The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-07-15
FALsTAFF 0UTDoNE.
JeH. Thompson Has a s.Famly Tai
with TTIs Ro.o,,,,,aI"

FALSTAFE OUTDONE.
JeE. Thompson Has n s.FamIy TaIY.,,
With His Rasamuhins.
When JEFF. Thompson's men Ind been
assembled ut Jaclsonport, Arkansas,
to be paroled, a few weeks since, the
redoubtable hero of the white plume
mounted barrel and spoke to- them
after the following fashion. A portion
of his address has already appeared,
bat it will bear repetition:
GENTLEMEN-I have come here IA
have n little family talk with YOU, MS
this will be the last time 1 NAV ever
meet you together. have come here
70 tell you the news. Many of YOU don't
know that Vicksburg has fallen, and
many of you don't know that Lee or
Johnston have surrendered, but l tell
you it is all true. Many of tho 5000
men now see around me, very
many of you, have been skulking for
the last three years in the swans
within n few miles of your own
homes, skulking duty, and during
mat time have not seen your own
children. l see many faces about
me, that have not been seen by mortal
man for the last three years and what
have you been doing all that time /?
| Why, you have been living in the
swatnps until the moss has grown six
llches long on your backs, and such
men call themselves "chivalrous SOL
dlers." A few weeks ago General Rev
nolds sent a flag of truce to my head
quarters, and sent out to gather uD a
respectable force to meet those officers.
and not one of you responded; n few
days later, when Colonel Davis and
| S;ll1l w I3slnets of General Dodge's
tStah, bore dispatches to me from that
| lliannFnI- in nft
about me enough of you to make n res
| Pectable show, and how many Of these
brave 5000 men reported at the call ?
one Sored eyed man aCith green gOIglcS,
But you rally like brave and gallant
men around Uncle Sans commissnry
stores, ana now come to surrender
you, and hope you will make better cit
lzens than you have soldiers. Voice
from the crowd: General talk to us
like gentlemen."l Now You Just dry
up until get through, and then YOU
can get up on this barrel and talk.
know there are some gentlen here, and
Know there are mOre,d-d sneakinu.
cowardly dogs, who "have never done
nothing on nary side" and am going
to talk to you nll.
In the first place, want to say this
to you: The Federal officers who have
come here TO parole and feed you, have
acted as gentlemen, i'll good faith. They
l
your coats to see if you had pistols ;
they have not spied about your camps
to see if you were secreting your arms,
but they have treated you as gentlemen;
but tell you that yOM have not acted
in good faith. Those of you who had
arms, with n very few exceptions, have
lett them ut home, and those who had
Government horses have fniled to report
them here. Now, let me say to you, one
and all, those of you who have retained
your arms, as soon as you get home tnke
them to the nearest military post and
deliver them up, or burn them, or get
| rid of them in some manner, for as sure
/ as there is u God in Heaven if they are
found in your house, just so sure will
your house be burned to the ground,
and hope to God every one of You who
keep good arms or property of any kind
in your houses will be hanged, and you
will too.
hard and tnke care of your families
work early and late and get up at night
and see. if your crops are growing
Above all things avoid political discus
sion. Ifnny man says "nigger'' to YOU
swenr that you never knew or saw one
in your life. We have talked about the
niggers for forty years and have been
out-tnlked; we have fought four wears
for the niggers, and have been id bad
/ ly whipped, and now it is not "your
lput;" the Yankees have won the mig
ger, and will do what they please with
him, and you will have no say in the
matter; If they want him they will take
him, and if they say that you must keep
him, you must do it and no mistake
1 tell you that you have no say in the
matter, and you oughtn't to have
any. Go home and stay there. Don't
go anywhere but to mill. Don't go to
church, for the ministers will put knots
and mischief in your heads and get you
into trouble. Be good citizens, and
then those of you who have been good,
honest and brave soldiers have nothing
to fear, but warn those of YOU who
have been nothing but sneaking, cow
ardly jaylIawkers, cut throats and
thieves, that u just retribntion awaits
you, and 1 hope to God that the Federal
authorities will hang you wherever and
| whenever they find you, and they will
! do it sure. Now, I want to talk to you
going to your old home to live again.
| What did every one of you say last fall,
when you went into Missouri and eX-
pected to remain there2 Why, that you
would make every Union man tclfmb
a tree" and many threats of similar
character. Now, do you think that
/ those Union men whom you threatened
with halter few days ago, if you got
/ the power, are now going to permit You
to come and live among them, and have
all the rights and privileges they enioV?
Not much. Now the tables are turned;
If You go back there they NAV mike
for many of you richly deserve ii.
| ABOUT this time loud murmurinp
was audible in the crowd and a by