Year: 1863

give you some faint idea Of tne indigna-
tion the soldiers feel towards the Cop
perhcads. "Their treason ouly makes US
stand the frmer, and fight the BETTER"
they say; "for it shows US that we must
make haste and crush the rebels, and
thea come home and punish the Copper
heads. Let th.n wait till the war is
over" they say, "and then --''fnishing
the senten"" with expressive looks and
gestures. They keep a list of the Cop
rerhcads in their own States, and this is
well, for in few years from now, when
the old flag is floating from the Lakes to
the Gulf, we shall need some proof in
black and white of the treason Of those
/ who will then call Heaven to witness to
! their unwavering and devoted patriotism;
| but the stain Of their dishonor will cleave
to them from generation to gnneration


as even at this day it does to the tories
| Of the Revolution.


will give you one instance among the
hundreds | have known, of their pcrtdi-
Gus policy towards our soldiers One Of
| our Western soldiers. the ouly son Of a
loyal father, was i'll at Young's oint, land
! about the time | was there his cousin
came down to see him, and, when he was
able to bear the journey, to take him
home on furlough. lie soon began to
gain strength, his fever left him, he was
pronounced out of danger and we'll enough
to 90 hone by the next boat Soon after
his cousin came in bringing him letter,
which proved to be from his uncle, no,
torious Copperhead, and it was worthy
Of him. 1t began in the usual style, de.
ploripg the iniquity ofthi Abolition war,
lamenting that his nephew had taken any
part in it, and urging him that as he
was disgraced enough already by bis con-
nec'ion with it, he should instantly wash
his hands Of the whole thing and come
home, adding that his father agreed with
him entirely, and urged him to give up
and come home. at is iaIse,' said the
poor boy, starting up, "it is false, and he
knows it;' and he took another letter
from under is pillow. "IIere is one
from my father, written since that was,
though it came sooner, and sec what he
says: My son, | love you better than
anything on earth, but would rather
see you dead than that you should desert
your post at such time as this And
this is the way" said the poor fellow,
'this is the way we are to be treated BY
such traitors as my uncle, when we come
down here to fi ght and die for our coun-
try 1t was impossible to pacify him.
His fever returned, lie sunk rapidly, and
in a few hours was dead-kiIlcd by
Coppcrhead. This is no fiction. A doz.
cn Witnesses can prove it, and the letter
is still held in proper hands, to bear tes.
timony to the death Of that poor boy,
whose body came up the river, on its way
to his poor father, at the same time that
| did


And if brave men ever needed and de-
served our warmcst support, it is now.
The wounded and "dyiug are calling to
us for help from the victorious battle
fields, in u climate where disease and
death have these summer months for
carnival season, and the brave men who
have endured every hardship for so many
months that they might plant our flag on
the hills at Nicksburg, Will need our care
still. OF all who have filed soldiers
graves since the war commenced, the vast
proportion have died from sickness. At
Iouug's Point last winter We found 12.-
900 sick. At Helena there are 5000
soldiers graves e whom scarcely any
were wounded men.


And the one other thing we too often
forget-what those men are for whom
help is SO often asked Are they, as
home traitors would have US believe,
tired Of their country's service, di>con-
ten ed with the A administration, and so
sick of the war that they are ready for
peace on any terms? There may be few
such men in the army. To those of US
who know how our soldiers are tampered
with by these very home traitors, it woe
seem wonderful If there were not; but,
with such excepioGs, the slandcr is ut
terly and entirely false. We have an ar
my of brave and earnest patriots, and the
history of every battle abounds in facts
to prove it. And from among hundreds
of the touching stories l could tell you, |
will single just this one as an example,
and such examples are met with every
day in our hospitals. Soon after the
capture of one of the rebel forts 10 the
West. lady went into the hospital where
the wounded had been taken. She was
much attracte to two young men, lying
side by side, all splintcred and bandaged,
so that they could not move hand or foot,
but SO cheerful and happy looking that
she said, "Why, boys you look very
bright t,.day." "Oh, yes" they said,
"we have been moved this morning"
And she found that for six long weeks
they had lain in one position, and for
the first time that morning had been
moved to the other side of their cots
"And were you among those poor boys,'
she asked, "who were left lying where
you fell that bitter morning till you froze
fast to the ground?" eyes, ma am,'
they said, eve were lying there two