The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-10-13
HOW THE ARMY OAMPAIGNED.
Colonel watrous Tells Of an Election
Over Thirty Years Ago.

Over Thirty Years Ago.
I have been thinking of that presidential
campaign In the army when Abraham
Lincoln and George b. Mcclellan were the
candidates.
There were no political speeches. They
were prohibited. But PROFESSIONS were
frequent and always accompanied by fire.
works. The starting Of "a procession was
tho signal for volleys of shotted guns, can
non and muskets on the part of q certain
class OF tho onlookers, and In most In
stances the marchers managed TO get into
trouble serious enough TO make domand
for great nu crs Of new made graves.
Twenty thousand sturdy enthusiastic
young supporters of Lincoln joined In n
parade few days before election. The
procession formed before daylight and was
moving along nicely when the October sun
smiled upon their waving flags blue ranks
and FURNISHED rifles. Some unsympathetic
fellows-and careless withal-saw the Lin
coin procession and began 20 throw great
chunks Of iron into 1t, some Of which
broke into many small chunks with re-
ports loud enough to interfere with tho
Quiet discussion OF the marchers The in
hospitable conduct Of the opposition con-
tinued until the line was out Of reach, on
from Petersburg, town in which the Lin
coin men very much desired to have one Of
their parades before tho 1864 campaign
was over. Did those iron casters go back
TO their tents and spend the rest Of the day
behaving themselves Not they.
One man. a ringleader among them, who
for three years had been active In making
the Lincoln people unhappy seemed to
have made up his mind whittier that pro-
cession In blue was bound; so he called
about him some other noted mischief
makers, including Johnny Gordon, Billy
Malone, the Hill boys-D. III. and A. P
and told them TO assemble lot Of their
daredevils, fill their pockets with leaden
balls and hustle them out to Hatcher's
Run, and TO be sure To get there ahead OF
that man Meade and his c4ums, among
whom were Warren, Humphrey, Miles,
GifJbon, Crawford, Bragg and lot of the
other boys Bobby Lee, the leader of the
gang, went along TO sec that the business
was we'll done. Well, when Meade and his
procession drew near to the run he was sa-
luted with rapid discharges of numerous
heavy guns advantageously located, and
as he didn't command a halt the head man
of the other side sent word to his boys to
turn loose a shower OF 10, 900 musket balls
into the faces of the parading Lincolnites.
1t was done and repeated a good many
times. Lincoln's supporters went down by
the hundreds When the procession march
ed back to the Yellow House and vicinity
the next day, 1t left nearly 1000 OF Its
number to rest until the trumpet shall
sound for the final rally.
The election occurred two weeks later.
1t was an event of deep interest.
All of the soldiers, from Grant to the
man on. the lonely picket post, were given
"a chance TO vote. There were election
clerks, the same as in civil life Needed
blanks and tickets had been furnished.
Usually the ballots were dropped into a
hard tack box prepared by the quartermas-
ter. Each regiment or battery constituted
a precinct. Early in the afternoon men
who had voted were detailed to relieve all
on picket and other duty, so that they
could exercise the right of franchise. Al
most no men neglected TO vote, and nearly
allsof them gave their votes to Lincoln,
who stood on platform pledged to a Wig
orous prosecution of the war. Such a
prosecution of the war in which they had
served for three years meant more to those
blue coated voters than any other class of
voters on that November day nearly 32
years ago But they voted their convio-
rions; voted to stay away from home; vot-
ed for more chances to give their lives that
the Gag might float and the government
stand; voted for more battles, for more
sacrifices, to raise the rivers of blood still
higher; for new rivers Of tears.
Why did they vote that wayf
Because they who had borne the brunt
of the mighty shock of three years of aw-
full struggle did not believe "the war for
the Union was failure"
Because they were not ready for peace at
any price.
Because they were confident that the
election Of Lincoln meant sooner or later
an honorable peace, the rescue OF an en-
dangered government, "a saved republic.
Who dares to say they were not right,
then?-J. A. Watrous in Chicago Times.
Herald