Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1863-02-25
Address of the Ohio Soldiers of
the Western Army to the
People of Ohio.
Sting lg Rebuke to Northern
Traitors.
ELOQUENT APPEAL TO THE
PEOPLE.
The battlefield OF STONE RIVER,
February, i.

you from tnlS Helu OF fenOWn, III ufSen
! entreaty, upon matters of such grave i'm
! port TO them and to the country, as to de
mand your calm and patient audience
Exiles from home for long weary months
= away from the petty strife of local politic
and the influence of selfish demagoguei
: and party leaders, with the pure and stead
fast faith in the holy cause of defending
: our Government which brought US into
the field, and has sustained us in perils
hard-ships, tolls and exposures, which
have scarcely parallel in history, we feel
none of the acrimonious bitterness that
now enters into the ignoble contentious
of home politics, and calmly view the con-
dition of the country from that only true
stand point, the soldiers and patriots
devotion to the great Republie-once
blessed of all nations.
We ask, what means this wild, shame
less party strife at home? why any opposi-
ton to this war of self preservation? why
any but political demagogues should wish
a severance of the Republic? wherefore a
foolish cry for cessation of hostilities on
our part, to give time to the traitor-rebels
tostrengthen their defenses and discipline
their armies? why should the brave true
men of the great army of the United
States, war broken, toil-worn and battle
stained, be left without sympathy or aid
from you men of Ohio, now enjoying the
blessings of peace, careless of dangers of
invasion, wars dread terrors, only because
We, your brothers and sons, stand ''be-
tween your loved homes and wars desc
lation ?"
Are we not in war? Is not the whole
! force of the Government employed in de-
| Tending the nation against gigantic effort
to destroy it? Has not blood flowed like
water and treasure expended enough to
make rich a nation? Is it not worth pre-
serving? can two or more States be carved
out peacefully fiom the present loved Re
public? Can we give away its rivers, lands
and loyal people to its destroyers? Can
we afford to divide the Republic into con-
tending petty States and be forever the
victims of internecine wars between small
principalities2 Can we quietly, calmly,
even complacently, sit by and see the
grand Republic of the world thus cut off
and destroyed by innate weakness? No
honest citizen of Ohio is willing that such
should be our fate.
What matters now the cause of the war?
BY whose fault, or by the adoption of
what mistak en- policy? 1t exists! 1t
must be fought out, or ended by giving
up all that it is waged for. For the sake
of peace; to be rid of the burdens of taxa
| ton, for fear of the shedding of blood;
would any basely give up his nation and
become the citizen of a ruined and dis
honored land? i-.'-- -1i
Then wherefore opposition to the War2
Because particular party is in power?
Because its policy is obnoxious? Because
it has thrown to its surface and given
prominence to bad or incompetent men,
or adopted political theories and sought
to make them practical, which ale con-
demned by many good men? Mo- the
remedy for all these evils, if they exist at
all, may be sought in the quiet but pow
erful means of the ballot, which has pow
er in our Government TO change dynas-
ties, where the armies of the world would
fail.
Is it thought that peace and volunta-
ry restoration of the Union may be eject
ed by compromise? All that has been
tried. Disdainfully, the rebels flung back
in our faces every proffered olive branch,
before peaceful men became armed sol
diers and the booming of Fort Sumter's
cannon, with its terrible alarm, called a
nation to arms. and now, insolent and
! defiant, they laugh to scorn all thoughts
/ Of peace on any other terms than recog
nition Of their false nationality. They
| are stronger now than then. The despots
and money changers of Europe have given
them substantial aid to destroy Repub-
! lie; they have more powerful armies, abler
generals and frmer determination than
when the rebellion began. They know
their strength and APPEAL TO IT-not to
the poor demagogues of the North, who
are their allies, They condemn and de-
spise THEN. Read their proclamations,
addresses, army orders and newspapers.
At no time have they ever spoken of
Northern friends except as ALLIES IN THE
WAR; They deride the foolish appeals Of
their Northern allies for peace and COM
promise, and preclude all hope of the res
toration of the Union ON any terms.
What incalculable mischief is being
done by these Northern allies-their
speeches and newspapers are quoted, and
results of elections reported in Southern
papers, as evidence not of any hope of
restoring the Union, but to show that the
loyal people of the North are becoming
willing to submit to any dis shono rable
and humiliating terms of peace, based
even on full recognition that this fend-
ish rebellion was right and that it was
well to destroy this Government.
People of 0hiol But one alternative IS teft
you. YoH must prOnOunes this a just rebellion.
You must say that Il leGs right and just!fabte
to destroy this Republic; that Republic is a
,ceak, helpless Government, pO1oerless 10 SHs-
tain Itself, and to be destroyed scheHsUer con-
Sprators enough can be allied for the purpose,
or, yOu must sho.c to the aoorld the power Of
self preservation in the great example of
Confederate Republics. That it has q
Quiet dormant force, which aroused, has
gigantic strength and energy. That it
not only can protect its citizens in all of
their rights and privileges, but can sus-
tain itself as we'll against foreign attack
as internal treason.
We are fighting for the Republic, to it
we have given our hearts, our arms, our
lives. We intended to stand between you
and the desolating hosts of the rebels,
whose most cherished hope and desire has
| been and is, to take possession OF and raw
age your own beautiful Ohio. Once al
ready, we have stood as living wall be-
tween you and this fate, and we may have
/ to do it again.
! Men of Ohio! You know not what this
| Western Army has suffered. You know
not now, the hardships and sutferlngs OF
your soldiers in their chill tents, their
shelterless bivouacs, their long, weary
marches, and their battle thinned ranks.
/ If there be honesty and purity in human
motives, it must be found among your
long enduring soldiers. Here us, and for
your country's sake, if not for ours, stop
your wild, shameless, political strifes,
unite for the common cause, and never
think or speak of peace and compromise
until the now empty terms mean. The
Republic as it was, peacefully if 1t may
be, but forcibly at all events. 1t is said,
war and force cannot restore the Union!
I What can?
Is there anything else that has been
/ left untried, short Of national dishonor
and shame? Nothing. Purely physical
power has been invoked to destroy the
/ Government. and physical force must