Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1867-08-15
a Treasonable Organization.
A Correspondent Of the Ohio Sat.

a correspondent OF tue ONO STATE
. Journal, writing from Coshoctor
county, in this State, says that the
Butternuts of that section have {
| secret organization, similar in it:
] character and designs to the old or
ganization known as the ''Knights Of
the Golden Circle" Their object il
to get up an organization in sympa'
, thy with the Southern Rebels in op.
position to the rights and interests
of the soldiers, and to place the ad-
!. ministration of the Government in
; the hands of such Northern rebel
sympathizers as Vallandigham,
Thurman, 0lds, DC. This treason
able, secret organization, no doubt,
exists throughout the State, even in
our very midst. Under such circum-
stances, it behooves every Union
man to be active and vigilant, thus
counteracting the evil purposes OF
these bad men, and save the Govern
ment from being administered by
rebels and their Northern sympa-
thisers.
We quote from the Journals cor
respondent the following account of
an attempt on the part of this trea-
sonable organization to initiate a
soldier. They caught 'Tartar."
They held a meeting a few nights
since at the house of a Butternut
who resides in the country, and at
tempted to initiate ayoung soldier
whom they thought all sound, be-
cause they had heard him talking
against negro suffrage, and also be-
cause he had been refused an honor
able discharge from the service on
account of his having come home, at
the close of the war, without waiting
for the formality of "mustering out.
But they had "got the wrong pig by
the ear" He informs me that after
reading two long addresses to him
advocating the cause of the South,
and complaining of the wrongs and
tyranny of the Reconstruction Act,
reciting the trials and prosecutions
of DR.. Olds and Vallandigham, and
declaring in favor of vindicating
Vallandigham by making him the
next United States Senator, and re-
paying Thurman for his devotion to
the South and the Constitution by
making him Governor, charging the
Union party with disfranchising
white soldiers and equalizing negroes
with white men, he was then asked
to pledge his word and honor as
man to support these measures, and
only members Of the organization for
office.
He said he looked all around the
room, and among all of the eleven
there was not one man who during
the war, was considered loyal. One
of them, he thought, had been in
dicted for treason, and all the rest
had been charged with assisting in
the opposition to the draft, which
took place in the west end of the
county in 1864, and which the Sd
Ohio had to come and suppress.
He then spoke and said:
Gentlemen, l know my Govern
ment refuses me an honorable dis
charge because / came home after
the war was over, supposing that as
/ had only sworn to serve during the
war, had right to. i served
three years and then veteranized,
and think l deserve better of my
Government, and / believe she will
yet give me an honorable discharge
and my pay and bounty. But wheth-
er she ever gives me my discharge,
my pay or my bounty, / have taken
another oath, which l intend to keep
as sacred and literally as 1 intended
and believe l was keeping the oath
i took when | was mustered into the
service. That other oath / took
after the battle of Chickamauga, in
which many Of my comrades had
been killed and butchered by rebels,
led on and strengthened by Vallan-
digham, Thurman and the other
Northern sympathizers, and that
other oath was that l would never
vote for Vallandigham OF any other
man who voted for Vallandigham,
for any office of honor, trust or profit
whatever. That oath / took while
the blood Of my comrades was still
red upon the battle field of Chicka-
mauga. That oath l took in the
name of hundreds and thousands of
Union soldiers, who were killed by
rebels, whose only hope was the as
sistance from Vallandigham and
Thurman and their cursed North
.ern rebel crew. That oath 1 took in
the name of hundreds and thousands
of widows and orphans, made so by
the rebel soldiers whose only hope
of success was in assistance from
Vallandigham and Thurman and
other Ohio rebels; and, gentlemen,
this oath, doubt not, was taken by
every Union soldier from Ohio
And they will keep it as sacredly as
they keep the memory of their dead
comrades; and if any soldier votes
for Allen G.. Thurman he will be
worse than a deserter. He will not
only be deserting the Union and the
cause for which. his comrades fell,
but he will be voting for man who
encouraged rebels to kill Union
soldiers, whose every effort, during
the war, was for the South and
against the North; for a man who
fed captured rebels upon delicacies
and sweet-meats; for a man who
bought them clothes, and loaned
them money, and did all in his power
to make them comfortable; but never
did aught to aid, comfort or assist
boy in blue. Now, gentlemen, you
have my opinion, SO open that door
and let me out"