Evening journal., 1907-09-28
What | Know About
Delaware Politics and
Other Things
FIFTEENTH ARTICLE.
By Washington Hastings

I o0mmnndInr general
and dress-parade at the front" with the country
orng for II to do something the magnificent army moved
But not until the President his wonderful patience and
loipearahce exhausted bunty told General Mcclellan
So II said that he move his army in the di-
Iecuon OF the enemy forthwith or make for some
one ese' Ana So the Forward TO Richmond move
ment so long demanded by the Impatient people COM
meneeu strictly speaking however the movement was
oou'u Hoplh hooos Darn TO Rlchmondi for the route
taken down the Potomac river and the chesapeake
! Say to Fortress Monroe and thence by way the
Confederacy And General Mcclellan found Gen
eral Lee whom he had left in his front Fairfax.
i ne army oi Norlhern virginia right in front of hml
And shortly that war Of giants" the memorable seven
] days battle" on the peninsula, began.
Every day during It's progress the Northern news
paper regaled ther readers with "scare-head" ac-
counts Of the great victories" achieved by Union
Alny, ana the next Day with much less conspicuous
headlines announced the that army during
the night after each days battle continued
from day 10 day for the whole seven DAYS until IL was
! at last announced that the Union Army after seven
days OF terrific fighting in which had victorious
every ume had arrived at Harrisons landing the
James, and "safei"
About the only consolation the Northern people got
out OF that expedition "Ile who lights and runs
away shall live to fight another day"
After some weeks Of rest for recuperaupn. which
It was hastily recalled to the vicinity Washington;
and the country startled by the intelligence that
1eneIal Lee was threatening that city. The army
turned IL seemed In detachments divisions; and APP
parenty with considerable deberaon considering the
cNsehoies OF the situation The advance found General
Pope. who had been called West and placed
m command of the forces in the defence Capital
aiu pIeSaeu ana ms army IN great danger of defeat
by reason OF superior numbers OF the enemy AS a
matter Of fact after days Of bloody battle and
heroic ehort II was dsastrously defeated. II
charged at the time that the Army the Potomac and
particularly some of its general officers. not fight
unaer any commander but McClellan-whom both oni-
GERS ana men appeared to almost doize Whether this
was true or not not prepared say but whether
" "o' ne less sad about II at this late day the better
The effect OF all this the country was depressing
m the eNtremei but the important event. the de-
cided, though fruitlcss victory the Union arms at
Antietam-Mcclellan having resumed command Of the
revived Ia measure the spirits of the people
But the relief was only temporary Antietam produced
no results! II it was vctory-whch was questioned
m many quarters-it was barren What the
try wanted simply bloodshed and slaughter il
wanted something decisive; something that looked like
suppresang the rebellion" and re-untng the people
NO such result had yet been achieved sembance
OF one; and there but very little prospect of it so
lar as ordinary men could The future looked
and forbiddng; and the authority of
the government over the whole country appeared to
many TO be hopeless
Looking back to that dismal period our history and
remembering the resolution the Democratic Convention
OF 1862 declaring the be a failure which was
then regarded perhdious-in which opinion. Joined
men and still entertain-and recalling the apparent
hopeessness Of the Union cause at that time in the
more calm and quesoent light of today, / am some
What inclined TO think that under the circumstances
ana conditions prevailing, there may have been some
excuse for that cowardly resolution.
me SURFING events which were taking place almost
az our doors distracted the attention of the peope
OF this state from what going In West and
southwest although the magnitude of the military
operations there nearly II quite equal TO that
an the East We seemed to be content with the fact
that the south had not invaded Deaware though some
attachments had occasionally been inconvenienty close
70 us 1 suppose thought that the Confederate gen
erals had heard of the old Delaware Line" Of revou-
tonary days and had concluded that II would be better
TO give us wide BERTH may have thought that
ihey overlooked us in the general hubbub However
y may have been, seemed content TO Jog along
ana attend to our affairs best could in the cir
cumstances, not forgetting, meanwhile our poitical
affairs and duties which Delaware never forgets be II
known
And so it came about that in 1862 we had Governor
TO elect And we Republicans thought that we had
good chance to elect it had peen given out
that Democrat who suspected OF being dlsoval"
would be allowed TO vote We thought that a sufficient
number OF Democrats the business could be "sus-
pected all right we went in to win with good nros
poets Of success think that was "Od sussexs turn
TO have the nomination and William Cannon
Of Sussex County duly selected as our candidate
inc PLATFORM as remember, il l do remember it,
and f ! don't, somebody has told me- was a mixture Of
Repuhlcanism and Peoples Party" prnciples-what-
ever they may have been-the doctors" O the Re
publican party down below" at that time NOT daring
to give all of their patients unaduerated Repub
can medicine for fear they wouldn't take it,
Mr. Cannon duly elected and as he was the first
Republican who was ever elected that office in the
state he was known as the "war-governor" and think
he certainly was II there had never been a war
he would been elected Governor as the STATE
was undoubtedly Democratic, hide-bound and rock
ribbed at that time before so long as can remem,-
ber know of any does remember except once
or twice away back in Mr. Caytons pamy days when
II elected Whg governors
But still Notwithstanding the Importance Of Della
ware and Delaware affairs and her alleged complacency
and self sunicency when contemplating herself in the
political looking glass the war went on Battles or
what were called battles reported being fought
mere and there, and Victories nearly every day.
only TO be greatly modified outright the
aay Following; until the community seemed to have
seteu down INTO state of almost absolute apathy.
edeeing feature seemed be the business
CONDITIONS had improved wonderfully The Government
hao become large purchaser almost every
merchandise and manufacture and an shops and
factories were fully employed. with labor commanding
he mghest Kind OF wages. Everybody seemed 10 be
prosperous so far as material interests concerned
10 be sure, the cost Of living high but money had
become plentiful and that covered multitude Of sins
as usual; ana people did much mind the high
prices OF commodities. They were perhaps little
h0d bpfor hnort
mush went up to seventy-five yard and over
owing TO the scarcity of other articles OF
cioulhs m proportion but Notwithstanding all this
people seemed TO be. comparatively happy and would
have been so but FOR the terrible nightmare of the
seemingly, never ending
but one morning the papers contained news which
might be compared TO the fash a lighthouse and