Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1862-05-09
Th g Tim q ~.
BELLOWS FALLS, MAY ., 1862.
Rebel Earburilics.

speech on Int y baEbdliSHh VI eAdNSINs ~
the United States senate :" great macy,
ven among the people Of the North, thought
he had placed the subject in fully as strong
light as it would bear. But he did not
tell, or know. half the atrocities to which
slavery is capable of melting its followers
Even since the battle of Bull kun there
have been vague reports otindisnities heap
ed on the bodies of dead Union soldiers, and
outrages committed on the wounded and
prisoners, II was difficult 20 believe these
stories; we could not imagine how peo-
pie protesting to be civilized, could do such
horrible things as were reported, even TO an
gressional committee establishes beyond a
doubt, on the testimony of unimpeachable
witness, one Of whom is Gov. Sprague OF
Rhode Island, that the rebels have commit
ted outrages that should put native Of the
Feejee Islands to the blush. Henceforth
it is matter of history; and when the re-
cord of the war is written, it will tell not
only Of the base treason and ingraiitude Of
the leaders of tho rebellion, who could plan
such revolution while filling offices in the
government they were plotting to destroy,
but Of many an outrage praeticed during
the struggle, which exceed in horror the ex-
cess of the sepoys OF India, or the barbara
ties Of the North American Indians.
The inventive genius OF the South APP
pears to have been strained TO the utmost
to devise fortunes for the living and indg-
mites for the dead. Prisonsrs in rebel pri-
sons have been shot for looking out at the
window. The federal wounded have been
refused the attention of our own surgeons,
and turned over to the assistants of the re-
bel surgeons, that they might amputaie
their limbs for practice. The rebel sur
geons have refused to hold any interviews
with our surgeons taken prisoners in honor
able battle, and all the courtesies of pro-
fessional life have been disregarded by re-
bel officers Of every grade. Gen. Beaure-
gard himself held Gen. Ricketts,, an old
schoolmate and acquaintance, and wounded
severely in the battle Of Bull Run, as a
hostage for the rebel privateers, and the
treatment of private soldiers taken prison
ers, has been as bad as can be ima gined
But the rebels have displayed the most fen
dish prepensties in their outrages on the
dead, who were buried in many instances
naked, with their faces downward; their
bones were dug up as trophies, and some
times used for personal adornments; the
skulls were made into drinking cups, and
there is conclusive evidence that the body
of one Of the bravest officers in the Union
service, was burned
Besides the report Of this committee, there
are almost daily accounts Of rebel outrages
on our soldiers who have fallen into their
hands, and on the Union men OF the South
who are unable to escape from their clutch
es. On the first day Of the battle Of Pitts
burg Landing, the enemy cut the Threats of
sick soldiers as they lay in their tents.
Union men in some parts of Missouri and
Tennessee are suffering prosecutions that
remind one of the Polish persecution of
Protestants in Europe. In Tennessee just
afier the ordinance of secession was passed,
bands of marauders went about the country
robbing whoever they chose, insulting wo-
men, and forcing loyal citizens into the re-
bel service at the point Of the bayonet. In
one town, six loyal men were suspended
from the same tree, and left there prey Il
the buzzards, their friends not daring to re
move the bodies for fear of sharing simil
ar fate; and there is good evidence, tina
one man in Tennessee who refused to serv'
in the rebel army, was crucified to tree
and left there 10 perish by inches. Thes
are all well authenticated facts, and othe
equally atrocious deeds are being continual
ly reported. At Yorktown the rebels com
pei their slaves TO work the most expose
batteries, where they dare not expose thei
own persons, thus showing that they ar
only brave towards a fallen foe. They trea
their slaves just as they do northern mel
and slavery is the cause of all their barbar
~.
These monsirors revelations of inhuma
deeds. of concerted systems of muiilatio
and Dissertation, can but arouse the dee
vengeance Of the North against the author
Of this rebellion. 1t is difficult to read the.
accounts without crying out for war
determination against the South. We CT
hardly believe these men were once OF
brothers, or that they belong to the san
race, country or age. But we have not
the past, and cannot in the future, retu
outrage for outrage. Oar motive in co
Quoting the war is the noblest that natl
could have, and our actions should acco
with our principles. But this conduct
the rebels should spur Us up to n,
activity and a new zeal in the work Of cru:
ing out the rebellion. And LET US rene
Der that slavery is the source and founts
of all this evil, and see to it that the sla
power dies with the rebellion. No matt