Owyhee semi-weekly tidal wave. [volume] (Silver City, Owyhee County, Idaho Territory) 1868-1869, 1869-06-18
Letter from Joe.
MAY II. 1869.
REcIPITULAToRY

be well enough to go over the ground
of what | saw and scratch line or
two ab6nt what saw and Thought.
Usually folks hear and think about
more than they see, and that may be
what's the matter with me. | solic-
tied conversation, as itwere, with as
many different ex-rebels and others
as | could conveniently, and will Sc
lect few as sort of representative:
While stroll ing out from Richmond
toward the Fair Oaks battlefield, l
jumped up a good customer, who
had taken a full hand in the ''waw,
as he was pleased to call it. Had |
been full believer in it until after
the battle of Gettysburg, which bat
tie he thought set the Confederate
mind in an opposite direction and
it certainly. set a great body OF Con-
federates that way. But now that
they had surrendered, he thought
the majority were willing to accept
ANYTHING reasonable-except negro
suffrage, office-holding, &c. This
fellow had owned a few niggers
before the "waw " (by the accent,
| il were hard to say which was the
Niger and which the white mani,
but only because he had right to 4;
though hersaid he always thought 1t
ga hard right at best" He REQUIRED
to precipitancy of the war, and
cursed the Southern leaders for not
giving Lincoln chance; that he
and thousands Of others never be-
lieved Lincoln could much less would
free the slaves-and that the further
extension OF il didn't better the mass
of the Southerners. This mans
lamentations, complaints and state
ments were as curious as interesting
! He was intelligent, had good com
mon sense, and he told me hund
red things new about things past ant
; present yet he would occaslonall.
get so mad at many things done by tn
South that he would shed tears, ant
ON the other hand, express suliel
determination to never yield to Ger
n tain Northern ideas. He bad hol,
hatred of the " scalawags nativl
born residents who had acquiesce'
in the Congressional treatments L
other words, Southern unlonlsi'
He believed in decided restrletlo
of suhrage-even to a propert
qualification among the whites.
believe that was the old South Care
lima doctrine or law. He though
this negro suffrage. business mu
- surely terminate in war OF races
that il would begin at the pol
some day, &c; and mentioned no
~ many ex-soldiers round Richmon'
all for instance, would take hand, ct
he he Didn't want anymore violence, b
or thought it must be so; and that
inl would rather live under militia
hes r1le if he could be certain til
ng would be the end of it. He won
'H' make a good g Imperiaiist, and
have no doubt half the ex-reb'
: Il. would prefer it, He wanted mo
Northern, men to come down Sou
A and settle, but not as earpet-bagge
! !, in the rowing sense Of ihe word.
was right in that particular.
had frequent use for the word : g
t,eman," as applied to those "
: are to govern them down there
~ mostly in some aristocraiic sense
= in opposition to the scala"a'
" greatly preferring a Northern ge
TT raj to a Southern civilian. lie ha
lv knew what to say about 10
HI street-it seemed too much to
lie to lieve. | went round Richmon'
1t rooa deal and tried to get an !