The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-09-28
Confederate Warfare.

The public all remember wildly the |
indignant circumstances which jeff. |
Davis uttered against the barbarity and
inhumanity Of Northern warfare, in his
recent message 70 the rebel Congress.
One who believed that fair words always
accompany honorable deeds, miSht read
lily have supposed that the Southern Con-
federacy was conducting the rebellion on
the most benevolent, refined, and Chris
;ian-like principles; and that il was
only in the Federal army that the foes Of
civilization were TO be found Now, as
the honor Of our country is at question
in this matter, let us, without passion or
bitterness, try this bold accuser Of ours
by the testimony Of history. BY the ev-
idence it furnishes we are prepared to
stand or fall A few weeks since, the
heart Of the nation was filed with hor-
ror at the announcement of the massacre
of several hundred Amcrisan citizens
men, women, aud children-in Minneso-
Ia, by the Indians in that State. The
awful butchery was attended with every
circumstance that could shock, and sick
On, and appal the heart The Massacre
OF Wyoming that red chapter in Anne
can annals, immortalizcd by the bcauli-
Iul poem Of Campbell, was not more dis
NAL, more hcart-rending, more terrible,
than the tragedy Of Minnesota Let us
read The testimony of Governor Ramsay
of that state, in his message 10 the Lee
gislaiurc:
The sudden and trcachcrous Outburst of
savage cruelty, which in one sudden blow
struck down their friends and ncighbors
of another blood, and revealed in a gem
eral massacre Of men, women and chill
dren, has been alluded to-
But massacre itself had been mercy. if
it could have purchased exemption from
the revolving circumstances with which
it was accompanied. Nothing which the
brutal lust and wanton cruelty of these
sayages could wreak upon their helpelcss
and innocent victims, was omitted from
the category of their crimes.
llelplessess and innocence indeed which
move pity in any breast but theirs, SEEM
ed to inspire them only with n more
lendsh rage
Infants helOa ato bloo1y clips n aesl, On.
aalied aiiUe To door posts 10 finger o,ttleir
htie hfe iH Hs2ytal agony, or torn upFmeil
from the lO0Dl5 qf the DttUdeyed mother anil
W cruel Ul0ckery cast iR fragments on hen,
pu'seleSs and bleoiiBg breast; yaDe jOiaed b.
murder IN oue 0lgtiH tragedy; yopng qiyIe,
ereH children NJ teadey years. 0UtJaged by
their 6rUtal raUiateyS I'LL death ea,iea H,eiu
shame dEd snDelfRgs lu0Dlei he'll az captiri-
iyto undergo the horT0S eta liUiRg death: i0Loie
families burned atre; amt, as II their aeul-
ieh fUry could not giat itself iUjH outyages on
the itriRg us last cBorts exhausted an Dluliia-
tina lie bodies IF he dead, such are the
spcctacles, and thousand namcless
horrors besides, which their first eNpc-
ricnce of Indian war has burned into the
brains and hearts of our frontier people.
and such the enemy with whom we have
TO deal.
1t is estimated that fec hlupye} persons
qf eyeJy age ANIL sen persisted. and, worse
than persisted, by the hands of these re-
morscless butchers in the course Of the
two or three days succeeding the out
blNahf bNANAN NlANll llbNitao vas NUtthtu
by our forces, and hundreds OF them lie
yet unburied whcra they fell, hidcen in
the grass and bushes Of prairies and
rayines. Many doubtless, in the attempt
TO escape, have become lost or fainting
from exhaustion and terror, have died OF
starvation
The theater of dcprcdations, as far as
ascertained has extended from Otter Tail
Lake and Fort Abercrombie, on the Red
River TO the Iowa boundary, on a front
Of two hundred miles, and from the
western border of the State eastwardly
to its heart at Forest City, an area of
10000 square miles.
The property destroyed or carried of
as booty is estimated at millions Of dol
lars, including large supplies of arms aud
ammunition pillaged from the government
and private stores on the Reservation, and
the cattle, horses, and household effects
sI settlers
The inirect damage 10 our citizens is
vastly greater, and if we include its prob 10
able effects ON our future prosperity, is
bsyond calculation.
Tens of thousands of acres of crops.
which comprised all the wealth OF their
owners, have thus been abandoned Ia
destruction, and { thousands of prosper
GUS and happy families reduced at one
blow TO poverty, and often 10 boggary.
Throughout the whole district embrace
ing the counties of Brown, Cottonwood.
Faribault jackson, and other counties i'm
the Southwest, through the beautiful lake
country of kcndiychi Douglas. Monon
gala Meckcr Mcleod, large portion OF
Stcarns and Wright and throughout thg
new settlements in the Red River Valley
but a few days since the abode of busy
and happy communicates and
solitude now reign supreme, or if any re-
main It is i'm fear and tcrror-armcd
against neutrality-suspicious. of every
shadow that falls upon the grass-thc loe
cottage loopholed Tor dclense-aud ia,
peaceful village turned into fortified
post. The danger may bee exaggerated
but the effect is too real
Brown county, adjacent to the Siou,
Reservation, has felt the worst effects ol
this calamity, ltwaspeoplcd chiefly b,
Germans, and their neat stages and fin,
farms gave evidence of the superior thrift
and industry which distinguish this elias
of our foreign citizens, Driven from
their homes--their property destroyed %
pmndrred-robbcdc even OF their house
hsld goods-many OF them mourning
wives, husbands, children and parent
murdered - their beautiful and busl
town of New Ulm, and their own homes
blackened heap of ruins-thcse poo
rueitiyes, many of whom cunuot speaI
our language, are especially deserving
pT pur sVmpathy.