The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1865-07-27
A SUPPRESSED LETTER.

A SUPPRESSED LETTER.
Colonel HsIpine is publishing in The
Citizen = full history Of the.negro soldis'
experiment, with particular reference Ia
the first black regiment raised under the
orders Of General Hunter. The second
number of this series Of "Personal Re-
collections" contains the following copy
Of suppressed letter from Gen. Hunter
to JEFF. Davis, with an accompanying q.
planation:
Hunter wrote tho following letter to
Jefferson Davis--a letter subsequently
suppressed and never sent, owing to in
nuences which the writer of this article
does not feel himself As yet II liberty to
reveal-further than to say that Mr..
Stanton knew nothing Of tho matter
Davis and Hunter, we may add, had been
old aud very intimate friends, until di.
vided, some years previous to our late
war, by differences on the slavery ques-
ton. Davis had for many years been
Adjutant Of the First United States
Dragons, Of which Hunter had been
Captain commanding; and relationship
of very close friendship had existed BE-.
tween their respective families. 1t was
this thorough knowledge Of his man,
perhaps, which gave peculiar bitterness
to Hunters pen and the letter is other.
wise remarkable as q prophecy, OF pre-
ordaiument Of the precise policy which
President johnson has 50 frequently an.
nounced or reiterated since Mr.. Lincoln's
death. 1t ran-with some few omissions,
no longer pertinent Or Of public istsr~'.
"WAsHINGroN, Sept goth, 1862.
To JEFFERSON DAVIS, TitulaY President Of the
so-called Confederate States:
SIR-While recently in command of
the Department of tho South, 10 accord.
ance with the laws of war aud the die.
tates Of common sense, l organized and
caused to be drilled, armed and equipped,
= regiment of enfranchised bondmen,
known as the First South Carolina vol.
unteers.
For this action, as l have sscertained,
tho pretended government of which you
are chief officer has issued against mo and
all of my officers who were engaged in
organizing the regiment 10 question, a
general order of. outlawry, which aunoun-
ces that if captured We shall not even be
allowed the usual miserable treatment
extended to such captives as fall into
your hands; but that w are to DO re.
garded as felons, and to receive tho death
by hanging as such, irrespective Of the
laws of war.
Mr.. Davis, We have been acquainted
intimately in the past. We have cam.
paigned together, and our social relations
have been such as to make each under.
stand tho other thoroughly. That you
mean, if it be ever in your power, to
execute tho full rigor of your threat l |
am we'll assured; and you will believe
my assertion, that thank you for hay
'ng raised in connection with me aud
my acts this sharp and decisive issue, l
shall proudly accept, if such be the
chance Of war, the martyrdom you men.
ACE aud hereby give you notice that I'm.
less your General Order against me and
my officers DO formally revoked within
thirty days from the transmission of this
letter, sent under flag Of truce, shall
take your action in the matter as final,
md will reciprocate it by hanging every
rebel officer who now is, or may hereafter
be taken prisoner by the troops of the
to which am about returning.
Believe me that rejoice at tho aspect
now being given to the war by the course
you have adopted. In my judgment, if
the undoubted felony of treason had been
treated from the outset as it deserves to
be-as the sum Of all felones aud crimes
this rebellion would never have attain.
ca ca Its present menacing proportions
The war you and your fellow cons pirators
have been wsging against the limited
States, must be regarded either as war
OF Justliable defence, carried on for the
integrity of the boundaries Of sovereign
confederation of States against foreign
aggression, or as the most wicked, enor-
nous and dellberate J planned cons pira-
cy. against human liberty and for the
triumph of treason and slavery, of which
the records of the worlds history con.
tain any note.
Ii our government should adopt the
I'll first view of the case, you and your fell
low rebels may justly claim to be consid-
erea most unjustly treated BODY of
dlsinterested patriots-athough perhaps.
little mistaken in you conniyance with
t IN by which your agent, John B.
floyd, succeeded in arming the South
ana partially disarming the North, as
prepara''ve to the commencement of tho
struggle.
But if on the other hand-as is the
theory OF our govornment-the war YOU
have leviet against the United States be
rebellion the most causeless, crafty.
cruel and bloody ever known-a conspir,
scy having the rule or ruin policy for its
basis, the plumber Of the black race and
the opening of tho African slave trade
Tor Its object, the continued and further
degradation of ninety per cent. of the
white population Of the South in favor of
slave driving ten per cent. aristocracy,
and the exclusion of all foreign born i'm.
migrants from participation in I'll. ca,sr-