Staunton Spectator April 1861 Newspaper Transcriptions

The Spectator, April 2, 1861, p. 1, c. 6

Having steadfastly adhered to the doctrine that civil war, or danger of constant collision between the Border, Free and Slave States, could only be averted by a peaceful settlement in the Union of our present troubles, and that it was really the interest of the Border Slave States to maintain their present relations with the Free States on our border, and with the whole Union if possible, we have deduced therefrom a difference between our condition and that of the Gulf States. Nothing that has occurred, therefore, has served to change or even shake the conviction, that we have interests in the Union that are paramount--interests that the Cotton States have not; and that therefore we should not rashly imperil them through any fancied identity of interest with the States that have left us for weal or for woe, to work out our own destiny as best we may. We have maintained that it is neither our interest to go with them, nor really essential to our interest that we should. We are glad, therefore, to find so respectable a journal in one of the seceded States, as the Milledgeville (Geo.) Recorder, supporting the views we have advocated. In the issue of that journal of the 12th inst., we find the case thus strongly stated, as follows: "If the line of the Southern Confederacy touched that of the Free States, there being to law or treaty for the rendition of fugitives from labor between foreign Powers, the mischief would be such, practically, that a collision of arms would be unavoidable, unless the Slave States receded altogether from the claims on which they insisted while in the Union, of having their property returned to them under the plain behest of the Constitution and the acts of Congress to carry it into effect. In the simple matter of convenience and expediency, therefore, we believe that the Border States will be of more advantage in their present position to the Southern Confederacy, a wall of defence against Northern aggression, than if they were to become members of it, with all their frontier exposed to fanatical hatred and pillage. We should then have to try an experiment which otherwise we might be under the necessity of making with the Free States, and which no amount of wisdom or valor may contemplate with indifference. If slaves from the Border States are stolen or enticed away by the abolitionists, the game would become vastly interesting in the absence of any stipulations recognizing slaves as property, which we have reason to believe could never be obtained. Outrage would follow outrage in rapid succession, and on a scale of such magnitude that war would be the only mode of redress."

Ought not this candid avowal, from a source entitled to credit, induce the people of the Border Slave States to make every effort compatible with their honor (and we would not have them do more) to avert the catastrophe, before they rush into the vortex of secession? This word, with us, has a deeper signification than it can have in the Gulf States. We trust our people will do nothing rashly.

The Spectator, April 2, 1861, p. 2, c. 2

On the 31st of January last, the Auditor of public Accounts reported that the present rate of taxation, which is forty cents on the hundred dollars' value of property, would yield a surplus of $225,884.57 per annum, which, if applied to the temporary debt created for the defence of the State, would, in less than five years, discharge it. This estimate of that officer was made upon the supposition that the annual increase in the value of property, as a basis and subject of taxation, would, during that period, equal the temporary decrease caused by our national difficulties. But the agitation of the question of secession, and the uncertainty in which the fate of the State has been and is still kept, has had the effect to decrease the value of property, and to increase the expenses of the State to such an extent, that the same officer reported on the 22nd of March that the rate of taxation should be increased the present year to a sum at least equal to sixty cents on every hundred dollars' value of property, and on every subject in the same proportion. This is an increase of fifty per cent. in our taxation. The people may well "groan, groan, GROAN," when they reflect that their taxes are to be increased fifty per cent., whilst their ability to pay has been diminished to an even greater degree. They will not have as much money to pay with, and will have fifty per cent. more to pay. When the people estimate what they have lost by the depreciation in the value of their property, and by the increase of their taxes, they will be able to form some idea of the cost to them of the agitation of the question of secession. They will then begin to realize the truth of what we have frequently told them--that secession, yea, even the contemplation of it, implies increased taxation. If the mere dim prospect and distant probability of secession, which at present exists, causes an increase of fifty per cent. in taxation, what would be the increase of taxation if the hopes of the secessionists should be realized?--"Worm-wood and gall" are sweet when compared with the bitterness of the fruits of secession.

The Spectator, April 16, 1861, p. 2, c. 2

At a meeting of the Commissioned Officers of the several Volunteer Companies of Augusta County, held at the Clerk's Office of the Hustings Court of the Town of Staunton, on the 18th of April, 1861, Col. Wm. D. Anderson, Colonel of 160th Regiment, being in the Chair, the following resolution was offered and adopted by a vote by companies:

RESOLVED, That we, Commissioned Officers in the following Volunteer Companies in the county of Augusta; to wit:

The West Augusta Guard,
The Union Greys,
The Augusta Greys,
The Southern Guard,
The Augusta Rifles,
The Valley Rangers,
The Staunton Artillery,

On motion, James Bumbgardner, jr., was appointed Secretary.

