Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-06-12
The Returned Soldiers SoliioQuy. :

.4g4 The Returned Soldiers soliioquy.asps
From the La Crosse wis j Democrat. IyoT
- Good bye, blue ruinls Gointo the dye ttitlo-
into the rag bag anywhere out Of my sight =
/ For three years wore these blue dtds.a and
Enow, thank God, they are Oft, and once more
| am in command Of myself: And if [ wan t q
ID fool, I'll be id! Learned to swear in
the army. % p91iLolHa 3a.l - ..i 81 81
What in the devil did 60 to war for p
That S the question. What did | eat hard-tack
tfor--d1ink commissary whisky71earry a, mule $
I,ioad--sleep In the mil6-suffer in hospital, ,,and
| i enlisted to save the Union. M g3Ha r3r
I / went toywar to put down the rebellion logl
Il fought to punish traitors. a-..3.t = sesf
| / Killed people to restore the harmony oi
things 4 sl..s..,,. ....tf99 b35a seao4.l IN
went to war because that was in i,eld
times the way to patriotism. I'll. = ~.
And what was there gained? I had thirteen
| dollars q month. ] rode shank s mare from
| Bull Run to the Red River, and tramped from
high living to he'll, almost all for nothing. ), u
| fought to keep this Union whole, and now,
WIen the war is ended am told that fighting
| divided, and that legislation alone can restore
fthe Union Then why in thunder must I lose
three years Of time and a limb, if all this work
gress want of men 2, Why were million of us
Killed by drunken, thieving, cotton stealing, sill
YER Ware-huntlng, conceited, upstart, political
generals who went up like rockets and came
down Ike sticks, if Congress can or could re-
store the Union BY legislation? IS 49, =. ~,
|. ] went to war in good faith II bad i flI
| / fought a score Of times, and the more !
fought aud the less stole, the shower came
promotion. ~.{f s., --..,...l- atr.l.' f.,.-as.
I helped make dozen generals, fifty colonels,
and q dozen officers rich. ;5 VI s+er .. =.
/ have lugged many piano, rosewood bed
stead, marbietop table, cabinet Of books, ma
homes, to be sent North for the use of my .su-
perior" officer, and the adornment of his home
in the North. This was the big dart for put
ting down, the rebellion Great God, what
lighting some of our generals did
And / went to war for less wages than
could have earned at home And my wife was
often starving while | was away And my
children became dirty and ragged-my farm
went to weeds-my shop ran down-my tools
were stolen or lost-nly place is filled BY anoth-
er-I came home cripple, filed with disease,
and am now looked upon by the same men who
wanted me to so to war, much as some people
look upon some dead-be who has gone through
them for all their spare stamps. .st -.
And the aboltionists who forgot to take care
Of soldier families during the war--the aboli-
tionists who told US that the Democrats wanted
the Union dlss0lyed-the abolitionists who said
Democrats were traitors-the abolitionists who
staid at home and dare not tight, except in the
form Of q mob, in the attack OF some defence
less Democrat, now tell us-the ID coWardly
traitors, and raseally thieves we have found
them to be, that 1900. ,.....f.. -..,r..
: The late war did not restore the Union -
| The war was therefore failure -,..s
| Ihe white men Of the North were no match
for the white men Of the South ~.s4
9 The war would have ended in defeat for the
I North but for the niggers 6.
| That is what ;boitionists tell lis. Reckon
| they viii have agood time getting us returned
soldiers engaged In another crusade glor cotton,
niggers, mules, and stolen plumber taken by
force of the bayonet from women and children.
| 1t seems to me as IT the late war was a gag,
a humbug, add wicked, reasonable, unooli-
stitutional gag. 1t did not restore the Union,
but it made a pile ofabohtionlsts and war Dem
ocrats rich. i. s5, ea5- olg3
+ It.neyer prevented secession, but left this
Union in the shape we did not find it. 9.4.lic
It never benefited any one North or South,
| except thieying soldiers, army chaplalns, swnd-
ling contractors drunken officers, incompetent
! generals and other such pets of the late Ad-
EIiuiSIull0t+
It,did Mt help the white people. 2f'.it3.-.
It didn't help the niggers. .il a-
1t IMPOVERISHED half Of the Union. ~
1t did Mt make the South friendly to Nor
| thern ideas interests, or people. .t
1t piled q big debt upon us, and took from
us two-thirds of our means tc pay it. - ~
And now [ am back from the war to find
| that must pay the most exorbitant taxes, and
to find that old Grudgins, a ID mean mar
roW-minded, ay-at-homG coward, is rich, with
a safe full of United States notes or bonds, for
which ! must work the balance of my life out
/ to pay interest on, while he escapes taxation
bounty to go to war; Now | come home to
| find the town, county, city, and State in debt
for the money had. The wealth of the coun-
ty is bonds-the school-hollses in ruins-the
bridges in ruins-the court houses, &C., in rtl-
ins-all these things to be built up--the bonds
and their interest to be paid, besides all the
other taxes and the holders of bonds living in
luxurious idleless, with large incomes, and not
one cent Of tax to pay anybody OF for any pur-
pose. Fl" t} p Be- aa .-.
It was bad enough to fight for such towards.
It is bad enough to have it said we could not
have whipped the South without the aid OF
those highly y=1iavored Niger troops who are now
to be called our equals. .-.1 or
1t is bad enough to have enormous taxes to
pay to repair the damages time and war have
wrought But it's worse than all to have to
pay six hundred millions year Of interest to
the men who hold bonds exempt from taxation;
I in other words, to go to war and then come
home and pay ourselves for being shot at,
wounded and killed. Abolitionism don pay.
Now [ m as good man as any of them No
man now has right to lord it over me. wear
no badge Of servitude, advertising that am a
fit subject for shoulder strapped damns, cuffs,
kicks, guard houses, &c. am returned sol
dier-a poor man who must work OF starve.
love my country. | am better patriot than
the man who asks the poor man to pay taxes
and interest ON bonds exempt from taxation,
and ] say boldly that the next time l shoulder