Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1863-03-18


vocates OF peace at any price, by exagge-
rating difficulties, 10y sneering at patriot
ism, 10y clarifying our enemies, have lone
more to demoraliZe our armies than all
the sutferings, privatiOns and losses IN the
field. Soldiers in the field are made of
the same stuff ~ other men, and are not
removed from the effects of moral intiu-
ences. Expressions of sentiment which
make You feel gloomy as you listen to
them here at home. with few Of the evils
of war near YOU, would make you feel
gloomier, if they came TO you in the biv-
ouac. away from home and its cheering
influences. The disloyal sophistries
which bewilder weak-minded men here,
will doubly trouble the wearied soldier
there. TO fight against such influences
Is much hsrder for him than for you
Yet he has to resist them, and to go to
his picket post to be the mark of rebel
sharpshooters, or march TO the lannon's
mouth, i'll spite of all the discouragements
which croakiug towards, or traitorous
writers can suggest. instead of having in
his ears the united and enthusiastic God
speed of the great people for whom he
is struggling. The rebel who should
steal into our camps to corrupt the troops
by brides or by artiul seductions or dis
couragements, by glittering promises or
by lying. panic making st3ies of the en-
emy's power, would suffer quick and
sharp military punishment if caught, and
thinking men in the army regard traitorsa at
home as equally guilty. The voice which
has recently come from ali parts OF
the army proves h assertion true IN re-
gard To the great mass oil the soldiers.
With noble enthusiasm they declare their
purpose to conquer at whatever cost, and
denounce all who would finch from the
struggle, or despair of the result.
Still there are those in every army, as
in every community. who are influenced
by fear or by any encouragement. Such
men will desert when they have Opportu-
nifty and think they will not be delivered
up or Kissed pack to duty by their neigh
bors at home. They. will struggle from
the line as it advances upon the battle
field TO meet the foe. Disloyalty at home
has greatly increased the number OF theSe,
50 that battles nave been lost which might
have been won, or been indecisive when
they might have been glorious victories,
had every man in the ranks encouraged
by hearty support at home and the
knowledge that skulking or cowardice
would be followed surely by shame and
contempt, rushed boldly TO the front,
keeping full pace with his comrades when
the line of bayonets charged the foe.
Let it be- fully understood that these
disloyal men in your midst are in this
way responsible for many OF the very dis
asters which they now use as arguments
against the country's cause. They have
made men f~aint-hearted and practically
taught desertion AMI skulking, and o
instead of hiding their heads in shame at
their work, they have the etfrontery to use
it as a means of showing that the cause
itself is hopeless. The truth of this will
only grow more evident by reflection.
The 6uoyant confidence which gives
double weight to the soldiers arm, is in
large measure due to his faith that the
man to right of him and left of him
are animated by his own spirit and will
stand by him TO death. Make him feel
that he cannot reckon upon his comrades,
that they nave been corrupted by traitors,
or disheartened by f~ainthearted croakers,
and you destroy his confidence and with
it his power. Thus it is that defeats and
r~eyerses follow as the natural result of dis
loyal teaching in your home presses, and
when the battle reports from your armies
tell of crowds of stragglers filling the roads
to the rear, you may look for the cause
quite as much in the columns of some of
your as in any faults of disci-
pline or organization in the field.
The assertions and unauthorized alb
senceS which have so weakened the army
as to call out the recent proclamation of
the President upon that subject, n
which are mainly traceable to the intiu-
ence described, are in themselves a great
cause for the necessity of drafting more
men to supply the places thus made va
cant. and in this name our home trait
ors become themselves directly RESPONSE
BILE for the necessity of the very draft
which they are using rs a means OF exclt-
ing halfhearted men 10 opposition against
the administration. They weaken the
army by their disloyal teachings and COW
ardIy suggestions, and so induce strag-
Cling and desertion, which again result
in defeat and food for still greater discour-
agement. The weakening of the army
caused in this manner necessitates draft
ing, which itself is used to create odium
against the government, and thus, by the
diabOlical ingenuity If bad men, their
own crimes are made constantly to in
crease the public distress and burdens,
and their own wickednass is a chief cause
of the evils they so loudly cry out
against.
But their responsibility does not end
here. BY thus protracting the war and
causing disaster, they are adding great
heaps of dead to the numbers already sac
rifced by the rebellion. Brave men by
the hundred have died for lack of the
support which might have been given
them, had every straggler or deserter
stood firmly to his duty and by his con
rade, instead of listening to the advice of
traitors and preferring his own safety TO
honor and to duty. Upon the heads of
all tories must rest the weight of the re-
sponsibility for this blood, and the nation
now and in future generations will de-
mand it at their hands.
1t will not be thought strange, then,
that the army should feel that these enc
mics at home are more dangerous than
those they meet in the field. The open
manly foe is less hated than the spy or
the bushwhacker, because with the first
it is a fair and even contest of strength,
while the last will profess friendship in
your camp, and murder you from behind
a rock or tree as you travel the road
Similar professions of friendship followed
by such results as have been placed be-
fore you, naturally and necessarily beget
similar feelings towards these enemies in
our midst. and no reason can be found
why their plots and the natural results
should not receive the exposure and the
condemnation they deserve, that we'll
meaning men may not be deluded by
them into a ruinous opposition to the
Government.
In my judgment then, the great labor
for you nj home is to stimulate each 9th
er's patriotism to an ~unflinching determ-
%ination. and to disappoint the hopes of
all northern traitors by exposing the real
significance and tendency of their doc
trines tohhe conten.p pit and hatred of all
u fellow citizens. Supported by a
hearty and determined unanimity at
home, the lessons of experience will