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Staunton Spectator: December 21, 1869 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

The Grant Monument
(Column 01)

Summary: The Dispatch objected to the construction of a monument to General Grant made out of metal from captured Confederate cannons. Claimed that the monument would maintain feelings of sectional strife.

Full Text of Article:

To use no harsher term, the managers of the proposed equestrian Grant Monument have been guilty of the folly of determining to mould it of cannon captured from the South during the late war. As the Dispatch truly says, "the fact that it was moulded with that material will be remembered as long as the state endures. It will be considered a monument to triumph on one side and humiliation on the other, and this indiscreet partisanry will have cast into enduring metal the recollections which ought to be buried.

We do not object to the monument to General Grant. Nobody objects to that; but we do object to the continuation of a policy which is calculated to perpetuate the recollection of strife, and therefore the fostering of sectional rancor in appropriations from money collected from taxes imposed upon us equally with all the other citizens of the United States. It is an unwise use of power, and cannot be productive of any good. The disposition of the national funds for purposes of sectional self-complacency is a barrier to intersectional good feeling, and a wrong. It is against the avowed sentiments of General Grant, and he should regret it as much as we do."

A Bitter Drop
(Column 03)

Summary: Article from the Norfolk Virginian which criticized the actions of Mr. Turner in offering further concessions to B. F. Butler. Insisted that this action was unnecessary, since Butler has no impact on the question of the readmission of Virginia to the Union.

Full Text of Article:

The State of Virginia is soon to be admitted. The pressure of public opinion in the country is too heavy for the extreme party in Congress, and they will acquiesce as gracefully as they can in what they see is now inevitable. When the State is restored, we trust that the most florid pictures which have been painted for us may prove cold and tame compared with the reality; but, even then, they will be shadowed by the special and peculiar humiliation which has just been incurred by Mr. Turner and his colleagues.

We allude to the interview between these gentlemen and Mr. Butler. It was a disgusting exhibition, and all the more to be lamented because gratuitous. Butler has been denounced all over the civilized globe for his brutality. He oppressed and outraged the people of the South, and in the State of Virginia showed that he had respect neither for the rights of property, the tender feelings of our women, nor the sacred calling of our divines. To the timidity of a sheep he added the appetite of a hyena, and no possible amount of diplomatic graces, diplomatic degradations would be a better phrase, can ever make the people of the country forget the facts to which we allude, or gild with a decent apology the humiliating attitude of the committee of which we speak.

When the President penned his Message and committed himself to the admission of the State in compliance with his pledges, there was no need for this abasement, which was as unwise as it was unbecoming. For Butler found himself powerless to carry out the programme of exclusion which he himself so recently favored, and was too adroit to take issue with the President on a question where defeat awaited him. Under these circumstances the call on Mr. Butler was a gratuity, and the demand made by that person for new guarantees is an insult to the men whom he addressed. There is a certain pathetic rebuke to the great man (!) too, in the reply of Mr. Turner, when he said that as they were sworn to execute the law they had not thought it necessary to fortify their oaths by a new declaration; but, nevertheless they gave the additional guarantee -- and gave it to Benjamin F. Butler! On receiving this that person graciously assured the committee that the State should be admitted, and condescended to say that he was always ready "to accept the pledge of a Virginia gentleman."

Now, the committee has succeeded in two things at least. It has degraded itself by petitioning Butler to let Virginia in, and has elevated him into a position which he never could have occupied without this recognition of his pre-eminence. The cup of restoration, we trust, may prove a draught from the fountain of perpetual youth, but this is a bitter drop in it which the people taste with infinite disgust, and an irritation all the more intense because the infusion was entirely unnecessary.--Norfolk Virginian.

Virginia Not Yet Admitted
(Column 03)

Summary: Reported that Virginia will not be admitted until after the Holiday recess of Congress. Blamed the actions of men like B. F. Butler for stalling readmission against the legitimate wishes of Virginia and the Reconstruction Committee.

Full Text of Article:

It is now very evident that Virginia will not be admitted till after the Holiday recess of Congress. From the special telegram to the Richmond Dispatch we learn that the Reconstruction Committee met at noon on Saturday last. There was barely a quorum present. The various documents ordered by the House to be printed for the committee were laid on the members' desks. Congressman-elect Porter and several other advocates of the test-oath, &c., were present. Wm. B. Downey made an extended statement of the anti-republican manner in which civil justice had been administered in Virginia. This was followed by a similar statement by several others.

