The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1886-09-10
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II win bs remembered that ssrly In 1899 ON,
troops were highly sla.ed by !. ,,Sort n. !.
Assnd OF France, one or both. would TAX,
/ pslt n our behalf and. q : consequence, Is,
v~ would bs over in fsr nosths. The Ma.
son ana Slidell afair gsvs room sss tAis Inn.
pfsssion. But the morale II. our army M. hu,
ns!s changed. Msh who, lad made he oour,
~ ne wars study we're. nos ts be fed on sueh
some, however, began to put ON
long mcss and speculate on ths horror, n ~,
and As 4inBnaeisi, 4 .aas. Iuiir;s'
ne - sshin6< News that Rort .Donsis.n 90
halsn reached M, and this was : sves. ms,,,.,
isr thsse malcontents. We began to fsel th,t
the Federal Government, with its inexhsustible
source Oh supplies, was drawing It's coil around
u'' arumoiing, while prevalent, was very uu-
popular with the average soldier; we felt Il our
duy to tight and not foster adyersity. Mo,t
Of our troops were enlisted for IL month. .,a
' ."'' gave great reason for doubt among
ING oisoontents. In few mouths the time Of
certain commands would expire, and rs thew
ici' Inc acid the work would, of course. be
heavier ior those remaining, and consequently
we would never have an army sufficient to cone
with that Of the enemy.
Inc reasoning was better than the pluck
ihe "conseript plan" had not been conceived
yet. Inc Richmond Examiner, think. wa.
'ne nr't paper to suggest the propriety Of econ
sor'Paon.'' The greatest blundcr ever made
by the Confederate Congress was the passao. q,
that Act. II threw discomfort into the arm,
even among the intelligent volunteers. Ths
volunteer soldier felt that his country distrust-
Cd his loyalty to its flag. 1t was . blow from
which the Confederacy never recovered. II
did not put an additional available man in the
army but, on the contrary, kept men who
might have done something out. There WAS
nearly rs many mon commissioned and detailed
70 execute the "copscript Law as General
johnson had before Atlanta, in 1864. No
equaa number Of men in the Federal army done
such effective service for the Union as thew
did.
Your readers may think that I am off Tho
SUBJECT but rs these impressions were made
upon my mind at the time, think they are
part and parcel Of the ''Rscollections." Many
true and brave men went into our army aftsr
the passuSv q sns 'Uonscrtpt ASs,5E.-Is
good service too, but they would have gone
just as readily without q "conscript law as
vita it. Many men who made good farm hands
made poor soldiers. We needed both. The VOL
unteer soldier stood no longer upon his high
sense Of honor in the eyes OF his countrymeu,
but was doing service under compulsion. It
would have been better had the Confederate
Congress proposed an unconditional surrender
Of our army than to have passed that act. Our
noble women were the'frs to feel its sting. Il
tore the son from the arms Of his mother, and
the husband from the fond embraces Of his
wife. The poor invalid run the gauntlet of the
"medical examining board only to be ushered
into the army and to premature grave. 1t
produced spirit Of disgust that psrmeated all
classes Of society, that found its antidote at
Appomattox c. H., Va. To prove our logic we
will say that not battle fought exclusively
with volunteers was lost to the Confederacy.
The "conscript law" alone is responsible for
the coinage of the sxessssiea, "rioh mans war
sad poor mans fight"
Financially, as we'll as socially and morally,
our army was made up Of all classe. OF men.
Bill Blackwell was great talker, and men
who knew nothing Of his standing in the com.
nunity In which he lived, would pay great at
tention to him. lie was one Of the men with
whom everything went wrong The rations
wero unfit to eat neither plentiful dor Of the
right kind the clothing furnished by The Con-
federate Government vas indecent and shoddy.
In talking with men who knew nothing of him
this was his text One day came across him
with crowd Of Capt. Tsylors men around
him, listening to his grievances. heard him
sy: 81 had the best dinner at Goshen Hill the
day we left Union that have had since left
homs-about that time he saw me and he con-
tinued the seutsnce--yes, aad long time before"
Had bombshell have bursted In their midst
they would not have been moro astouished
They were completely -'sold out His next
work was to get Out Of the army, and he went
to work 10 fool the DOCTORS, which he has since
told me that he did, by splitting brick duet. He
kept brick bat in his tent from which he
would take piece put Il In his mouth, cough
and spit until he was pronounced Gan incura-
BILE case Of consumption" He was sent homo.
He claims hs played the same gsme with DR..
Aleck White. But DIR. w: found him out sfter
awhile. He thought that - Bill had been 50
adroit In carrying out his plans he deserved TO
be left off. Bill never returned to US, except
he came 10 Us at Dispstoh Station, Va, in Sept.
1892, and stayed a.day or two. or his subss-
.quent military history 1t is not our business to
write.
= During the early part Of the 6pring the Fed
erals must have had 5000 troops On Edisto
Island, and at least 500 drums. Edingsvills
was their headquarters. From White Point We
could see the Federal Asg. Gunboats lay in
the inlet. Sometimes one, and sometimes hall
. dozen could be seen at one sight. These
would come mp % tbe Point and shell our pick
cts. Sometimes they would run up to King,