Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-20
HEABQEs DEPAETME>r q TENNESSEE
LovlsvilLE, K1., Feb q, lNi7.
GENERAL ORDERS.

LOUISVILLE, Ky, Feb q, lSti7.
/ GENERAL ORDERS.
No %
The following letter is published foI
the information of all concerned.
J BY command Of MAJ. GEN. THOMAS
! Nu. 10. " HIFPLE,
Breyt. NH3 -t4eu. N a. A. q.
HFApqTs DEPARTMENT TENNESSEE
LOUISVILLE, Ky, Feb. g, 1877.
Charles IL smith, Mayor Of the CHy OF Rome
ra, James e.. Pc nterlOu, MeiuLur of the
J City Council, Rome, and o4 4hrrs.
GetHen2El!s The major general COM
manding the department directs me to
| acknowledge the receipt of V0ur COM
municatiOn OF the 2lth uit, addressed to
/ Brew Maj ten. Davis TillsOn, COM
mandiEoy suhdistrict of Georgia. giving
statement Of facts and circumstances
! which caused the arrest Of certain ulti-
zens Of Rome, Ga, for being concerned
in the display of the dag of the late
Southern COuIederacy in that city. and
! asking that justice may be done and the
/ prisoners released.
/ In your letter you atate no disrespect
/ was intended ia the United States gov
crnAeht by the exhibition of the Con-
/ federate flag, and that the parties who
| displayed 1t, have accepted ia good faith
/ the present status of affairs, and do ac-
/ knowledge the jurisdiction Of the United
states government, etc.
If that is the case il can only he Eup-
/ posed, presuming that they r.assess oFdl-
nary intelligence, that they misunder-
stood the present status Of affairs which
7 is that the rebellion has been decided to
be huge crime, embodying alLthe crimes
Of the decalogue, and that it has been
conquered and disarmed, and that its
very name AUD Smbiems are hateful to
/ The people of the United States, and he
must be indeed Obtuse who expects, with
out otiense, to parade before The eyes of
loyal people that which they eXecrate,
and their aGhOtenee Of which they have
/ expressed IN the most emphatic Ian
guage in which it is possible for a great
nation to utter its sentiments.
1t is pretended by certain newspapers
that because no order had heen issued
from these headquarters that the flag of
the ContederacY was not to see the light,
, the citizens We're not warned that it
would be reasonable act.
This excuse is too peurile to answer,
and unworthy Of schoolboy even. The
young men arrested, as well as other
citizens of the south, know well enough
what is right and what is wrong in such
I matters, without waiting to be guided
Z
hibiting displays honoring treason. and
Of course contemning loyalty. Were
they so stupid as not to possess such in
nate sense Of pTopriety, the order from
these headquarters fOrbiddiug a rebel
glOriilcatian over the remains OF the
rebel Brig. Gen. Hanson, should have
been sufficient warning that such per-
formauCes would not be tolerated,
The sole cause of this and similar Of
fenses lies i'm the fact that certain citizens
Of Rome, and a portion of the people Of
the states lately in rebellion do not and
have not accepted the situation, and that
is, that the late civil war was rebellion,
and history viii so record it. Those en-
gagged in 1t are and will be pronounced
rebels, rebellion implies treason, and
treason is a crime, and a heinOus one
too, aud deserving OF punishment, and
that traitors have~not been punished is
owning to the magnsnimity of the con-
querors. With too many Of the people
of the south, the late civil war is called a
revolution, rebels are called "Confede-
rates - loyalists to the whole country are
called id yankees aud traitors, and over
the whole great crime with its aceursed
record of slaughtered heroes, patriots
murdered because of their true-hearted
love of country, widowed wives and or
phaned children, and prisoners of war
Slain amid such horrors as find no paraI-
lei in the history of the world, they are
trying to throw the gloss of respectable
ity, thulsting with contUmely and deris-
ion from their society the men and wo-
men who would not join hands with
them in the work of running their eoun-
try. Everywhere in the states lately in
rebellion treason IS respectable and loy-
atty odious This the people of the
United States, who ended the rebellion
and saved the country, will not permit.
and all attempts 10 maintain this unnat-
uraI order of things will be met by
decided disapproval.
As however it is pretended by the
friends of the citizens arrested, that they
were so innocent as not to know that il
was wrong for paroled prisoners and un-
punished traitors to glory in their shame
and flaunt the symbol of their crime in
the face of the country, they will he re-
leased from confinement, with the un-
derstanding that no act Of treason will
be passed unnoticed when detected. and
may they and others, who think like
them, profit by the lesson they have re-
ceived.