Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1909-05-13

aaid,--
81 write TO express my unqualified an
pfosal Of your resolutions In reference IA
the unacoountable. u not disgracsfuI, &c
ton o. the powers that BE- In inviting the
so-callsd Col. Bennett Young to partici.
pate in the Lake Champlain tercentenary
celebrution. Had = similar invitation been
extended to regular Confederate soldier on
orhcer for any sufficient cause or reason. I
would not say q word in protest, but this
Mr. Young played the part OF a briRand.
pirate, q guerrilla in the st. Adams raid
at the expense of one or more lives. and a
quarter OF million OF property. II this
hl-considered and deplorable performance
IL to go on and Vermont is to have an ex-
hibition OF this brigand, why not resur-
rect Wirz, of AndersonviIle fame and
shame, and have him mummified and
take seat in the procession by be side of
Mr.. Young l feel that there is some
thing due to the patriotic sentiment OF
vermont, not only to the veteran soldiers
and their families, but to the people gen
orally who are no less patriotic, although
perhaps not quite so sensitive or apprecia-
tive as he old Notwithstanding other
and different and more in accord with
the real sentiment OF our people than this
] fANbOoSu OuANhkeOu5 performance
when a man of the undoubted import
ance OF ex-Gov. F. j. Ormsbee sets out
to publicly denounce a successor in the
high Office he himself has held and the
mayor and other responsible citizens OF
leading Vermont city as the authors OF an
outrageous performance he ought first
to be sure OF his facts.
=" He saws. it will be observed. Had
similar invitation been extended to a reg
ular Confederate soldier or officer for any
sufficient cause or reason, / would not saw
word in protest. but this Mr.. Young
played the part OF brigand, pirate,
guerrilla etc.
I'll Ex-Governor Ormsbee means exact
ly what he says, be owes it to Governor
ProutY aud Mayor Austin to publicly re-
call his letter to Roberts post and tender
his apologies, because Bennett n. Young
was Confederate soldier and officer aud
held the rank OF lieutenant in that service
when be led the st. Adams raid.
"Ihe Messenger has already printed
he text of the commission Bennett II.
Young had from the Confederate secre-
tary OF war and the letters OF instruction.
etc, from the secretary OF war and anoth-
er official. The fact was clearly estab-
lished long ago that the st. Adams raid
was part Of great ptan set afoot by the
Confederate government in its last des-
peratiou. that it was Or ganized and exc
cuted nv Confederates ac,ing under the
Official sanction and direction of their
government and that i was regarded by
them AS fair attempt ut retaliation for
similar injuries done 10 the South. II ex-
Governor Ormsbee will consult the OB-
cial Rebellion Records, he will have no
q in ri .
he wants to De more expeditions in arriv-
ing at the truth, he can quickly find all
its essential features laid down by James
Ford Rhodes, the most critical and su-
thoritative historian of the period.
"Rhndes says Young was a lieutenant
in the Confederate service, and acted in
the raid in obedience to the general line
o. instructions Of his government.
"Bennett II. Young is recognized by
the Confederate veterans themselves rs a
comrade and as one deserving high
honor, because they have made him presi-
dent Of the Confederate Home, and the
head OF their organization in the state OF
Kentucky, and when the late Gen. John
B. Gordon was commander-in-chief OF the
Confederate veterans, he appointed
Young member Of his personal staff.
"This invitation, then, fulfills the con-
dition named by Ex-Governor Ormsbee in
that it was extended to a regular Con-
federate soldier or officer, and he is,
therefore, in duty bound tc retract his
protest.
"But Ex-Governor Ormsbee says Young
was a brigand. a pirate, a guerilla Let
us examine that. The st. Albans raid
certainly was a deplorable affair. II
brought a taste OF the alarm and peril OF
actual warfare right home to us here at
the North after we had ourselves been
spreading desolation and ruin, havoc, pill
lage, slaughter. throughout the South. 1t
has been condemned as an act OF irregular
warfare by good authorities, but the
South sought to justify it as a measure of
retaliation. II must be recalled that the
raid took place in the last despairing
months OF the Confederacy when the des-
perate leaders of the Rebellion were ready
to resort to almost any means to bolster
up their tottering cause. The South was
the seat Of the war and it had suffered
long and fearfully. It was afiame with
the spirit OF sacrifice, women and men
alike, and no enterprise was too hazard
Gus, no undertaking too perilous, for the
martial spirit OF young and old, il only
there might be some chance that the for
Iorn hope might somehow infiict damage
upOu Tue udlcu oHcuNs
''Under these circumstances and in the
temper Of this memorable il melancholy
season, Young, a lad II years old, with
the gray boards and counsellors OF the
Coniederacy behind him, with the au-
thority of the government be had sworn
to defend and preserve behind him, I'M
dersook and executed what he believed
was a desperate act of retaliation upon
the foe that might mean simply that he
and his men were sacrificed and nothing
gained. 1t is not difficult now, after all
these forty-hve years have passed, to I'M
derstand how Young at his age might
have glowed with patriotic ardor at the
opportunity to signalize himself at such
great risk for the good, as he believed, OF
his country. We may say that the raid
was not a legitimate form of making war,
but the South was desperate and was
ready to turn to anything in order to
strike terror into the North that had.
after all, known nothing OF the real hor-
rors OF the war that was waged so far