The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-09-28
The Camilla Massacre.


Georvia ia one of the States which
have been generally conceded to Sey-
mour and Blair in the coming cleo
tim Al good beginning for carrying
tbe State was made on Saturday last,
at the town of Camilla where fifty
Republican voters, including their
nominee for Congress, were killed or
wounded by a Seymour and Blair
mob. The latter were simply carry
inc into effect the Democratic nation
al platform, which declares the laws
of Congress to be void" Being
void, the Democracy of Georgia have
naturally commenced the work of
overturning them. The first step. to
be takenqis to murder those persons
who entertain a different opinion 1t
rs the same old story that we heard
Abolitionists." .ta-isa sflaim haa
Our understanding is that one of
the questions settled by the war was,
whether an ADleEican citizen should
have the same right OF freedom. of
speech In Georgia that he has In New
York or Illinois, and that it was de-
eided in the Affirmative. If it was
not so decided-if it is still an open
question--if men are to be murdered
for their opinions by paroled rebels
in Georgia or anywhere else-then
the war is not yet ended. fortunately
General Grant is in command of the
same forces that he led three years
ago. He and. they are competent to
finish up'the job; and they acilt ito IL
This, massacre at Camilla is one o.
the most cold FLOODED and infam0u.
transactions on record. It had no
even the, pitifnl provoeation of the
i New Orleans massacre. ! 1t was al
organized attempt to defy the para
mount authority of the United States
4 in Georgia, and In the accomplish
ment of the purpose the killing Of
forty or fifty human beings was
mere incident. A&" II -of s4 le8
H Theku- Klux account of the massa
ere represents that Colonel Pierce
the Republican nominee for Congress
started out from some place with abou
twenty negroes and three weeks pro
visions, to overawe citizens" Wheth
er the people of Georgia were to b.
overawed by the twenty. negroes Of
the three weeks provisions is no
stated. The one spectacle would b.
as likely to produce terror as thu
other. ThaCopperhead account pro
ceeds to say that " a friendly Negro
exposed their plans" What plans
The plan to overawe the State o
Georgia with three weeks provisions
The twenty negroes, with their com
missary department, having arrived al
Camilla, were somehow converted into
mob, for the Associated Press dis.
patch says the mob was vigorously
attacked, driven back, and took tc
flight; the negroes were pursued about
FIVE miles, losing thirty five killed and
many wounded. Only five whites were
seriously wounded" sf-5 3sis
All this sounds very much like the
first report of the doings of the mob
in New Orleans. That twenty negroes
E should set out on an EXPEDITION Il
intimidate the people of Georgia, il
simply preposterous. That the t'mob'
should lose more persons IN killed
and wounded than 1t contained, anC
that nobody should. be killed on thu
other side, is not reconcilable with
the history of mobs In general. A
much palmer narrative, and one
! which tallies with the known condi
ton of things in Georgia, was giver
I in our special dispatch from Atlanta
which states that Colonel Pierce wa:
Z first,warned that the people of Camil-
la would not allow a Republican t.
speak there, and that when he per
sisted in holding a meeting he anC
his friends were assaulted by mob
and thirty or forty of them were shot
? We have no doubt that these are the
! substantial facts in the case. The
only party intent upon suppressina
the freedom of speech in Georgia il
the Seymour and Blair party. Theil
! triumph, however, will be short.lived
They may succeed few months Ion
ger in their bloody work, but the day
of reckoning is at hand. If it be,
comes necessary to send Sherman
army into Georgia again, to re
establish the supremacy of the law
they will go with alacrity. and it will
4 not be required of them to visi
4 the State third time for the same
. | nurDosa - Gbic0r0 TrIbafa1e