The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-01-20
IFor the Evansville Journal.
Mr. Secretary Fletcher'S Letter.
Reply.

Editors Journal:
Your paper of January 9Th, con-
tains personal attack upon me, to
which l desire little space for reply
and for this once only.
l. If Mr.. Fletcher is not the enemy
of Northern residents in Tennessee,
his speeches and his acts have been
misunderstood; and the letter which
you publish itself furnishes abundant
evidence that he has not been mis-
understood. He places the thousands
of Northern men no10 here, under
the first class who venture-gener-
orally a bad class-men who have
either no home or no character, and
nothing to lose. Tennessee has not
escaped this law of emigration. y
Now, submit, whether man who can
pen such a sentence as that is not an
enemy of the Northern men who have
settled In Tennessee. hummer"
bounty jumper" : army-follower,"
and such like phrases. have been ia
vorite epithets with Mr.. Fletcher, and
he has applied them to Northern men
generally He claims, however, to be
very friendly to " thousands of
Northern men who " live on the other
side of the Ohio" Very well, / give
him full credit for that.
2 He says that | endeavored to or
ganize political party in opposition to
John Trimble The truth is this: A
respectable number of white men re-
quested me to become a candidate for
Congress. After a delay of two weeks,
| allowed my name to be used. The
convention, which met on the 18th of
May was regarded by my friends as a
fraud, and they left it and nominated
me as an independent candidate. But
[ declined to run. and supported Mr.
Trimble In this / set Mr.. Fletcher a
good example, but he did not follow
it. At the convention to nominate a
city government, Major Alden, new
conner" received the vote Of every
ward in the city Fletcher bolted the
regular nomination and supported
Mr.. Scovill, and, by his wonderful
eloquence on the stump, succeeded In
getting over tl00 hundred votes for
Mr.. Scovill against about 5000 for
Major Alden, the" hummer" Major
Alden and the new city government
have felt greatly indebted to the fat
Secretary for his opposition. But
how Mr.. Scovill felt, who was ruined
by his support, can better be imagined
than described. Every man who
runs for an Office now, in
this section of the State would
Ply high for Fletcher's opposition.
3. Ny Relations e0ith the Bureau
| was detailed from my regiment to
take a position in the Bureau by
Major General Fisk, who imposed
upon me the most responsible duties
in his district, and who, in his resig-
nation, recommended me to General
Howard as his successor, in case
civilian should be appointed General
Lewis was General Fisk S successor,
and when he was ordered to Georgia,
he wrote me, under date OF February
3, 1867: " Your wider experience and
better judgment have been, as it were,
mine, and to them | am indebted for
much Of my success in the admins
tration of Bureau affairs. Some
weeks after | became a candidate for
the nomination for Congress. / sent
my resignation to General Carlin,
Wnlch the following correspondence
explains: @
NASHVILLE, May 10, 1867.
Lieutenant Groesbeck, a. A. General:
Sir: I have the honor to respect
fully tender my resignation as Agent
of the Bureau for Davidson County,
aud as General Claim Agent for the
District of Tennessee. At the solicit
alton of numerous friends, whose
opinions I respected, l very reluct-
emily allowed my name to be used as
a candidate for Congress, subject to
the Nominating Convention on the
10th inst. and / should have delayed
my resignation until the result Of that
Convention had been ascertained, had
I not feared that the malignant parti-
san attacks made upon me would i'm
plicate yourself and the Bureau in
the controversy.
Very respectfully,
Your ob't serv't,
JOHN LAWRENCE.