In reply, Isaac D. Budd, a Republican member of the Legislature from Loudon county, made an able speech controverting many of the statements of those opposed to admission. He declared that so far as Loudon county was concerned, civil justice had been administered fairly, and that the elections were free, quiet, and fairly carried out, and that he believed it was equally so in the case of the entire State.

After the room was cleared, the committee remained in session for some time, but came to no final action.

It is now claimed by the extreme Radicals that Butler is with them, and that the State will not be admitted without requiring the Legislature to take the test-oath.

Representative Farnsworth left the committee room before the adjournment. He has openly avowed his views in favor of admitting the State at once, and is accordingly much denounced by those who are opposed to his views.

General Butler has received several letters, in which it is stated that the legislative committee are playing him false. One of those letters professes to detail a conversation that recently took place between members of the committee and ex-rebel officers on board the steamer en route for Aquia Creek. It alleges that sport was made of Butler's name, and that his promises were not considered genuine, &c. The opposition to the admission of the State are making a terrible fight, and it is now conceded that nothing will be done before January in the way of admitting the State.

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The Rev. Samuel J. Baird of Staunton received a patent for a button-holing attachment to sewing machines.
(Names in announcement: Rev. Samuel J. Baird)

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The third quarterly meeting of the Southern Methodist Church will be held in Staunton next Sunday. The Rev. E. F. Busey will lead the services.
(Names in announcement: E. F. Busey)

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The Southern Methodist Sunday School of Staunton, led by Superintendent C. W. Hunter, will hold their annual Christmas Tree ceremony in the Methodist Church on Friday night.
(Names in announcement: C. W. Hunter)

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The Ladies of New Hope will hold a fair on the 30th, 31st, and 1st. The proceeds will go toward construction of the New Hope Temperance Hall. Temperance organizations from Augusta and Rockingham were especially encouraged to attend.

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The tableaux performance given at Mt. Vernon Forge will be repeated on Christmas Day. Oysters will be served and proceeds will go to charity. Also, Dr. Harris will lecture on Wednesday night.
(Names in announcement: Dr. Harris)

Fire Company
(Column 01)

Summary: The paper issued a plea to Staunton's property holders to appropriate money to properly equip the fire company. "The Company are becoming discouraged, listlessness will follow, and then a disbandment of their organization, unless they be supplied with what is necessary to render their services efficient."

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: Creever Burgess, African-American driver of the Virginia Hotel Omnibus, fell from the vehicle and hit his head, knocking him unconscious. The paper reported that Burgess was recovering and no other passengers in the Omnibus were hurt.
(Names in announcement: Creever Burgess)

Married
(Column 02)

Summary: John A. Silling and Miss Mary C. Stover were married on December 16th by the Rev. R. C. Walker.
(Names in announcement: John A. Silling, Mary C. Stover, Rev. R. C. Walker)

Marriages
(Column 02)

Summary: Robert N. Carson and Miss Amanda C. Meek, both of Augusta, were married in Staunton at the Virginia Hotel on December 15th by the Rev. William E. Baker.
(Names in announcement: Robert N. Carson, Amanda C. Meek, Rev. William E. Baker)

Married
(Column 02)

Summary: David P. Bell and Miss Cornelia M. Patterson, daughter of John A. Patterson, were married at Long Glade, Augusta County, on November 18th by the Rev. W. T. Richardson.
(Names in announcement: David P. Bell, Cornelia M. Patterson, John A. Patterson, Rev. W. T. Richardson)

Married
(Column 02)

Summary: John P. Woodward and Miss Lucy R. Wright, both of Augusta, were married in Staunton on December 15th by the Rev. J. M. Shreckhise.
(Names in announcement: John P. Woodward, Lucy R. Wright, Rev. J. M. Shreckhise)

Deaths
(Column 02)

Summary: Mrs. Margaret Hogshead, wife of Elijah Hogshead, died near Middlebrook on December 16th. She was 62 years old.
(Names in announcement: Margaret Hogshead, Elijah Hogshead)

Deaths
(Column 02)

Summary: John McClure died on December 14th. He was 2 years old. "This little one has left sad hearts behind, yet if its parents have one treasure less on earth, they have one more in heaven, and 'they only can be said to possess a child forever, who have lost one in infancy.'"
(Names in announcement: John McClure)