Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1863-02-18

IL w dilace was dSkeu Dy one Ol HlS Aus:
), ''Do you believe the enemy will come
e to Cincinnati?"
II Yes" was the reply. Kirby Smitl
IL will first go to Frankfort. He must have
8. that place if possible, for the political ef
i feet it will have. If he gets it, he will
d surely come to Cincinnati. He is an idi
o OF, if he does not. Here is the material
Il of war,-goods, groceries, salt. supplies
4 machinery, etc.-enough to re-stOck the
, whole bogus Confederacy."
Il What are you going to do? You have
o nothing to defend the city with"
; 81 will show you," was the reply.
e Within the first half hour after his ar
rival in Cincinnati. General Wallace
E wrote and sent to the daily papers the
5 following proclamation, which fully and
clearly develops his whole plan.
PROCLAMATION.
The undersigned, by order of Major
: General Wright, asmumes command of
Cincinnati, Covington and Newport.
at is but fair to inform the citizens,
that an active, daring, and powerful enc
my threatens them with every conse-
, quence of war; yet the cities must be de-
!, Tended, and their inhabitants must assist
in the preparation.
Patriotism, duty, honor, self-preserva-
ton, call them to the labor, and it must
be performed equally by all classes.
First. All business must be suspended
at nine o'clock to-day. Every business
house must be closed.
Second. Under the direction of the
Mayor the citizens must within an hour
after the suspension of business, (ten o.
clock, A. NJ, assemble in convenient
public places ready for orders. As soon
as possible, they will then be assigned to
their work.
This labor ought to be that of love,
and the undersigned trusts and believes
it will be so. Anyhow, it must be done. |
THE willing shall be properly credit |
ed; the unwilling promptly visited !
The principle adopted is: Citizens for
the labor. soldiers for the battle.
Third. The ferryboats will cease ply |
| ing the river after four o'clock A. VI. Uu |
til further orders.
Martial law is hereby proclaimed in
the three cities but until they can be re-
lieved by the military, the injunctions of
this proclamation will be executed by the
police, LEWIS WALLACE,
Major General Commanding.
Could ANYTHING be bolder and more 10
the purpose? 1t placed Cincinnati un-
der martial law. 1t totally suspended
business, and sent every citizen, without
distinction, to heranks or into the trenoh-
es. Citizens for labor, soldiers for bat
tle," was the principle underlying the
whole plan-a motto by which he reached
every able e-bodied man in the metropolis,
and united the energies of forty thousand
people-a motto original with himself,
and for which he should have the credit.
Imagine the astonishment that seized
the city, when in the morning. this bold
proclamation was read-a pity unused to
war and its impediments. As yet there
was no word of an ADVANCE of the enemy
in the direction of Cincinnati. 1t was a
question whether they would come or
not. Thousands did not believe in the
impending danger; yet the proclamation
was obeyed to the letter, and this, too,
when there was not a regiment to enforce
it. The secret is easy of comprehension
it was the universal confidence feposed
in the man who issued the order and he
was equally confident, not only IN his /,
own Judgement but in the people with !
whom he had TO deal.
"If the enemy should not come after !
all this fuss" said one of the Generals :
friends, ''you will be ruined" .
VERY well, he replied; hut they
will come. and if they do not, it will
be because this same fuss has caused !
them to think better of it."
The ten days ensuing will forever be
memorable in the annals of the city of ,
The cheerful alacrity with !.
which the people rose en- masse 10 swell
the Ranks and crowd into the trenches !
was sight worth seeing, and being seen !
could not readily be forgotten.
Here were the representatives of all
nations and classes. The sturdy German,
the 1.-THE and gay hearted Irfshman, went
shoulder to shoulder in the defense Of
their adopted country: The man of !
money, the man of law, the merchant, the d,
artist, and the artisan swelled the lines, ..
fastening TO the scene of action, armed
either with musket, pick or spade. Ad-
ded to this was seen Dickson's long and
dusky brigade of colored men. cheerfully .
vending their way to work on the fortiti- .
cations, evidently holding it their espec- !
ial right to put whatever impediments !.
they could in the porthWard path of q
peculiar foe. But the pleasantest and
most picturesque of those remarkable r
days was the almost endless stream of
l.
from the rural districts Of the State.
were known as the Squirrel Hun :
ters" They came in files numbering :
thousands upon thousands,in all kinds of !;
costumes, and armed with all kinds OF J
fire arms, but chiefly the deadly rifle
which they knew so well how to use. Old
men, middle aged men, young men, and
often mere boys, like the minute men"
of the old Revolution, they left the plow
in the furrow, the fail on the half-thresh-
ed sheaYes, the unfinished iron upon the
anvil-in short, dropped all their peculiar !,
avocations, and with their leathern :
pouches full of bullets, and their ox-horns :,
full of powder, poured into the city by
every highway and by-way in such num-
bers that it seemed as if the whole State
of Ohio were peopled only with hunters, =
and that the spirit of Daniel Boone stood
upon the hills opposite the town beckon- :
ing them into Kentucky. The pcptoon :
bridge, which had been. begun and COM !
pleted between sundoWn and sundown,
groaned day and night with the perpetu-
al stream of life all setting southwark
In three days there were ten miles of in
lining the hills, making
semicircle from the river above the city K
to the river below; and these were thick q
ly manned from end to end, and made n
terrible to the astonished enemy by black h
and frowning cannon. General Heath, v
with his 10000 rebel veterans, flushed !,
with their late success at Richmond, drew !,
up before these formidable prepara- K
tions, and deemed it prudent to take I,
the matter into serious consideration be- N
fore making the attack. n
Our men were eagerly awaiting their 4
thousands in rifle pits and tens r
of thousands along the whole line of the q
while our scouts and pick h
cts were skirmishing with their outposts
in the plains in front Should the foe h
make a sudden dash and carry any point h