out Union Speech
__________

Parson Brownlow, of East Tennessee, accompanied by his son, arrived in this city yesterday, and took quarters at the Gibson House.  At 9 o’clock the Union Committee met him in the ladies’ parlor, and he was welcomed by Pollock Wilson, Esq., who alluded with emotion to the services of Brownlow in the cause of the Union, and his heroic endurance of persecution.  The Parson was much moved by the cordiality of his reception, and commenced speaking with a stammering voice, and eyes filled with tears.  He had been for Clay in 1836, for Harrison in 1840, for Webster in 1856, for Bell and Everett in 1860.  Speaking of Bell always reminded him of “pity the sorrows of a poor old man.”  He (the Parson) had never had any sympathy with secessionists.  He had been offered large bribes to sustain the rebellion; but though he was a poor man he was not for sale.  He gave an account of his correspondence with Judah P. Benjamin, all of which he had preserved and would publish in his forthcoming book.  He could not express the joy he felt in finding the old Union flag at Nashville.  When the army went to East Tennessee he wanted to go along.  It was in Fremont’s Department and he was glad of it.  Fremont was his sort of a man, and he wanted to go with him to East Tennessee.  There had been a great deal of hanging on one side, and he wished to superintend it on the other.  He could say, and without profanity, that the Federal army in East Tennessee would be hailed with a joy only equaled by the hosannahs of the angels when Christ was born.

He never had any sympathy with Disunionists, Secessionists or Abolitionists.  He was born in Virginia, and his parents before him.  He is a slaveholder, but he had no hesitancy in saying that when the question comes, as it will, “the Union and no slavery,” against “slavery and no Union,” he was for the Union and let slavery go to the dogs, or where else it may be sent.  He was for the Union above that or any other institution.

The wicked rebellion, he felt confident, was on its last legs.  It is almost played out.  When the rebel Crittenden’s army passed him, the men were literally barefooted and almost naked.

The blockade has played sad havoc with them.  They were preparing to make a desperate fight at Corinth.  If whipped there, their cause was gone.  He hoped they would be pursued through the cotton States to the peninsula, and then driven into the sea, as were the devils driven from the hogs into the sea of Galilee.

The nigger never was in this rebellion.  He was never intended to be.  Other causes had produced it, but the guilty were reaping their reward.

After the reception the Parson took an airing with some gentlemen, driving through Clifton and other attractive suburbs of the city.

He visited with the Merchant’s Exchange, where he was introduced to the merchants by President Butler, and spoke for perhaps half an hour.  He showed plainly the marks of the hard times through which he has passed.  He is very thin, and his face is haggard, bloodless and deeply marked with suffering and anxiety.  He is, however, one of that race of tall, hardy, swarthy, black haired East Tennesseans, who gave Tennessee her old time glory as the Volunteer State, and were foremost in the battles of Andrew Jackson, and with proper care he will soon recover his health.

He gave a touching narrative of his sufferings in prison, of his illness, and the care with which the guards placed over him were doubled, when he was so sick he could not turn in bed without assistance.  The jail was crowded with Union men.  Many sickened and perished miserably in it, and others were taken out and hung.  Gen. Carroll, of the Confederate army, who was at one time a great friend of his, being a Union man until a late period, visited him in Jail, and said to him: “Brownlow, you ought not to be here.”  “So I think,” the parson responded, “but here I am.”  The General said the Confederate Court was sitting within a hundred yards of the jail, and if he would take the oath of allegiance, he should be immediately liberated.  “Sir,” said the parson, looking at him steadily in the eye, “before I will take the oath of allegiance to your bogus Government, I will rot in jail or die here of old age.  I don’t acknowledge you have a Court.  I don’t acknowledge you have a Government.  It has never been acknowledged by any power on earth and never will be.  Before I would take the oath I would see the whole Southern Confederacy in the infernal regions, and you on top of it!”

