Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-05-17
OBEY ORDERs--ADvlCE TO VoLUN-
TEERS.

10 atu Tue local autnOflCleS, VIII use tn(
regular army in preference.
OBEY oKDERs--ADv1CE TO VoLUN.
TEERS.
The Mobile Tribune publishes letter
written By d gentleman Of Alabama to
his son, Il young volunteer. which con
tains some good advice. We quote:
''ln the first place, then, my son, when
u soldier shoulders his rife under the
flag OF his country, he must surrender to
that country his will, his whims, tastes,
faneies and Prejudices; and the first,
highest and most solemn duty be owes
to that country is the most implicit and
prompt obedience to the orders Of his
superior officers Disobedience, even in
matters of minor gravity, frequently for
feits life. If an order is issued, that
must be the end of inquiry. The sue
cess Of a battle or campaign may depend
upon the concealment Of the purposes of
the command; and it may become neces-
sary to punish with death an omission to
observe that which may seem to be a
very unimportant order to the soldier
who does not understand it.
Napoleon once Issued an order that
the lights Of the camp must be extin-
guished at 8 O'Clock, and on seeing a
light burning in the tent of an officer,
after that hour had elapsed, he repaired
thither in person, and entered the tent
just as the officer had finished writing
his wife's name on the back Of letter
he had written to her. He told the En-
peror he had unconsciously violated the
law for one moment. and it was done in
the enthusiasm Of affection, with which
he had been overcome by thoughts of
home. 'Unscal that letter. said the
Emperor, 'and write as dictate The
officer obeyed, and wrote as follows: P
81 die tomorrow morning, at s
o'clock, for violating the laws of the
camp, by not extinguishing the light in
my tent at the precise time I was com
manded to do it.
''That decision may have seemed saw
age and barbarous, but when your intel
lect shall have matured to the compre-
hension Of how much depends upon sub
ordination and rigid adherence to the
laws of the camp, you will see that Ma
poleon could only be just to the thou
sands Of lives under his care by assum-
ing the appearance Of cruelty to this one
delinquent.
obedience is not seryility-it-is duty
It is, therefore, not cowardly, but hon
orable. The camp is no place for the
soft manners Of the drawing room, and
soldiers are proverbially blunt; therefore,
do not imagine if an officer speaks
sharply to you that he wants to insult
yoH or browbeat you.
Authentic Statement of the Slaughter
at Fort MOuItrie.
The indianapolis Journal Of yesterday
says:
We are permitted by the recipient, a
citizen of this place, to make the follow
ing extract from letter from relative
Of his living near Charieston-a gentle
man, as we are assured, and as other
portions of his letter show, Of wealth
and position in that State 1t dis
closes some facts in regard to the
slaughter at Fort Moultrie that have
not hitherto been published on such un-
doubted authority. The lamentation of
a family over its dead members is proof
that cannot be questioned We may
promise here that the bodies of the
young men alluded to in the letter,
were obtained by a peremptory demand
Of the writer, whose position entitled
him to such consideration. Brief as it
is. in it's disclosure Of the terrible state
of affairs in South Carolina, aud Of the
grief created by it, it is one Of the most
indictions Of the effects of
Secession that has yet reached the public.
NEAR CHARLESTON, !
April 26, 1861.
DEAR -: You cannot for moment
even imagine the effects of Secession on
US. The best can say of it is that it
will be lasting heritage to all coming
rations, even if it were done with |
now--but shudder at the future
Many of your friends and acquaintances
were killed at Sumter, among them
John and William (your cousins
Many more Of them are now starting
No,+l hlo,ro