One would naturally suppose that Geo. W. Jones, after his
arrest for treasonable correspondence with the arch traitor Jeff. Davis and
incarceration at Fort Lafayette and release only on taking the oath of
allegiance to support the Government and the capture of his son in arms against
the Government at Fort Donelson, would not have the temerity to show his face
to the people of Iowa, let alone traveling among them and trying to reorganize the
Democratic Party. But the brazen
impudence of the man is only exceeded by the fact that loyal Iowa should
contain enough disloyalists to give a show of success to his efforts. Another item has leaked out to show the
treason of the Jones family. A Shiloh correspondent
of the N. Y Times, who was in the
battle at Wilson’s Creek, picked up a letter from another son of the notorious
George W., introducing to a Captain in the rebel army a citizen of Dubuque, who
wished to fight against his Government.
But the letter and extract will explain the matter, and show the traitor
propensities of the family:
In roaming about the woods I found a well worn letter, whose
contents may prove of interest. It is
dated:
DUBUQUE, Iowa, July 1,
1861.
DEAR HUNTER: By this I introduce to you my friend, Daniel O.
C. Quigly, of this town, and bespeak your kindness and attention toward
him. I believe he will prove himself
worthy of your friendship. With every
wish for your prosperity and happiness, your friend.
CHARLES D. JONES.
To Captain S. E. Hunter, Hunter’s Rifles,
Clinton, Louisiana.
The particularities of this document consist in the fact
that the writer is a son of Gen. Geo. W. Jones, of Dubuque, (late Minister to
Bogota, Fort Lafayette, &c.,) and a brother of the Lieut. Jones who was
bagged at Fort Henry. The Quigly spoken
of, is a son of a prominent citizen of Dubuque, and one who, soon after the war
commenced, bolted to the South and offered his services to the scoundrels who
are trying to break up this government. I
offer the letter for publication from the fact that the writer now lives in
Dubuque, and pretends, as he ever has pretended since the war began, to be
loyal. How far such loyalty will be
tolerated by a Government whose burdens are already heavy enough, should be
tested. The letter was given, and for a
treasonable purpose, at a time when the gallant Lyon was struggling against the
traitorous uprisings in Missouri – at a time when hundreds of Jones’ townsmen
in the First Iowa, were toiling and suffering beneath the burning sun of
Missouri, inspired only by motives of patriotism, by a wish to preserve intact
their beloved Constitution – it was at such a time that Jones chose to
perpetrate his treason and assist in the work of breaking up the Government.
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport,
Iowa, Wednesday Morning, May 21,
1862, p. 2
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