The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1883-05-04

The Philadelphia Times OF last Saturday
contained notice of the History of Col
umbia county," which we print below AT
the time of the occurrences spoken of in
1864, Col. Mcclure the editor of the Times,
was a leading Republican, and knew all
about the difficulty in this county. His
opinion, therefore, is worth something
more than that of the young Berwick
printer who, after reading borrowed
copy of the book, pronounced it "the
poorest excuse for history he ever saw"
probably because he never looked into a
history of any kind before. The Repubii-
can, too, has been endeavoriug to injure
the sale of the book, because it does not
like to have the whole truth known of the
shameful treatment of some of our best
citizens, and the efforts to intimidate
voters in this county. Nevertheless, the
work is selling rapidly, and all who wish
u copy should secure one at once, as the
edition will soon be exhausted. Here is
what the Times says of 1t;
During the last few years many very i'm
portant contributions to the local history
of Pennsylvania have been given in the
shape of histories of particular counties,
and most of these works have been care
fully and many of them exhaustively COM
piled. In this way much valuable infor-
nation relating to the earliest settlements
of the different sections of the State has
been preserved, and the many traditions Of
early times have been sifted and entirely
a al taA hp r,,t hnA taA
tablished and crystallized into history
One of the most important, complete and
reliable of these county histories is "a
History of Columbia County," by Colonel
John G. Freeze, well-known member Of
the Bloomsbury bar. Colonel Freeze is
not only an admirable historical writer
but he is man Of most patient research,
and his book of nearly six hundred pages
leaves nothing to be done in preserving
the general history of his county. 1t en-
braces not only the history of the first set
Elements and of the gradual growth of
civilization amid vast and varied trbula-
tions, but it presents history of the rivers,
mountains, streams, forts, etc, about
which many romances cling. An interest
ing chapter on the President Judges of
the county gives biographies of Judges
Seth Chapman, Ellis Lewis, Charles G.
lock, (present Naval Oflicer) John N
Conyngham, Warren j. Woodward, A. X.
Peckham and William Elwell The most
important part of Colonel Freezes work,
as contribution to general history, is his
exhaustive and obviously unbiased presen-
tation of what is commonly known as the
"Fishingcreek Confederacy." The action
of two or three dozen lawless disloyaists
in the Fishingcrcek region of Columbia
county, and their resistance to the enforce
ment of the draft, were readily magnified,
in the tlood-tide of partisan and sectional
passion that prevailed during the war,
into an organized rebellion, and the his
tory of the arrests, Imprisonment, dis
charge of most of the implicated parties
without trial, and the military trials of the
few regarded as specially meriting punish
ment, is anything but creditable exhib-
ition of the power and justice of a great
government. In point of fact, the Fish
ingcreek rebellion did not approach the
open, defiant resistance to the draft in
portions of SchuylkiIl county, notably in
Cass township, the true history of which
has never been written, and probably
never will be written, as it is better for
both government and offenders that it
should be forgotten. Colonel Freeze has
presented the complete history of the Fish
ingcreek rebellion, carefully compiled
from official sources, and he has perform
ed most important service not only for
his own county, but for the State as well,
by giving the truth and the whole truth in
such shape that successful contradiction
will he impossible hereafter. We can well
understand why so painstaking writer
as Colonel Freeze declares in the preface
to the work, that ''if the time and labor
which have been required to prepare this
volume for the press had been fully fore
seen, it would not have been undertaken" :"
but having undertaken it, he has perform
ed his task with the utmost fidelity.