Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-07-01

lied riots to resist the draft and your whole nfu-
encc went with those who were tryipgto preventive
sending of more soldiers to relieve the brave boys
from Maine Gncludins the Regiment you had
yourself commanded who were then battling
heroically at the front You united warmly with
Emery and Pillsbury in supporting Bion Bradbury
in 1863 though in the convention which nominated
him for Governor, resistance to the draft was
openly advocated and applauded, and Gen. Samuel
j. Anderson as the immediate personal represen-
tative of Mr.. Bradbury, distinguished himself by
the boldness of his antewar uttcrances. In 1864
you gave your best efforts to the election of Joseph
Howard as Governor, when the Bangor Democrat
boastfully proclaimed that "JUDGE HOWARD HAS
EVER BEEN OPPOSED TO THE PRESENT WAR AND
HAS UNIFORMLY BEEN A PEACE DEMOCRAT IN
THE BRoADEsr SENSE OF THAT TERM" You
cannot forget, General, that when you were
swinging your hat for Judge Howard, he was
extensively outspoken against the constitutional
amendment which permitted the soldiers of Maine
to vote in their camps-taking the ground as you
did by supporting him, that the soldier who was
daily perDg his life at the 'front.' had no just
right to vote but that the traitorous copperhe ad
in the rear should enjoy that privilege to its fullest
extent.
In the Presidential struggle of that year, you
earnestly opposed Mr. Lincoln and joined with
the vcnomous and disleyal hordes who abused and
yiifed that greatest and best friend Of the soldier
You publicly united with those who "dec}ared the
war Jailore,' as it would have been, General,
had all the soldiers followed the example set by
yourself You openly affiliated with the desperate
faction that "demanded an immediate cessation of
hostiHtieS.' at the very moment when sherman
had taken Atlanta and was preparing for his great
March to the Sea, and when Grant was drawing his
deadly lines closer and closer around Richmond
and Petersburg. You were the zoalons worker
with Emery, who rcjoiced in every Union defeat.
and who traitorously declared in hi, paper af-
ter a slaughter Of Union troops that "LINcoLN's
HIRELINGs HAVE NET THEIR DUE FArR. THEY
FIND NOW THE IOSPITABLE GRAVES TO
WHICH THE CHIVALROUS SONS OF THE
SOUTH WILL WELCOME THE INVADERS OF
THEIR HOMES"
You were, l repeat, the political associate of
Eben F. Pillsbury, whose infamous teachings in
Franklin county led ignorant men into riotous
resistance to the Government which he had not the
courage himself to join, and who distinguished
himself even above Emery by the brutality and
blackguardism with which he assailed the Union
cause and especially for the vile language which
he applied to Mr. Lincoln personally.
In view of these facts General, was struck
when was an observer and reporter Of the con-
vention which nominated you, by the poetic fitness
there was in selecting Samuel j. Anderson as its
presiding officer 1t struck me as still more appro
PIRATE that Eben F. Pillsbury should be your God
father in the convention, and in presenting you
for nominations should soil you with the slime of
his eulogy-asserting that you had been true to de-
mocracy as he understood it ''in all its vcissi-
tudes." And even more significant than all was
it that Malccllus Emery should put himself for
ward as your personal spokesman and keeper. and
invite the public to pre- arranged serenade which,
with speeches already in type, should surprise you
with the unexpected intelligence of your sponta-
neous nomination.
AS candidate of the party which slgnalized it
self by opposition to the war and by uniiiendness
to the soldier, you are an appropriate selection;
but to put you forward "patriot soldier is
not only broad farce, but it is positive insult to
that vast host of heroic men in Maine who fought
the war through to the bitter end. and who offered
themselves for slaughter on the battlefield and
for death in the trenches, while your voice was
heard in the in full chorus with those who de-
manded that the "war should cease, that the draft
should be neutralized and embarrassed, and that
our brave boys in blue, as Mr.. Emery had 1t,
"shoud be consigned TO hospita5le grares By the
chiralr0us sons Of tie South" Had all soldiers
been as patriotic yourself, General, it is quite
easy to see that the Confederate cause would have
triumphed and that We should have had sun
dered government; or if we had remained united,
it would have been with Slavery as the corner
stone of the republic, with Jefferson Davis as
President, and with Robert f. Lee as General-n-
chief of our armies.
The choice of the soldier voters Of Maine-and
l am speaking for none other-lies between your
self and SELDEN CONNOR. Of the heroic
record, the patriotic devotion, the personal suffer-
ings Of the latter, l shall not speak. venture
only to say that, as it seems to me, the dead
heroes Of the war, those who fell the same field
where Common was well nigh MORALLY wounded,
and those who fell on other and bloodier fields,
would stalk forth in ghastly cerements from hon
ored graves, if their living comrades could so far
forget their glory and their duty as to give their
support to Peace Democrat of 1862, and withhold
it from a soldier who never finchcd or faltered,
who entered the service as a private who fought
his way up to high rank, and who stood in the
hottest of danger in the fore front Of battle until
he fell covered with wounds and with honor.
am General, very respectfully,
Your Obedient Servant,
Il. a. SMITH.