American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-03-23
The Campaign Before Us.

When our civil war commenced in earn
est, the rebellion was in PRACTICAL substan
tial command of the resources of the
slave States. Missouri had more mer
fighting for it than Alabama and Florida
together; Kentucky covered her weakest
frontier for hundreds of miles by her neu
trality, and sent quite number of regi
ments to the secession armies before she
gave one to those of the Union. New
Orleans was its commercial and moneyed
metropolis; Norfolk, Nashville, Vicks
burg, Natchez, Knoxville, Little Rock
&c, were its inland forts, manufactures
and recruiting stations.
The entire resources Of over ten mil
lions Of people, of whom nearly sever
millions were free whites, were at its com
mand while the three millions and ovel
of slaves were the docile, unquestionine
. instruments of its will. Why should they
have dared or suffered, hoped or prayed
for the success of the union The Union
did nothing, and proposed to do nothing
for them; while the proclamations and
orders of Mcclellan, Patterson, Halleck
Sherman, &C., told them that we expected
nothing, wanted nothing at their hands,
and would not permit them to aid US
To "crush with an iron hand" any attempt
on their part to throw off the yoke of their
rebel masters was McClellan's threat
and no one can doubt that he would a;
least have tried to be as bad as his word
We are near the end of the third yeal
Of the war; and new and vigorous cam
paign is about to open. What does il
promiseY In how far does the expert.
ence of the past warrant the hope of sue
cess in the immediate future2 We ans
wer:.
l. No man can noa0 say that We have
made no progress OF the region claimed
as belonging to the Southern Confederacy
we firmly hold West Virginia, Kentucky
nearly all of Tennessee, Missouri, most OF
Arkansas, more than half of Louisiana, a
good part Of Mississippi, with portions o.
old Virginia, North Carolina, South Car.
olina, Florida, Texas, most of the Indian
Territory, New Mexico and Arizonia.
Nearly half the white population claim.
cd as belonging to the Confedcracy are this
day, under the Federal flag, and no longer
subject to Conscription to fill the rebel
armies. Our gains within the past year
more than half overthrow the Confederacy
rs it stood when the Proclamation Of Free,
dom was issued Give US one more years.
- work as effective as the last, and the Con.
federacy will be prosTate.
II. The slaves, at frst powerful ele.
mont of strength to the Rebellion, are so
no longer They now know that the I'm
ion means freedom, and they are uneasy,
excited anxious, vigilant, and insubordin,
ate. 1t no longer, answers, as it once did
to leave three or four hundred of them in
the care of single overseer. They take
to our lines and our marching columns ex.
actly as duck takes to water The ia lse
hoods that once repelled them keep them
back no longer. The Rebels dare not arm
because they cannot trust them. They
work fitfully and need sharp watching
AS whole, they have gradually, and all
but entirely ceased to be an element OF
strength to the Confederacy.
III. There remain, then, but the whites
of the disloyal region to overcome; and
their total number, less the fearful wal
losses by disease and wounds since the Re-
bellion broke out, are very nearl y as fol.