NEWS: Items from The Alleghanian, March 13, 1862, Cambria County, PA

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The Alleghanian, Ebensburg, Pa.
Thursday, March 13, 1862
Volume 3, Number 25

Humor

  On hearing a clergyman remark, "the world is full of change," Mrs. 
Partington said, "she could hardly bring her mind to believe it, so 
little found its way into her pocket."

  A shop was broken open one night but strange to say, nothing was 
carried off.  The proprietor was making his brag of it, at the same 
time, expressing his surprise at losing nothing.  "Not at all 
surprising," said his neighbor; "the robbers lighted a lamp, didn't 
they?"  "Yes," was the reply.  "Well," continued the neighbor, "they 
found your goods marked so high they couldn't afford to take them."

Quill Drives

  Easter Sunday occurs this year on the 20th of April.
  A tip-top hotel - Randolph's Cambria House at Wilmore.
  Our soldiers at Port Royal and Tybee are having fresh shad and green 
peas brought in to them by the negroes.  It is as warm as summer and 
corn and grass are from 6 inches to a foot high.
  General Ulysses S. Grant, the hero of Fort Donaldson, has just been 
unanimously confirmed by the Senate as a Major General - an honor 
conferred in testimony of his gallant conduct in battle.

Arrest of a Mail Robber 

  On Wednesday of last week, Officer Dougherty of Pittsburg arrested in 
this place a mail robber named Adam Keith who committed a robbery at 
Newman's Mills Post Office, Indiana county on the 25th of February 
last.  He purloined letters of Miss Anderson, Elizabeth Anderson and 
others containing money.  The evidence of his guilt is said to be 
strong. He was taken to Pittsburg on Wednesday night and after a 
hearing was committed to prison to await his trial at the next term of 
the United States court in May.  Keith is a private in the 54th 
regiment now at Washington City.

Court News 

  The Court proceedings of last week were of so trivial and 
uninteresting in character that we have decided to dispense with their 
publication.  The only case of any moment was that of the Commonwealth 
vs. Samuel Welsh on an indictment for rape.  After a trial of two days' 
duration, the jury returned a verdict of "Guilty."  The defendant has 
not yet received his sentence.  Court was adjourned over on Thursday 
evening.  The attendance this week is small.  

Blair County Items 

  The citizens of Hollidaysburg are memorializing Congress to locate 
the National Armory and Foundry in that place.
  The storehouse at Blair Furnace together with its contents was 
totally consumed by fire last week.
  The dwelling hours of Mr. Wm. Burkhart in Allegheny township was 
burned to the ground a few days since.

Saw Mill Burned 

  A saw mill belonging to a Mr. Fulmer in Richland twp., was destroyed 
by fire on Saturday morning 1st inst.  The fire originated from coals 
falling from an open stone hearth upon the mill. The loss involved the 
mill only, no lumber or other property suffering in the conflagration.  
So we learn from the Cambria TRIBUNE.

President Lincoln on the Abolishment of Slavery
Washington, March 5  [1862]

  The President today transmitted to Congress the following message:
  "Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives - I 
recommend the adoption of a joint resolution by your honorable bodies 
which shall be substantially as follows:
  Resolved, That the United States ought to cooperate with any State 
which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving any such State 
pecuniary aid to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate 
for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of 
system.
  If the population contained in the resolution does not meet the 
approval of Congress and the country, there is the end; but if it does 
commend such approval, I deem it of importance that the States and 
people immediately interested should be at once distinctly notified of 
the fact, so that they may begin to consider whether to accept or 
reject it. The Federal Government would find its highest interest in 
such measure as one of the most efficient means of self-preservation.
  The leaders of the existing insurrection entertain the hope that the 
Government will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the independence of 
some part of the disaffected region and that all the Slave States north 
of such parts will then say the Union, for which we have struggled 
being already gone, we now choose to go with the southern section. To 
deprive them of this hope, substantially ends the rebellion, and the 
initiation of emancipation completely deprives them of it, as to all 
States initiating it. 

