Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-05-06
for the Toledo Blade !
MAS b ".
Sergeant Bates at PettusVisIe Virgin
ia-Hr. Nasby Is Present when he

WASHINGTON. D. G. April %. 1868.
Happenin to be in Washington ut thC
time Sergeant Bates, that nohl est r ,man
Nv nll the Northern men who took III
arms agin the Sunny South, wuz to arrive
it okkurred to me that IL would be pawn
Investment eff 1 should go out to Pettus.
Vile. wich IS q beautiful village contain
N one dry goods store and Il fOOid grOs
cries, sitoOated about sixtv miles from
here, and witness the reception that shoOC
he given him Wat transpired thrilled
me: in fact 1 never felt such a thrill
Nv Joy in my life ez ! did when l saw thu
battle Scared vetern heave in sight HI
came, proudly bearin Hioft the Flag wieh
when the South he'd her rites and owned
the mggers body and soul, in fee SIMPLE
wuz RELY and trooly the Flag nv the Free,
but wich now that alars there amt q
slave under its shadder and all are permit
ed to do ez shev pleas, is the symbol nv
the most oppressive and grinding tyranny
wich the world ever witnist.
| But, nevertheless, the devoshun TO the
old flag, wich site Nv it stirred up in the
breasts nv the people Nv Pettusville, RELY
surprised hne. Never shell forgit the site
that met my eyes. The Sergeant wus met
three miles out Nv town, by y percesSion
wieh accompanied him in the followilg
order:
Band, playin "Bonny blue flag"
Detachment OF the Pettusville Aven-
gers made up Nv soljers Wich formerly ser
we'd in the 18th Virginia, wich wuz en-
I plOyed for fourteen months gardIn An
ldersOnville.
Detachment Nv the Pettusville Cadets,
made up Nv sons Nv Of Confedrit sOliers
who wuz killed in the servis, with black
banners, onto wien wuz inscribed, ave
will ayen :e our slain sires"
ouartermastsr Sergeant Bates Comuissary
| ] AmerIkin hIg
-Four survivors of the late onpleasantnis,
carrying each a battle flag capehered from
| Wisconsin regiments.
Band playin Dixie melOiusly.
Citizens on foot and horseback and in
carts.
On striking the corporation, the Mayor
| (Captin Badger, Nv FORESTS crvairy). ana
the town clerk llate of the lamented John
Morgan's com mand) appeared, and the
procession stopped. while the fOrmElities
wuz gene through with. The Mayor re
ceived .he Sergeant in these words:
/ SERGEANT BATES, SIR: Understand
in, ez we do, thJt you chivalrously made
a wager (wieh is a be;) with a Wisconsin
ablishnist that yoo Good walk from Vieks
burg to Washihton earryin the American
flag unfuiled without bein insulted For
nothin, and hevin received the testimony
from leAdin Democrats Nv Wisconsin,
wich is entirely satisfactory to US, that yoO
are not in no sense. nor never wuz nj any
time, in sympathy with Ablishen,o or ez they
falsely style theirselves, the Republican
party, we extend 10 700 the hospitality NV
Pettusville. And ez there are reporters
present let me remark, sir. that yUOr ex
per snce hez showed how falsely We hev
bin judged by the crooel persekOoters Nv
the Northern States YOO hev been met
on every hand with nothing but kindness.
Southern hospitality of the broadest kind
hez bin extended to WOO. YOo hev he'd
cbaw of every plug-yoo hev he'd yoor
suck cut ef every bottle, your nose SHOWS
that since 700 enetred the sunny south yOO
hev not been allowed to taste water wich
IS our idea of hOspitable treatment.
Wat my dear sir, does thus 20 to show
Wat does this prove Ef Charles sumner
for instance. or Judge Kelley he'd blu so
presumptiOus, or any other Republican. ez
to attempt sieh feet, the outraged south
ern hart wood heg billed over and be wood
hev bin tOred TO pieces. Wat does it
prove? It proves that 'taInt the flag we
object to 50 much ez it Is the men who
hev been carryin it. In the hands nv
cOnstitoOshenel Dimocrat its the same old
flag it allus wuz. In sich hands, Its rus
lie sounds in our esrs like the crack Nv
the Niger whip, and the site thereof is
soOthin. For when the flag Yuz in them
hands, We hunted niggers und=r lis tOlds
in the streets Nv Boston. Under that flag
We shot LOvejoy in Alton and sunk Bal
iey's press in the Ohio at Cincinnati.
Under the shadow Nv that blessed flag we
sold niggers at suction in Washington,
and that flag. that symbol Nv Freedom,
would hev hOated over the deck Nv every
slave ship wich sailed from Africa, out
for the unjust and sOOisidle laws which
forced the philantbrOpist in the biznis TO
sale under other penants. In your hands
and the hands Nv sch ez you, the flag Is
10 us the old flag it wuz then, and is sa
cred to w becOz under it we Good do all
these things.
That's why we love it, aud that's why
we tolerate yOo with it. He'd it remained
sich we never wold hev raised our hands
agin 1t. When sieh as Polk and Fillmore
and BOOkanon he'd the contrOll Nv 1t We
wuz satisfied with 1t and reyereneed every
stripe and every star-the speer he'd
that surmouhted it and the staff wich up
held It-fJr to US th-t flag meant suIhIn
1t meant freedom for us-free trade in
niggers-it meant suthern Supremacy
it meant the rite to buy niggers-tO sell
niggers-import niggers-expOrt niggers |
fog niggers-hunt nIggers. SO long ez the |
flag wuz sich we loved it But when the
North dispooted our control Nv it and pa tin l
TO the hands Nv A. Linkin, AbolIshOnisL |
it wuz our flag no more. Thea we felt |
that 1t must come dOWn-that its issiOn |
wuz ended, and to US it wuz nothin. |
fred unto that flag. 1 raised my hand |
sgin il, and prOu , 1 am. But borne by |
Democrat-aO old Style DemOcrst-a Dem
Ocrat who stuck to US becOz he wuz sfeer |
ed Of niger ekality. it is wunst more the /
the same old hsg, and we reverence it.
Why, then, when yoo, a carryin this EN-
biem Nv the nashun's grander, kin walk
all over the South, where all is peece and
so much affecshan IS manifested for the
flag, why do they keep a army to overawe
Us! Why
A interruption here occurred. a shot
wuz heard, and the crowd rushed 10 see
wat it WIZ. They returned presently.
A funeral procession nv niggers wuz pas
sin thrO the next street carryin 10 the
Niger grave yard a Niger soljer who he'd
jest died Nv InjOoris received dOorin the
lste Onpleasantnis and sz they marched
with tag at their head, the excited and
iusulted pOpuiis had cleaned EN- out. Two
Nv EN- wuz shot and the preecher with
en- wuz left Tor dead. This over they re-
turned and the Mayor went on. Ser.
yeant Bates, welcome 700 and with 700
Inc flag, to Pettusville."
Sergeant Bates replied briefly. Since
le cUme into the South be he'd bin treated
kindly. In the rOoral deestrIcks once or
twice where the people in their delitef1l |
insophicticariOn don't read noo>pspers,
md eonsekently didn't jist know the u0
eek Nv bis carryin the flag, he wuz went I
or rather ruh, but few words cOnyinct
IN that be wuz sound and it didn't :
node him. The Diggers in the rOOral )
ieestricks also rather overwhelmed him {
With attenshuns. but be he'd no difficulty
n shakin EN- of. SSickin copy Nv :he
Soo York World in their faces did IT,
lie Good say he Wuz delited with his ex-
,erience.
The ceremony bein over, the Mayor
nOunt-d his hOss, and one band playIn