The General indignantly left the jail, remarking “that is d----d plain talk.”  “Yes, sir-ee,” said the Parson, “I am a plain man, and them’s my sentiments.”  Frequently men were taken out of the jail and hung, and the secesh rabble would howl at him and tell him as he looked out from the jail windows that he was to be hung next.  He told them from those windows that he was ready to go to the gallows, and all he asked was one hour’s talk to the people before he was swung off, that he might give them his opinion of the mob called the Southern Confederacy.  The Parson said he expected to be hanged.  He had made up his mind to it.   At one time he was tried by court martial, and in the decision of his case he was within one vote of being sentenced to hang.  There was nothing between him and the gallows but the will of one man, and him a secessionist.  Great God, on what a slender thread hung everlasting things!  The jails in East Tennessee and North Alabama were overfull of Union men.  The Union men there had never flinched.  They stood firm now.  The Government, whatever else it did, should immediately relieve them from the grinding and destroying oppression of secession.

He related an instance of a young man, named John C. Hurd, and exemplary citizen and church member, with a wife and two little children, who was convicted of bridge burning.  He was notified but one hour before he was hung that he was to be executed.  He asked for a minister of the Gospel to come and sing and pray with him, but was told that praying would not do traitors to the South any good, and he was thus insultingly refused his dying request.  But the rebels Sent with him to the gallows a miserable, drunken, and demoralized Chaplain of one of their regiments, who stood on the gallows and told the crowd assembled to see the hanging, that the young man about to be executed had been led into the commission of the crimes for which he was to suffer, by designing men, and was sorry for what he had done.  The man about to be hung sprang to his feet, and called out that every word that Chaplain had uttered was false.  He was the identical man who had burned the New Creek Bridge.  He knew what he was about when he did it, and would do it again if he had a chance.  They might go on with their hanging.  He was ready for it.  And they hung him forthwith.  The Parson told of an inoffensive citizen, who was pointed out to a part of straggling soldiers, while at work in a field, as “a d--- Unionist.”  He was at once fired upon, and so mangled that he died within a few hours.

The Parson said it might astonish them, but the greatest negro thieves in the world were the Confederate soldiers.  He spoke feelingly on this subject.  They had stolen from him a likely negro boy, fourteen years old, and worth a thousand dollars.  He had never heard from the boy since he was taken away, and never expected to see him again or get a cent for him.  It was a solemn fact that the Confederate soldiers had stolen more negroes during this war, than all the Abolitionists had stolen for forty years.  These soldiers were the off-scourings of the earth.  Not one half of them had ever owned a negro, or were connected by any degree of social affinity or consanguinity, with anybody who ever did own a negro.  Not only did they steal negroes, but they entered houses and took the clothing from the beds, broke open the drawers, and took all the money and jewelry they could lay their hands upon.  They were, emphatically, thieves as well as traitors.

He had recently had a conversation with a secesh lady, who spoke as usual of one of their chivalry whipping five Yankees.  He asked her about Fort Donelson, &c.  She explained that by saying, the people of the north-west are sons of emigrants from the South.  They were Southern stock and fought like Southerners.  He inquired what of the blue-bellied Yankees, under Burnside, but she did not know how that was; in fact had heard but little about it.

The parson spoke in an animated style, and presently his voice gave signs of failing.  He has been troubled with a bronchial affection, and is still weak from the illness contracted during his imprisonment.  He remarked that he had not for some months attempted to speak at length in public, and his failing strength admonished him that he must close.

He thanked God that he could see daylight now.  The game of the rebellion was pretty near played out.  A “little more grape” and we would have them.  His motto for the war was “grape shot for the armed masses, and hemp for the leaders.” – {Commercial.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 4

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Parson Brownlow

CINCINNATI, April 1. – Parson Brownlow has accepted the liberal offer of Mr. Childs, the eminent Philadelphia publisher.  And at the Parson’s request, a copy of the book will be given to the editor of every paper in the country, so that they can see what it costs to be loyal in the secessiondom.  Editors will apply to George w. Childs, Esq., Philadelphia

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 4

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Parson Brownlow and Andy Johnson . . .

. . . have been life-long political antagonists.  The Parson once prayed that the Lord, in his infinite mercy, would save even Andy Johnson.  Each knows by this time how to appreciate the other. – {Louisville Democrat.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 3

Saturday, December 8, 2012

A Point Of Honor

Merideth P. Gentry was once an eloquent member of the United States Congress from Tennessee.  He flew off the handle, as a Whig, when Gen. Scott was nominated for the Presidency.  How much he contributed to Scott’s defeat, it is impossible to tell, as he was a much more respectable man than he is now; but it is certain, the rebound of his fire killed Gentry as a Whig.  As a Know-Nothing he ran afterward for Governor, Against Andrew Johnson, and was badly beaten.  Now he is a member of the so-called Southern Congress at Richmond.  On his way to the seat of piracy, from his resident in Bedford county Tennessee, he called on Dr. Brownlow.  Being well stiffened up with his usual stimulant, he was talkative.

