The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1864-03-01
On Behalf of East Tennessee.
To TIE Loyal People of the United
States.

That part of the State of Tennessee east OF
| the Cumberland mountains, embracing some
thirty counties, is East Tennessee, and con-
tains 295, 654 persons by the census of 1860.
Four armies, nearly 100000 men, with 1oO,-
horses and mules, have occupied and subsist-
| ed principally upon East Tennessee for six
months as has rebel army for more than
two years. These armies have consumed the
entire substance Of the people, and there is
nothing left for them to subsist upon while
they make another crop. All the live stock
oil the citizens, of any value, has been appro-
priated by these armies, and guerilla bands
and bandtti lowering on their TANKS and rear.
Shut out from commerce for three years,
our people relied for their clothing upon the
old spinning wheel and hand loom. Their
supplies from this source were seized by the
rebel soldiers wherever found and carried
away. Our tanneries were robbed and our
people left without shoes for the winter. Much
of the very wearing apparel of the people, Ia
bic and bed furniture, farming implements,
and kitchen utensils, were also taken.
Dwellings and other houses have been plum
dered and destroyed. Yards, garden and
field fences, and sometimes buildings, have
been torn down and used for fuel-their en-
closures desolated and utterly laid waste
Thepeopie of East Tennessee have fought
In all our wars including the revolution, and
the great mass of them are still true TO the
| Constitution and the Union. Bettreeh t,eenty
and thirty Mousand-more than Joar.ffths
of her Ggting men, are now in the national
army, battling for our national existence.
Hence those who now feel the horrors OF des-
titution, and the pangs Of famine, intensified
by winter winds, are the aged parents and
tender families of these lion-hearted noun
tain patriots.
Gallant, brave menl God nerve your arm
for victory! Who ever fought as We fight /!
You meet the storm of battle while your
houses are being pillaged, your farms laid
waste-your substance destroyed, and your
loved ones at home reduced to tatters, and
ready to perish for bread! Soldiers of Lib
ertyl fear not, God will provide.
Yet my people, too proud to bow to des-
brethren. They claim the assistance which
justice as well as patriotism demands. Have
they righteous claim? Our cause. our
struggle, our hopes, our destiny, our country
are one. The restoration of the Union, the
preservation and perpetuation of constitution
al liberty, and nationality, these constitute
our united aim. If this be so, we are in JUS
tice bound to suffer and sacrifice, and endure
>alike. But how has it been in fact9 That
you have endured bravely, that you have suf-
fered freely and greatly, that you have sacr-
feed nobly and heroically, none dare deny.
But our people at home were doomed to feel
for two years the letters of despotism,-
which, disarmed, they could not resist, while
many of our young men were with yours
fighting the battles of the Union. Under the
glorious chieftains, Rosecrans, and Burnside,
aud Grant, you came loyfully, at last, TO our
assistance but the coming of our friends
was the signal to our enemies. East Tennes-
see was soon one vast military encampment
of contending armies. A great, tremendous,
a sublime saerifce--a sacrifice that win stand
out ia history, to all ages, prominent, grand,
with scarce a parallel, was demanded. How
East Tennessee responded, let the loathsome
dungeons where Piekens, and Thorpburg, and
Bib, the youthful Hendricks brothers, and
other patriots were martyred. Jet the gibbets
where the Harmans, Haun, and Digger, and
many other faithful men met death for their
country,-let the blood of hundreds Of her old
and young men, shed on the green sod of ey-
cry county, by commissioned and uncommis-
stoned assassins,--let the blaekened houseless
ehimneys, the charred fences, the devas tated
farms, the 10a,oo0,000 of her property de-
stroyed, and the destitution that presides in
almost every home, let these all answer hotc
she has responded
The sacrifice has cost us about all We had,
except honor and loyalty but it is made
and we would not hesitate to make it again, If
duty demanded; our motto, our feeling is
Perish money, property, home, Iiie,-perish
ererytttug = SURVIVE OUR LIBERTY
Give THE NATION" Why the war has been
10 US ruin, and to you wealth; to us. thus far,
curse,to you blessing II mean pecuniarily);
why the war, with us, should have created a
despotism that robbed death of his terrors,-
made our nights hideous with horrors, and
robed the sunlight with unutterable sadness.
while your waking hours were cheered by
present prosperity and the hope of greater
gains, and, pillowed in the lap of ease, your
nights were dedicated to refreshing sleep,
with your rosy-cheeked children slumbering
around you; why this war should have made
our richest men poor sud your wealthy men
millionaires, and many OF your poor people
independent; why it should have snatched
from our lips the bread of life, and sent our
little children supperless TO unblanketed beds,
willie your tables groan under the weight
OF the good things of earth, - why these
things are SO do not know; but such are the
facts. What we have been, you are now
prosperous and happy what we are, YOU
may become, - blighted, ruined, beggared.
God has permitted our chastisement and our
saeriices,-aud we submit, cheerfuly, to the
rod; = while we rejoice at the blessings YOU
receive.
But when we review the facts, the question
recurs, with emphasis--has not East Tonnes
see just and strong claims-not lightly to be
set aside, or cruelty ignored,-to your liberal,
generous, Instant didf If she has, will you
not, promptly, meet them? Do not be afraid
you may be tempted to give too much. Forty
thousand families, more than 100000 persons,
must be relieved,-fed and clothed, till another