The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1861-08-08
The Hurbnrism Of fhc Rebels.

.Hlsess1s3 -
The Murbarism OF the Rebels.
Since the first accounts and the first excite
ment of the Battle of Bulls Run, there has been
a systematic effort on the part of the rebels and
their Northern sympa:hizers and apoiogl'ts' to
wipe out or gloss over one feature OF that bal
tle-the barbarous and brutal treatment OF our
wounded on the field of battle. All thehrst ac'
counts-telegraphi letters from reporters for !
the nress and letters from soldiers to their fami-
lies-unite in stating that after our unfortunate
retreat commenced, many of the wounded and
diving were bayoneted or shot by the rebels
They were deliberately pulled out of ambulances
and wagons and murdered with cruelty and
bloodthirstiness, only equalled by the savages
of this country or the Sepoys of India.
The truth of these statements are now denied,
but we have no faith in the denial. We have
seen the statements of men we would believe
AS soon as If they were under oath not written
for publication nor for the eye of the public :
statements of what they saw themselves, and
they agree perfectly with the published accounts
of the inhuman conduct of the rebels. Beside
numbering our wounded and defenceless soldiers,
they refused US the permission to bury our dead,
and for two days after the battle, they lay where
they fell, and then were promiseuously rolled
into pit and covered up.
Since the rebels have had time to reflect
little upon the policy of the matter they have
begun 10 deny these atrocities, and to make the
- 80, hat
ed prisoners in the rebel camp, have been very
Hospitality treated. But the denial and the par
tial reparation come too late. The atrocities
have been committed, and the world has been
shocked by their recital, and the character of
the rebels has been displayed in an unmistaka-
BILE light, They have forfeited theIr claim here
after, to any of the privileges of civilized war
fare at our hands. Whatever considerate treat
ment they may receive from us will come pure
ly from our magnanimity not from any moral
claim they have upon US, for that has been for
feited
! We are not surprised that northern friends
and apologists of the rebels should wish to
deny the accounts of their cruelties and barbar-
tiles. They are not entirely corrupted and bru-
talized by the constant personal contact with
slavery, and they can therefore see and appre-
ciate the effect, these atrocities are likely to
have upon the cause they advocate, in the eyes
of the civilized world. The cause cannot but
be branded as infamous, that demands such in.
famous means to support it, must be the judg
ment of all christendom.
But, ace need not be surprised at these bar
barities. The course of the Shareholders for
years past has been just such as would lead to
the commission of the atrocities in question:
For two or three years past. it has been the
practice of the people of several of the Southern
States, to commit all sorts of indignities and
cruelties upon northern men, if by any means
they were led to suspect such men of opposition
to the institution of slavery. The fact OF being
from Northern State, has been in numerous
instances sufficient cause for Imprisonment, tai
and feathers, and many other cruelties and in
dignities. I: has been frequently remarked that
the treatment northern men have received al
the hands of their "Southern brethren" was
sufficient cause, if committed by foreign ma
ton, for declaration of war This course per
sisted in, for term of years, would easily fit the
perpetrators for the commission of still gross
J er and more cruel outrages.
The outrages that were committed against
northern men in time of peace, were supposed
to be sufficiently excused, by saying that the
: victim was an abolitonist, and in hundreds Of
instances the only proof that he was an abo
zionist, was that he was from a northern State
; Or read northern newspapers. L hese things
have always been admitted and justified
then why this present attempt to deny acts
no less inhuman on the field Of battle The
only reason is, that they were done more pub.
j, iicly, and the infamy of them would be more
fully appreciated by the outside world, and
hence the necessity of their denial.