Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1863-09-17
A Conscrlpt's Epistle to JEFF. Davis

The following quaint epistle has been
furnished for publication by a member Of
the Mounted Rifles. who picked it mp in
a deserted rebel camp on the Chowan Riv-
er. about thirty miles from Winton.
while out on a scouting expedition last
spring.
The letter was addressed in this wise:
Read. if you want to. you thieying
scalp hunter, whoever you are. and for
ward. postpaid to the lord high chancellor
Of,,hc devils cxchequer (?) on earth.
JEFF DAVIS.
Richmond, Va.
lIEApoUARTERs "ScALP HUNTERS"
Camp Chowan, n. c., Jan. IL.
Excellency Davis:
With feelings of undeveloped pleasure
an affectionate conscript entrusts this
sheet of con6scated paper to the tender
mercies OF Confederate States mail car
rier, addressed, as it shall be yourself, o
jeff. Red Jacket of the Gulf, and Chief
of the six Nations-more or less. He
writes on the stump OF q. shivcred mon.
wailing round him." and "En5ymion's
planet rising on the air." To you. @
Car OF all Chivalry and Khan of Cotton
tartaiy. be appeals for the privilege Of
seeking. on his own hook, land less free
"a home among the hyenas of the North,
Will you not halt your ..brave columns"
and stay your gorgeous career for thin
space?--and while an admiring world
takes brief gaze at your glorious and
God -forsaken cause. pen for the happy
CO script a furlough without en1? Do SO,
and mail II. if you please. and mail it to
that city the windy. wandering Wigfall
didn't winter IN, called for short Philadel-
phia. tg s ~
The Eiesian winds sweeping down the
defiles of the Old Dominion, and over the
swamps OF Suffolk. come moaning through
the pines of the old State, laden with the
music. and sigh themselves away into
sweet sounds OF silence to the far off South.
\ our happy conscriPt would go to the far
away North whence the wind comes. and
leave you to reap the whirlwind. with no
one but your father, the Devil, to rake
and bind after you, And he is 60
ing.
1t is with intense and simultaneously
proud satisfaction that he gazes for the
last time npon our holy fag--that sym
boil and sign Of an adored trinity-cotton,
niggers and ch;valry. He still sees it in
the little camp on the Chowan. tied to the
peak oil its palmetto pole. and floating out
over our boundless Confederacy, the re-
vived relic of ages gone, banner of our
king Of few DAYS and full of trouble
And that pole in its tapering uprightuess
testifying so ne of the granlest beauties Of
our nationality; its peak pointing hope
fully toward the tropical stars, and its
biggest end-run into the ground. Relic
and pole, good bye. Ills best the con-
script goes; his claim o chivalry has gone
before him. Behind he leaves the legiti-
mate ch;valry of this unbounded nation
conferred in the Legitimate son Of Ken
lucky horse thief, t~r ~,
But few more words. illustrious Presi-
dent. and he is done-doue COMO. ! rs
Elevated by their suffsrings and suf-
frages to the highest Office ir the gift Of q
great and exceeding free people, you have
held your position with out change Of
base. or purpose Of any sort, through
weary months of war. and want, and woe
and though every conscript would unite
whit thousands oflcyal and true men
in the South in grand old grief at your
downfall, SO too will they sink under the
calamity of an exquisite joy when you
shall have reached that eminent meridian
whence all progress is perpendicular.
I And now, bastard President of polit-
ical abortion, farewell.
Scalp hun.ers.' relic. pole. and .chiv-
alrous confederates in crime, good bye.
Except.it be in the army Of the Union,
you will not again see the conscript.
NonN. HARRoLD, .na
/ Of Ashe county, n. &.