Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1863-07-17

enemy. The position of "a Soldier would
make alien enemies of every one embraced
within the lines of the enemy. Every SOL
der captured would be afte s:lfen enemy
| OF the manner in which we confronted the
enemy in The midst of trial when the Atatrs-
otism and moral courage Of every citizen
were put to the test, it is not for us to speak
we leave that for those who we're witness
cs Of it, We will only say that there is no
part of our life upon which we reflect with
more pleasure and pride. We had dehber-
ately resolved.to sacrifice, not only proper.
ty, bit life itself, rather than take the oath
| Of allegiance to the U. S. Government,
and daily urged upon others the propriety
of making the same resolve. End yet ga
Soldier" whose moral courage has not seeh
tested, and whose patriotism has not been
put into the cruciblc of trial, talks about
us as an alien enemy. Fudge
| S. We would be obliged to him if he
would mention the names Of any officers,
or even the name Of sangle officer, whom
we have ''unjustly assaulted . We have neo-
eF nnjfstzy assailed any officer. This re-
mark Of a Soldier" betrays great deal
more than he designed, for it furnishes the
key not only to The. motives which prompted
his unprcvoked charges against as butalso to
the authorship. When wecalled upon the
author to announce his name, it was not be-
cause we felt at any loss to know it but be.
cause we desired to havethe privilege of ex-
posing him publicly BY name His name OBJ
tainod in any other way, we would not feel
authorized to use in that manner.
Theremarks we made about the Officer
to whom he refers, were based npon the
statement Of the ''Vindicator," edited by
his friend and relative. The conduct Of
which we expressed our disapprobation,
that 'soficer'' has not even attempted to JUS
Itfy. If bis super serviceable friends and
relatives desire to "keep before the people,
his conduct in that matter we are too ac-
commodating to decline to crafty them.
g. 1t will be observed that he boasts his
citizenship of another State, and claims
great credit for defending our home. The
| spirit of his communication would indicate
that it would afford him more pleasure to
destoy anything we have, even our charac-
I ter, more precious to US than anything else,
than to defend it. He Virginian by birth,
now boasts his citizenship of another State,
and, yet, has the etfrontery to speak Of such
as have chung to the State Of their nativity
as alien enemies. We do not doubt his
patriotic motives in leaving the country Of
I his birth, for we think he left his country
for his coumtry's good"
We have thus noticed as briefly as we
well could all the propositions contained in
the communication Of our anonymous assail-
ant, and it is for the publicto decide wheth-
er or not we have answered them fairly,
candidly and satisfactorily. We abide with
confidence the decision of q fair, impartial
and appropriated public.
The only truthful statement which our
assailant makes concerning us is, that we
did not leave .'from fear of the enemy; for,
Notwithstanding that most our friends,
| though they intended themselves to remain,
advised us to leave, as we would bs sure to
be taken prisoner, because we we're an ed
itor who had been making war upon the
enemy ever since Lincoln bad issued his
proclamation, and that any copy Of our pa
per would furnish conclusive evidence Of
our hostility to the United States Govern
ment, yet we had determined to remain and
run all the risks Of capture. What deter
mined US finally to leave was the fact that
the proprietors and boarders Of the hotel in
which we were boarding stampeded and left
our wife the only female occupant Of the no
tel No one would expect us to leave her
there under such circumstances. We re-
solved to take her to her fathers home-thc
proper place under such ircumstances--and
to return ourself in short time to Staunten.
We had made our preparations to return,
when the withdrawal of our forces, leaving
every family liable to be visited by plumber
ing parties of the enemy, made it our duty
as we conceived, to remaiu, at all hazards
of capture. or worse treatment, to protect,
as far as we could, the family of females
who had no other male protector than our
SELF In this connection, we publish an
extract from an editorial article which ap,
peared in the Spectator" on the 23d of
September, 1962-the first issue published
after cur return. That extract is as fol-
! lows
After an. unavoidable suspension of S
months,We have the pleasure Of resuming
the publication of the Spectator" When
its publication vas. suspended, il April last.
we expected to resume It in short time.
but were prevented by the fact Shat our
presence was needed to protect dcfenceless
family Of females, within the lines and in
the presence of the enemy, against any OBJ
trusion. violence, or insult which the de-
based soldi, r..ycf tie enemy might attemptto
perpetratc The official duties in the Con-
federate service Of every male member of
the family rendering it impossible for them
to be at, home, tie family would have been
withouta male protector if We had not re-
NAMED with therll'.+ For the space Of three
consecutive months they were 81 situated as
to be the victials of alarm almost every day
and night During that timc,, two fights
occurred in the town Lewisburgl 10 which
they lived one on,the 18th, a,n; the othc
er on the 23d of May last. The fornes be-
ing when the enemy, by vastly superior
numbers drove off the gallant Grcenbrer
cavalry company, under The command Of
4 Captain B f. Elklc, which had BEEN l,ft
there to protect that place against marau
ding parties Of the enemy. when our forces,
under Brigadier General Helh, withdrew
from that place to Dublin Depot. to protect
the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, and
4 the latter, the battle between the forces Of
i Brig. Gen. Heth, and those of the enemy,