The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-09-22
LOYAL UNCLE TO REBEL NEPHEW.

LOYAL UNCLE TO REBEL NEPHEW.
The following is o copy Of letter sent to a
Rebel officer (capHin) IN the Confederate States
army, whilst prisoner at Fort Delaware Il
explains Itself and will do every man, either
loyal or traitor, good to read it, Its character is
50 marked that the officers examining letters to
prisoners retained the copy from which this is
taken
SONORA, Tuolumne County, California,
July 20. 1861.
Ny Nephew Your letter from Fort Dela.
ware, dated the lS,h ult, is just received BY It
/ Iruru the most u1wciCume tdiDgs-tht a
nephew Of mine has sery, d in the Rebel service
since the n Outh ut May, 1861. | am aware that
NJ the age OF thirteen years, you went to the
"Suuuy South, as you term il, aud there, no
dCuh, have imbibed the preiutices Of that traitor
land not only upuin-t your kindred, but against
your Government and flag and you write to mo
Iu the coolest manner possible OF the time Cater
your exchange leaving me thus 60 infer that
you intend 10 return 70 the service Of Rebels aud
outlaws.
You tell me that you arc suffering for the
uoCcssarlcS of lilc.' | tell you fHukly, sic
don't believe It. / am sensible that the Rebels
whom you served have tortured TO death tHcir
prisoners Of war; by process Of slow starvation
sud exposure, aud eyueed q degree Of iuhu-
manity and cruelty 40 vs. hich the bloody saylge
would blush for shame. But, sir, your word for
II is not sufficient to satisfy me that the Federal
Government, or its ministers, permit their pris-
oners of war o suffer Tor the utcessaricS Of lite
You have been serving the worst cause ia
which man ever engaged since God created the
human ruCc and though you were NV son, in
stead Of my nephew, | would bless God for the
bullet thn' should piece your heart, and thus
paralyze your arm. There is du,y sir that
every loyal man owes his country 10 this struggle
owes his God-Owcs to millions yet unborn,
that Oyerrides and towers above all the ties of
blood and kindred in the mere present The
future of free government on earth is one of the
% tfp bp " az ny
pcrity of America is another. Let but the accursed
cause Of Rebellion triumph, and the great and
glorious Republic, that has shouc among earths
nations with the exceeding brillianCy of that
countless host of stars that mark the milky way"
as the brightest constellation in the sky, will have
fallen to uprise no more, and liberty be sent away
bowling in suffering and alright from the face of
the earth.
If you are determined to serve on in such a
cause, never expect recognition or sympathy from
me; for if hell made jubilee at the arrival of
Judas, who betrayed the Saviour, or Benedict
Arnold, who betTaye ed his country, a much greater
one will await the arrival of the slain Rebels of
the South. Judas himself will take a second ace,
and even old Lucifer be half persuaded to yield
his crown and sCcptre.
hope this letter may do you good. | write il
with that aim. Grandta her, you say, has written
you ga kind and most welcome letter." l
know not what my poor old father may have
done. He is eighty-two years old, but he is as
loyal as President LHCOln, though us kind
hearted rs child. But for rue, Justice Is my
motto, and that freezes in my veins every drop of
kindred blood towards a Rebel | never want to
hear of you, or from You again alive, until you
have ceased to be traitor ~ your kindred and
your country.
| see that your letter has stamped upon the
envelope, prisoners leuer-eXamncd: :" and If
its contents induced its examiners 10 believe that
you had an uncle who sympathlzed with traitors
hope they will examine this also, and learn and
intimate to me their error aud the receipt of this
letter, which leave wholly az their disposal.
With deep modification,
subscribe myself your uncle,
(Signed) J.N.S
p. S.--Your "sense of duty" that prompted
your letter, must say, has been long in getting
aroused, some seventeen years. 1t is the first let
ter, in fact, you have ever written since you
ran away in that clandestine manner which left
your then aged grandfather by whom you had
always been petted more than his own children
IN the deepest solicitude and concern about you
for long period Of time. Your manhood IL truly
but an earnest of the ungratetul boy. The boy
to his kindred-the man to his country.
j. n. S.