The meeting then proceeded to the election of Field Officers, which resulted as follows: For Colonel, Capt. Wm. S. H. Baylor; for Lieut. Colonel, Capt. Absolom Coiner; for 1st. Major, Capt. F. f. Sterrett; for 2d Major, Col. Rudloph Turk.

The following resolutions were then offered and adopted:

RESOLVED, That the County Court of this county, at its next (April) term, be earnestly requested to make such appriation to this Regiment, and the Companies that may hereafter unite with it as may seem to it proper and liberal.

RESOLVED, That Thos. J. Michie, Col. John B. Baldwin, Hugh W. Sheffey and Gen. Wm. H. Harman be requested to present the claims of the Regiment to the said Court and urge upon it the necessity of such an appropriation.

RESOLVED, That the Volunteer Companies of this county not here represented be respectfully solicited to unite with this Regiment.

RESOLVED, That a Committee, be appointed, consisting of the Field Officers and the Commandants of the companies comprising this Regiment and the companies intending to join it, whose duty it shall be to prepare By-Laws for the government of this Regiment; said Committee to be called together by the Colonel.

RESOLVED, That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the Staunton papers.

On motion the meeting adjourned.

J. BUMGARDNER, Jr., Sec'y.

The Spectator, April 23, 1861, p. 2, c. 1

We feel proud of "Old Augusta"--her noble conduct challenges the admiration of all brave and patriotic citizens. She contains sons as patriotic as ever sacrificed their lives and fortunes for liberty, and as brave soldiers as were ever commanded by Caesar or Napoleon. Her citizens are the sons of brave and patriotic sires, and they have not degenerated. They are ready at all times to respond with alacrity to the call to arms, and are animated with a firm and determined spirit to strike till the last armed foe expires. When their State calls they hesitate not to strike

For their altars and their fires,
The green graves of their sires,
God and their native land.

The same patriotic fires which glowed in the bosoms of their noble ancestors, in 1776, burns brightly now upon the altars of the hearts of the brave and chivalric sons of Augusta. This county, we have no doubt, will send more soldiers to the field than any county in the State, though Rockingham and Rockbridge will nobly do their duty. These three adjoining Union counties, we venture to predict, will furnish more soldiers than any other three adjoining counties in the State. We feel convinced that all three of these strong Union counties will do their whole duty. We are sure that the brave and patriotic Union men of these counties will forgive those who, in ignorance of their true characters, charged them with being "submissionists" and "sympathisers with Black Republicanism," and hope that those who did so will have the candor and manliness to acknowledge that they wronged as brave and loyal citizens as ever breathed the air of freedom. Let all feelings of alienation and party spirit be buried, and all stand together in harmony and friendship as a band of affectionate brothers.--"United we stand, divided we fall." In "Union there is strength," in division there is weakness. Let all stand together. We are still for Union--a Union of brave and patriotic men for the defence of our State.

The Spectator, April 23, 1861, p. 2, c. 4

The Town Council on Wednesday, the 17th inst., made an appropriation of $3,000 for the purchase of 100 fire-arms, equipments and ammunition, for the use of the "Home Guard" in Staunton, and $500, to be applied to the wants of the families of the soldiers who have been or will be called into service, and appointed a police of ten for each night till the May Court.

The Spectator, April 30, 1861, p. 1, c. 5

RICHMOND, April 19th, 1861.

MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of yesterday has been received. Before this you will have learned through the Press all that has occurred at Norfolk and at this place; but I cannot begin to give you a just conception of the excitement created; not only here, but throughout the whole Southern country, by the proclamation of the 15th, which, in many respects, may be regarded as the most unfortunate document that has ever issued from the Government. In the absence of that paper, this State could never have been carried out of the Union; with it, the Union party, and the Union feeling, has been almost entirely swept out of existence. You cannot meet with one man in a thousand who is not inflamed with a passion for war, and every one seems to regard the proclamation as a declaration of war for the subjugation of the entire South, and for the extermination of slavery; reason (with them on this point) would as soon arrest the motion of the Atlantic, as it would check the current of their passions.

When I saw you in Washington, some ten days since, I had the honor to lay before you and other members of the Cabinet, as well as before Mr. Lincoln himself, a plan for the settlement of our troubles, through the medium of a National Convention, to give to the seceded States leave to withdraw. I thought then, as I do now, that the plan then suggested was the only solution of the dreadful crisis which was upon us. Since that time, matters have assumed a far more frightful aspect, and I now venture to make one more effort to save the unnecessary effusion of brothers' blood; and, in the name of liberty, humanity, and Christianity, I implore you to give it your earnest and solemn deliberation.

I need hardly say that no man in this nation has held in higher appreciation the value of our blessed Union. No man has labored more freely for its loss than mine; no man can mourn more sorrowfully for its overthrow than I will. No man can condemn more severely the immediate causes that have so unnecessarily led us into this awful and terrible catastrophe than I do. Yet for the first time, after an entire night of sleepless reflection, when I prayed as I never prayed before for wisdom and strength to do my duty, my mind has been brought to the conclusion that a dissolution is an inevitable decree of fate.

