Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1863-03-13

Letter from Gen. ROsecrams to
the Indiana Aegislnture.
In response to resolutions of thanks from
the Indiana Legislature, Gen. Rosecrans has
written the following letter:
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT or THEl
CUMBERLAND, MURFRExsBoRo, Tenn,
Feb. 18, 1853. -.
GENTLEMEN I'm the name of the officers
and soldiers Of the army of the Cum oerland,
| thank you for the resolutions Of congratu-
lation, approval and coincidence you have
sent us on account Of the battle OF Stone
River. .-..-, ........-s 49,.
At the call Of constitutional liberty, the
brave and true men Of the West laid aside
peaceful pursuits, left their homes, and sought
to qualify themselves to fight for Govern
ment that had cost the blood and treasures
of two great wars and eighty years of time
to establish.
For twenty weary months the army has
stood guard to keep the Confederate wols
from your doors. They know what hungry,
cold, weary marches, and painful watchinas
it has cost to preserve our homes from inva.
sion, and our friends and neighbors from
CONSUMPTION; it is therefore doubly pleas.
ure to hear these free and cheering words now
from home. t.......
The INSCRIPTIONS despots in our front call
US "Lincoln hlrelings," and we hear that this
calumny has lately been repeated At home, BY
some Of the men whose property and per-
sons have been kept safe, by our toll and
blood, from the ruthless hands of Kirby
Smith, Bragg and Morgan. Pfesuming on
cur absence, these men talk as if We were not
citizens, and speak mockingly of our patri-
otism. They stab in the back the most gen.
erous, true-hearted men of the country, while
standing guard in front of their doors, and
they prolong the war by encouraging the reb-
els to hope for divided counsels at our homes
l speak the conviction Of the officers and
men Of this army, when say that we fight
to secure equal rights to all, under the Con.
stitution and the laws-wc fight in defense of
our homes and hearths, sure to be invaded
if the rebel despots, who began the war, can
get the power. But we long for peace-we
pray for peace; and we fight for peace-not
for dishonorable peace-not for a hollow
truce. We have oncebeen deceived bv the cry
of mo coercion" and of Estate Rights" and
have seen how the rebel leaders practice in
East Tennessee, Missouri, Western Virginia
and Kentucky. We have met the masses of
the South, aud are witnesses of the falsehood,
calumny and perfdy by which they have
been led to wage war against US. We have
seen flags of truce violated, hospitals, ambu-
lances and boats bearing flags, fred upon
and our sick and wounded stripped of their
blankets, and robbed of their food and medi.
cines; we have been approached in battle by
ret els wearing our uniforms and carrying our
colors.
After witnessing their wholesale SANDER of
US, their perfidy and treachery toward the
masses Of their own people, and the unfair
and dishonorable means to which they resort
to gain an advantage, We have been forced to
the immovable but sad conviction, that the
leaders ofthis rebellion are peridious, treach-
erous, inscriptions and cruel-their leaders
never will nor can be peaceable, or true
friends and neighbors. And that, as Mr..
Davis has said, they only want the power,
not the will, to invade and subjugate US.
We should rejoice to see the power of these
leaders fall by the hand of their own people,
whom they Cypress that people for whose
rights We fight, in common with our own
but unless it does thus fall, we must destroy
it or it will destroy our nation, and our chill.
dren will pass under the yoke OF q military
despotism raised on the sable foun dation Of
negro slavery, and the more degrading servi-
tude Of the poor Whites" such as now over
shadows the South. l say "your children
will pass under the yoke" for that could only
harpcn after the brave and true men Of the
country-her citizen soldiers-shall have per-
ished or, deserted by the wretches whose
homes they have hitherto protected, heart
broken and despairing, shall quit the field
and give to slavery and to its domination all
those who love money more than honor, and
peace more than freedom. &c. .,t.. r.. -, -a..
The issue is plain one. If we who battle
for national existence are not to be sustained
by our own friends ut home, the sooner we
know it the better. We do not wish to be
deceived as to our position, nor fall victims to
the treachery, cowardce Or selRshness Of
those whom We have loved and trusted.
w. &. RosEcRANs, Maj Gen.
To the Honorable the Legislative Assembly OF
the State of Indiana