The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-05-06
CoRINTn, MISSISSIPPI,
February Tth. 1863.

III ~
DEAR CHARL,E-With great pleasure I ac
knowledge the receipt of yours of the 25th.-
And I will endeavor to answer it as I have a
few leisure moments. Well Charlie, 1 am as
we'll as usual and enjoying soldiers life as we'll
as can. we are still encampcd near the
town of Corinrh, and / think we shall remain
here during the winter, though we are liable
to receive orders to leave at any moment. The
boys in our company are mostly well. There
are only about six or seven in the hospital and
none of them very dangerously sick while we
have our seventy men for duty. We have
lost only one man since We left Camp Lima.
l think we have just as good a, company as
ever went into the field to put down this un-
holy rebellion, which I hope will soon be put
down and peace again restored. But it some
times scenes as though fate was against ms.
For L don't believe we have the rebels any
nearer whipped io-day.than we had one year
ago. And why il it. I will tell you what I
think about it. You see it is a good chance
for abolitionists to do their work, and they are
'aking advantage of it all they can. The
President in issuing bis unconstitutional proc
lamation of freedom to the slaves in rebeliious
states and returning slavery in the border
states, whom he declared on two occasions he
had no such power, and did not wish to do it
has shown a disregard Of the constitution, a
disregard of the oath he took in entering on
the duties of his office, and his. returning
slaves in one case and freeing them in the
other, shows that he was governed not by prin
ciple, the constitution, morality and free.
dom but only hatred tothe south, and not a
desire, as all good patriots have, to restore the
union. In issuing this PROCLAMATION he divided
the north and made Tho rebels a great deal
more determined to prdlong the war than they
ever were before. Hs not only violates the
constitution of the United States, but has
left women and children at the mercy of
the blacks, For in his proclamation he tells
the slaves the executive government will
support them in any attempt they may make
for their freedom. Now if the negroes
now in slavery see ft to kill women and
children in order that they may become free,
the President, according, to his proclamation,
will uphold them in SO doing. I do not say
that the President really intended that the
slaves should kill women and children, but he
leaves them entirly Of the mercy of these cur
sed wretches. 1 do believe that this procla-
NATION is the most uipIincipaled piece of wri
ting and unconstitutional act that was ever
presented to the pubic by a President.
Never before did a President receive the
support of the pcopl, as did Abram Lincoln
at the beginning of this war. He asked for
men and money to carry on the war; both were
given him and more than he askedfor. When
ever a call for more men was made each State
promptly responded to the call and her quota
l6liedsby volunteers. For the people were viii
ling to sacrifice their property and their lives
for the support of the government. In his
message to Congress On the 18th Of July 1862,
lie ayowcd his intention to carry on the war
for the Union and a rigid enforcement Of the
laws, that the war on his part was not waged.
on a hatred. towards the south. : But the con.
s~titution had been tranpled upon audit must
be restored. Upon these terms men were viii
ling to leave their happy homes and rush to
the support of the President, but since then
the policy of the war has been changed, and
the people no longer put any confidence in
the administrator Tie late election in sew
eral of the Northern States show this plainly
enough; the people lavcRad a trial of abolition
for two years and il has proved a perfect
failures Had the President conducted the war
according to the CONSTITUTION andthe laws and
let the everlasting Niger question alone the
people would have supported him, and the war
have been ended But no, there were
over four million ofhum,n beings ens,avcd and
these he and his followers said must be free
Ail the acts of the party now in power shows
that it is the niger they want to place en- an
equality with white men. Why here in the
district of Corinth there are perhaps 100 con-
trabands. They have a camp of their own,
draw ~rations f1om the government. They
also have an infernal abolition preacher to
govern and preach freedom to them. He tells
them that the soldiers about here have left
their homes AMI come away down here to free
them. And on New Years day this preacher,
with some cursed sbolition officers,
presented these negroes with a very nice flag,
and told then that that>banner would forever
protect them. Now is this fighting for our
Is it.fghSing f0f the star spangled
so dearly purchased by our forefathers
Or rfesee fqAtiagsto free the. slaves Of. the
south. Dell you these are questions that re-
volve in asJdiers mind that has left his friends
and connections and rushed to the protection
Of a bleeding country, as he sees acts Of a SIM
lar nature transporting every day. About the
middle of December, the rebels tore the Rail
Road up between here and Columbus Ky and
we could rot get provisions through until the
road was repaired, SO we had to live on hall
%rations for about a month. But not SO with
he negroes they had plenty, all the while,
sold bread to the boys all the while
we were on half %ratiops. They get soft bread
while WI get hard crackers, so you see niggers
- lakxo. 1,o,%oJ bora th,p fba co1diarc When