“Well, Brownlow,” said he, “I am going to Richmond on a point of honor.  You know I had retired from politics, and had no desire to re-enter the arena.  But my old friends and neighbors insisted that I should run for the Confederate Congress, and I was elected.  Now I make it a point of honor to go, just because they say that McClellan will bag Richmond, and capture the entire Congress.  I wish them to see that I am not afraid.”

“Yes, Gentry,” replied Dr. Brownlow, “and there is another point of honor, which you have failed to mention.  Buell and his army are at Nashville, and are therefore nearer to Bedford county than McClellan is to Richmond. – You are like a pismire on a chunk fired at each end; you have a point of honor on either side of you.”

Gentry acknowledge the corn. – {Nashville Correspondence Cin. Gaz.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 1

Brownlow makes Another Speech

At a meeting of the Pioneer Association of Cincinnati, held on Saturday last, Parson Brownlow made another characteristic speech.  We find it reported in the Gazette:

GENTLEMEN:  I feel called upon to respond to the document read by the honorable secretary, and also the address of the gentlemen from the General Assembly who has just taken his seat.  I authorize the gentleman and the honorable Secretary to say, that I shall be proud and happy to visit the capital as the guest of the General Assembly; but I cannot say when I shall be able to accept their kind invitation. – The truth is, I have completely taken in my friend, the host of the Gibson House, who on my arrival here in this city, came to meet me on the steamboat, and invited me to make his house my home during my stay here.  I fear he will get more than he bargained for.  I am very comfortable there, and shall certainly enjoy his hospitality some while longer yet.  But still, I want to visit the capital of your State, to undo the machinations and refute the sayings of a certain bogus nephew of mine, whom, if God does not know anything more about him than I do, will be inevitably and irretrievably lost in a coming day.

My mind has been variously exercised while I have been sitting here.  This is not a society of young men and boys, but a society of old men; men who are true to the backbone – loyal, faithful, patriotic men, who old as they are would lay down with eager joy a life almost worn out under the beneficent protection of the best Government ever established on God’s beautiful earth.  They are honest men – none of your mean, pitiful, swindling, God-forsaken, rascally demagogues, who have used the strength God endowed them with to endeavor to overturn his most sacred institution – our Government.  I am no candidate for popular favor – I want no office, although I did take a tilt against Isham Harris. [Laughter.]  I am not adapted for an office, and as I said before, I don’t want one; but I am a Federal, and I believe in a strong Government – one that has the power and the ability and the energy to put down treason – to crush out traitors; and in short, gentlemen, to take care of itself.  I think that your present Government is the right kind of Government, but still not entirely so, inasmuch as it is hardly in earnest enough in the stupendous work it is now occupied in; but I hope and believe that with God’s help and our backing, that this Government will soon put down the most diabolical treason that has ever been seen in any part of the world.

I have fought many battles; religious battles, political battles and every other kind of battles, and I have encountered the devil, Tom Walker and the Southern Confederacy, [Laughter and applause,] and it has gone hard with one to be called after, and pointed at so long, as a traitor, by all the miserable, sneaking, cowardly rascals who have torn and rent this glorious Union apart.  My father was a volunteer in my country’s army and my uncle lived and died in the service of his country, and thank God their graves are still in possession of the Federals.  My mother’s relatives also shed their blood at their country’s call at Norfolk, and yet I am called a traitor, and by such despicable men as compose the Southern Confederacy.

Mr. Eggelston alluded to the crushing out of my paper.  Yes, gentlemen, the office from which came the last sheets in defense of the Union, ever published in Knoxville, was cleaned out and converted into a workshop for repairing and altering all the arms stolen by that accomplished thief and runaway, Floyd.  All my ambition now, is to go back once more to Knoxville to establish another office.  Once more to spread abroad the glorious truths of the Union; and once more to take from a drawer in my own house, the flag which so long waved defiantly in the breeze, while these hellhounds were longing, and yet not daring to tear down and trample it in the dust.

I would never have taken down that flag but for the females in my own house, who besought and entreated me to do so, lest the house should be torn down about their ears.