  The point is, not that all the States tolerating slavery would very 
soon, if at all, initiate emancipation, but that while the offer is 
equally made to all, the more Northern shall by such initiation make it 
certain to the more Southern that in no event will the former ever join 
the latter in their proposed Confederacy. I say initiation, because in 
my judgment, gradual, not sudden, emancipation is better for all.
  To the more financial or pecuniary view, any member of Congress with 
the census tables and treasury reports before him, can readily see for 
himself how very soon the current expenditures of this war we'd 
purchase at fair valuation, all the slaves in any named State.  Such a 
proposition on the part of the General Government sets up no claim of a 
right, by federal authority, to interfere with slavery within State 
limits, referring as it does, to the absolute control of the subject in 
each case to the State and the people immediately interested.  It is 
proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them.
  In the annual message last December, I thought it to say the Union 
must be preserved, and hence all indispensable means must be employed.  
I said this not hastily but deliberately. War has been made and 
continues to be an indispensable means to this end.  A practical 
acknowledgement of the national authority would render the war 
unnecessary and it would at once cease.  If however, resistance 
continues, the war must also continue, and it is impossible to foresee 
all the incidents which may attend and all the ruin which may follow 
it.  Such as may seem indispensable or may obviously promise, great 
efficiency towards ending the struggle must and will come.  The 
proposition now made is an offer only.
  I hope it may be esteemed no offence to ask whether the pecuniary 
consideration tendered would not be of more value to the States and 
private persons and property on it, in the present aspect of affairs.  
While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution would be 
merely initiatory and not within itself a practical measure, it is 
recommended in the hope that it would soon lead to important practical 
results. In full view of my great responsibility to my God and to my 
country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the people, to 
the subject.

