The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1861-11-08
ThurIow weed on general Fremont.

concealed or denied that General Fremont's con-
! duct IN Missouri has been the subject of Off
/ cia inquiry, and is now the occasion of Execn-
tive viluperatlon and of popular solicltude, |
have made il my business TO obtain, from va
rious bat reliable sources, information from
which the people, as jurors, may safely render
a verdict.
On coming, as I have, 10 conclusion unfa-
vorable 10 General Fremont, il is scarcely need
| ful to say tha' had, in doing so, to d" conquer"
| nv 81 nrpiudices." Nv relations with General
Fremont have been intimate and pleasant. /
thought him we'll ft:ed for the high command
with which he was invested and he went
forth with my heartfelt aspirations that be would
render good service TO our country and WIN
| glory 10 himself.
| Passing much that might be said, impuguing
the sense and taste of General Frement, and
confning myself TO accusations cndenIably true,
| submit 10 the readers Of the Journal some
facts which will show them how lamenably a
favored general disapPonts the popular ezPec-
tation
when General Fremont reached St. Louis, he
took as his headquarters house for which the
Government IS paying $4,000 year.
He surrounded himself with numerous staff,
none of whom were residents of Missouri, or
ganizing, simultaneously, body guard, con-
sistinr Of nearly three hundred hoFsemen,
through which access 10 the chief is as difficult
as the approach to monarch 10 the darkest
ages Of desPolism.
He has appointed aud commissioned, without
the shadow of authority, more thaa fifty officers
with the rank of colonel, lieutenant-colone,
major, captain, sc. Coolonel Andrews, the
| United States paymaster, was required to pay
these officers, and upon his refusal TO do so,
was threaleaed with Imprisonment. He was
also directed 10 make al illegal transfer Of
| 100000.
The officers belonging 70 General Fremont's
| staff arc Interested in army contracts. CoPlaln
HaskIl, an aid, is a paItner of Colone! Degrai
in mule, hay and other contracts.
Captain TIrIly, United States commissary,
was ordered 20 receive and pay exhoFbitant
prices for inferior mules, from Captain Has
kali, aud upon protesting against thIs wrong,
was ordered away from the post BY General
Fremont.
Captain Z. Nj Davis, of General FremoBt's
staff, received contract for blankets, which,
on delivery, proved rotten and worthless, and
thongh condemned, were paid for and sent 10
the hospitals
The muske.s purchased by Gen Fremont, in
France, arr worthless.
After Gen. Meigs limited tie price to &c paid
for oats et 30c. corn 81 Csc, and hay at $3.50,
a contract was made with Baird & Palmer
(PaImer Cook s. Co, of California notoriety)
at 34c. ior cats, 3Oc. for corn, and $l9 for hay,
amounting in the aggregate 10 Sl0O,0O0.
Gen Fremont, on his arrival at St. Louls, was
met By the aid OF General Lyon, accompanied
by Major Phelps, M. c., asking for reinforce
ments, which were not sent.
The indebtedness Of the qdartermaser's de-
pariment, for Gen. Fremont's command Is over
f0ut sIsiiis->l usad q half.
The disastrous condition of things is attributa-
ble to the {" maIign influences" of CaIifornlans,
with whom General Fremont became un!ortu-
nately connected 10 mining operations, and who
hurried from the Pacific on learning that hr was
IntIusted WIth high military command These
i'll oraened men, some or all of whom left a
dark record ID California, seem 10 have obtain
ed either voluntary or constrained control OF
the quartermaater and commssary departments
of Gen. Fremonta military districts. The re-
suits and consequences are fatal alike to the in
teresls Of the country and the usefulness aud
reputation oi the commanding general. They
mpeach either his bis head or heart, aad, so far
as be IS practically concerned, it is not materi-
al which for whether wicked or weak gem
eral, he is unftted for so great trust.
Nor are these faults, grave as they are, the
only ones 10 which he is obnoxious. The war
is being prosecuted by the army under his COM
naRd, in a way which recalls and deepeRs the
horrors Of vandalism. Without conquering
traitors he IS converting Union men into enc
mics. His line of march is marked and memo
rized by spoations and ravages which disgrace
an age of civilization. We have a letter dated
i" Upton, Nc, October ~ from an intelligent
observing, truthful FRIEND, from which we take
the following extract:
"From Upton to Warsaw the march was one
continuous devastation, without the least regard
los prciples c. aniecedeuis. One Union man,
who had kept i've socs from Joining the seces-
sion forces, had his place literally Quilted, the
men CT 4 Asboth's aud Sigels divisions killing, on
his farm alone, forty sheep, three cows, two
steers, and stealing eight horses. The cavalry
gaiioped over prar'es lassoing mules and shoot
ing oxen, sheep and hogs, then chucked them
into their already overloaded wagons. There
is scarcely feathered biped left within five
miles on either side of their march; not whole
looking-glass or an unrIheG bureau or blanket
that has not been seized. For all this there is
no excuse, the army having an abundance OF
provisions and stores.
'sfhe army has now reached Warsaw and
cGn dHuanCe no further, and never was inten-
ded TO advance further. Price and his army
| are to-day more than seventy miles ahead of
ours. Fremont does not expect, and never did
expect TO oveoake him.
''Let the least disaster happen TO us in front,
and not a man will ever return 10 tell the story
-ior we shall have left behind US maddened,
| beggared, tamishing, trenzied population, IN