The Rebellion Record Volume 1; A Diary of American Events, with Documents, Narratives Illustrative Incidents, Poetry, Etc (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. 1862 Excerpt: ...put yourselves into this position, if yon will dtlibI erately call down upon yourselves and your neighbors the curse of war, if yon will compel j tho Executive power of the nation to put in I motion among you the terrible machinery of the military service, remember when the blow I comes that yon have compelled it to descend upon you. Without your wrongful acts this j would not he. Your peaceful and prospective pursuits would go on as usual, and your connj try would be free from armed occupation, as it I was when you were loyal to the nation, as it is now wherever tho idea of secession has not cursed the country. There is one simple and easy remedy for this state of things, and that remedy is in your hands; it is a return to the old habits of trust, confidence, and affection for the Union, to the old peaceful times when every man was protected by the law, and loved the law for the blessings it conferred. Thus much of warning and advice to those who have been swept along with this tide of evil influence. The character of the resistance which has been made is in strict conformity with the source from which it originates. Cowardly assassins watch for opportunities of murder, and become heroes among their associated bands by slaughtering by stealth thoso whom openly they dare not meet. This system, unknown to civilized warfare, is the natural fruit that treason bears. The process of criminal courts administered in disaffected neighborhoods, will not cure this system of assassination, but the stern and imperative demand of military necessity, and the duty of self-protection, will furnish a sharp, decisive, and rapid remedy in the summary justice of a court-martial. Men who have forsworn themselves by treason will be ready to commit perjury again as the means of...