Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1861-05-02
What Secession will bring on
Kentucky.
From the Louisville Journal, ArfiI 25,h.l E3m

Let us draw picture, and see how our
fellow-citizens Of Kentucky like it, Let us
suppose that Kentucky has seeded in q
blaze of glory, even more resplendent than
the glare Of rockets, Roman candles, and
other pyrotechnics, which were displayed
Inst fall for the Union, the Constitution. and
the Enforcement Of the laws. That net of
Secession will be the signal for war, and the
seat Of that war will be our own soil. North
ern armies will invade us; the Confeder-
ates will bring their legions to attack the
North; weshall have tho drum and fifc, the
bugle and the roar Of artillery, marchings,
foraging parties, bivouacs, camps, skir.
mishes, and AL the pride, pomp, 4 circum-
stance Of glorious war" All our people
will lay down the shovel and hoe to grasp
the musket and rife War will be the great
occupation Of all our inhabitants, and who
will be left to SOW, to cultivate, and to gar
ner the harvests? Who will tend the corn
fields, the tobacco patches, and the hog
droves, which must be well cared for to prc.
vent famine? Where will the provisions
come from to feed the Confederate armies? !?
The Cotton States have not enough for their
own use, and we of Kentucky have had
hard work to keep our meal and corn bins
filed, after the partial failure of our last
crops. But fighting Is q very appetizinr
exercise; soldiers cannot live on glory, with,
out their rations Of hog and hominy; they
must have beef, too; the cavalry horses.
and the sturdy animals that draw the can.
non, must have provender, and the COM
mandors must have old Bourbon and
Catawba for their private messes. Where
will the flocks and herds, the crops and vine
yards, be found to supply all this demand /?
The answer is plain enough, for the foraging
parties will seize upon your priced cattle,
your hay, housed for your farm mules next
winter, and the perfect extract of corn or
grape, laid by for your own use, will be
confiscated TO the uses of war and military
necessity. War confscates everything
eatable and drinkable to its capacious nav,
although It may be all the time glutted with
human blood and gore. Thus we pass a
glorious summer campaign aud victory NAV
perch upon our banners; the rattlesnake
may hiss its delight and the pelican cluck
out its 10 triumphe Now for tho feast and
the barbecue in honor Of our great achieve.
mentsl But where are the viands and the
oxen2 The solid glebe has been unbroken
by furrow, though many have been plowed
upon the brows OF fathers who mourn their
gallant sons, and Of widows not to be com
forted for the loss Of their only supporters
the hoof Of the war horse, the tires of the
gun-carriages and caissons, and the heavy
tread Of armed battalia havo cast the only
seeds for the year 8 tillage, and famine, desc
lation, empty gamers, and sterile corn fields,
have been the crop Of dragons teeth to
pinch and bite and starvel "The soldier,
tired Of war alarms, receives hisdischarge
and with bounding heart, although PERHAPS
q limping gait, he starts for his home--that
home which he has dreamed of before the
watcb6res, and remembers, when
Psses va. lintins on the shepherds bell
and what does no find but the marks of
rapine, lust, and all the odious concomitants
OF war? The father bowed down by ais
tress, the mother, by Gods blessing, dead.
and the sister, the sweet blooming rose left
on the parent stalk, whose perfume was the
incense Of innocence around the cottage.
worse than. dead, because dishonored by
brutal soldiery, oh, ye fathers and broth.
era Of Kentucky, who know not the tsfi6sS
and havoc Of war, who think only of its rlory
and not Of its evils, who, living safely and
guarded In your interior positions, have not
felt tho shock Of former conflicts, nor had
all the unclaimed horrors and demons of
hell brought TO your very doors, would that
we could paint in eolors sufficiently elarinc.
to impress you, the misey, destruction,
havoc: tumult. carnage. and despair, which
attend the path Of gsunt and ferocious war,
And oh ye loved and fair ones, whom Ws