Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-03-10

I once assured the soldiers who they were The
party proved to belong to the 18th Pennsvl-
vania, and they were but twelve miles from
Williamsburg. Here their sufferings and
perils ended
Having concluded the narrative portion of
ms remarks, Col Hobart said he wished to
add few more words as citizen of Wis
consin, and q resident of the state almost
from the date of its settlement, and to give
some of the impressions which he had gather
| ed from what he had seen and experienced
| at the South respecting the war. He be-
| lieved that the rebels would move heaven
and earth in order to achieve success the pres
| ent year. They would dash their entire
strength upon US. They were massing as far as
possible all their military force and not an ele
ment of powerAwhich they could control would
be shared. 1t was his firm belief that there
was strong Union sentiment even in Rich
mond, while it pervaded the rank and file of
the army, but not the leaders. They were
determined and desperate. 1t was the nur-
pose of Mr.. Davis and his associates to FIGHT
on to the bitter end. Die the audience
wish to know what he, the speaker, thought
OF the result? He believed that if the North
would stand firm, if our people continue
united they have been, if we push for
ward the war with vigor, striking resolute
present season iwould witness the termina-
ton of the war upon large scale. He
might be asked II he believed there was anv
mode OF settlement except by fighting. He
had seized every opportunity while in the
South to ascertain what the real sentiment of
the people was. At Atlanta, Augusta, Raleigh
and Richmond, he had conversed with both
officers and privates in the rebel army, for he
had felt great interest in this subject
Certainly if it were possible to settle the diff
hculties between the two sections of the
country without the further effusion of blood
he should be most earnestly in favor of that
method. But it was his deliberate conviction
that there could be no restoration of the
Union, and no peace until we have whipped
their armies. Nothing but hard blows will
shake their purpose. When their armies
are whipped, it was his impression, that the
southern people wonld act as other people do
under like circumstances; they would yield.
Nothing but vigorous prosecution of the
war could ever reconstruct this Union. He
said it with sorrow, knowing what war was.
knowing that it meant suffering, sorrow and
death to thousands.
The subject of slavery was a foregone thing.
The Southern people understood well, that if
we succeeded there is to be no slavery They
are prepared to accept this result in the event
of their defeat They know it involves an
entire change in their system of labor. for
the .sphilosophic element that underlaid this
whole struggle, was the antagonism between
the labor systems of the North and South
This war was death grapple between free
and slave labor. (Applause.) One system
or the other has got to succeed. He asked
his friends to consider what would be the
condition Of the country if the South were to
H. IL
the country was in danger from the soldiers,
that there was danger of their allying them
selves with the fortunes of some military
leader and subverting the Government. He
wished to say that for nearly three years past
he had been by the camp fire, and among the
soldiers, and he declared from his own knowl-
edge that if there was any zeal for liberty in
this country it could be found tonight about
the camp fires of our army. (Applause)
When it ceased to exist there, there would be
no liberty for the North. But if we defeated
their armies, would not the South remain in
sentiment as hostile as ever? No. AS the
army advances into the South it effects great
changes. The population there, was chang
ing. Their country was becoming filed with
Yankees. The soldiers were marrying South
ern women. We were peopling the country
as we went along. Great laughter, inter
ripping Iue speaker LOT some Ilme
Col 81. resuming and looking to the gale
ries, would say to the soldiers present, is it
not true boys? (Renewed Laughter) Gen.
Thomas made remark when with the army
in Tennessee, that would be historical. It
gave correct idea of the effects of the war
He said " that this war was slow process of
colonization" Nashville, Baltimore, Wash
ington, and other southern cities had been
almost transformed. Northern men and
northern ideas were gaining the ascendency
in them. Moreover when the war is closed
some of our wsrmest friends would be found
among those now in the Southern army
There was no personal hostility of feeling be-
tween the men composing the opposing ar
mics Many time he had seen the cordial
intercourse of northern and southern soldiers
on picket. He had seen the blue and gray
uniforms sharing the same blanket They
were friends until the actual clash of battle
came, then they fought fercely and earnestly.
But when the war was over, there would be
found no bar to reconciliation between them;
on the contrary it would be the bravest men
on both sides who would make the best
friends.