The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-01-06
tCOSTISUATIOS.)
IN TIE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW !

IS. the war was over, or at any rate
the fighting. The three months VIC
had remained in prison, refusing to take
the o.th, had been thus much lost
time; except that it had served TO sat
isfy our sense of duty. SO long as a
single soldier remained standing up tor
Southern independence We had remain
ed faithful TO the Cause; useless though
the sacrifice.
Lee surrendered on the 9th of April
we reached home on the 4th OF july.
The three months interval had done
much 10 restore the atmosphere OF
Peace to the land. The battered
Sword was steadily resolving itseli
into the iiusbaudman's blade, whence ii
rlG ieen rudcly fashioned at the village
Smithy. The shattered Spear" reail
IL resumed the crook Of the pruning
hook. The blood stained army ambu-
lance re,apsed into lis old service as a
market cart. Alar over the field were
To be seen the qu1udam warriors bear
led ike pards." with little flags OF
truce futtering from various bullet
holes in their faded grey garments,
Iaboriously blowing with a broken down
horse OF zsule, branded in big letters
C s. A." or ~. s. A."-for gener-
ally the Yankee raiders robbed the
country Of all stock except such as fell
Lr the way side through exhaustion OF
sickness.
Following the plow came women and
chiIlren OF the farm house, YEARLY
welding the hoe, or dragging an heavy
brush as an harrow; for every arm
must toll, early and late, to keep star
vatira from the door during the coming
winter. Ali oyer the South Oh May
DAY. 1868. were hundreds of thousands
Of homes without a dollar, or a pound
ufmeat. or OF -four, or any sort OF pro-
vision. OF any clothing, or tools. or lm-
Elements Of labor, wherewlth to take
up the new struggle for Il livelihood
and I'm very many cases there Was not d
or door window to the house an article
OF furniture or so much az i bundle OF
straw for A bed. Let 1t ever stand to
the disgrace of the Lincoln government
that during the closing eighteen months
of the war. when the issue was no lon
rer 10 be doubted. (as they ASSERT and
when every act of useless destruction
was a piece OF Vandalism committed as
il were against members Of the same
family whose only crime was the en-
deayOr To reclaim ancient rights)-un-
der such circumstauces-the Federal
armies were given virtual permission
not only to pillage and plumber private
property. but also to w~antonly destroy
,chIi>.erer they cotFd not use Many a
widow, many an aged couple. many an
orphaned family, were turned into the
darkness OF night, or the bowling of
wintry storms, not for any offence. or
resistance, or insult, or any military OBJ
ioct, but solely to crafty an hellish de-
light IN deyiItry; burning the house,
and torturing the inmates.
In this connection let Us all be thank
ful-f0r the honor of the American
name,-that las the recensly-publIshed
military statistics show only about one
mau in four (poSsibly five of the Fed
cral soldiers were Natirc born. All the
rest were foreigners representing every
Race and Rascaiity under the sun !;
thousands Of them unable to speak our
language, and large ship-loads Of them
brought directly from New York har-
Dor to the armies IN the field. As a
matter Of course such fellows cared
nothing for the honor OF their flag, or
for the decencies Of civilized warfare.
They were mere h~irelings, and as a
general thing we're lacking in the finer
traits of disposition and education even
at their own homes. 1t was a frequent
remark by Federal officers particular
" the old Army officers, We'll
madame, | am ashamed Of this; but
we have a good many ''Roughs, and
Il Is hard to keep them under discipline
on 4 leng march,"
These facts, however, while relieving
the Northern people to some extent,
merely serve to deepen the disgrace Of
the Linco.u government, and the Gen
eral officers, Grant, Sherman, Pope,
Butter, ct al, who allowed the Bum
mers 10 ply their Infamous warfare
upon helpless women and children, and
III many eases no doubt winked at their
want0G brutality. Alas! | am obliged
to admit that there we're several hun
dred thousand Southerners in the Yam
kee armies, and that many of the most
ElIalnous outrages were perpetrated by
bush.Thscklng gangs like those of Kirk,
aud Mcneil, and their like.
a RETROSPECT.
But here, kind reader, let US pause
for Il at the threshold of the
dreadful decade Of ''RECoNsTRUCTIoN''
with all its Humiliation, Harrassment.
and Horrors, to briefly review the his
toric pathway down which we have
mcrched during the good year 1880.
Starting far back in the 18th century,