Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-09-21
TO the soldiers of Indiana.


to the same common destiny, l desire to say d.
rectly to you a few calm and honest words. As
soldiers are brave, they are also just and gener-
Gus, and willing to read. and hear both sides of
all questions before forming final conclusions.
II | have in any capacity been untrue to you
while engaged in the p%erilous service of your
country, your resentment, however severe, would
be just. But il. in every act. publicly and private
ly. l have kept in view the true interests and
happiness of the soldier, | know by every impulse
of the human heart hat I will be sustained by
your unbiased judgments.
Within the last three or four weeks a most
wicked, malignant and cruel attempt has been
made by my political opponents to create a deep
and settled hostility in your minds against me.
To attain this object a system of the most aston
ishing and unparalleled ialsehood ever known in
this or any other country has been adopted. i
confess myself almost at a loss how to meet it.
A falsehood once started continues its endless
journey regardless of all contradictions.
The newspaper which starts it will never pub-
lish or notice a denial, and thus the false and in.
uEiOu iuDNC-ciOn Will IL nlhnCo ECAntiuc lOE-
ever. | do not even know that this brief state
ment to you will be allowed to reach and coun
teract the atrociOus calumnies which have been
poured into your ears by my enemies.
You have been told by such newspapers as the
Indiana Journal, the Wabash Express, Evans
vile Journal. and other biteer partisan papers
that in a late speech IN Sullivan county l spoke
very disrespectlully and unkindly Of you-that |
called you Lincoln hirelings." "Lincoln dogs"
and other approbious epithets. No more
infamous lie was ever told. / appeal to the
Searcher of all hearts for the evidence of its
truth, when | tell you that | never spoke a dis
respectful word of the soldiers of our armies in
my life. There were at least five thousand peo-
pie within the hearing of nv voice at the town
of Sullivan, on the occasion alluded to. and 10
one, friend or foe. can in truth assert that he
heard me apply such language to the soldiers.
On the contrary, as | can prove by candid men
of all parties, in that very speech ! passed a high
eulogy on the courage and patriotism Of the sol
dier, and announced repeatedly the necessity and
duty Of sustaining him in the field. / lid, in
ecu cDCdh VI yin dhN U.s. u II ga
pressly applied those terms to that class of lying
editors and thieving politicians who are being
supported by Government plumber, and who have
devoted themselves to the business of manufac-
turing falsehoods against their political oppo
nents.
But the best evidence of my feelings, and my
treatment of the soldier consists in what | have
done. more than in what i now say. l chal-
lenge my enemies, who now wish you to take
my life. to the record which | have made in
Congress. Take the first speech l made in
Congress, Feb. 20th. 1862, and you will there
find my opinion of Indiana soldiers as taken
down at the time by official reporters, and not
as reported by men who have no motive ex-
cept the destruction of a political adversary.
/ think l will not be charged with vanity when
1 say that in that speech is expressed as high
an appreciation of the g%allantry and devotion of
the Indiana soldier as you can find in any
speech made by the Indiana delegation during
the 9th Congress. | speak not of its merits
as a speech, oct simply of the sentiments
towards you which it contains. You may
~ CfCA. oPCNCn "AhNA a"N N
since that date in Congress or out, which has
been reported, and | believe that in every one OF
them, to the best of my recollection now, you
will find some complimentary allusiOn to the
soldiers of the proud and great State of Indiana.
Would ! have taken this course through all my
then in the face Of thousands of people of both
parties belle my whole record on that subject
Whatever you may think of me as a patriot you
do not think me a fool. You will feel assured
that / did no such thing.
But there is still a better way even than this tC
try my feelings toward the soldier. Many appro
p~riations of very large sums of money have beer
made to pay you, to feed you, and to clothe vol
while in the service of your country. They have
been made while | was a Representative in Con
gress from a District which has always beer
foremost in every requirement of the law for th'
raising of troops. What has been my course OF
this subject? You have beeH told that | hav,
voted against appropriations in your behalf. Oh
the contrary / say now to you. in the presence o
the record. that if any man can find Que vote tina
Il CfCf HnfC oEdthrt du opptOPtAobhOh " uOuCl
for the benefit of the soldier. / will resign tn
seat which ! now hold, and agree to 60 out o
political life forever. Whatever may have been
and still is my opinion as TO the origin AM
necessity Of this waF-whatever may be m,
opinion of its management and the politica
issues which the party in power seek to carry on
in connection with it. still / have never considers
the starving of our soldiers in the field or tn
stopping Of their pay as the proper means o
bringing il 10 a close. Mr.. CoRwIs and other
who now hold high Offices under the presen
Administration, voted against supplies to on
troops in Mexico, but this is no precedent 70
Democrats. l have. therefore. in every instanc
where an appropriation has been made in whicI
the soldier was interested. voted for il. Their
Is but one exception to this, and that was whe
/ was confined to my bed by sickness and coul
not be present to vote at all. This was in tb
case of the seven hundred and fifty million bill
which had about eighty millions in it for IN
soldier and the balance for compensated eman
c~ipation." and perhaps other equally illegitimat
purposes. such as paying the plunderers of th
treasury. For this reason the portion which tb
soldier was Interested In should have been vote
kon by itself. and the other items by themselves
For all these facts I appeal to the recorde
transactions Of the last Congress. They wi
never perish, but will live forever as my Wind
j~cation from the assaults of my enemies.
But there 10 still another evidence in regard {
my conduct towards you. A proposition wa
made 10 the last Congress TO increase your pa