The mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1863-1943, 1864-12-31

NV " OS u bOtuteC Vi Tue OOHleueTate ar
my. He fights on his own hook! His ac-
count Of himself is that he was, out and
out, "Union man." He was bitterly
opposed to the Secession. But Federal
forces, in the carly times of this war, Wis
tied his home. They killed his aged ia.
Their, and raviShed his two sisters. He felt
unwilling to live longer, but too brave to
commit suicide. He turned guerrillero,
and gathered around him band for guer.
rilla warfare. Their rule is mo quarter"
Kill FederalS, or be killed This is utter.
ably horrlblel 1t is a lapse into savage
ffe! But once and again, there are men
who have suffered like outrages on their
families, who join his command with the
wild exclamation: 1--WE are now even with
you, boys !" These are not regular SOL
diers. They arc men turned, by insuffer.
able wrongs, into demons. Price, Shelby,
Marmaduke, and other regular officers of
the Confederate forces, can have no con.
troll over these bands. They stand out,
opponents Of this american" y law Of
retaliation! Law!eSs to other rule.
Sherman,in Georgia, dispossesses whole
populations. lie orders the whole PEG.
pie Of Atlanta to quit their homes sends
an entire population TO be wanderers on
the face Of the proclaims externi.
nation Of civilized communities, late our
fellow citizens, as the law Of tho "best
government under heavcn!"
Grant gives his orders to Sheridan, in
the Shenandoah Valley, to destroy every.
thing that can support man or beast! -
There IS a vast valley, one Of the earliest
settled 10 eur glorious old Union. twenty.
live to thirty miles wide, with a stretch Of
u hundred miles, doomed to destruction !!
Houses and barns, aud provisions are
wantonly destroyed. Decrepit old age,
tender infancy, womanhood about to
bung forth, or with the nurscling in the
arms-sentle folk, and the poor-all are.
alike, turned out to perish Of hunger and
exposure in the cold of this autumn
Some white. haired head of family - the
son, perhaps. Of soldier OF the war that
achieved the independence of Virginia
from Great Britain = himself, perhaps, an
American soldier in later wars, but now
too old TO be called into the field by his
State, stands, with Some ncighbor, by the
barn that holds the private stores necessa.
~ to tcep his aged wife, and his non
combatant dependents, from starving du-
ring The winter. This store Of grain is no
lawful spoil Of war, according to the anne
liorat2d cole Of the Christian ages. To
destroy it is an act Of lawlcss and crimi.
Eal robbery.
Well. look, new, at the bloody result,
as traced by the chronic,crs Of the :'rle.
raj army while at the latter town
(Luray), Colonel Powell! ordered the de-
struction Of several barns well stocked
with hay aud grain. While several Of his
men were engaged in this duty, one Of
them, private cf the 9Th Ohio cavalry.
was seized 10y two rebels and murdered
in colo hlood-his throat being cut from
ear 10 ear. Tie body Of the soldier was
found THE ne:t day. and careful invcsti-
CATION WAS made as to the cause Of his
death. with the above conclusion"
( Retaliation. --Ou the 9Th inst two OF
! the prisoners captured. who confessed
! they belonged to Mn>hy'a band, were shot
! to death, IN retaliation FIR the murder OF
the Union soldier already referred to-
/ Yes. that is the way u "re>torc the
Cni"n' Destroying barns, with proyis.
ions FOR the old people, the women. and
! the children, who, alone, are to be found
! in the SHENANDOAH Valley, was "luty,'
and, lin retaliation two officers Of Mos,
by's cavalry are shot to death! Oi
course, the melancholy record of the war
has since stated that Mosby' cavalry, ola
the first opportunity, shot II dtatu" az
equivalent number of Fcdcrals This Is
retaliatnn".
Good God. Are the Americans such
a degenerate, such AN unrcaSoning, such
God forsaken people, that they cannot
conduct a war on the principles accepted
by the civilized nations Of this century Z
/ Needed or not, our conscience forces Us
to protest, arcw, and continually, against
these acts Of barbari>m. Whether sol.
dierS by conviction, or mere soldiers oil
fortune, there are laws Of war, approved
by all the most civi,ize peoples, and Oh
SERVED by them, that haze been disre,
gar'led in this American war We re-
train from saving which >ide has beer
the tfansgreSsor.