One day a crowd surrounded my house and threatened to tear down my flag; but I warned them they would have to do it in the face of six loaded muskets, which would be used by men who would never flinch from their duty.  They took sober second thought, and marched away, but presently about fifteen came back again, drunker than ever, led by a young officer who was desired to tear the d----d thing of a flag down.  In the meanwhile, I had left my house and gone to the office, leaving my wife in charge.  She came forward and expressed her intention of shooting the first man who attempted to haul down the flag.  The officer was slightly scared, and said:

“Madam, you won’t shoot, will you?”

“You had better try the experiment,” said she.

“Go on, go on!” shouted the crowd, “She daren’t shoot!”

She instantly drew from her pocket one of the Colt’s revolvers and cocking leveled it at the officer’s head.  “Never mind her, she’s only a woman,” cried the mob.  “By God! look at her eye,” said the officer as, as he made a low bow, scraped the ground and toddled off, followed by the whole crowd.  The gentleman addressed me expressing his regret that my paper is stopped and my office is closed, and I reply to him that all my ambition is to go back to Knoxville and resurrect my old paper.  To go back with new presses and new type, and with a soul renewed and revived by a baptism in the glorious liberty of northern States.  And I also want to go back there, and repay a debt of gratitude I owe to about one hundred and fifty of the most unmitigated scoundrels that can be found on the face of the earth.  To liberate a people oppressed and defrauded by the most Satanic conspiracy ever consummated.  Defrauded and duped by Southern confederacy bonds.  Bonds having on one side a full length portrait of Jeff. Davis and a picture of a henroost on the other, bearing on them the words: “I promise to pay, six months after declaration of peace between the Southern Confederacy and the United States of North America, $50.”

They have fixed a time which never can and never will come.  The only treaty of peace which we can have will be accomplished with powder and ball and river gunboats.  There is nothing which fills a rebel with so much horror as gunboats.  They would rather meet Old Nick, horns and all, than to meet our gunboats.  But this is not strange, perhaps, when we recollect their near relationship to that sable individual.

Some time since, I stood alone amidst 2,000 rebel soldiers, and I said, in my address to them: “It is you of the South that are to blame.  The North have not precipitated this war on us; it is you who have done it.  You complained of an infringement of Southern rights when there was no infringement.  You complained of Northern encroachments when there were none, and you have rushed into a war of the most wicked kind, without the shadow of reason.”

But, gentlemen of Ohio, I do not and cannot exonerate the North, and I say in brief to you, that if, fifty years ago, we had taken 100 Southern Fire-eaters and 100 Northern Abolitionists and hanged them up and buried them in a common ditch and sent their souls to hell, we should have had none of this war. [Immense applause.]  I am speaking too long [Cries of “No! no!”  “Go on!”  “Don’t allow that talk.”]  But in looking around on this assembly I notice that Time has written his mark unmistakably on the countenances of a large proportion of this audience.  Many are growing gray; I am getting old myself, and I know not how soon the span of our existence may be shortened and the spirit take its flight to realms of eternal joy and happiness or everlasting misery.  It behooves us all then, to see to it that we are prepared for this change wherever and whenever it may come, and may God in his infinite mercy bless and keep us all.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 1

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Parson Brownlow

As the name of this eccentric preacher has been introduced so much of late, to the public, and as little is known of him at the east, we publish the following description of him and an anecdote, which will give a very good idea of the individual:

Brownlow is a man of medium height and rather slim, with a round, “bullet” head, a quiet, pleasing countenance, and a good address; is an excellent, logical and persuasive speaker, and is as little in personal bearing and appearance like the blackguard he likes to make himself appear as one can imagine.

A characteristic story is told of him that is worth recording.  Upon the borders of Virginia, there was a settlement of rough “hard shell” Baptists.  The Methodists had long essayed to effect a lodgment in this quarter, but were summarily defeated by the decisive mode of turning their missionaries neck and heels out of the place – and this is no very tender or “do as you would be done by” style of Christian treatment.  With such vigor did the Baptists hold this tower of the Lord that the Methodists, with all their zeal for propagating the Gospel, and their resolute devotion to the great duty, paused before this Baptist Gibraltar.  The task seemed a hopeless one, and not one of the faithful could be found to encounter the inevitable risk of personal violence – especially as a coat of tar and feathers had been designated as the fate of any new warrior of the cross who should appear in that region in Methodist garb.  At last, Parson Brownlow was appointed to the duty of converting these heathens from the errors of their ways.

