East Saginaw courier., 1865-08-09
JEFF Thompson has ''Family Talk
with his RagamufIins.

mounted barrel and spoke TO them
after this wise
Gentlemen, have come here TO
have little family talk with you, as
this will be the last time | may ever
meet you together. i have come here
to tell you the news. Many of you
don't know that Nicksburg has fallen,
and many Of you don't know that Lee
or Johnson have surrendered, but /
tell you it is all true. Many of the
5000 men now SEQ around me, very
many of you, have been skulking for
the last three years in the swamps,
within few miles of your own homes,
skulking duty, and within that 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 lying in the swamps until
the moss has grown six inches on
your backs, and such men call them
selves "chivalrous soldiers" A few
weeks ago General Reynolds sent n
flag Of truce to my headquarters and
L sent out to gather up q respectable
force to meet those officers, and not
one e you responded; a few days la
ter " .len Col Davis and Captain Ben
net, of General Dodge's staff, bore dis
patches to me from that General, l
again attempted to call about me
enough Of YOU to make respectable
show, and how many Of those brave
5000 men reported at that call p
one SOre-eyed man aeiH green goggles.-
But you rally like brave and gallant
men around Uncle Sans Commissary
stores, and now / come to surrender
you and hope you will make better
citizens than you have soldiers. =
Voice from the crowd, General, talk
to us like gentlemen,"l Now you just
dry up till get through then you
can get up on this barrel and talk; 1
know there are some gentlemen here,
and L know there are more d--d
sneaking cowardly dogs who "have
never done nothing on nary side, and
l am going to talk to you all.
In the first place 1 want to say to
you The Federal officers who have
come here to parole and feed you, have
acted like gentlemen in good faith.
They have not gone about peeping
under your coats to see if you had pis-
tolls; they have not spied about your
camps to see if you were secreting
your arms, but they have treated you
like gentlemen; but l tell you that
yOu have not acted in good faith
Those of you who had arms, with q
very few exceptions have left them at
home, and those who have govern
ment horses have failed to report them
here. Now let me say to you, one
and all, those of you who have re-
tanned your arms, take them to the
nearest military post and deliver them
mp, or burn them, or get rid of them
in some manner, for as sure as there
is q God in Heaven, if they are found
in your houses, just so sure will your
houses be burned to the ground, and
L hope to God every one of you who
keep good arms or property Of any
kind i'll your houses will be hanged,
and you will be, too.
Now 1 want You to go home and
work early and late and get up nights
and see if your crops are growing -
Above all things avoid political dis
cussions, for there are demagoguos in
the New England States who make a
comfortable living by attending to
your wants in this line. If any man
says nigger TO you, swear that you
never knew or saw one in your lifo.--
We have talked about the niggers for
forty years and have been out talked,
we have fought four years for the
niggers and have been id badly
whipped, and now it is not your put
The Yanks have won the nigger and
will do what they please with him,
and you have no say in the matter; If
they want him they will keep him,
and if they say you must keep him,
YOU must do it and no mistake. l tell
you that you have no say in tho mat
ter. Go home and stay there, don't
90 to church for the ministers will put
knots and mischief into your heads
and get you into trouble, BE good
citizens, and then those Of you who
have been good, honest and brave sol
diers have nothing to fear, but warn
those of you who have been nothing
but sneaking, cowardly jayhawkers
and cut-throats and thieves, that
Just retribution awaits you.
Now / want to talk to you Missou-
rians. You are all talking about
going to your old homes TO live
again. What did every one of you
say last fall, when you went into Mis-
souri, and expected to remain there ?
Why, that you would make every
Union man "climb tree" and many
threats Of q similar character. Now
do you think that those Union men
whom you threatened few days ago
if you got the power, are now going
to permit you to live among them and
have all tho rights and privileges
they enjoy? Not machr Now the
tables arc turned if you 60 back
there they win make you climb trees
and hope they will for many of you
richly deserve it. About tins juno
tion loud murmuring was audible in
in the crowd, and a bystander sug-
gested that they might mob him.
+" Mob h--ll, l don't scare worth q
d-nP' replied the General"
want you all TO go home and be
peaceable, quiet citizens, and if mar
ruaders and outlaws come among you,
do not take the law in your own
hands, but if you can do it,. arrest
them ond deliver them over, with such
evidences as you can obtain, to tho
commandant of the nearest mill.