In 1860 when Jeff Davis was threatening destruction to the
North as the result of secession, he, one day, in an animated conversation with
Gen. Simon Cameron exclaimed: “When the South secedes, such paralysis will fall
upon Northern enterprise, that the grass will grow in the streets of your Northern
cities!” The retort was instant; the
General replied: “No Mr. Davis, if the Southern States secede, utter ruin will
fall on your section. Your slaves will
be liberated, and will assist in your destruction. The North will not be ruined, but I will,
with my own hands, plant corn in the streets of Charleston, the cradle of
treason.” True to his promise, in the
spring of this year, when Gen. Cameron visited the South, he did plant corn in
the very street of Charleston, and hired a soldier from one of the hospitals to
attend to it. The General received the
other day the crop, consisting of four ears of corn, one of which has been
presented to the Harrisburg Telegraph,
and can be seen at that office.
— Published in the Juniata
Sentinel, Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, August 23, 1865, p. 2
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