I am satisfied that a contest on the part of the General Government, with its perfect military organization, powerful Naval forces, its command of the money, and its credit without limit, backed by eighteen or twenty millions of people, against eight millions without military organization, without naval forces, and without money or credit, is not likely to be of doubtful result in the end--but after that, what then? Can the Union be preserved on such terms, or would it be worth preserving if it could? After the best blood of the country has been shed in war, which has passion, prejudice, and unnatural but mutual hate for its foundation, intensified by the conflict, could the two sections ever be brought together as one people again?-- and would it not require large standing armies, in constant active service, to conquer and maintain peace? And would not that end at last in a hateful, loathsome military despotism?

If I am right in all this, would not a peaceful separation, not as a military necessity, but as a triumph of reason, order, law, liberty, morality, and religion, over passion, pride, prejudice, hatred, disorder, and the force of the mob, be a far wiser and more desirable solution of the problem that such scenes as will result from a purely sectional warfare, (result as it may,) and from which the heart sickens, and the soil recoils with horror?

You may cut, maim, kill and destroy; you may sweep down battalions with your artillery; you may block up commerce with your fleets; you may starve out the thousands and tens of thousands of the enemies of the Government. You may may overrun, but you cannot subjugate the United South; and if you could do all this, you could not do it without inflicting an equal amount of misery upon those who are its best friends, and who have stood as long as there was a plank to stand upon, by the side of the Union, the Constitution and the laws. Our streets may run red with blood; our dwellings may be leveled with the earth; our fields may be laid waste; our hearthstones may be laid desolate; and then at the last, what end has been gained? Why, the Government has exhibited its power which has never been questioned, but by the idle, the ignorant and the deluded, and for the display of which there will be abundant opportunities, without an effort now, of either side, to cut each other's throats!

So far from its being regarded as a betrayal of weakness by the other powers of the Globe, will it not be looked upon in the present emergency as an act of magnanimity and heroism on the part of the more powerful party to propose terms of peace? Let me, then, as a strong, devoted, unalterable friend of the Union, (if it could be maintained,)--let me as a conscientious and unchangeable opponent of the fatal heresy of secession, urge upon this Administration the policy of of issuing another proclamation, proposing a truce to hostilities, and the immediate assembling of a National Convention to recognize the Independence of such of the States as desire to withdraw from the Union, and make the experiment of separate Government, which it will not, as I think, take them long to discover is the most egregious error that man, in his hour of madness, ever committed.

In five years from this time the remaining United States would be stronger and more powerful than the thirty-four States were six months ago--and you will have a Government permanent and enduring for all time to come, to which all who seek an asylum from oppression may resort hereafter.

I will not undertake to speculate on the experiment of a Southern Republic;--my opinion on that subject are well defined, and too well understood to make it necessary that they should be canvassed here. Let it be tried, and let it work out its own salvation.

If this policy can be adopted, all I shall ask for myself, will be the privilege of retiring to some secluded spot, where I can live in peace, and mourn over the downfall of the best Government--wisely administered--with which man was ever blessed.

I could not willingly take up arms against a Union that I have been taught and accustomed to adore, as indispensable to my own liberties, and I never will raise my hand against my native State, although her arm has ever been against me and mine.

For God's sake, let me implore you to let wisdom, magnanimity, true courage and humanity prevail in your councils, and give peace to a distracted and disssevered country.

I write as one who feels that he is standing on the brink of the grave of all he has cherished on earth; my head is bowed down with grief over the madness that rules the hour, and I pray God to give the wisdom to know, and the strength to perform my duty, my whole duty to my country, my State, and my friends.

I am, with great respect, yours, &c.

JNO. M. BOTTS.

Hon. EDWARD BATES, Attorney General, &c.

Will you grant me the favor to lay this last effort to serve my country before the Cabinet at its first meeting? I appeal to you as a native son of Virginia to do it.
J. M. B.

Col. J. M. McCUE,--Mt. Solon,--Dear Sir:--It is a long time since I had the pleasure of writing you of your health. I have been frequently informed by my friend Sibert who has been kind enough to advise me occasinally respecting Mt. Solon and yourself. We have in this city become highly excited by the news that Fort Sumter was fired into and taken by the troops of the Cotton States. The President's message, calling first for 75,000 troops and then increasing the demand to 175,000, has produced a profound and deep impression that we are about entering into an awful performance, the end of which no man can tell. The only hope now is, that Va. will stand firm by the Union and hold all the border States to the same line of policy--if she does, our misguided South Carolina friends can soon be brought to reason--if she does not, but goes to swell the triumphal car of secession, God knows the end. The universal sentiment here is, that if the Border States do go out, then the war must exterminate the cause which has created this contention. When I heard that South Carolina fired coolly and deliberately and wantonly upon our flag, I cried like a child, that our brothers should fire into us. If the men that did the deed could have seen the eyes that were dimmed, and the stout frames of strong men that shook when the news was received here, they would have wished that the earth had swallowed them up. The newspapers and office seekers have done their best to set the sections against each other. May God forgive them I can't!--My Dear Sir, will Virginia secede? What is your opinion? Pray let me hear from you soon.
Yours, A. NICHOLAS.

