Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1863-04-01
THE coPPERaEADs AND THE SOLDIERS

s.The idea of officers and men, sent to the
battlefield to fight against enemy in arms,
! turning their baeks-upon their enemy, and
their faces upon the men who feed them
| clothe them, and who have given them a n the
| liberties they ever had, and who, instead of
them, mean to maintain those liberties /!
| (cheers.l They cannot f.ighten any man who
! Is III 10 be treeman.' rs r-as.
Thus, Valland gham scofed at the Union
soldiers, in his speech delivered recently fn
New York City. The patriotic appeals and
remonstrances, which have come up from the
| camps, are answered with this venom We
have learned to expect almost anything in the
way ofmalignity from this accomplice of trea-
son, but we were hardly prepared for this 1t
is the very quintessence of iRsolence ssOf-
| fcers and men sent !''-that is to say they are
hireliags. s.Turning their backs upon their
enemy ''--that is to say they are cowards
| Their faces upon the men who feed them p,
! that is to say they are ingrates oInstead
OF them, zoe mean TO maintain those Iiberties,s,
that is to say they are renegades and traitors.
| Such is the meaning of the language, if it
means anything, addressed by the Copper
| head chief to the patriots who rallied to the
| old dag when traitors were shifting il to the
dust-who, in devotion to that same sestand
ard-sheet, . for we'll nigh two long years. have
been encountering privation, disease. and the
rage of battle, till the graves of their CON-
rades are crowding hillside and plain. Their
offence is that they have rebuked sympathy
with the enemy, and have besought their faith
ers and brothers. whom they left behind, to
stand firm. For this alone are they thus re-
viled.
The Copperhead leaders have done their
best to ALLEVIATE the soldiers from the National
cause. They have sent TO them seditious
speeches and papers, without price and with
out stint they have sought to fasten upon
them officers OF their own sort; they have
been quick to seize every opportunity to make
it appear that the Government was treating
them with neglect or injustice they have
magniied difficulties,a9d dark kened every pros
pect; they have tried to discourage, by hold
ing ont that there was no chance of future re
enforcement, that enlistments were at an end
and conscription impossible; they have sought
to play upon every private feeling touching
Slavery and the black man, and to stir up ev-
as they were able, presented every tempta-
tion, and afforded every facility to desettion.
Never was there more systematic or 2ersis.
tent effort to demoralize an army than h IS
been made upon the National forces for tn e
last six months. 1t has all been futile. The
army, as whole, has, in the subIimest man.
ner, Kept true to the cause. Nay, it has more
han Eapt Z haS nf
earnestuess, an intensity OF determination, of
far more real force and worth than their first
bucyant enthusiasm. Hard experience has
sobered it, but only to make it all the sterner |
The blood it has poured out for the old flag |
has only made that Gag all the more sacred
What was before public sentiment has now
acquired something of the force of personal /
passion. Private spirit is com bined with pub |
lie spirit. Infinitely less than ever will our
soldiers willingly submit to see that flag, after
the sacrifices they have made for it, lowered
to the feet of traitors. This feeling pervades
the entire army. 1t is it's dominant emotion,
its master impulse. All political Influences
are nothing against this and so, in fact, is
every extraneous considerations Come ,chdt
may, that flag shall float to tiainph, is now, az
never before, the universal inspiration The
appeals and remonstrances which have been
coming from SO many regiments, have been
no less remarkable for their unanimity than
their emphasis. g
Baffled and .foiled, the Copperheads vent
upon the faithful army their most rancorous
spite. They have very bitterly denounced
oval men of all classes but we can recall no
such utterly malignant and contemptuous
as this. 1T cannot be considered
merely as the wild escapade of single indi-
Tidual. The fact that it was loudly cheered,