Year: 1864

judices, ike theirs, were against it
and like them, I had rather it would
not be, if we could get along as well
without it; and yet / am free to saw.
that my Judgment is not as much in NV
way as my prejudices in this matter:
for there is no good reason why ne
gro, any more than white man. should
be exempted from fighting for the gov
ernment under which he is to be free
But our preiudices whisper in our ears.
that it places them on an equality with
the white man, to put upon them the
soldiers uniform, and place them in the
ranks Of the army; that the flag of our
country is polluted by the touch of
their degraded hands and that we are
dishOnored by their enlistment; that
this Is the white mans war, with our
southern brethren, and we should
not allow the negro TO fight them.
Well, l have thought over all this: have
trOddcn my prejudices under my feet.
and asked myself whether the poor
men-the masses of the coUntry-who
fill the ranks of our army, and fight
the battles of the nation, should stand
a double or treble draft, and leave their
wives and children, or fathers and
mothers, perhaps never to return again:
or that fair proportion of the able
bodied blacks of the country shOUld be
called upon to do their part of the
fighting in this war for the existence Of
the Government And l am frank to
tell you that l think the negro should
do his share.


don't like to fight much by the side
Of a negro; my prejudices are in the
way; in fact, they have been at
war with my judgment from the begin
ming of the rebellion till the present
moment But if necessary to save the
government, | would without hesitation,
take command of division of negroes,
and do the best fighting ! could in the
holy cause Of my country. If at the
battle Of Perryville, about 4 o'clock P.
NJ, or at the battle Of Stone River, at
two o clock in the day, when the army
was at loose ends, and victory hung up
on a mere chance there had been ten
thousand United States black soldiers
near / would have said with alacrity.
'go in, Cuffee," and would cheerfully
have gone in with them; and whilst
victory perched upon'tlfeir standard, /
should have never thought the old flag
degraded in their hands; nor would
any honest man. General Jackson
considered rather Southern man-born
in South Carolina-fought with them,
against the British, at New Orleans
they behaved well, and he thanked
them for it, calling them his "colored
fellOw-citizens.' And neither he nor
they felt themselves degraded by fight
ing with or against these blacks All
agree that the negro may dig bitches,
and build Notifications for white men
to fight in; that he may cook them
food; that he may "tote' ammunition
for the artillerists, and even thrust it
into the mouth Of the cannon, and the
like, for the purpose of defeating the enc
my; yet we cannot bear that he should
pull a trigger For myself / see. no
difference in these several methods Of
engaging in these war-like operations;
and if you Will but press the white man
hard enough, he will be glad of the
aid of the negro, or "any other man.
The rebels had used him as a soldier
long since, could they have trusted
him. They will use him yet,
in that capacity, if they can. Already
he has served them in every other way.
The idea that We should fight the
rebels with white men only that we may
not shock their nice sensibilities, by
pitting the negro against them, is high
ly ridiculous. They are not so fastidi-
Gus, but employ blOOdhOunds to chase
down Union men; and savage Indians
to fight, tOmahawk and scalp our sol
diers They have cruelty thrust this
war upon US, and have no right to say
who shall fight them and the more
they don't like il the more ] do
(Laughter.) But l think the negro
may, and will be well used IN garrison
ing Notifications and railroads, thereby
permitting white men to 90 to the front
IF the secessiOnists don want to fight
niggers; if it is not to their taste; let
them lay down their arms and act like
honest men.


This question has given to the Ken
lucky secessionist little capital, and
he has used it with alacrity He has
appealed to the prejudices Of many
loyal men, exciting them against the
government, and snorting himself into
q great rage over it. But it will do no
harm; Kentucky is loyal az she is gal
liant and brave; and she will not aban.
don the government in its struggle for
existence. The slaves Of loyal men en-
listed will be paid for; disloyal men
should have nothing for their negroes.
The constitutional right to convert
slaves, as private property, to the pub
lie use, Is clear; for there is nothing so
holy about slavery, as to differ it from
other property. All this clamor in Ken
lucky, l venture to say, has been raised
by those who viii neither fight them
selves, for our government, nor allow
others TO do it, if they can prevent II.
As / before said, q great many truly
lOy al people Of Kentucky doubtless Op-
pose il; but the secessiOnists alone
would resist it by force and when you
come to draft even them, and send them
forth to fight, they will cry out, ",raH't
you please take somebody's niger in
my place


lam sure the best thing for the citi-
zen in Tennessee and Kentucky, IS to
put his negro into the army when he
can it is the best disposition he viii
ever make Of him Most Of the Ten
nesseans ! have talked 10, agree with
me in this, and especially the secession f
lists; for though Tennessee Is slave
State, you all know that slavery il yir-
tually dead in it, and will never be
valuable again.
THE WAR WAS THRUST CPON Us.


As / have told you before. The trait
ors seized all the public property they
could on slave soil; our forts, arsenals, I
mints, and arms were seized, and the
River, the great national
was closed against all but the
seeding States, unless they submitted
TO the-payment Of toll, and tho right Of
search. The traitors established a Gus
tom house on Neames landing on the
and forced our boats
at that port, 70 pay toll; and sent
their officers of the customs into the
statsroOms Of our wives and daughters,
TO see that the impost laws Of the bogus
were not evaded Our
boats were forced 10 land, and submit
to this indignity on our own river. IL was /
ours, as much as it was theirs. The /
great Northwest, including Kentucky, 4
could not well live without it its nayi-


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