Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1864-10-14
SPEECH 81, gagF. Dag VS..
4 E.os 4 saiTss ri his ARMS Absent without
l.ea*e--lie NaHf Sherman eTSshGtl--
ii0od's army on aile esgensi iHe-- HeGel Ace
coHnts ol ORerf items Aroand Richmond.

az MACON Sii.5 5ept. 25 1868, is extracted from
| the columns Of the Daily Macon za5ggrapA AID
Confederate . Sept q
L1olles az 4 G4eatle3ies, Ealsass 6se es,it
se1s-le We nd have gladdenea my heart to have
met loa lp prosperity instead cit adversely. But
fr5enqs an drawn together IN a9pnrsitF The son
ol tFe0 rlaR Wllo lou@ill Ehlaue d the filsh keg
o3ntlohs would be untrue To myself IF I should
forget she State IN her DAY of peril Whatthough
lalsI0r tune has befallen orr arms from Decatur
/ to JoIles0oro otr cause Is not lost Sherman
cannot keep up his long Inc Of communication
| and retreat. sooner or later he must ; and when
that day Games the fate that be4e tie army OF the
hTeneh Empire I'D 7ts retreat from Moscow Eill he
reacted. Our cavalry and cur 1jsoBle viii ba1rass
and destroy hls army as did the C0ssacks that of
Napoleon; and the kankee General, like him, vii
escape with only bodyguard
How can this be the most speedily effected /?
/ By the absentees of Hood aTmy returning to
their posts; and VIII they nos Il Can they see the
banlshed exIles3 can they hear the wall OF their
suffering country women and children and not
| cenae by what influences they are made to stay
away it IS not necessary to speak, f there is one
! who VII stay away at this hour he Is unworthy
| OF the name OF Georgian. 10 the women no an
peal IS necessary. They are like the Spartan
mothers OF old [ know Of one who has lost all
her sons, except one Of eight years She wrote
that she wanted me to reserve a place for him ii
the ranks. The venerable General Polk, toWhoin
ttlc AGbkSEs All5M bllGD woman Wei and SAID
Il was ellaFaeerIstic OF her but Will not weary
you BY turning aside to relate theyalous incidents
OF giving up the last son to the cause of our c0u-
| try, known to me-
Wherever we so we find the hearts and hands
/ of our noble women enlisted. They are seen
| wherever the eye may fail OF thestep turn They
have one Guty 30 perform to bsIoy up the hearts
| Of our people L know the deep disgrace felt by
/ Georgia at our army falling baek fr0m Dalton to
the interior OF the State. But was not of those
who considered Atlanta lost when our army cros-
| sad the Chattah0ochee | resolved that it should
not, and 1 then put nan n commend who
| knew would strike @ manly blow for the citv and
many Yankee blood Tgas made to nourish the
soil before the prize was won. Itdoes not become
| us to revert to disaster. Let the dead bury the
dead. Let us, with one arm aud one effort en-
| deayor to crush sherman / am going to the ar
my to confer with our Generals the end must be
the defeat OF our enemy. 1t has been said that j
abandoned Georgia to her fate. Shame upon
such falsehood. Where could the author have
been when Walker, when Polk, and when Gener-
al stephen ID. Lee was sent to her assistance
| Miserable man. The man who uttered this was a
scoundrel. He was not a man to saYea our coun-
| try.
If knew that General did not possess the
right qualities to command, would not be wrong
| If he he was not rem0ved2 Why whenour army
was falling back from Northern Georgia I even
heard that | had sent Bragg with pontoons to
cross it to Cuba. Bat we must be charitable
| The man who can speculate ought to be made to
take up his musket. When the war il over and
our independence Bon--and we VIII establish our
independence who viii be our aristecraey
! hope the hmping soldier. 10 the Young ladies I
would say that when choosing between an empty
/ sleeve and the man who had remained at home
and grown rich, always take the empty sleeve,-
Let the old men remain and make bread. But
/ should they know OF any young man keeping a.
/ way from the service, who cannot be made to go
any other way, let them write to the Executive
l read all letters senbTle from the people but have
not the time to reply to them. You have not
many men between eighteen and forty-ive left
/ The boys God bless the boys, are as rapidly as
/ they become cid enoagh going to the field
! The clty=of Macon is filed with stores sick and
wounded, lit must not be abandoned when
/ threatened, bat when the enemy comes, instead
| of calling upon Hood army fo defence, the Old
men must tight, anG when the enemy IS driven
beyond Chattanooga, they too can join in the gen
eral rejoicing. 1our prisoners are kept as q sort
Of Yankee capital. l have heard that one Of
their Generals said that their exchange would de-
| feat Sherman. have tried every means, conoe-
ded everything to effect an exchange, but to no
purpose. Butter the beast with whom no Com
missioner of Exchange would hold intercourse,
had published IN the newspapers that If we could
consent to the exchange of negroes all difficult
| ties might be removed. This IS reported as an
effort OF his to get himself Whi5e-washed by hold
4llE AItt&CDutsc M4tlA AGIt-CuDLi. an GACuaNGG
| could be eifected, don know but that / might
be induced to recognize Butler But in the fu-
ture every effort viii be gwen, as far as possible,
to effect the end
We want our soldiers IN the field, and we want.
the sick and wounded to return home It is not
proper for me to speak Of the number OF men in
the heid, but this VIII say, tEat tW0-thirds Of
our men are absent, some sick, some wounded
but most Of them absent without leave. Theman
who repents and goes back to his commander vol
unfairly, appeals strongly to executive elemency.
| But suppose he stays away until the var is over
and his comrades return horne, and when every
man history viii be told, WherewiA be shIedh him
self 1t Is upon these reflections that rely to
make men return to their duty, but after coalerring
with our Generals at headauarters IL there be any
other. remedy it shall be applied. ] love nly
friends and / forgive my enemies
| have been askedsto send Teiniorcelnents from
Virginia to Georgia. In Virginia the disparity
in numbers IS just as great as il IS in Georgia.
I Then have been asked Why The army sent to the
| Shehandoah n alley was not sent here Ii was
| because an army OF the enemy had penetrated
that valley to the very gates Of LynchbHrg, and
General Early was sent to drive them back This
henot only successfully did, but, crossing the Po-
tomac, came well nigh capturing Washington it
self and forced Grant to send two corps of his ar
my to protect 1t. This the enemy denorainated a
raid. liz so, Shermans S march into Georgia
raid What would prevent them now IF Early
was withdrawn, from taking Lynchburg, andput-
ting complete Gordon ofIhen around Richmond
/ counselled with that geeat and brave soldier,
General Lee, upon all these points. NY mind
roamed over the whole field With this he can
succeed. If one.half the men now absent with
out leave VIII return to duty we can defeat the
enemy. With that hope an going to the front.
may not realize this hope, but I know that there
are men who have looked death Ia the face TOO OF
ten to despond now. Let no one despond. Let
no one distrlst, and remember that If genius is
the beau IDEAL hope is the reality
Gen Butler makes the following report on the
moved Field and Hose divisions from the left II
Chapins Fam read 10 our right at Dirbytownroad
they attacked with kautz scaYgry intheir Rtrench
ments and drove him back with sallio loss of men,,