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Staunton Spectator: September 05, 1865 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Annual Conference of United Brethren
(Column 06)

Summary: The editor condemns the United Brethren for the "animus which governs them as a religious body." Among the resolutions of the United Brethren Conference are condemnations of slavery and an expression of their commitment to "secure the complete enfranchisement of the negro with all the rights of an American citizen," an amendment apparently proposed by a resident of Augusta county.
(Names in announcement: Glossbrenner, Markwood, Shuey, Bachtel, Rimel)

Origin of Article: Religious Telegraph

Editorial Comment: "At the Annual Conference of the United Brethren, at Dayton, O., in May last, the following occurrences took place, of interest to the people in this part of Virginia, in which a large number of people of that denomination are found, and from which Messrs. Glossbrenner, Markwood, Shuey, Bachtel, Rimel, and perhaps others attended as delegates. The incidents mentioned, as well as the resolutions, show the animus which governs them as a religious body:"

All Colored Troops to be Mustered Out
(Column 06)

Summary: The author cites a nameless "good authority" for the opinion that "colored troops" are not part of the regular army, but a "provisional corps" soon to be disbanded.

Don't Leave Virginia
(Column 01)

Summary: The editors discourage emigration to Brazil. It is understandable, they argue, that people should want to leave because "the rights properly due them as citizens of the United States are at present denied them." Nevertheless, they warn, the promise of a better future in Brazil is only a "mirage." Emigrants would in fact be met with "frowns of prejudice and ignorance" in their new home.

Full Text of Article:

We are sorry to see that some of the citizens of this State seem to be contemplating expatriation and to be making preparations to emigrate to Brazil. As the rights properly due to them as citizens of the United States are at present denied to them, it is natural that they should feel dissatisfied and desire to emigrate to a country where they believe a greater degree of liberty can be enjoyed. We fully appreciate the feelings of restiveness experienced by a proud and liberty loving people who are debarred the enjoyment of their constitutional rights. But whilst this is the case, we would desire them to remain at home in the good old State of Virginia, believing that it will not be a great while before they will be allowed to enjoy the rights to which, as citizens of the United States, they justly entitled. If ever, this is not the time to "leave our own to stand upon foreign soil." At this time, our dear old mother, Virginia, desires the presence, counsel and aid of all her children. She would be pained to see them leaving her altars and firesides to seek homes in a foreign land. She appeals to them with a mother's love to remain with her and share her fortunes for weal and woe. We believe that there are but few Virginians who will fail to hearken to her affectionate appeal. The sons of Virginia should be more devoted to her than ever before. Such was the patriotic conduct of Virginia immediately before the war, so earnestly did she strive to preserve the peace, and so noble and heroic was her conduct during the four years of bloody strife, that we are prouder than ever before of having been born upon Virginia soil.

We would caution the young, ardent and imaginative against the flattering tale which the siren, Hope, pours into their willing ears, like a "leprous distilment," wooing them but to betray. To them, Brazil has become, in the language of the Richmond Commercial Bulletin, "what that vast mysterious inland region of Florida was to the adventurous and gold seeking Spaniard -- the El Dorado of hope and promise. Upon that land of great rivers and great mountains -- of golden-tinted fruits and dark-eyed maidens -- of waving pampas and roving steeds, the eye and the heart of thousands of our new Jasons are fixed. Here, they argue, will they find the Golden Fleece of Fortune -- here the quiet and peace of untrammelled life. But do they take into consideration the relentless chances that environ their pilgrimage with failure. Do they reflect upon the mental and social short-comings of those whose society they propose to seek -- of the mirage that lure them on, and of the frowns of prejudice and ignorance that may meet them at the threshold of their new homes? We do not think that these possibilities have entered into the hopeful visions of those of our people whose hearts are fixed upon expatriation, and we would urge those Virginians who contemplate a severance of the ties that bind them to the soil that holds their ancestors to think calmly whether, after all, with all the woes and desolation that hang about her -- with all her present plentiful lack of work for man's hands and her plentiful abundance of woman's tears -- with all her great history and honorable record -- with all the many voices with which she calls upon her sons to abide with her -- whether Virginia, proud and loyal and true, is not better far than other lands to live and labor in; and, when the turmoil of life is over and the recompenses of the fortune have no further power to harm or change, whether it be not better that her children should repose in her protecting bosom awaiting the last summons, than to lie in state even in the religious light of Santa Croce or surrounded by the marble splendors of the Chamber of the Dead in Westminster Abbey."

Encouraging Sign
(Column 01)

Summary: The article suggests that President Johnson still intends to grant Southerners "an early restoration of all their constitutional rights, except slavery," maintaining his stated policy despite "the radical pressure upon him."

Eligibility For Congress
(Column 02)

Summary: The article argues that if, "as President Johnson very properly maintains," Southerners are once again in the Union, then Congress has no right to impose qualifications for office beyond those specified in the Constitution. Attempts to do so would be "unconstitutional, null and void."

