The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-06-27
Turning the Rebels against item.
Se1ves-Arming the NexrOS.


"The negroes were driven back utjl oil.
most forced into the river, when they rail-
ed and charged bayonets upon the nbelo
| often pinning them to the earth, andgben
their bayonets were broken clubbinatheir
guns and beating out the brains Of til enc
my. The latter came on with yell If no
quarter
My informants state that though hvin,
traversed a number of fields, they bave
never before seen such ghastly iC1kirg
corpses. This indicates the terribl, des2
peration with which the com batants ,trpp-
gled
The officers of the two negro regiments
We're fearfully decimated, but the nsyroes
| took a terrible revenge in the blood # the
rebel officers"
| This is sad but verified accoun, and
| shows that wehave at last reached theurn.
| ing point of the war-what the lawyes rail-
the GtSt of the action. We were arnorr the
earliest to call for the arming Of the negroes
| 1t was called cruel and inhuman. But il
was the legitimate and shortest way b end
the war, 1t was first necessary, because
assuming man to be reasonable being
and the rebels part of mankind, were
obliged to assume that when cotton had
| failed to control events, when foreign inter.
vention became out of the question. and
when Memphis, Nashville and New Or
leans-the keys of the soutewest-had fall
en-; when all this had occurred, we were
obliged to assume that reasonable beings
would ubmit to the destiny they could not
avoid without compelling that destiny by
continuous and destructive war. The re6-
els thought otherwise. They talked of in
pendence: of hatred to the nation; of eter-
| nal separation; and it is not TO be denied
that any people occupying large space OF
country, with large numbers can cause
great deal of blood, suffering and destruc-
ton by an obstinate resistance. II the en-
tire population of the South were tree and
homogeneous race, one feeling and inter-
est, we could not say there was not much
Of force and reason in their boosted power
| of defense. But unfortunately for that the
Dry, they are not homogeneous race, one
in feeling and interest. They are exactly
the reverse. They have an antagonism in
themselves, and it depends upon us (not
known to say whether that antagonism
shall not be destructive. 1t depends upon
us to say whether we will not kindle the
flame. which is as sure to be destructive as
| fire in the dry grass of the prairies. IOfre
the magazines is Just as proper and legit-
mate weapon against the social military
organization of the South, as it is for Gene
raj Grant to mine the fertilization Of Ficks-
burg. We are beginning to see that now,
and the real point of the war has come
What did the rebels count on in regard to
slaves? And how stands the matter TO-
| day? They said, "Slavery is our defense
The negroes on the plantations Will cult
vate the crops, while all the able bodied
whites go to war. keep white
men at home to cultivate the farms. We
| laugh at instruction, for the negroes are
totally ignorant, and have no arms" This
was good sense us far as it acertt. But most
sadly did they count without their host"
They assumed that we would not get pos
session of the country where the negroes
are; would not arm them and uniform
them; and finally, they would alarm US
with threats of retaliation. All this calcu-
lation has signally failed. We are in pos
session of the country where the densest
negro population is, andthey will be rapid
| ly armed, and most fearful will be that day
| of retribution when negro slaves come to
settle their long account of bitter wrong
Talk of retaliation! The negro, once in war,
will make every field Golgotha-where
there are no prisoners and no after day OF
settlement. Is this inhuman? On whose
heads does it rest but on the wretched
criminals who have invited it; who have
spurned every offer ofmercy-resisted eve
ry law Of their country, and have openly
appealed to heaven and earth for the right
, eousness of Slavery? The appeal Will not
be in yain Heaven and earth viii answer,
and history will write the verdict-as 1t
has done upon all the expressions OF the
earth.
The destruction of the South by her OVID
people is coming, if the war is terminated
in no other way. And that is the exact
cause of the phenomena, which now make
the startling news of the day-the blue
light organizations of the North to aid the
enemy, and the rebel raid toward Penn
sylvania. The rebel leaders and their
i sympathizers both see that the South is
rapidly exhausting, and that iftbe negroes
are once armed, it is self-destroyed. This
is quite apparent to intelligent minds
Hence the case is desperate, and requires
desperate remedies. If negro armies once
begin ravaging the South, it will not be
submission, but destruction. Hence the
rebel sympathizers want to arrest the
course of the Government before 1t IS TOO
| late, and the rebel army of Virginia want
to ravage Pennsylvania in order 20 alarm
and divert the people of the North. Botn
are in vain. Political exhibitions and reb-
ell raids are both unimportant in regard 10
the real plan of war. This is to gain the
entire Mississippi and put negro army ID
the field. Let us now look at the actual
situation of the negro race, and thelr Iu-
ture in the war. We have now 0,OOo ne,
gro troops, and how they may be depended
upon we see by Montgomery's reglmentm
South Carolina, by the Louisiana regl-
ments, and by the battle OF Miihhen
4 Bend. Hereafter it will be war to the
knife with them. But can we have enough
of them? A year since we pointed out e3,
actly what has taken place-that We should
+ have practical possession OF the hisslsslp
ri. its tributaries, bayous and coasts OF the
South; and this, they say should command
the most available portion OF the negro
population. This we have done; and it IS
not too much to say, that one-third of the
negroes are within our reach. We can
therefore, raise a sufficient army. The
able bodied negro men amounted TO l ,5OV,-
600. All this vast force, with half the wo-
men, were employed in cultivating the
plantations. AS laborers, they were just
the same as so many white men. But II
we make half these negroes soldiers, What
is the consequence? We take away the
producers of bread, and make them armed
destrovers. The process is double one
4 Of tremendous force. Nearly all the white
men who can be possibly spared have al
ready gone to war, and are III the field, OF
dead. The negroes will be armed against
the whites. What will remain in another
year? A vast country-denuded, depoPu-
lated, devastated. Much oft is so nov;
and what that is the remainder will soon
become. What picture for the future
historian! What will he say? That this
was brought about by just resistance to
cruel, arbitrary and oppressive Govern
IN