An Interesting Prediction

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