Parson Brownlow was much younger, less celebrated than he is now, but the same fiery and reckless spirit animated him then that has since extended his reputation so widely.  He knew the risk was chosen to encounter, and rather relished the novelty and excitement of this new field.  Accordingly, mounted upon his horse, with the inevitable saddle-bags of the Southern horseback traveler, he entered the enemy’s camp, on Saturday morning, and announced his purpose to give the barbarians in their locality a “creed of the new doctrine on the holy day to follow.”  The result was that horse and saddle-bags were taken as spoils, his person roughly maltreated, and he was turned loose in the outskirts of the place and ordered, at his peril, never to study daylight in that quarter again.  The parson footed it home as best he might, but soon after reappeared at the scene of contest, and conflict, with another horse and another pair of saddle-bags, to commence his labors.  His treatment was commensurate with the hearty and religious indignation of his foes, and once more the parson footed it home, sore and horseless.

A third time the irrepressible Brownlow appeared upon the field, to be served about as before; only his pertinacity and courage had worked upon the curiosity as well as the fancy of a portion of the good people of the region.  Some were for hearing “what the cuss was arter” but he was finally again unhorsed and unsaddle-bagged, and he started home afoot, but he had effected a lodgment among those rude people, who love pluck and grit if they did not love Methodism.  Of course he was expelled again.  And sure enough the fourth time, with the fourth horse and fourth pair of saddlebags, appeared the persevering Parson Brownlow.  By this time there had arisen a decided curiosity to hear what the “cuss” had to say, and the parson at last was allowed to preach.  Well suited in tastes and impulses to the rude congregation before him, he soon won their confidence, and closed a decidedly popular man.  A dozen invitations pressed him to dinner – a universal request that he would come again as soon as he could, and a full restoration of the value of the lost horses, and saddle-bags proved the final triumph of the “irrepressible Methodist.”  The final result was, the place became the most invincible of the Methodists and Parson Brownlow one of the most popular preachers among them.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 29, 1862, p. 3

Friday, November 2, 2012

Parson Brownlow at Louisville

LOUISVILLE, March 27. – Parson Brownlow has arrived here and leaves for Cincinnati at noon to-day.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 29, 1862, p. 3

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The Prayer Of Twenty Millions

To ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States:

        DEAR SIR: I do not intrude to tell you--for you must know already--that a great proportion of those who triumphed in your election, and of all who desire the unqualified suppression of the Rebellion now desolating our country, are sorely disappointed and deeply pained by the policy you seem to be pursuing with regard to the slaves of the Rebels. I write only to set succinctly and unmistakably before you what we require, what we think we have a right to expect, and of what we complain.

        I. We require of you, as the first servant of the Republic, charged especially and preeminently with this duty, that you EXECUTE THE LAWS. Most emphatically do we demand that such laws as have been recently enacted, which therefore may fairly be presumed to embody the present will and to be dictated by the present needs of the Republic, and which, after due consideration have received your personal sanction, shall by you be carried into full effect, and that you publicly and decisively instruct your subordinates that such laws exist, that they are binding on all functionaries and citizens, and that they are to be obeyed to the letter.

        II. We think you are strangely and disastrously remiss in the discharge of your official and imperative duty with regard to the emancipating provisions of the new Confiscation Act. Those provisions were designed to fight Slavery with Liberty. They prescribe that men loyal to the Union, and willing to shed their blood in her behalf, shall no longer be held, with the Nation's consent, in bondage to persistent, malignant traitors, who for twenty years have been plotting and for sixteen months have been fighting to divide and destroy our country. Why these traitors should be treated with tenderness by you, to the prejudice of the dearest rights of loyal men, We cannot conceive.

