The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1956-05-31
Freedom, Of The Press

Born July 20, 1920, in New Lisbon,
Columbiana County, son Of Clement
Vallandigham, country Presbyterian
preacher, Clement Vallandigham
knew the alphabet before he was two
and was ready for college before he
was old enough to enter. He was
graduated from jefferson College,
Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, prac-
ticed law at New Lisbon and in 1845
was elected to the legislature-its
youngest member and leader of the
Democratic party in the House. In
1847 he moved to Dayton and became
part owner and editor of The West
ern Empire, but still he practiced law
Among the things Vallandigham's
newspaper stood for were Support
of the Constitution in its whole in
tegrity; protection and defense of the
Union; the doctrines of strict con-
struction and of state rights; free
trade and fixed tenure to every Of
flee under the Federal Government"
These he advocated in his salutatory
address to the people.
Vallandigham opposed the Civil
War because he believed that it was
impossible to conquer the South and
never hesitated to say so in and out
of his newspaper. His denunciation of
the war and the draft then impend-
ing Stirred up the people with vio-
lent talk and particularly excited
them over alleged efforts on the part
of the military authorities to inter-
fere with freedom of speech and the
press, which he conjured them to de-
fend under any circumstances and at
all hazards" as Whitelaw Reid ex-
pressed it.
Then on April 13, 1863, Gen Burn
side, who just had been put in COM
mand of the military department of
the Ohio, from his headquarters at
Cincinnati issued his famous General
Order No. 3S", constituting Vallandig-
hams expressed views as reasonable
and providing for trial as traitors
and spies with death penalty for any
who expressed such views.
Vallandigham was angered at the
order and defied it, asserting his con-
stitutional rights to discuss the policy
of the administration in the conduct
of the war and on Saturday, May 10,
that year, denounced the order be-
fore a large audience at Mount Vern-
on. On the next Monday he was arrest
ed by night by military company
sent by special train to Dayton to ar
rest him.
After Vallandigham's arrest and
removal to Cincinnati there was wild
excitement in Dayton. The streets
milled with his friends and adherents
and that night the Republican news
paper was burned by mob. An
"ample military force" was sent from
Cincinnati, martial law declared and
the disturbance was quelled.
+ Tried at court martial presided
over by Gen. R. B. Potter, Vallan-
digham was found guilty of some of
the charges and was sentenced to i'm
prisonment at Ft. Warren, in Boston
harbor, for the duration of the war.
President Lincoln changed this to
banishment to the Confederate lands
and stipulated that should Vallan-
digham return the original sentence
was to be carried out. After appeals
and writs, all of which were denied,
and against the bitter denunciation
of the Democratic party, Vallandig
ham was taken under guard to with
in the Confederate lines.
1t was two o'clock in the morning
when he climbed into a spring wagon |
and escorted by the rank and file of |
two companies of Yankee cavalry, |
started for Dixie. The escort included |
colonel, lieutenant colonel, major,
two captains and a lieutenant. The |
other lieutenant was in charge of the |
cavalry, another spring wagon behind
the procession carried the prisoners |
trunk and baggage. 1t was preten-