The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1879-09-23
OLD BOYS In BLUE, READ.
General Rice and the Cincinnati
Gazette.

Colonel Rice, it is said, lost a leg
in the Union cause. General Ewing
gave out that his great expectation
of success in this election campaign
were in the figure of their three
legs as against the four of the Re-
publican ticket. But Colonel Rice
could not lose leg in the Union
cause when his heart was not in that
cause. His political conduct showed
that his heart was on the Confeder-
ate side, ard that his enlistment as
commissioned officer was a specu-
lation. A Colonel's pension for a
lost leg is a handsome income for
life, and is very high pay for Val
landigham leg. When Colonel Rice
undertakes to run on his claims as
a soldier of the Union for party
which was hostile to the Union sol
diers, and when he harrangues for
the principles of state secession
which the Union army fought to put
down, he justifies us in examining
his politico-military record, and this
examination proves that he was then
a professed Union colonel with Con-
federate principles, and that his SER
vice was very much worse than use
less to the country.-CINcINNATI GA
zETTE.
General Rice, while at Covington,
September 5, took occasion to reply
to the slanderous article that ap-
peared in the Cincinnati Gazette of
September 4. The General said:
81 am not in the habit of intru-
ding personal matters into a polit-
ical canvass but the charge made
against me by the Cincinnati Ga
Zettee is so slanderous and insulting
that my self respect will allow me
to remain silent no longer. l spent
five of the best years of my life in
the defense of my country and flag,
enduring privations and suffering
with no other thought than loyalty
to my country. | was wounded at
Vicksburg, wounded again at Look
out Mountain, again at Resacca,
again at Pine Mountain, and lost
my leg at Kenesaw. / bear on my
body the marks of five balls and
two shells. l spent four years in
Congress endeavoring to procure
justice for my comrades, and secure
the passage of arrearages and pen
sions' act, and the equalization of
bounties. Yet Longstreet, a rebel
General whom l fought in the field,
is appointed to a lucrative Office un-
der Republican administration
Key made a Cabinet member of the
government, and Mosby, the black
flag guerrilla, sent as an ambassador
to China. When | think of these
men loaded with honors and emolu-
ments and credited with loyalty and
patriotism, while |, because | am a
Democrat, suffering as l have, Grip
pied as l am, while in the service
of my country, am denounced as a
sympathizer with treason. Itseems
to me that it is high time that my
comrades, the survivors of the late
war, should know how their record
for loyalty stands. Under the cir
my friends, l think no
apology is required for these re-
marks"
This manly and justly indignant
reply of brave soldier and a pat
riotic citizen to the attacks of a
sneaking coward will meet with a
hearty response from every patriot
in Ohio who may read it. We mis-
take the temper of the boys in blue
if they do not rebuke the party
which endorses this unnatural and
infamous war upon the character of
General Rice whose shattered body
and wooden leg attest his bravery
and gallant services in defense of his
country.