Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-05-10
VOLUME XXXIU.
CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS OF MEM
PHIS DURING THE LATE RIOTS.

From ihc Memphis papers of the 9Th and
9th inst, we make the following extracts as
evidence of the discreet conduct of the re-
turned Confederate soldiers during the late
exciting disturbances in that city:
From the Appeal
Whoever shall connect "rebels" with these
sad events, and SO draw from them an argu-
ment against their fitness to be entrusted
with the management of their own local af-
fairs, or assert that the negro race is not
safe under their protection, will simply lie.
| Should such representations come from pre-
tended eye witnesses, they will lie willfully
and knowingly. We put this on record,
once for all, applicable TO "all whom it NAV
| concern" If any proof were wanting of
the correctness Of this assertion, it may be
found in the fact, that the latest victim of
these brutalities-the colOred servant killed
at the Gayoso House on Thursday night
was faithful follower and friend Of his late
master through the entire war, and was a
favorite in the Confederate army.
There is nota returned Confederate soldier
here TO whom he was known-and hewas verv
generally known and esteemed-who would
not have protected his life at the risk of his
own. He was engaged in taking care of the
hats and canes of the attendants on the Be-
nevolent party for the benefit of manned
Confederates, and at the time Of his un-
timely murder had in his personal keeping
several pistols put in chargebv Confederates,
who were in the ball room. Going out to
call a hack for Confederate, he was fired
upon and killed, it has not yet been discov-
cred by whom-but certainly not by any
one in sympathy with the occasion upon
which he was an attendant.
Coming back to their homes impoverished,
and scrupulously respecting their paroles,
they desire peace, quiet, and good order, to
the end that by patient industry, they may
retrieve their ruined fortunes. They know
what subordination to good government is,
and value it. They are not the enemies of
the negro, but, in his proper sphere, his
friend and protector; and no one knows this
better than the hundreds Of respectable and
orderly colorcd men who are pursuing life
Of orderly industry under their daily obser-
walton, and who look to them for protection
in the midst of these disorders.
Here, where these facts and truths are
patent, it would be unnecessary to promul-
gate them, and We give them prominence
only to correct any misrepresentation of
the evil-minded which may be made abroad
for party purposes.
From the Commercial
Any attempt to fix the responsibility upon
Conicderates will recoil upon all who essay
10 do so. There are no men in the city
more willing to conserve the public peace,
or TO uphold the laws, than the late Con
federate soldiers. They are not the men
who have been implicated in the late un-
justifable acts, (many Of which have been
exaggerated and misrepresented by the
Radical infuence,) but, on the contrary,
they have ever been willing, and they now
hold themselves in readiness to obey the
call of the GeHcral commanding the De
partment, whenever it may become neces-
sary to preserve the public peace, and TO
uphold the laws of the United States or of
the State. We cannot be too emphatic on
this subject We know what we assert We |
do not speak idly or from feeling. The late
Confederate soldiers are the conservators of
the peace of the community. They can be
embodied in forty-eight hours, under the
orders of Gen. Stoneman, to protect the
community and enforce the laws. They
have not had any part or lot in the late
riots. ANY report which represents them
or the responsibiite citizens of Memphis as
connected with these riots, is false, and
should not be believed by any one who de-
sires to arrive at the truth.
The late disturbances were brought on by
the outrages of negro soldiers, whose ignor-
ance and arrogance violated the publicpeace.
In the nlelees which succeeded, passions were
excited which brought on unjustitiable re-
taliation. But in this the substantial and
solid citizens, especially the Confederate sol
diers, took no part. This is the sum
ming up and the whole truth of the late
troubles
As we have before said-thirty well dis
cipfined policemen could easily have put
down this Memphis riot in its inception. 1t
is now a well established fact that if the
higher city officials had faithfully performed
their duty, when the first collision occurred,
on Tuesday afternoon, there would, in
all human probability, have been no riot
at all.
And there is another fact, of which the
whole country ought to be distinctly adver-
tlsed. and that is, that there has not been the
slightest trace of what our Radical mallgn-
ers so fippantly style the 'rebel clement"
in these unhappy disturbances, from begin
ming to end. They were the outcropping
of a chronic antipathy cherished by the ne
groes, and fostered by their evil counsellors,
against the policemen Of the city. Like all
other riots, it grew from "molehill' to 4
mountain" simply because 1t was not
at the outset promptly checked, as 1t
might easily have been but for the reason