The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-08-01
General gresham

/ seems 10 De making mOSC SdAlhht
canvass in the Second Congressional
District. His opponents are evidently
alarmed at his popularity and the sue
cess that attends his efforts upon the
stump. The other day the New Al
bany Democratic officials sent out the
law partner of their candidate for
Congress to debate with the General
the political questions of the day, and
got him so badly used up that he is
put upon the retired list as being
g permanently disabled" Realiz-
ing that something must be done
to check the General, they next Sc
lected CYRUS L. DUNHAM to go out
and do battle in their behalf. Col.
DUNHAM has long been regarded as
one Of the best orators the Demo-
cratic party has within its ranks. AS
General GRESHAM remarked, if any
man in the State could apologize for
its short comings, and cover up its
iniquities, with smooth rhetoric, that
man is Colonel DUNHAM. DUNHAM
went to one of the Generals appoint
ments and COOL y asked for division
of time, which was courteously grant
ed. Colonel DUNHAM did the best he
could for his party, and plead
piteously and earnestly "to let by
cones be by-gones," and not to keep
the people stirred up and excited by
appealing to the record of the De-
mocracy during the war. General
GRESHAM, in reply, said that was all
very nice, but we could only form
our opinion of men and parties from
their past record. That if a man has
always acted honestly in his inter
course with men, for that reason we
feel that he can be trusted. IF an
other man has always been unreliable
I in his intercourse with men-has been
guilty Of larceny, perjury and other
erimes-we say that his past life shows
him to be a dishonest man, and we
cannot trust him. Colonel DUNHAM
felt this thrust keenly, but could not
deny its justice General GRESHAM
then proceeded to give his audience
the Democratic record during the war,
showing how the leaders had been in
favor Of dissolving the Union He
said the leaders of that party succeed
ed in making the Democratic masses
believe that the war was ascrime, and
in proof Of this he introduced Coll
DUNHAM of 1863, in letter to Gov.
MoRTeN, against Col. DUNHAM of
to-day:
Irg q CHEAD9UARTERs 2D BRIGADE,l
u W = g JAcKseN ,TEEEESsEE,
February 4, 1866.
GOVERNOR This will be handed to you
by Maj. Atkisson, of the glorious old 5Oth,
who comes home to gather up our desert
ers; hope he will have all the aid and in
'fiuencegUu cangdve him. Vigorous meas
ures must be adopted or our army, under
the influence of the scoundrels and traitors
at bonneville are, by their letters, scatter
ing discomfort amongst our soldiers,-will
be demoralized and destroyed. and~the
scourge of this war viii, in less than six
months, be rolled back upon the fair fields
of our own glorious Northwest. .ine
These men know what they do, and if
they expect any general sympathy in the
army they are reckoning without their
host. .sEaii DGG 4 nos ~ eani o.
/ hope you will use your influence at.
Washington to get law passed requiring
all the U. S. Marshals and their deputies,
all collectors of internaIr revenue, and their
deputies, to arrest all deserters and lodge
them at the nearest military post, making
it also a penal offense, indictable in the
District Court of the United States, for any
person to harbor or employ q deserter,
knowing him to be such, and the know
ledge that the individual had been in the
service of the United States should be
p,-iniG facie evidence of knowledge that he
was deserter; making, also, all contracts
with deserter void. Do not, for Gods
sake, let this army be so weakened that we
shall be driven back in humiliation to
witness the desolation of our own home.
Respectfully yours,
G. L. DUNBAR.
We presume, before General GREsH-
AM got through with his speech, Colo
mel DUNHAM began to realize that he
was not enjoying lucid interval when
he-wrote this letter, and that he would
give much to recall it. Perhaps the
existence of the letter is another rea-
son why the Colonel is anxious to
let by-gones be by-gones.
All honor to the young standard
bearer of the Union party in the Sec
ond district Although he walks.
with difficulty, upon crutch on ac-
account Of a wound he received at At