156. CLVI.
A CONVENTION OF SUFFERERS.
Post Offis, Confedrit × Roads }
(wich is in the Stait uv Kentucky),
January 8, 1868.
[1]
Noticin that Vallandygum hed called a convenshun uv those
who hed suffered imprisonment for holdin the opinion, doorin
the war, that the South wuz rite in secedin, and for doin wat
they cood to further the rite, to review their sufferins, I, uv
course, expectid to be invitid to attend. Ez no invitashun
came, I resolved to spare em the stigma uv havin gone back
onto a fellow-sufferer, and, hencely, I wrote the followin letter,
wich I shel hev publisht in all the noosepapers. I feel it a
dooty to call the attenshun uv the party to my sufferins jest
now, it bein jist afore a new deal takes place: —
To C. L. Vallandygum, Edson B. Olds, and others, Committee:
Your movin note uv the 13th inst., invitin me to be present
at a meetin uv those wich hed suffered for conshence sake
doorin the late croosade, and to mingle my teers with them, is
receeved. Ez I reseeved yoor note and red it, my sufferins
come back to my mind so vividly that the fountains uv the grate
deep wuz onseeled, and I wept scaldin teers. I wept ez I thot
how I suffered, how I hed wasted in Basteels the time I so
much needed in furtherin the grate coz in wich we wuz all
engaged; when I thot how, for three long weeks, I wasted
away, pinin for the free air outside uv my prison walls; how,
for all that time, I wuz exposed to the horror uv seein around
me feends in human form, clad in the bloo I alluz detested;
how I wuz compelled to listen, perpetooally, to sich songs ez:
“We'll rally round the flag, boys,
We'll rally wunst agin,
Shoutin the battle cry uv Freedom!”
And that other detestable air, wich I never hear without a
thrill uv horror —
“John Brown's body lies a moldin in the grave,
But his sole is a marchin on.”
Wich it is. And also how for three long weeks I wuz compelled
to live — no, not live, but eggist — with not a drop uv
anything stronger or more revivifyin than coffee; endoorin the
namelis horrors wich follers the sudden takin away uv that on
wich we live, and wich our moral, ez well ez physikil, nachers
depend. But out uv regard to my feelins, I close these harrowin
reflecshens. Shood I dwell onto em, I shood be entirely
onmanned. When I think of them three weeks without whiskey,
reason totters onto her throne, and I wonder that I am still
alive. Trooly I am a spared monument.
It wood not be out uv place in this conneckshun for me to
dwell for a moment upon the sacrificis I hev made and the
torters to wich I hev bin subjectid. I hev suffered probably
more than any uv the glorious company uv martyrs, for righteousnis'
sake. My first taste uv Fedral tyranny wuz in 1862.
Well do I remember the day. A draft wuz impendin. The
tyrannical Linkin, revelin in the gorgus halls uv despotic
power at Washington, hed isshood his oppressive decree for
“three hundred thousand more.” I went, confidently, to the
eggsaminer's offis for my eggsempshen, but in the face uv the
most positive ashoorence on my part that I hed bronkeetis and
liver complaint at that time, and hed hed at different times uv
my life delirum tremens, I wuz laft to scorn, and pernounst ez
sound ez a brick. I determined not to imbrue my hands in the
blood uv my brethren uv the South. I shuddered at two ijees.
First, at being punctured myself, and, second, at puncturin any
uv my friends uv the Confederacy. Therefore, I made my
way ez best I mite to that refuge from the persekutor,
Canady. Need I dilate onto the terrors uv that passage?
Need I state how I walked from my then place uv residence
to Detroit, and how I swam across the river at that pint on a
log, and how, when on strikin the sacred soil, I struck a tabloo
and shook my fist at the stars and stripes, wich I saw wavin on
the tother side? No. For all uv yoo hev done it, ef not in
Canady, somewhere else. The draft wuz over, and I returned,
supposin it wuz all rite. Skarcely hed I reached my humble
home, when I wuz arrestid, and dragged to a military camp.
I hed bin drawd, and I wuz taken ez a deserter. I did not serve
tho. Ruther than to carry a Fedral muskit, I desertid in
ernist, and wat military life I did see, I saw in the Confedrit
ranks. But that wuz short. The Kernel uv my regiment
appreciatin my style, ordered me to be discharged, on the
skore that I cood do the Confedrisy more good operatin with
the Dimocrisy uv the North than I cood carryin muskits in the
ranks uv her brave defenders. He wuz pleased to say that I
wuzn't worth a d—n ez a soljer, anyhow!
My second inkarserashen wuz uv a more tryin nacher. I
hed bin called to organize and drill a county wich hed determined
they never wood, under eny cirkumstances, submit to
be dragged to fight in a coz wich they didn't beleeve in.
They hed resolved in their meetins to die in their own door
yards a thousand times each, ruther than submit to the drafts
wich wuz impendin too often, or to the onconstitooshnel taxes
wich the Government wuz a levyin. We wuz in camp, 900
strong, when a company uv soljers wuz sent agin us. Wun by
wun the defenders uv their rites bethot themselves uv biznis
wich they had at home. Wun's wife wuz momentarily expected
to be confined, another hed forgotten to feed his cattle, and
a third's oldest son wuz to be marrid that nite. Eggsortin uv
us to fite bravely for our rites, and die rite there before submittin,
they left, fust wun at a time, then five in a squad, then
ten, then a hundred, ontil all wuz gone but me and nineteen
others. I wuz restrained by pride; the nineteen others
cooden't git away, owin to a barl uv new whiskey wich hed
bin rolled onto the ground, and wich they hed monopolized
atween em with the only tin cup we hed in the camp. They
were, ez a reward for their heroism and the sufferins that
ensood, all elected to offis that fall.
I wuz treated with frightful severity. I wuz kept on the
ordinary rashens uv a private soljer, and wuz compelled, afore
bein released, to take the oath uv allegiance to the Federal
Government.
And wot hev I got for it? Good Lord, I shudder when I
think uv the ongratefulnis uv man! The party for wich I suffered
all this never so much ez gave me a thing. I wuz never
made the recipient uv nothin ontil a reformed Ablishnist wuz
made President, who hed to hev a party, and who hed to take
only sich ez wuz for sale. But for this fortunate circumstance
I mite now be forst to beg my bread. I spare yoo more
detales. Suffice it to say, I approve uv the meetin. It won't
do me ez much good ez it will yoo; yoor sores ain't heeled; yoo
hev bin smart enuff to keep a irritatin uv em. Yoo hev kept
a proddin uv em with rusty nales, and tearin uv em open with
yoor fingers, afore aujences and in the noosepapers, ontil they
hev reely come to be a stench in the nostrils. Let us unwrap
em agin. Let the cold wind uv ingratitood blow onto em ontil
they get so inflamed that they will attract attenshen. Let
Vallandigum onwind his bandages and show the hole the envious
Burnside made. Yoo, Olds, repeet the piteous tale uv
how yoo wuz deprived uv yoor Bible ontil yoo hed well nigh
forgotten Ham, Hager, and Onesimus, and that even waste
paper wuz denied yoo. Yoo, Milligen and Bowles, repeet agin
the story uv yoor captivity and release, and see to it that yoo
get yoor hair dyed white, and that yoo come into the Convenshun
leanin onto a cane, or, if possible, onto the shoulders uv
two young men who wuzn't imprisoned. I probably shan't
be there myself, for I want nothin. I am pervided for. But
ez a man who suffered even ez yoo did, and for the same
coz, my sympathies are with you.
Petroleum V. Nasby, P. M.
(wich is Postmaster).
