The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1865-10-07
For the Free Trader
NO my Fellow Soldiers.

For the Free Trader. |
TO my Fellow Soldiers.
Boys Il have been soldier. I went as
private in the 9th Ill. Reg, in the three
months, service. / came home after my
three months term was out and went on q |
call fer troops, and many of my friends said Il
ought to go again; and ! went in Co. l oil
the 18th Ill. l served id that regiment until |
the battle at New Madrid, where / was
wounded in the leg, and was sent to the
hospital at indianapolis, Ind. After l re-
covered | came to Springfield, ILL.,, where /
was appointed I'd Lit. through the influence
of Mr.. j. NJ. Anterior, prominent political IN
of Vernilion Co. He told me that he wo,, ID
see that the soldiers sho uld be cared for wha On
they came home. That the people of Illinoi is
would not vote for any man who had n BIT
buckled on his armour hnd marched to the
kdefence of his country. / believed what be
said, and with the fd nd hope that if had
the good luck to get through the war, would
have the satisfaction at least of seeing som e
of my comrades placed into positions whe RE
they could reap some Of the rewards which
they had earned during the hardships which
they had endured while in the field l CON.
tinued in the service until the war was ove Or,
and came home with my regiment We we re
discharged at Chicago, and | must say hat
the meanest treatment l ever received i'm
all my life was on my arrival in that city
and from what l can Id arm, 1t was Just 80
with all the troops who survived the war and
came back to this state. Those who ha I've
pretended to be our especial friends while
we were in the south lighting, were the fist
to give us the cold shou der, and the only TRUE
friends we found was q mong those whom we
had been taught to regard as copperheads and
traitors. l always thought my friends in
VermiIion county were sincere in their brags
Of loyalty aud love for the soldier, until they
held their county convention aud voted out
| every soldier that come before them for an
office. There were presented to the conven-
ton good men-all true patriots-men who
stood the fire in a hundred battles who
stood like wall of fire between The politi-
clans of the north and rebels: bu, the poll
ticans beat the ''boys in blue" They were
willing the soldiers should fight for them and
vote for them but when it come to give out
the profitable Offices in the county, they call.
ed il impotence in the "lousy soldiers" to put
in any claims, and Indignantly voted them
out. In Champaign, Will, Grundy, Wood.
ford, kahkakec, Livingston, and other coun-
ties they did the same. A few weeks ago |
came TO this county, and here find our r.,
publican friends have also kicked my com
| rades out of their convention. The party, who
have a ajority here are as in other counties
opposed To- giving soldier an Office and
yet they are doing their best to get the sol
diers 10 vote for their candidates Men who
have been Specializing on bounties and on
substitutes, IN order to keep themselves out
Of the army or from being drafted Now
! what is the duty of the soldiers? Look over
! all the proceedings Of their conventions in this
'lh1V have in N. .1ar,,af
principles; men are all they have put forward
We. the soldiers,) therefore, sacrifice no
principles this fall in voting against those
men. The question is simply whether We
Ike one OF our own stripe better than man
who has stayed at home, hunting substitutes
at from three to four hundred dollars piece
In this county We have ticket made up al
most exclusively of soldiers. How are they
received by the politicians who voted the
soldiers out Of the convention. They daI
our comrades who fought with US side BIZ
side from three to four years, traitors dad
c. p.,erhef.;s, simply because they ran agar hs;
the iayorite stay home, bounty specustihg.
substitute agent candidates Principles cut
no figure in the fight this iall-it IS ell for
the Offices. The struggle is only for the
Offices and the only question we have now to
decide is whether we prefer men who h4 We
clcDl Nitu Dt.Drt tue NE OF our tuellef.
who have slept with us in the forests nd
swamps of,he south, who have laid sick or
wounded with US in the dreaded hos pitfalls of
the army, to who have STAYED al ho IN,
enjoyed the comforts of warm feather BE- Ids.
and spen; their time III hunting up substitutes
TO keep themselves from becoming rag4ed
and lousy soldiers like ourselves Will I'VE
vote for Davis, Osman. Hit and Norton, al!
we'll tried sol Hers men who have offered n Ieir
lives 10 save their country from destruction !
or will we vote for J e an, Beck, Fem
and Day, men who cannot show a single net
III their lives either IN favor Of US or their |
country except loud brawling pretentions,' or
lectures for the sanitary Commission
Need We hesitate TO work up our minds are
we fools to be led by hypocrites and cheats to
vote against ourselves? No never, bows |
Let us not forsake each other Let us follow |
the advice of ouI great leader, the Glorious |
Old Tecumsch, Gen. Sherman one of the |
greatest men that ever lived when he said |
in his farewell address, last June.
"Boys, as you stand together IN battle. for !
your own safety and welfare, so in the future |
stand by each other through the struggles of /
l'ie. lie as one brotherhood, always acting
together Tor each others good. Your enemies |
viii try TO prejudice you against each other
Tor political purposes, but heed them not.
Make it rule, regardless of what others
say, to help each other Each of you may
some day stand in need of help from your
fellows, then don't alloy yourselves to become
alienated from each other"
Principles have nothing to do with this
election. The whole question is to the men.
The parties have no platforms. We knocked
all platforms into cooked hat wien we Xii.
led the rebellion. The profits Of the Office are
all that the candidates lara rpnp;nn g.. ,L;a |
tall. Take the pay of the office out and there
will be no candidates. When men talk to
you about principles involved in this cleo.
lion you can be sure they are trying to hum
bug you In making your choice of caudi-
dates you have only to decide whether you
wish those of your own kind to enjoy the
profits of the office or those who have been
of the Artemus- Ward style-t'willing to
sacrifice all their wifes relations for the Union
but could Mt go themselves" Men who have
run our county woefully in debt and have
entailed upon us an enormous tax for all
time to come to save themselves from the
draft or for men who have gone to the front,
fought nObly and now returned to help nav
this debt AID tax. That is all that is in.
yolved and no more. Let US then not be
humbugged into defeat this fall and therefore
be forever debarred from putting forth our
hard earned claims for future promotions.
We have q right TO demand this considera-
ton from those for whom we went to the
e-feId and as frien ds of each other we
should stick together.
S. IT. 25th Ill. v.o.
CANAL ESLARGEMEN r.-The deepening of
Il 4