MR. A. NICHOLAS,--Dear Sir: Yours of the 15th inst., came to hand a few days ago. Circumstances that have occurred since, have more than answered one of the interrogatories you ask with so much apparent feeling, "Has Virginia seceded?" She has not only seceded, but has on this morning, an army in the field, to defend our rights and institutions, that will carry terror to the hearts of those who vauntingly boast that they will "exterminate the cause," as you are pleased to term it, of all the difficulties between us. Could you, and the myrmidons of abolition, of agrarianism and all that is abominable in a free government, see, as I have had the opportunity within the past few days, the spirit of our people, your craven hearts would collapse within your cowardly carcasses. You who possess means to justify it, will send your hired mercenaries to overpower us, it may be. You may devastate our country, burn our towns, insult and abuse our women, but conquer us you can never do. When our brave and gallant sons are exterminated, if such could be, you will find our wives and daughters more than a match for all the Beechers, and Cheevers and Stowes and that damnable set that you have so long paid Court to, and encouraged, until you have brought this affliction upon the country.

You speak of our "institutions" being the cause of this war, and you will exterminate it forsooth. Let me tell you, sir, that it has been the misguided frenzy and folly and madness of your people, that has been the cause; and that people that has fattened and flourished upon the labor of this institution, and in your pharasaical and puritanical self-righteousness, after hoarding this wealth, would say to us, "stand aside, we are holier than thou," and cannot live under the same government with you. Let me say to you, sir, that the men of New York and New England who, in the war of 1812, could stand by with folded hands and see the flag of their country trailed and trampled in the dust, and convene themselves into a Hartford convention, and refuse to furnish men and means to defend their country and that flag from an insolent foreign foe, can with a very bad grace now shed tears, as you say you did, when you heard that flag was fired upon at Fort Sumter. Your damnable hypocrisy makes my blood boil, and in spite of myself, makes me pray that we may have the earnestly hoped for opportunity of meeting you in sight of the Potomac, and all those who, like you, have been shedding those crocodile tears, and there testing, in the sight of the ashes of the Father of his Country, your sincerity in defending that flag. But permit me to say, sir, that you will not be there. You, and those who think like you, will send as your personal representatives, the miserable mercenary foreigners, that you can gather up in your cities at $10 per month to do your fighting. Would to God it were otherwise, and we could meet you all in person, and your boasted Seventh Regiment besides, who have warmed at our firesides, slept under our roofs, shared our hospitality, and when it was in your interest to do so, have preached up your conservatism. But enough, sir, I have not patience to say more. In the hope I may meet you at Washington, (what I do not expect,) I am, sir, yours.
J. MARSHALL McCUE.

The Spectator, April 30, 1861, p. 2, c. 2

We have no disposition, says the Lynchburg Virginian, to obtrude old party issues upon the people now, believing that everything of the kind should be deprecated and avoided. Our people are united, as they ought to be, in opposition to Black Republican oppression and tyranny. Yet, we occasionally hear some indiscreet persons reproaching those who were more reluctant to anticipate the issue now forced upon them by others--with being the authors of the mischief we are now suffering. Such persons assume--and it is the merest assumption--that if we had presented a united front in the beginning of the present troubles, there would have been no conflict. They forget that it was simply impossible to bring our people to that point, and that, if even a majority had been found willing to separate from the Union one month ago, a very large minority would have been restless and dissatisfied. The moral force of our action would have been impaired, if no worse consequence had ensued. But, by our patient efforts in behalf of the Union, compromise and peace, we forced Lincoln to a development of his policy, and such a development as has united us to a man. This is the best vindication that could be given of the wisdom of our policy. In confirmation of this view, we submit the following from the Richmond "Examiner," a journal that lampooned the Convention and the Union men with unwonted severity.--the "Examiner" says:

"The bug-bear of civil war need not frighten no one. We are not engaged in Virginia civil war, and, thank heaven all danger of that most dreadful of human scourges is past. It almost reconciles us to the delay of the Convention.-- That delay has made Virginia a unit--has made the whole South a unit. The natives of the South are leagued and confederated to repel Northern invasion, and establish Southern independence.

And the "delay" of the late Union men brought about this "league" and hearty confederation of Southern men. This shall be our consolation amidst all the sorrows that may await us.