The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-06-03
In CAMP, MT. VERNON, KY.,l
-- MAY 18th, 1868. :

In CAMP, MT. VERNON, KY,,(
z- MAY 18th, 1863.
Editor Democrat
At the risk of being considered intrusive,
1 this evening determine to write you few
lines, giving the Whereabouts of the 104th.
Mt. Vernon is the County Seat of Rock Cas-
tie County, and is on the line of the proposed
Railroad from Central Kentucky to Knox
vile, Tenn. 1t is just outside the district
known as the Blue Grass region, extending
through East Tennessee into Western Vir-
ginia. The general appearance of the coun-
tern Virginia. Give the land here to gen.
uine son of the Green Mountain State, and
he would make it second Paradise. The
soil though rocky is very fertile, and fruit
grows spontaneously. But the inhabitants
have no ambition or energy, raising enough
on their farms to keep body and soul togeth-
er, beyond which they appear to have no de-
sire.
You have heard of the Tennessee Retu-
gees" see them nearly every day, this
being one of the routes to Camp Dick Robin
son, where they are assembling. l never
meet one without having a feeling of respect
for him. For no men, or set of men, have
ever endured the amount of suffering, or ex-
perienced the martyrdom for the cause of our
country that they have. A couple of days
since party of nearly hundred, headed by
opa IF +boir ,,,,ob bar ,ooy,,od Cro,,-ford u,boDo
they entitled Colonel, came through. They
told me that they started from Tennessee
three hundred strong but were fired upon in
the mountains and scattered. They mad been
can imagine, were dirty, weary, worn-dowr
set of men; and the incidents they relate Of
the fendish cruelty of their enemies, and the
sufferings of their party, if written, will hard
by the individuals themselves, and see the
tears run down their sun Drowned and bronz-
ed features, and witness the gleam of hatred
and desire for revenge sparkle from their eyes
! there would be no room in your mind for any
doubts l was fortunate enough to be intro
/ duced to Colonel Crawford, who has collected
and forwarded through at different times
nearly regiment of loyal Tennesseeans, anc
| that conversation left no doubt in my mind Al
least, of the loyalty of that class of men,
Said refugee, as the party marched up
"Lincoln's proclamation hasn't quite unitet
the South YETI Said Colonel Crawford tt
me personally, after finishing his address IL
the citizens, 81 wish Government would sent
a hundred thousand negroes, ARMED, into Eas
Tennessee, and let them cut the throats o
every rebel in the country and remarked
soon afterwards, "when you have seen wo
men bastinadoed to compel them to disclos
where their husbands and brothers are hi,
from the conscript officer, you will begin t.
fight in earnest"
The trouble is that the loyal people ar
not, as class, yet fairly aroused and in ear
nest. They go at the matter with feeling
something similar to the feelings that tw,
scientific boxers entertain towards each othe
as they step into the prize ring, while tn
rebels have the feelings that animates tw'
men who are fighting with bowie knives 70
the sole purpose of cutting each other II
pieces. There is no use of Disgusting tn,
They have not yet been even reduced to tn
straits that our forefathers were in the Revo
luton, and the same blood, to great extent
that fought then is fighting now. The re
hallio c11aI1 E.1f
that alone is going to perpetuate the libertie
now enjoyed by us. The people at the Mort
do not realize that there is even war. TIL
matter looks SO distant that politicians an
party schemers use=it as tool for party pur
poses. Let Wheeler, or Pegram, make on
raid from Cincinnati to Cleveland, and the
look around and try to count the +" butter
nuts" 1t is pretty evident that they woul
be "no whsr." The North is not united, an
] to unite it we must have either an overwhelnl
: ing victory, or an overwhelming disaster an
it is my opinion that the latter would do
more surely and efficiently than the forme
When the people have the war at their ow
7 doors, when they see their own fields devas
tateo, tnelr own noineS6eauS ruined, Inelr oW
wifes and daughters outraged and treated wit
ruffianly violence, and feel that strong han
has got the Nation by the throat, and is throt
4 Ting it to the extremity of life itself, I hay
D confidence enough in human nature to believ
that they will then prove themselves worth
of the title of men that every man wi
spring to arms, and will not ask whether tn
pay is thirteen dollars month, and wheth,
. the County is going to advance fifty dolla
bonus: but will unite, not only to drive tn
invader from the land, but to crush him on
root and branch, and forever render him ines
. pable of doing further mischief.
if A great victory would rouse the enthus
asrn Of the people, and drown all signs