Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-05-31
Negro suffrsgelNegroes During
rhe War.

NEGRO During
.-Ihe War;
The Negro Suffrage advocates and the
Abolition papers that support Negro vot-
ing in Ohio, pay but poor compliment to
the White soldiers, who voluteered to aid
In putting down the rebellion, when they
say that the successful issue of the war was
mainly owing to the Negro troops, and to
the patriotism of the descendants OF. HAM.
General HALPIN--ssMILEs sO'REILY---who
figured prominently in the late war on the
side of the zNoSth,If in a recent number OF
his paper, the Ne,o York Citizen, makes the
following statement: .., ..-..--.-,. q -, .
"If Judge Kelley had been South during
the war he could not have the hardihoOd-
not even he could-to speak of the me-
groes of the South as If they had been 10y
| al to the United States during the rebel
lion. The fact is that ninety five per cent.
| Of them were as faithful to the Confederacy
| as any average equal number of Southern
whites. They formed the quartermaster,
Icommissary, ordnance and pay depart
ments- of the rebel armies-working faith
fully and perseveringly at their allotted
tasks, although not five per cent. of the
able bodied whites were left at home to
compel them to this work, had they been
otherwise minded. 1t is simply a bald,
bold, black falsehood to speak of the South
ern negroes as having been faithful to, the
Union, or faithful to any thing but the re-
bellion, during the recent civil war;"
I We do not know the number of negro
troops enlisted in Ohio during the war, but
from an official document presented by the
the Assistant Adjutant General of Ohio to
Governor Cox, and used by Mr.. KELLOGG,
of Ashtabula, in his speech in favor of Ne
gro Suffrage and against the distranchise-
ment of deserters. the number of Ohio
negroes who deserted during the war
amounted to Eight Hundred and Si1tyi
= When It is remembered that it was late
| in the war before the Government allowed
negroes to be enlistedp pand that recruiting
stations were opened in the State for col
ored troops to fill up the quota for Massa-
chusetts, the per cent. of negro absentees
as shown by this table, over the small
number enlisted in Ohio must be very
large. s..s .as.a 6.li.rb
In the earlier part of the war, Mr.. DEN
N1soN, of this city, then Governor of Ohio
absolutely refused to allow single Negro
to enter the army, perhaps fearing, from
his knowledge of the race, that they eithel
lacked patriotism or courage. r--
The reason why the Radical Abolition
lists are anxious toconfer Suffrage on tn
Negro race is that, in the waning fortune
of. that party, they need the votes of tn
Negroes to save them from defeat. Th
Tennessee organ of Radicalism, the Nash
uille Times is alarmed for the prospects o
BRowNLow, for reelection as Governor O
that State, and in its fear that paper says
'.If it had been suspected that the ne
groes of this State would vote with tn
Conservatives, the right of suffrage woul'
never have been conferred on them." '-
This lets the cat out of the bag. AS a
exchange says: 1t is not that Radicalism
in favor of manhood suffrage" but that
hoped to get votes in the South by ii
adoption. Convince the Radicals that tn
negroes, as body, will vote against then
and Congress will take measures to dis
franchise them as soon as it meets.
These facts expose the hypocrisy OF tn
Negro Suffragists, and with it, disposes {
the slander that the negro race was th
l5nly patriotic one during the war, and tina
negro troops were alone to be trusted in th
hour of our country's trial.