[Signed] Abraham Lincoln

Letter from the Silver Grays 
Camp Curtin, Feby. 28, 1862
 
  It is a source of real pleasure to be favored with the opportunity of 
taking by the hand those to whom we feel indebted for favors conferred 
and for whom we entertain sentiments of esteem.  The "Silver Grays" 
cannot forget nor would they if they could the deep interest you 
manifested in behalf of the company at a time when the helping hand was 
needed and your unfaltering devotion to the cause of volunteer 
organizations in Cambria county from the very inauguration of this 
monstrous rebellion.  These were the considerations which moved the 
hearts of the "Old men of the Mountain," on the occasion of your recent 
visit to our quarters in Camp Curtin, and which prompted the friendly 
reception with which you were greeted on that occasion.  "A friend in 
need is a friend indeed" is an adage which, though not very classically 
expressed is nevertheless a truism. The relation which has existed and 
which continues to exist between you, Mr. Editor, and the "Grays," is 
evidence of the value of your personal aid and that it is properly 
appreciated by every man in our ranks.
  Camp Curtin is being "cleaned out."  On Wednesday, the camp was 
electrified by the intelligence that an immediate onward march had been 
ordered.
  Preparatory to the removal of the Regiments from Camp, it has 
devolved upon his Excellency, Governor Curtin, to present the 
Standards, voted by the last Legislature to each of the Regiments in 
the field.  The presentation of the Flags to the 54th, (Col. 
Campbell's); 56th (Col. Meredith's); 101st (Col. Wilson's); and the 
103d (Col. Lehman's) took place on the afternoon of Wednesday last in 
front of the State Arsenal.  The ceremonies were of the most 
interesting character.  The four Regiments were drawn up upon the 
Capitol Grounds, one in rear of the other in their numerical order.  
The Governor, accompanied by the Adjutant General of the Commonwealth, 
appeared upon the stage erected for the occasion; the former holding in 
his hands the Standards designed for the respective Regiments.  Prior 
to the formal presentation, Governor Curtin delivered one of the most 
thrilling, patriotic and eloquent addresses to which it has ever been 
my good fortune to listen. There stood before him three thousand men, 
who had voluntarily left their homes, to undergo the hazards and 
privations of war, for the purpose of protecting the Government from 
subversion by traitors.  He congratulated them upon the prospect of a 
glorious and final triumph of the Federal arms.  In the name of the 
People of Pennsylvania, he thanked them for the alacrity with which 
they had hastened to the rescue of their country from the destruction 
with which dark rebellion threatened it. He saw before him men of every 
religious creed - of every nation - of every political party - men who 
had left behind them all personal, religious and political animosities, 
that they might, by a united effort, keep floating aloft the Stars and 
Stripes which had for more than four score years been our protection 
upon every sea and our shield from insult in the most distant lands.  
At such a time and upon such an occasion, he could make no distinction 
other than that designated by loyalty or disloyalty to the Government. 
He embraced them as brothers, engaged in the one holy cause.  He 
reminded them that in their absence the orisons of those left behind 
them would ascend from the church and the fireside for their protection 
and safe return.
  The Governor was peculiarly happy in that portion of his address in 
which he assured the troops then assembled before him that their wives, 
their children and their mothers should be cared for in their absence - 
that the obligation rested upon the Legislature, now in session, to 
make provision for the families of the soldiers who are absent, 
defending the Government against the assaults of domestic foes - that 
he, the Executive, would most cheerfully execute the wishes of the 
lawmaking power.  He recommended speedy action in terms which indicated 
the deep interest he takes in that which has for its object the welfare 
of the citizen soldier.  The Governor's eloquent words reached the 
hearts of his auditory.  Expressive silences marked the proceedings.  
The men drank in every word that came from the speaker's lips.  New 
vigor seemed to be imparted to the determination of the troops.  Take 
it all in all the Flag presentation of Wednesday last was one of the 
most cheering exhibitions I have ever witnessed. 
  I must not neglect to allude in proper terms to the well conceived 
and eloquently spoken replies of the Colonels of the respective 
Regiments.  Their several speeches were evidently the ebullitions of 
hearts that beat in unison with the patriotic emotions which the 
Governor's address had enkindled in the hearts of all around.  While 
the necessary brevity of a letter precludes the possibility of 
following either the speaker or respondents throughout their entire 
addresses, I must refer more particularly to one than to the other.  
Your readers are well aware that the 54th Regiment, commanded by Col. 
J. M. Campbell, has been designated as the Cambria County Regiment.  Of 
course, more interest is taken by our people in every thing concerning 
that corps, than is bestowed upon strangers.  Your correspondent was 
influenced by this partiality on the occasion referred to. When the 
Flag was handed to Col. Campbell, I felt a pride while looking over the 
fine body of men under his command and this feeling was not diminished 
while looking from the line to the Regimental and Company officers.  
The 54th, now on its way to join the army of the Potomac, is as well 
officered as any Regiment in the field.  I feel safe in predicting for 
it a career of glory and usefulness. 
  Col. Campbell's reply to the Governor's address was a most beautiful 
and appropriate impromptu.  It was heard only by a few nearest the 
stand, the Colonel's characteristic modesty inducing him to rather hide 
the merits of his effort than to make himself or it conspicuous.  He 
pledged himself and those whom he represented that that "banner" should 
never be disgraced - that the members of the 54th would do their duty 
to the cause in which they had enlisted - that the honor of good old 
Pennsylvania should be safe in their hands.  I much mistake my man if 
Col. Campbell's plighted faith be not redeemed.
  The flying reports that the Army of the Potomac are now engaged along 
the line, in battle with the enemy, in Virginia causes a great 
sensation in this quarter.  Were it not for the bustle caused by the 
marching out of the Regiments from this camp, our anxiety would be 
painful in the extreme.  The General Government having taken charge of 
the telegraph lines, we expect to be kept in the dark for some days.  
However we have an abiding confidence in the successful result of the 
Federal arms - that, when the cloud, which now hovers over the 
battlefield shall have been dispelled, the view presented will be of 
the most gratifying description - Victory will be seen perched upon the 
Banners of Freedom - the loud shout of triumph will make the very 
welkin ring - our brethren in arms will wave back to us the assurance 
that "all is well."

