Winchester journal. [volume] (Winchester, Indiana) 1862-1863, 1863-05-08
Army Correspondence.

~ "llIteu, IL NOulu present 1000
for the historic reader for a thou
sand years. War carries with i
its horrors and its amusements
the former can be seen upon the
battlefield /; the latter in camp
and on march. We become edu.
Gated to this thing Of killing men;
and by this education We, TO some
extent, lose those finer feelings
of sympathy and humanity which
have ever been characteristic oil
the American people in civil life,
This is true, however, only with
reference to our action against
our enemies; with our friends,
the soldier exercises the kindesl
Offices known to civilized life
but with rebels they think moth.
ing of walking over their dead
bodies upon the ba:tle-fe and
it is here, and under these cir
cumstances, that they forget the
tender injunction of the poet,
TREAD softly upon the ground of the
dead"
But few days ago | passed
over the battle ground south OF
Franklin, where the dead bodies
OF tie slain were still lying, and
through whose veins the warm
life blood had Just ceased to flow;
and while 1T did not produce the
same feelings experienced at
home when some dear friend di.
ed, yet could not help asking
myself, why, and for what, should
these poor men die and be usher
ed into the presence OF a just
God, unprepared? | could think
of no other answer than that
slavery demanded a sacriicial Of
ferlng, in order that its roots be
nourished by the blood of some
of lis blind followers, that it still
might grow and flourish as it did
in TIE past. But when | looked
upon the other hand, there lay
some of nv friends, cold in death /;
and | asked. why should these
die thus? A gentle whisper said,
we have all sinned, in this, that
we have all worshlped at the
shrine of Slavery. We poured
water upon the branches, and it
ran down upon the body, and it
spread upon the roots, and nour-
ished and invigorated them, until
the little scrubbv tree, which had
been planted by the British Gov
ernment, had become gigantic in
its proportions, covering one
halt OF this great and glorious
Country OF Ours;-and 1t is for
this they fight, and for this they
suffer and die. And yet, in the
face of all this scourging, and in
view of the great sacrifice de-
manded by the god of Slavery,
our people still talk about the
constitutional rights of this great
monster, which devours human
beings, traiIics in immortal souls,
and brings pestiience and war
upon the people. and destroys and
undermines governments.
To what degree of demoraliza-
tion are we fastening? We have
failed in the past to comprehend
the ugly proportions of this mon
strr. We feared to look at it as
/. was. There was a terror about
certain epithets connected with
the abolition of slavery that made
us tremble to think of investigat-
ing the subject. | do not wonder
that political conventions resoIv-
ed not to agitate the question of
slavery, for they knew it would
not bear investigation in connec-
ton with the light of truth, there
fore we smothered investigation
Il SAY, wE;;'' for, in the days OF
Pierce and Buchanan democracy,
| was one of its blind devotees.
We refused to see, hesr, or think
of the terrible calamitles which
this institution would bring upon
us as a nation. There was but
one great absorbing question with
ns, and that was, the success oil
our party. It is true, there was
some excuse for the man of hum.
bic pretensions, for he had but
little knowledge of the wicked
designs of his political leaders,
and knew but little about the in
fernal institution of slavery; and
he worshiped his party and labor
ed for its success with a bIinC
zeal worthy of a better cause
Nlne-tenths of the anti-war mer
of the Free States are unlearned
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