Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-08-15
CIVIL WAR
Fifty YEARS AGO TODAY
June g. 86-Stephen A. Douglas, Leader of the Northern
Democrats Died in Chicago-Hs Death Serious Loss to
the UniOn-The End of Great Career

planned to make speech, that should
make certain the part of Illinois in the
war.
Douglas himself thrilled with his
message as he gave it; perspiration
streamed down his face and the veins
of his neck and forehead were swol.
len. His clear, resonant voice seemed
almost to shake the building.
When that voice broke with the regret
he felt at the coming war, men wept
When. in the midst of his most passion
ate period, a man rushed into the hall
bearing the stars and stripes, the au-
dience, the Legislators in their seats and
those who packed the galleries, grew
hysterical with the madness of patriot
ism.
THE only question for u.s." Douglas
declared, sis whether we shall wait SUI
pinely for the invaders or rush as one
man for the defense of that we hold
most dear.
When hostile armies are marching
under new and odious banners againsr
the government of our country the
shortest way to peace is the most stu
pendous and unanimous preparation for
war;"
| o. himself he said: Whatever err
rors 1 have committed have been In
leaning too far to the southern section
of the union against my own i
have never pandered to the prejudice
and passion of my section against the
minority section of the union" Because
that was true, his words now were
heard and listened to, not in Illinois
only, but throughout the north.
A GREAT CAREER CLOSED.
One more triumph, one more task,
| still awaited him. On the evening Of
his arrival in Chicago he was escorted
| to the Wigwam, the great hall where
a year before Lincoln had been NOM
mated for the presidency, and here be-
fore an audience that numbered men OF
all parties he made his last great
speech.
IF war must come" he said, If the
bayonet must be used to maintain the
lconstitution, / say before God my con-
science is clear. have struggled long
for a peaceful solution Of the difficulty
L have not only rendered these states
what was theirs of right, but have
gone to the very extreme of magnanim-
ity.
"The return we receive Is war :.
Armies have been raised, war Is levied
There are only two sides to the
question Every man must be for the
United States or against it. There can
be no neutrals in this war; only pa
triots or traitors"
IL months, with their succession of
strains, had racked and broken his con-
stitution, when he should have been In
his prince he was As. Business troubles
came also to harass him, and he fell Ill.
| For weeks he lay on a sick bed, while
physicians sought vainly to find rem
edy.
| Ever the thought of the union re-
manned uppermost in his mind, and even
LII -
Struggling with the fever, he was at
the head of a great army. Telegraph
to the president he cried, land let the
column move on"
| On the morning of June 8 he seemed
for a moment to rally, and his wife
leaned over him to ask If he had any
message to send his boys. With labored
breathing, yet clearly. and with 9. touch
of the old force, he answered, Tell them
to obey the laws and support the con-
stftution of the United States"
THE "PHILIPPI RACES"
Fifty years ago today a federal force
part of General McClellan's command,
comprising 40 infantry companies with
couple of field pieces, won victory
over about 500 Confederates at Philippi,
in western Virginia.
The Confederate force under Colonel
George A. Porterneld mad retreateQ 10
that point from Grafton before the fed.
eral advance from Ohio, leaving McClel-
lans troops in command of the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad.
From Grafton Gen. T. A. Morris, of
the Indiana volunteers, had sent for
ward two columns, which, making a
night march, same together about a. m.
at Philippi in the middle of a pouring
storm, and finding no scouts or pickets
completely surprised the enemy, driving
them back on Beverly.
One man of the federal troops was
wounded, Col. B. F. Kelley. of the First
Virginia (Wheeling> regiment the COM
mander of the expedition. The number
of the Confederate killed and wounded
was variously estimated, but was prob
ably very slight.
| This first union victory of the war
was greatly exaggerated by the reports,
and the 'Philippi races'-a' jocose REF
erence to the way the Confederates ran
won much fame for General Mcclellan
and served greatly to encourage the un-
ionists of western Virginia.
Copyright, .1911, by Associated Literary
Press.)