The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-01-15
rFrom the Toledo Blade I

Posr-oFFIs, CoSFEDR. T x ROADS,
(Which is in the Staff Nv kent1cky')
January s, 1858. }
Noticin in the public prints that
Vallandygham, and passed. OF others
Nv that kidney, he'd called conven-
shun NV those who he'd suffered i'm
prisonment for holden the opinion,
doorin the war. that the South wuz
rite in secedin, and for dom wat she
Good to futher the rite, to review their
sufferins. /, NV course, expected TO
be invited to attend. Ez no invita-
shun came, | resolved to spare EN-
the stigma Nv heven gone back on a
fellow sufferer, and hencely, | wrote
the followin letter, which | shell have
publisht In all the newspapers. L
feel it dooty to call the attenshun
Nv the party to my fellow sufferers
jest now, it bein jest afore new deal
takes place:
70 q. L. VallandighGna, Edson b
Olds, Henry Clay Dean, and others,
G0mn.ittee:
Yoor moovin note Nv the XIIIth
J instant, invitin me to be present at a
meetin NV those wich he'd suffered for
/ Conscience saks doorin the late croos-
/ ade. and to IN ngle my teers with
them. is received. EZ l received
yoor note and red it, my sufferlns
come back to my mind SC wildly that
! the fountins NV the crate deep was
onseeled, and | wept scaldIn teers. |
went ez [ thot how / suffered, how L
he'd wasted In Basteels the time | so
much needed In furtherin the CRATE
kcoz In wich we wuz all engaged; when
tbot how. for three long weeks, L
wasted away. pinin for the free air
/ outside 7s,- my prison walls; how, for
.sil-1sdJ time, L Wuz exposed to the
I horror Nv seeing around me feends In
human form, clad in bloc [ alluz de-
i tested; how l wuz compelled to listen
perpetooally, to SIGH songs ez:
Wen rally roond the flag boys,
Wen rally Wunst ag1n-
Shoutin the battle cry NV Freedomr'
/ And that other detestable air,
which I never hear without a thrill
of horror
John Browns body lies molderin in the
But his sole is marchin on"
/ long weeks | wuz compelled to live
! no, not live, but eggist-with not
! drop nv anythin stronger or more re-
vivifyin to drink than coffee endoor-
/ In the namelis horrors wich follers
I the sudden takin away NV that on
wich we live, and which our moral
ez well as physikil nachers de-
pend. But out NV regard to my feel
ms, close these horroWin refeeshens.
ShoOd l dwell onto EN-, | shood be
entirely unnamed When [ think
nv them three weeks without whisky.
reason tOtters onto her throne, and [
wonder that | am still alive Trooly,
1 l am a spared monument.
1t would not be out Nv place in this
conneckshun for me to dwell for a
Vnoment upon the sacrifices | hev made
and the torters to witch / hev bin sub
jectial. l hev, | may say it humbly,
suffered probably more than any Nv
the glorious company Nv martyrs, for
righteousnis' sake. My first taste Nv
( Fedral tyranny was in 1862. Well do
I remember the day. A draft was
impendin. The tyrannical Linkin,
revain in the gorgus halls of des-
potic power at Washington, he'd
isshood his oppressive decree for
three hundred thousand more" I
went, confidently, to the eggsaminer S
Office for my eggsempshen, but in
the face Nv the most positive
ashoorence on my part that had bron-
keetis and liver complaint at that time,
and he'd he'd at different times Nv my
life delirum tremens, | waz laft to
skorn, and pernounst ez sound ez a
brick. | determined not to embrue my
hands In the blood Nv my brethren Nv
the South. l shuddered at two ijees.
First, at being punctured myself, and,
second, at puncturn any NV my friends
in the Confederacy. Therefore, made
my way ez best l mite to that refuge
from the prosecutor, Canady. Need [
dilate> onto the terrors Nv that pas
sage? Need l state how I walked
from my then place Nv residence to
Detroit, and how | swan across the
river at that pint on a log, and
how, when on strikin the sacred
soil, L struck taboo and shook
my list at the stars and stripes,
which l saw Wavin on the tother
side? No: For all Nv you hev done
1t, Ell not In Canady, somewhere else.
The draft wuZ over, and [ returned,
suppOsln it wuz all rite Skarcely he d
I reached my humble home, when
wuz arrested and dragged to a mill
tary camp. | he'd bin drawd and
wuz taken ez a deserter. I did not
serve tho. Ruther than to carry a
Fedral muskit [ deserted in ERNST
and vat military life l did see I saw
in the COnfedrit ranks. But that wuz
short The Kurnil Nv my regiment,
appreciatin my stIle, ordered me t. be
discharged on the skore that / Good
| do oConfedrisy more good operatin
J with the Democrisy Nv the North