Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-11-01
HOW SHALL THE SOLDIERS
VOTE?
What Was Said of Them While ir
the Army.

Soldiers Of the Union army, you who
have been ''to the front" and faced the
shot and shell of the rebels arrayed against
you, the time has come when you may
ratify by your ballots the principles and
the heroism which you have manifested
bv your bullets. You may now decide
whether you will sustain the party which
sustained you, or the party that labored
with all its might to defeat you, and to
drive you home in disgrace from the field
of battle. The following extracts from the
platforms" of the Democracy" and the
speeches of some of their orators, will
show HOW they were the friends of the
soldiers.
At time when the Government was in
need of men to reinforce the army, in or
der to maintain its supremacy, the Demo
cratic Association held meeting, March,
1868, at which George w. Peck said
'The Republican party have carried on
the war for two years. They have sent
their HE'LL HOUNDS and BULL DOGS
down South, and what have they accom-
plished? NOTHING. And we told them
in the beginning that they could accom-
.pllsh nething,-and the reason is because
they are OUR BRETHREN. And now they
come back and propose to kick up fuss
here in the North, AND WE ARE REA-
DY FOR TIIEM!"
The party whose orators could denounce
the soldiers of the Union army as 'hell
hounds" and ''bull dogs" could very con-
sistently adopt the following disanion reso-
luton as passed by the Democratic Con-
vention Of Madison County, Ohio, in the
summer of 1868:
"Resoloed, that we favor an immediate
termination of the present war, and a
SEPARATION OF THE SECTIONS, be-
cause THE NORTH HAS FAILED, eth.
er by arms or by argument, to s.staln the
right of conquest ; and the South is decid-
ed to separate from the Union at all haz-
ards, rendering us the freedom of the
Mississippi river. Each border State must
be left to decide for her future alliance,
whether in the North or South, by her
own Convention and our armies in the
field should be held in readiness to enforce
the mode of settlement, and for no other
purpose"
When, in consequence of the increasing
opposition of the Democracy to volunteer
ing, it was found necessary, in order to
successfully carry on the war, to resort to
draft, they opposed it in body, and in
Convention at Elbridge Edgar county, ILL.,.
on the 4th of July, 1868, introduced and
passed the following resolution
"Resozred, That we hereby Individually
pledge ourselves one to the other, that we
will not render support to the present Adj
m nistration in carrying on this abolition
crusade against the South; that We will
resist to the death all attempts to draft
any of our citizens into the army, and that
We will permit no arbitrary arrests to be
made among US by the minions of the Ad-
ministration."
Not content with this, many of the ora
tors denounced the soldiers as murderers,
assassins, and invaders. Take, fer in
stance, the words of one ofits most active
leaders, who was nominated Governor of
Ohio after he had used the following infa
nous language, and after he had introduced
scheme in Congress to divide the Union
into FOUR sections. House of Representa-
tives, July 6, 1861 Mr.. Vallandisham
says:
"Then, sir, I am not southern man,
either-ALTHOUGH IN THIS MOST uNHoLY AND
UNCONSTITUTIONAL CRUSADE AGAINST THE
SouTH. in the midst Of THE INVASION,
ARSON, INSURRECTION AND MUIR
DER TO WHICH SHE HAS BEEN SUBJECT, and
with which she is still threatened-wth the
TORCH OF THE INCENDIARY AND
THE DAGGER OF THE ASSASSIN sus-
pended over henry most cordial symps-
thies are wholly with her.
At the National convention of the Dem
ocracy, held at Chicago, August 29th, 1854,
while the army was engaged in its efforts
to sustain the Government, and the rebel
forces had been pushed back from the
Rapidan, and were locked up in Richmond
and Petersburg, Mr.. j. A. McMasters OF
New York said:
A man who is in favor of this unnatural
! war, insults the holy name of Democracy
when he claims place in its organization
He is a Judas, and should be cast out as
an enemy to mankind and to God. War,
and blood, and rapine, and murder, are the
| legitimate business of the Lincoln minion.
We wash our hands clear Of any partici.
patton in it.
At the same time and place, Mr.. c. c.
Burr, New jersey Democrat, defined his
position in these words:
"The South could not honorably lay
down her arms, for she was fighting for hel
| honor Two millions of men had beer
sent down to the South, and the army o.
| Lincoln could not again be filed, neither
by enlisiments nor conscription. If ht
ever uttered prayer it was that not ont
Of the States in the Union should be con-
quered OF subjngaued. :
1--WE were told that we could conquer
the rebelious States. They could not b'
conquered, and he prayed God they never
] might be"
The Democracy claim to be par excel
! lence the champions and friends of th'
soldiers no one loves them as well a
they, if their wore is to be regarded a
true, But the above extracts show som'
doubts upon the sincerity of their affection