Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-10-20
10 SHELBY'S APPEAL.
THE DOCUMENT THAT BROUGHT
TIE BOYS FROM THE BRUSH
DURING THE CIVIL WAR.
A Relic Exhibited ut the Street
Fair by Dr.. Mark Crawford
They Rallied Around the Gal
liant Leader.

AoAs SSONSA
Among other rare relics on exhi-
bition at the Street Fair belonging to
Dr.. Mark Crawford, of this city, was
the following appeal from the late Ia
mented 10 Shelby, Missouri's great
| Confederate leader call to arms
in behalf of the "Lost Cause" It
was Issued in the cary '6os and is q clip
ping from some newspaper now nm
known, saved by the late DR..
Crawford, DR.. Marks father. The type
is large and occupies a double column
space, the heading being prominent.
The document will be read with in
terest by old ex-Confederates as.
well as Federal soldiers, hence 1t is
here reproduced:
FREEMEN OF MISSOURI
You stand to-day face to face with
one of those terrible issues which
comes but once in a lifetime. Hamil-
ton r. Gamble, false to his birthright,
his country and his God, in obedience
to orders from Washington, has re-
solved to draft you into service, and
force you to fight against blood,
kindred, home, friends, neighbors,
brothers. Will you do 1t? Can you
turn your back upon your country in
this her dark hour of peril and OF
grief, and see the mad waves of an
archy and despotism sweep away all
vestiges of society, family ties, sacred
fresldes, and everything that makes
life worth living? Missouri, her young
brow dark with silent agony, appeals
to you by all her ruined hearth stones,
all her murdered sons, all her insulted
daughters, all the bloody past-heavy
with the victims of hired Hessians and
pitiless Jayhawkers-to rise now, to
fly to arms, to grid on the sword, to
swell the grand, eternal chorus:
"Wave, Missouri, all thy banners wave,
And charge with all thy chivalry."
Through the providence of an AL
mighty and %all-seeing God, have
reached here to alleviate in some eas-
ure your great distress. I am duly
commissioned by the Confederate gov
eminent to recruit a cavalry regiment
for the war, and to make all arrange
ments necessary in connection with
my government as one of Its officials.
Too long you have bowed your head
IN quiet submission. Too long have
you remained silently watching the
red wing of revolution sweeping over
your State. Too long have you waited
for something to turn up, for the war
to cease, for foreign Intervention.
Those who would be free must strike
the first blow. We missed you at
Carthage, wa missed you at Spring
field, we missed you at Elk Horn, when
deaths gathering gloom was spread
ing its dark wings, and blood of your
blood and flesh of your flesh went
down on the sod, their backs to the
field, their feet to the foe. We missed
you in Mississippi, after Shiloh's
bloody sunset embers had faded from
the southern sky, and other regi-
msnts and other generals rushing on
again for another carnival Of death.
But come now! Come in twos, fours,
tens, twentiee. Comet in squads, COM
panies or singIy. Bring horses If you
have them guns, swords, pistols, blank
ets-but, above all, bring the firm,
nnalterable purpose IN your hearts
that come what may, you will light
again your patriotism at the altar OF
your bleeding country, and swear in
the broad,grand sunlight of your beau
tiful prairies, Missouri must and shall
be free! Delay is death-ruin dire and
dreadful. By all you hold dear in life,
by wife, by mother, by smiling babe,
by your hopes Of Heaven, help rs
now to drive back the invader. Our
banner is on the breeze, our feet are
on our native soil. Close up, COM
rades! Close up, Missourians! Land lie
ahead; day is breaking! One effort
more, n long pull, one strong pull,
one pull altogether, and the day is
ours. Already ! hear your response.
Already I see the gathering in. Soon,
very soon, will come q battle cry:
snow, gallants, for your lady's sake,
Upon them with the lancet"
One great aim with me will be to
give quietude and repose to the neigh
borhood around my headquarters. To
do so, all negroes or other suspicious
persons caught after sunset within OF
near my lines, will be dealt with in
the severest manner.
Union men too old for service in the
ranks, who make their age q pretext
for spying and newsbearing, must
cease all communications with Federal
commanders, or suffer the just pun
ishment OF an outraged and violated
country. 10 o. SHELBY,
Colonel Confederate States Army.
Democracy.
E. W. Stephens in Columbia Herald.
The Democratic party stands now,
as 1t always has, for justice and lib
arxy ooororv opd conrorvotinr, II