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: Reports that David Young has declined the nomination of a meeting at the Court House.
(Names in announcement: David Young)

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: Reports that Robert Gray has withdrawn from the Congressional contest.
(Names in announcement: Robert Gray)

Tournament at Staunton
(Column 04)

Summary: Reports the results of a tournament at which "gallant Knights" contended for "the honor of selecting and crowning the 'Queen of love and beauty.'"
(Names in announcement: Col. James Skinner, Capt. Lewis Harman, Col. Michael Harman, Ellen Price, S. McCue, Maggie Heist, Thomas Shumale, Nannie Link, E. Burke, Alice Woodward, Jonathon Opie, Belle Harman, James Arnall, Kate Woodward)

Died
(Column 06)

Summary: Florence Brownlow Tams, an infant, died on July 14 in Staunton.
(Names in announcement: Florence Tams, William Tams, M. Tams)

Died
(Column 06)

Summary: John McGuffin, age 27, died from a wound received at Winchester on September 19, 1864.
(Names in announcement: Lieut. John McGuffin)

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: This letter from "a citizen" contends that Major McCue acted with impropriety at the meeting of the nominating committee the previous week.
(Names in announcement: Alexander Stuart, J. McCue, Col. William Bell, C. Francisco, William Kayser, John Hendren, John Eidson, Capt. John Huff, W. Mongomery, J. Fulton, J. Rivercomb, Capt. Thomas BurkeSr., J. Roler, Samuel Finley, J. Craig, John Ellis, Dr. T. Shelton, Adam Hawpe, Lewis Bumgardner, Maj. A. Wayland, David Kunkle)

Trailer: A Citizen

To The People of Augusta
(Column 01)

Summary: This letter recommends another candidate for the House of Delegates, Thornton Berry, who is described as "an unflinching law and order man."
(Names in announcement: Thornton Berry)

Trailer: Voters

Is Mr. Trout Eligible?
(Column 01)

Summary: This letter points out that Mr. Trout is not eligible under the Virginia Constitution, which forbids those who held office under the Confederacy from serving in the Virginia government.
(Names in announcement: Trout)

Trailer: Middle River

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: This letter recommends Joseph Addison Waddell for the House of Delegates.
(Names in announcement: Joseph Waddell)

Trailer: Many Voters

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: A letter that recommends William Withrow for the Virginia Senate.
(Names in announcement: William Withrow)

Trailer: Middlebrook

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The authors of this letter declare themselves "not satisfied with the persons nominated on the last court day," and suggest their own nominees for both the House of Delegates and the state Senate.
(Names in announcement: John Newton, William Sterrett, William Crawford, George Seawright)

Trailer: Naked Creek

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: Includes the request of a number of citizens encouraging William Sterrett to announce himself a candidate for the House of Delegates as well as Sterrett's reply, accepting their acclamation.
(Names in announcement: William Sterrett, A. Gilkeson, J. Bledsoe, H. Michie, S. WoodwardJr., C. Francisco, Johnathon Bledsoe, G. Wood, Richard Hawkins, H. Harris, James Crawford, A. Kinney, S. WoodwardSr., B. Harris, H. Peck, F. Scheffer, H. Taylor, J. Alby, J. Cline, Frederick Fultz, W. Johnson, James Armentrout, J. Parent, H. Powers, John Beck, Henry Seig, V. Churchman, William Burnett, C. Johnson, D. Blackburn, Madison Doom, G. Price, William Watts, G. Armentrout, Washington Swoope, B. Markwood, J. Evans, S. Davis, J. Kurtz, John Vanfossen, G. Yeakle, R. Smith, W. Sperry, C. Saupe, John White, D. Evans, J. Trotter, T. Woodward, J. Risk, W. Davidson, A. Cochran, J. Gikeson, J. Scherer, G. Scherer, T. Fuqua, James Cochran, J. Timberlake, T. Eskridge, Jacob Dull, G. Hirsh, M. Cease, S. Hilb, J. Marquis, John Kelley, F. Young, S. Coleman, P. Trout, George Harlan, Davis Kayser, Henry Bare, G. Konklin, C. Bear, E. Lawton, R. Willson, J. Gayer, A. Kinney, W. Fretwell, John Hoge, H. O. Cease, H. P. Cease, J. Houseman, J. Smith, W. Herring, P. Powell, John Bryan, C. Gregory, C. Arnall, George Welch, H. Heyer, John O'Hare, John O'Donal)

Trailer: Wm. G. Sterrett

To The Voters Of Augusta
(Column 02)

Summary: A letter from Mr. Van Lear in which he declines the nomination for a seat in the legislature.
(Names in announcement: D. Van Lear)

Trailer: D. N. Van Lear

Public Meeting
(Column 02)

Summary: The proceedings of a public nominating meeting held at the Court House, challenged as corrupt by a letter in another page.
(Names in announcement: Maj. J. McCue, Col. William Bell, W. Lynn, R. Hill, A. Stuart, W. McCue, S. Finley, Col. George Baylor, J. Fulton, C. Francisco, William Kayser, J. Hendren, Henry Eidson, Capt. John Huff, W. Montgomery, J. Rivercomb, Capt. Thomas BurkeSr., J. Roler, Samuel Finley, J. Craig, J. Ellis, Dr. T. Shelton, Adam Hawpe, Lewis Bumbardner, Maj. A. Wayland, David Kunkle, D. Van Lear, D. Young)

A Proposition for Freedmen
(Column 03)

Summary: Reports that "an influential company in France" has applied to the Freedmen's Bureau in an attempt "to obtain, in large numbers, the Freedmen of the South" to labor in South America. The author points out that the freedmen would be "well fed and treated."

A Hint to the Negroes
(Column 03)

Summary: The author contends that faced with the prospect of white labor emigrating from Europe to the South, "the Southern blacks must go to work cheerfully, steadily and systematically, or they will be rooted out."