        III. We think you are unduly influenced by the counsels, the representations, the menaces, of certain fossil politicians hailing from the Border Slave States. Knowing well that the heartily, unconditionally loyal portion of the White citizens of those States do not expect nor desire that Slavery shall be upheld to the prejudice of the Union (for the truth of which we appeal not only to every Republican residing in those States, but to such eminent loyalists as H. Winter Davis, Parson Brownlow, the Union Central Committee of Baltimore, and to The Nashville Union) we ask you to consider that Slavery is everywhere the inciting cause and sustaining base of treason: the most slaveholding sections of Maryland and Delaware being this day, though under the Union flag, in full sympathy with the Rebellion, while the Free-Labor portions of Tennessee and of Texas, though writhing under the bloody heel of Treason, are unconquerably loyal to the Union. So emphatically is this the case, that a most intelligent Union banker of Baltimore recently avowed his confident belief that a majority of the present Legislature of Maryland, though elected as and still professing to be Unionists, are at heart desirous of the triumph of the Jeff. Davis conspiracy; and when asked how they could be won back to loyalty, replied "only by the complete Abolition of Slavery." It seems to us the most obvious truth, that whatever strengthens or fortifies Slavery in the Border States strengthens also Treason, and drives home the wedge intended to divide the Union. Had you from the first refused to recognize in those States, as here, any other than unconditional loyalty that which stands for the Union, whatever may become of Slavery those States would have been, and would be, far more helpful and less troublesome to the defenders of the Union than they have been, or now are.

        IV. We think timid counsels in such a crisis calculated to prove perilous, and probably disastrous. It is the duty of a Government so wantonly, wickedly assailed by Rebellion as ours has been to oppose force to force in a defiant, dauntless spirit. It cannot afford to temporize with traitors nor with semi-traitors. It must not bribe them to behave themselves, nor make them fair promises in the hope of disarming their causeless hostility. Representing a brave and high-spirited people, it can afford to forfeit anything else better than its own self-respect, or their admiring confidence. For our Government even to seek, after war has been made on it, to dispel the affected apprehensions of armed traitors that their cherished privileges may be assailed by it, is to invite insult and encourage hopes of its own downfall. The rush to arms of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, is the true answer at once to the Rebel raids of John Morgan and the traitorous sophistries of Beriah Magoffin.

        V. We complain that the Union cause has suffered, and is now suffering immensely, from mistaken deference to Rebel Slavery. Had you, Sir, in your Inaugural Address, unmistakably given notice that, in case the Rebellion already commenced were persisted in, and your efforts to preserve the Union and enforce the laws should be resisted by armed force, you would recognize no loyal person as rightfully held in Slavery by a traitor, we believe the Rebellion would therein have received a staggering if not fatal blow. At that moment, according to the returns of the most recent elections, the Unionists were a large majority of the voters of the Slave States. But they were composed in good part of the aged, the feeble, the wealthy, the timid – the young, the reckless, the aspiring, the adventurous, had already been largely lured by the gamblers and negro-traders, the politicians by trade and the conspirators by instinct, into the toils of Treason. Had you then proclaimed that Rebellion would strike the shackles from the slaves of every traitor, the wealthy and the cautious would have been supplied with a powerful inducement to remain loyal. As it was, every coward in the South soon became a traitor from fear; for Loyalty was perilous, while Treason seemed comparatively safe. Hence the boasted unanimity of the South – a unanimity based on Rebel terrorism and the fact that immunity and safety were found on that side, danger and probable death on ours. The Rebels from the first have been eager to confiscate, imprison, scourge and kill: we have fought wolves with the devices of sheep. The result is just what might have been expected. Tens of thousands are fighting in the Rebel ranks to-day whose, original bias and natural leanings would have led them into ours.

        VI. We complain that the Confiscation Act which you approved is habitually disregarded by your Generals, and that no word of rebuke for them from you has yet reached the public ear. Fremont's Proclamation and Hunter's Order favoring Emancipation were promptly annulled by you; while Halleck's No. 3, forbidding fugitives from Slavery to Rebels to come within his lines – an order as unmilitary as inhuman, and which received the hearty approbation of every traitor in America – with scores of like tendency, have never provoked even your own remonstrance. We complain that the officers of your Armies have habitually repelled rather than invited approach of slaves who would have gladly taken the risks of escaping from their Rebel masters to our camps, bringing intelligence often of inestimable value to the Union cause. We complain that those who have thus escaped to us, avowing a willingness to do for us whatever might be required, have been brutally and madly repulsed, and often surrendered to be scourged, maimed and tortured by the ruffian traitors, who pretend to own them. We complain that a large proportion of our regular Army Officers, with many of the Volunteers, evince far more solicitude to uphold Slavery than to put down the Rebellion. And finally, we complain that you, Mr. President, elected as a Republican, knowing well what an abomination Slavery is, and how emphatically it is the core and essence of this atrocious Rebellion, seem never to interfere with these atrocities, and never give a direction to your Military subordinates, which does not appear to have been conceived in the interest of Slavery rather than of Freedom.

