sir — Assembled from the
different parts of Indiana, and practically familiar with the influences now at
work in each congressional district of the state, we express it as our profound
conviction that upon the issue of the election that occurs within a month from
this date may depend the question as to whether the secession element shall be
effectually crushed or whether it shall acquire strength enough, we do not say
to take the state out of the Union, but practically to sever her from the general
government, so far as future military aid is concerned.
We further express the
gravest doubts as to whether it will be possible for us to secure success at the
polls on the 11th of October unless we can receive aid—
1. By delay of the
draft until the election has passed.
2. By the return,
before election day, of fifteen thousand Indiana soldiers.
As to the draft, we
propose an informal delay only, of which no public notice need be given. Reason
sufficient will suggest itself in the time necessary to adjust the local quotas
of townships, towns and cities, without the careful settlement of which, great
dissatisfaction, even among the loyal, can not be avoided.
Volunteering is
going on rapidly at this moment, and we have no hesitation in expressing the confident
opinion that if the draft be delayed, and fifteen thousand Indiana troops be
ordered home before the election, with suitable arrangements for recruiting,
Indiana's entire quota can and will be filled by volunteering within two weeks
after election day. She is at this time ahead, after filling former quotas,
fully fifteen thousand three years' men.
Thus the government
will obtain the recruits it has demanded about as soon as by pressing
compulsory measures at once, and it will secure itself against the possible
loss of the power and influence of the state for years to come.
If the draft is
enforced before the election there may be required half as many men to enforce
it as we ask to secure the election. Difficulty may reasonably be anticipated in
from twenty to twenty-five counties. If the draft goes on immediately after the
election, the soldiers will be on the spot to secure its being carried into
effect, should that be necessary. But we are confident that if our propositions
are adopted no draft will be needed at all.
The case of Indiana
is peculiar. She has, probably, a larger proportion of inhabitants of Southern
birth or parentage — many of them, of course, with Southern proclivities — than
any other free state, and she is one of the few states in which soldiers are
disfranchised.
It is not on the score
of Indiana's past deserts that we ask this assistance. All such considerations
must give way before the public good. We ask it because the burden of this
political contest is heavier than we can bear. Nor have we asked it before
exhausting every effort which loyal men can make for their country. We ask it
for that country's sake. We ask it, because we feel absolutely assured that in this
way more readily and more speedily than in any other can the general government
accomplish the object it proposes.
If it were possible
that you could see and hear what we, in the last month, each in his own section
of country, have seen and heard, no word from us would be needed. You would
need no argument to prove that a crisis, full of danger to the entire
Northwest, is at hand.
We do not expect
any general commanding, engrossed with vast military operations, to realize
this. And therefore, while of course we do not urge any withdrawal of troops
that would imperil the situation in Georgia or elsewhere, we suggest that a
mere request to General Sherman, or other commander, to send home, or not send
home, the troops in question, as he might think best, unaccompanied by an
expression of the urgent desire of the government in the premises, and a view
of the vast interests at stake, would be of no avail. No commander willingly
diminishes his command. To what extent it may be prudent or proper to make the order
imperative, we, not having the entire situation before us, can not judge. We
hope you will see, in our most precarious condition, cause sufficient to do so.
The result of the state
election, whether favorable or unfavorable to the government, will carry with
it, beyond a doubt, that of the Presidential vote of Indiana.
All which is respectfully submitted,
O. P. Morton.
E. Dumont, 6th District.
godlove S. Orth, 8th District.
C. M. Allen, 1st District.
thomas N. Stillwell, 11th District.
ralph Hill, 3d District.
john H. Farquhar, 4th District.
james G. Jones, A. A. P. Marshal-General.
W. W. Curry, 2d District.
J. H. Defrees, 10th District.
S. Colfax, 9th District.
john L. Mansfield, Maj.-Gen. Ind. Legion.
JAMES Park, Capt. P. Mar.
8th District Ind.
charles A. Ray, Judge 12th District.
A. H. Conner, Postmaster, Indianapolis, Ind.
J. T. Wright, Ch. St. Cent. Com.
indianapolis, September
12, 1864.
SOURCE: William Dudley Foulke, Life of Oliver P. Morton, Volume 1, p. 367-9
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