Northern Partizanship and Secesh Impudence

The fact that the secessionists of Kentucky are becoming more impudent, and that rebel mauraders [sic] are in the field in both Eastern and Western Ketucky, is one that calls for the most serious consideration.  There is certainly nothing in the drift of the war to encourage the enemies of the Government. – Almost every day we hear of the splendid success of the fleets, and armies of the Union.  Why is it, then, that the secesh on the banks of the Ohio are insolent and demonstrative?  The plain truth is: the rebels are feeling confident of the speedy division of Northern public sentiment.  The traitors on the border find encouragement not in the South but in the North.  They look upon the demonstrativeness of the Democratic Partizans [sic], in persistently organizing an opposition to the war with hope and something of confidence.  They are deceived by the tory journals that are poisoning our atmosphere.  Do men who are permitting themselves to be moved by the old party cries, that are again heard, realize that they are taking a course which if not arrested in good time, will endanger the peace of the Northern States?  Some of those who are engaged in the odious partizan operations of the day, know what they are doing, but many must be unaware of the terrible consequences that would inevitably result from their conduct, if the schemes of the leaders should prove successful.  It is impossible to restore peace to the country, save by the prosecution of the war to a conclusion triumphant for the Government.  Peace must be conquered and the war policy sustained, or we shall have anarchy in our midst.  Every man who values peace at his own door, must sustain the Government and push the war to its legitimate conclusion.  If we permit ourselves to become partisans and factionists, the war will have been in vain, and we shall all be plunged in the bloody cauldron of revolution.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1862, p. 3