[Signed] High Private

Letter from Kentucky 
Camp Hambright, Ky., Feb. 21, 1862

  The monotony of camp life affords but little of interest to your 
readers, hence I have been silent for some time; but as there has been 
a change in our location since my last communication, I shall endeavor 
to let you know where we are and what we are doing.
  Gen. Cook's division (including of course, the Bully 78th) left Camp 
Wood on Friday, 14th inst.  We marched toward Elizabethtown, intending 
to strike the Ohio at West Point, and then proceed by steamboats.  We 
marched fifteen miles and at sundown turned into a clearing by the 
roadside.  On account of the bad condition of the roads, our teams did 
not reach us and we were compelled to bivouac.  There were two inches 
of snow on the ground but by burning the brush heaps, fence rails and 
every other combustible within our reach, we managed to pass without 
freezing, one of "the coldest nights of the season."  On Saturday we 
"lay to" until 2 o'clock p.m. waiting for further orders. A dispatch at 
that hour brought the unwelcome intelligence that our services were not 
needed by Gen. Grant and that the orders for marching in that direction 
had been countermanded.  We immediately turned our faces toward Green 
River and proceeded until near night and then halted two miles south of 
Bacon Creek.  The night was passed in the same manner as the preceding 
one.  At 9 a.m. on Sunday we again resumed our march, reaching 
Mumfordsville at noon.
  We passed the burial place of those who fell at the battle of Rowlet 
Station.  A neat white paling fence surrounds the spot.  From every 
twig of the evergreen wreaths, little icicles hung pendent, sparkling 
like brilliants in the bright sunlight and melting, dropped like tears 
upon the honored graves of the patriot heroes.  We encamped near 
Rowlet, two miles south of Green River.  The camp was called Camp 
Sirwell in honor of our colonel.
  On Monday at 7 a.m. we again struck tents and continued our southward 
march.  During the forenoon the rain poured down upon us almost 
incessantly.  The roads were almost impassable in shoes and we were 
obliged to turn into the woods and fields, thus rendering the march 
much more fatiguing.  The rebels have left their mark along the road 
over which we passed.  They destroyed five miles of railroad by tearing 
up the track, breaking the rails and burning the ties.  They filled the 
deep cuts at each end of the tunnel between this place and Cave City by 
rolling a great number of huge rocks on the hill. They tried to fill 
the tunnel by blasting, but after a few attempts Gen. Hindman abandoned 
the project, saying, - "The d- d Yankees will wheel the spawls out 
faster in a wheel barrow than we can blow them in."
  The Union men have suffered severely.  The charred ruins of stores, 
dwellings, barns and grain stacks are frequently met with. The splendid 
and capacious hotel at Cave City, erected for the accommodation of 
persons visiting the Mammoth Cave is also burned.  They drove horses 
and cattle into the springs and ponds and then shot them in order to 
corrupt the water and create disease among our troops. This I conceive 
to be the greatest of their atrocities. It is said that the rebel 
authorities did not approve of these acts of Gen. Hindman, but of this 
we have no evidence.
  We are still on the line of the Louisville and Nashville Rail Road on 
which there are two thousand men constantly at work, and tomorrow will 
probably see it repaired as far as Barren River. This camp is 93 miles 
from Louisville, 22 from Bowling Green and 92 from Nashville. Most of 
the water used by this brigade is obtained from the Dripping Cave, one 
of the noted subterraneous caverns which abound in this locality. The 
news of the present Union victories are received here with great 
enthusiasm. On the reception of the news from Fort Henry our regiment 
had a torchlight procession.  We formed on the parade ground at 
"tattoo," and after paying our respects to Gen. Negley, we proceeded to 
the camps of the other regiments compiling our brigade.
  While we were marching and countermarching, Gen. Mitchell whose 
division lay at Bacon Creek while we were at Camp Wood advanced on and 
occupied Bowling Green.  This caused us no little chagrin for we had 
been in the advance until then - had built bridges at Rolling Fork, 
Bacon Creek and Green River - had built depots at bakeries - had 
repaired the railroad and telegraph lines - had erected a line of 
fortifications at Green River and hoped to be allowed to proceed to 
Bowling Green and Nashville, and to lay aside for a while, the axe, 
pick and spade and bring into use more offensive weapons.
  The weather has been very changeable for some time. One day may be 
bright and spring-like, the next dark, cool and raining and one third 
the earth is covered with a mantle of snow and the cold wind makes us 
close our Sibleys and keep our little camp stoves in full blast. On 
such days we can scarcely realize that we are approaching the Sunny 
South.

[Signed] Boanerges