Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1862-03-28

ino AsouhVitle CoarANs OF the Lot
irSt /, publishes letter from J. r.. Uu
derwood, inclosing the following, whic
he says he has just received from Ger
Buell.. of course certain class of pol
itieians will be as much delighted wit
= 1t as Mr.. Underwood is. We publisl
il that our readers may see how som
OF. f.our Generals would put down the re
beilion. Here is the letter:
r --fsspoeaRrxns DEpanTMsSros or TEE ONO,
Ia tssosi SAsuyILIE, March 9, 1889.
r. DEAR Sin: / have lad the honor t,
rece:ss your communication OF the ls
inst, on the subject of fugitive slaves il
the ossips Of the army.
bsa ltrhas come to my knowledge tha
sslayes sometimes mako their way i'm
properly into our lines, aud In some in
ttances they may be enticed there, bu,
j think the number has been magnifed
BY report. Several applications have
been made TO me by persons whose ser
wants have been found in our camps
= and in every instance that ! know oi
the master has recovered his servant and
taken him away.
I need hardly remind you that there
will always be found some lawless and
inischieyous persons in every army; but
l assure you that the mass Of this army
is lsw-abiding, and that it is neither its
disposition nor its policy To violate law
or the rights Of individuals in any par.
ticular. 4
With great respect, your ob't ser't.
= s'sss d. C. BUELL.,
Brig. Gen. Commanding Depart't.
Hon. j. r. UNDERWOOD.
So, them Gen. Buell. has, in "epeyy in :
ssaaee" Of which he has had any knowl-
edge. rctuFsed fugitiyes to their mastersl
.Heldoess not say to loyal masters, but in
terery insfaince. Nor does he tell US hew
msny free men he has consigned to
slavery by the process. Will anybody
pretend that those who will commit per-
Jury, and, BY conspiracy, attempt to de-
stroy the Government by open treason,
would hesitate at ciutching freemen,
through the intrumentality of General,
50 very accommodating as in s'every in-
stance" to deliver up the person claimed
rs . slave?
But the General insults the patriotic
volunteers under him, By the dirty in.
siunation that those who decline tho
office of '.nigger catchers" are .lawless
and misehieyous persons" Now, Gen.
Buell. knows very we'll, that all the "law.
lessness" inI the. business. was the en-
ploying Of the army for any such dis
graceful purpose. Every instance" Of
his delivering up negro, or anybody
else, as slave, was an instance of ..law |
lessness. But, us there was no. United
states law on the subject, with sufficient /
penalties to restrain those whose tastes
led them to the "slave hunts" Con- |
gress has very wisely, and very timely, |
passed law that will meet just such |
cases .of "luwless and mischievousr
action.
About The time that Gen. Buell. VAS
writing his letter to this slave driver.
and assuring aim that all slaves would !
be returned, and proclaiming that there
would always be "lawless and mischiev. |!
ous' persons found in every army, coa
eress was enaeting . Law, very much
80 |
neelcd, to disrbiss al '.lawless" persons
from the service. And the Law to-day
is, that any officer of United States
forces whe will engage in the business
OF ofslave-catching, or order the men mn
der him to do so, shall be dismissed
from the servicel Il was well known
that such law was needed to prevent
some Of pur pro-slaysry officers from 30
degrading the patriotic men under them.
BUTT was not probably known or sus-
rscted that Gen. Buell. was one Of them,
sad but for the publication Of this letter
It Prsbsbly would not have been known.
There H., therefore, q pecaliarity
shout the publication of this letter,
which must be most mortifying to Gen.
Baen, bat Instructive to all Others
The slasehelders seem not only to have
used him as their slave-catcher, but to
have induced him to commit himself to (,
them in this letter; and then, as soon az I,
Congress passed the law, making the
penalty Of his acts d disgracsful dis /,
mission from the service, With the
sreaehery and meanness apparently in.
born in their class, they make the ex-
posure by its publicatioa, which must
tarnish whatever fame he mag have 40.
4uired, If it does not drive him from the
service in disgracel : But, hsxeser
severe the modification may be to Gen.
Buell. and his friends, we have no dou..t ,
good will eventually grow out of it, 9
It will teach others that they cannot, 9
BY any amount of trucking to the slave I
power, win it's confidence; but on the t
will only receive their con- ,
empt, and place themselves in q posi- |
ion to be betrayed wherever the in 7
'erests of slavery can be subserved by f
Lhe Lhe treachery. This lesson ought to ,
have been learned BY all sane men long
'go. But some people will only learn
BY experience. And, surely, Gen.