        VII. Let me call your attention to the recent tragedy in New Orleans, whereof the facts are obtained entirely through Pro-Slavery channels. A considerable body of resolute, able-bodied men, held in Slavery by two Rebel sugar-planters in defiance of the Confiscation Act which you have approved, left plantations thirty miles distant and made their way to the great mart of the South-West, which they knew to be the indisputed possession of the Union forces. They made their way safely and quietly through thirty miles of Rebel territory, expecting to find freedom under the protection of our flag. Whether they had or had not heard of the passage of the Confiscation Act, they reasoned logically that we could not kill them for deserting the service of their lifelong oppressors, who had through treason become our implacable enemies. They came to us for liberty and protection, for which they were willing to render their best service: they met with hostility, captivity, and murder. The barking of the base curs of Slavery in this quarter deceives no one – not even themselves. They say, indeed, that the negroes had no right to appear in New Orleans armed (with their implements of daily labor in the cane-field); but no one doubts that they would gladly have laid these down if assured that they should be free. They were set upon and maimed, captured and killed, because they sought the benefit of that act of Congress which they may not specifically have heard of, but which was none the less the law of the land which they had a clear right to the benefit of – which it was somebody's duty to publish far and wide, in order that so many as possible should be impelled to desist from serving Rebels and the Rebellion and come over to the side of the Union. They sought their liberty in strict accordance with the law of the land – they were butchered or re-enslaved for so doing by the help of Union soldiers enlisted to fight against slaveholding Treason. It was somebody's fault that they were so murdered – if others shall hereafter stuffer in like manner, in default of explicit and public directions to your generals that they are to recognize and obey the Confiscation Act, the world will lay the blame on you. Whether you will choose to hear it through future History and at the bar of God, I will not judge. I can only hope.

        VIII. On the face of this wide earth, Mr. President, there is not one disinterested, determined, intelligent champion of the Union cause who does not feel that all attempts to put down the Rebellion and at the same time uphold its inciting cause are preposterous and futile – that the Rebellion, if crushed out tomorrow, would be renewed within a year if Slavery were left in full vigor – that Army officers who remain to this day devoted to Slavery can at best be but half-way loyal to the Union – and that every hour of deference to Slavery is an hour of added and deepened peril to the Union, I appeal to the testimony of your Ambassadors in Europe. It is freely at your service, not at mine. Ask them to tell you candidly whether the seeming subserviency of your policy to the slaveholding, slavery-upholding interest, is not the perplexity, the despair of statesmen of all parties, and be admonished by the general answer.

        IX. I close as I began with the statement that what an immense majority of the Loyal Millions of your countrymen require of you is a frank, declared, unqualified, ungrudging execution of the laws of the land, more especially of the Confiscation Act. That Act gives freedom to the slaves of Rebels coming within our lines, or whom those lines may at any time inclose – we ask you to render it due obedience by publicly requiring all your subordinates to recognize and obey it. The rebels are everywhere using the late anti-negro riots in the North, as they have long used your officers' treatment of negroes in the South, to convince the slaves that they have nothing to hope from a Union success – that we mean in that case to sell them into a bitter bondage to defray the cost of war. Let them impress this as a truth on the great mass of their ignorant and credulous bondsmen, and the Union will never be restored – never. We cannot conquer Ten Millions of People united in solid phalanx against us, powerfully aided by the Northern sympathizers and European allies. We must have scouts, guides, spies, cooks, teamsters, diggers and choppers from the Blacks of the South, whether we allow them to fight for us or not, or we shall be baffled and repelled. As one of the millions who would gladly have avoided this struggle at any sacrifice but that Principle and Honor, but who now feel that the triumph of the Union is dispensable not only to the existence of our country to the well being of mankind, I entreat you to render a hearty and unequivocal obedience to the law of the land.

Yours,
HORACE GREELEY
New York, August 19, 1862

– Published in New York Daily Tribune, New York City, New York, Wednesday, August 20, 1862, p. 4