The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1861-11-08
Secession Horrors Described by
Andrew Johnson.

"While yet besceching them to act upon
their own doctrine, and let us alone, the
hoofs Of their cavalry were indenting our
plains, and the tramp Of their troops was
about our homes And yet there are those
who set up the pulling cry. Let there be no
coercion Why, God bless you, friends,
they never got anything except by coercion.
They cocrced Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama,
and Virginia out Of the Union. They at.
tempted it in Maryland-tho Government
stopped it; they are now attempting 1t in
Kentucky, and there the People will stop it I!
Their whole career has been one Of coercion,
of outrage, insult, blasphemy, and crime
Detachmcnts of their myrmidons, who were
sent, as they said, 'to protect us from the
despotism of Abe Lincoln (), would pass
through our country, in Tennessee, on the
railroad.
"As they went they saw tho flag of our
country, the glorious old Stripes and Stars,
floating from the gable of an humble school.
house. where the little boys had placed it as
an emblem of their pure and dawning love
for the Union. What did these miscreants
do? They stopped their train, and with
hootings und ribaldry, with menaces and exe-
crations and blasphemy, they tore it from
the children, and trampled it in the mire =
They would enter private houses, and under
prctense OF seeking for ammunition, would
rummage drawers and desks, robbing the
family of the money, and the females of their
jewels and heir.looms. They would order
their meals and their lodging in tones Of in
science and in terms Of insult. They would
feed their horses with wastefulness, and
scatter the food rccklessly on the ground
And alter eating to the fill of their insatiate
appctitcs, and riotins and rummaging they
would mount, and, with oaths and obscenity,
would tell the family to charge it all to jeff.
Davis. And this, my friends, is Secession
"Thcy came into my own country; they
called ut my house. Some of their number
came forward and demanded of my family
whether | wasat home, saying that, If Twas,
they had come to take me, and hang mo -
Pleasant intelligence this for gentlemen ()
to communicate to wife and daughters But
my daughter, indignant at their conduct,
said, mo, my father is not at nome; he is
absent in another country, wherc he is max
ing speech for tho Union; and this Ipro-
sumo yov knew, or your cowardly CROW
would not have dared to show themselves at
this house, They then suddenly withdrew.
As they passed on tlroghthc neishborhood,
they came upon the house Of Union family;
the husband.wa not at home, but lis wife,
n stout-hearted woman, had her Union flag
at the gate'post. They insQlcntly commanded
her to remove it {; she would not. They at
tempted to seize it, and she seized it they
struggled for it, but she kept her flag. They
then went into the woods, but hickory
withe, and returning, scourged her person
with it.
"This, my friends, is Secession, and these
are the men you are to compromise with.
Some of these same demons, five Of them,
fends in human shape, stopped at the house
OF man named Markham, who. seeing them
approach, and fearing insult and outrage to
himself if he remained, and thinking that
they would not be SO likely to provoke a
quarrel with the family ifhc were not present,
took his rifle from its rcsting.place, and re-
tired unobscrvcd by them into little thickct
hard by the house, in order to be at hand in
case they offered any abuse to his family
lie had an amiablc wife and two daughters,
the youngest about twelve years of age, and
the other just blossoming into womanhood,
about sixteen, as beautiful as the morning
and as pure as the dcwdrop. The secessionsts
entered and insolently demanded dinner for
themselves and feed for their horses. The
wife told them there was the crib and the
fodder. and they would give them their din
ncr. They took the hay and the corn and
scattered at about the ground, and ordered
the ladies to hasten their dinner.
"In due time the meal was prepared, and
soon grccdily devourod. After satng their
appetites at the table, they began to address
rude remarks to the wife and daughtcrs.-
One attempting to make love to the young
lady, when her young sister, scizing the tin
horn or trumpet, which is kept in almost all
rural homes,eads to make summons to din
ncr or sound an alarm to the neighbors in
case ci an accident, sprang to the door and
blew blast. At this the hellish demon
turned, drew pistol from his girdle, fired
its bullet through her BRAIN, and with one
wild shrek she fell in agonizing death ut the
feet of her screaming mother. The blast,
the shot, the shrek, and scream, pierced the
ear Of the waiting ather; he sprang from
his retreat, he stood at his door-one glance
revealed all, and taking deliberate aim, he
sent his rifles bullet straight through the
villains heart The other four, alarmed at
the trumpet blast, and knowing that the
whole neishborhood would soon be upon
them, mounted their horses and fed. The
enraged father, finding them beyond his
reach, turning to where the slayer OF MS
little daughter lay, seized his AK ana Gu, h''
brutal body into quarters and threw tue"
out. as only ft for the dogs to de'oHr'
"such. my friends. is Secession at home
I, 1. robbery, rapinc and murder. And 1t is
marching toward you, and will be upon you.
You must arm for your own defense. !
speak not to you in fables. Those things
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