Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1863-07-18
SATURDAY MORNING, JULY Is, 1863.

| my negroes, armed 10 the teeth, | went to
the polls and defcd them. voted No Sep.
ntion.' They then dragged me and Judge
Catron before the Military Commission at
Nashville. They questioned us, and order
ed us TO leave the State. The Judge con-
scnted, but | charged them with sending us
away because they had changed while we
had not, and | told them to their faces that
would not go-that would die first One
of my near kinsmcn was on the Commission,
and | accused him of being rccrcant to every
principle of our ancestors. lie only answer
cd, I'd not argue that question with yuu.--
We may he wrong, but we're embarked in
this thing; our lives are at stake, and self.
preservation, which makes Il man sacraiiCc
his dearest friend to save himself, impcls us
to 90 on. We cannot look back 1t is that
feeling which now holds them together
After that, my wife entrcated me, and am
ashamed to say it. | became less out-spokcn.
But | was Il marked man they annoyed
me and plundcrcd me in every way. At one
time they quartcrcd whole regiment upon
me. / went out and told them: You are
my nCighbOrs love you, and will not kill
you, but | curse you. ! curse you for the
ruin you are bringing on your country God
heard me, Sir, and. that curse rested on them.
Out of the fifteen hundred that went to
Richmond, only two hundred were left when
Grant took Memphis The rest had ans
wcrcd the mustcr-roll in eternity Then
every man felt justified in taking my life.
walked every day arm-in-arm with death. |
was pundcred, waylaid, shot at, my well
was poisoned. How | escaped, the Provi-
dcnce that guarded me only knows. When
the soldiers left, society became reduced to
IL state of anarchy--a struggle for selfpre-
parents against children, children against
parents. No man was safe. Even my friend
Shackclford law partner of Gustavus \.
Henry. member of the Confederate Senate
was threatened with death At the outset
he had gone with the current, and his only
son had volunteered; but when he saw ruin
which Secession was bringing on his section
he applied to. Henry for the young mans
release. An order was at once issued for
his arrest, and he only escaped 10y leaving
the state. No words can picture to you.
Sir, the state of things that existed. All
that Dante and Milton have told us of hell,
falls short of what we experienced
And through all this you stood true to
the Union . | honor you, Sir, from the bot
tom of my soul. honor you."
"Gou need not for | knew their plans. ]
knew that all their talk. about the extension
and perpctuation of Slavery was a mere
sham to cover their real designs, which are
to subvcrt republican institutions, and found
II bastard monarchy ON the ruins of their
country loved Slavc:y, Sir love it still;
but even to save it could not ali III over
throwing the Government founded by my
fathers. | could not lift my puny arm in
opposition to the manifest designs of God,
which are that all men shall he free and
equal"
| did not ask him why the blacks had
been overlooked in the designs of Deity;
merely remarked: And are you satisfied
that such are the intentions of the Rebel lea
dcrs | know that Spratt, and other South
cm theorists, advocate monarchy as the only
government compatible with Slavery but
have not supposed your practical statesmen
had adopted such views"
They have. These irlcas are the main
spring of the Rebellion. But for them it
would never have been undertaken. know
it. The whole plan was opened to me. If
it had not been | should have gone with
them. | could not otherwise have stcmmcd
the current. The English and French Gov
crnmcnts know it, and that is the reason
the Rebels have had so much sympathy from
them. They have kept the design carefully
out of sight only the Hngleaders have been
in the secret, for they knew that if the mas
scs discovered it before they had them
bound hand and foot by military dcspotism
the whole jig was up"
lie pausdd, for iust then :hc Cnginc-whis-
tic sounded shrilly through the trees the
train broke up, every man i'll the car sprang
to his feet, and il dozen voices called out:
The guerrilla are upon US ~
"Arc YOU armed, Sir ~ said the colonel