The Rebellion Record a Diary of American Events (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1866 Excerpt: ...A studied system of deception was practised as long as possible on the people. For a time it was denied that they were Federal camps, and it was said that they were merely voluntary assemblages of Kentuckians for their own protection and that of the State. These monstrous falsehoods have since been freely exposed. This was the second violation. Previous to theso events the State was in a condition of tranquillity and peace. No indications existed anywhere of internal disorder. But now the people, becoming alarmed at these proofs of a pnrpose to force Kentucky into the war, began to assemble in great mass meetings and to demand loudly the promised neutrality. The Washington Government, however, and its abettors in Kentucky, supposing their schemes to be ripe for execution, now resolved to have what they called "active loyalty." About this time the Legislature met, and the drama then moved rapidly on. The camps were avowed to be Federal camps. The guns which had been clandestinely and illegally introduced, now called out to maintain " active loyalty." Federal officers began to swarm among us. Every appliance of corruption, every allurement of ambition, was brought into play. Presently a Federal army was in possession of large portions of the State, and the conspir acy stood fully revealed, while the people, whose only error had been their generous credulity, stood thoroughly betrayed. It is known to citizens of Louisville, of all parties, that just before that meeting of the Legislature a member of the Washington Cabinet said to a prominent citizen of Kentucky that the position of the State should not be maintained, that the Government preferred hostility to neutrality, and that Kentucky must be compelled to support the Federal Government ...