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Valley Spirit: July 2, 1862 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |

Speech of Hon. S. S. Cox of Ohio
(Column 2)

Summary: A speech in the U.S. House of Representatives that discusses the ramifications of free blacks moving to the North. Cox, a Congressman from Ohio, claims his district has the highest percentage of blacks in the state, and yet the districts that are most prominently abolitionist hardly have any. Abolitionists would not be so anxious about their cause if the blacks moved into their counties, Cox claims. He also argues that, if freed, blacks will not work in agriculture, and where they do work they will displace the whites who have paid taxes and fought to free them. The Congress that frees the slaves, he concludes, will go down in history as hated by both whites and blacks.

Affairs at Richmond
(Column 1)

Summary: Sketchy news reports indicate that McClellan has been forced back to the James River, and though the editors note that it may be a tactical move, they decline to speculate very far. A number of Pennsylvania reserves have been involved in the fighting and have suffered heavy losses.

Union Men of the South
(Column 2)

Summary: Commentary on the reprint of a letter written by Gen. J. B. Cochrane of Kentucky, a Unionist slaveholder and former legislator. It is the slaveholders of Kentucky who are Unionists, claims Cochrane, and the non-slaveholders who fear the effects of abolition who are the secessionists. Thus, the letter and the article claim, attempts by Congress to punish secessionists by freeing slaves will only alienate slaveholding Unionists in the border states.

Who Are the Partizans
(Column 3)

Summary: A reply to the Dispatch's criticism of an earlier Valley Spirit editorial that claimed that the Democrats were less partisan than the Republicans. The Dispatch disputed this claim and made allusions to the Spirit's partisanship. In response, the Spirit cites its editorials from April 17, 1861, and April 24, 1861, both of which urge its readers to forgo partisanship and unite to defend the Union.

A Short Reply
(Column 3)

Summary: While the editors claim that their policy is never to reply to anonymous criticism, they take issue with a letter printed in the Transcript, which accuses the Valley Spirit of having to be forced to fly the Stars and Stripes at the moment of the rebellion. This allegation is absolutely false, the editors reply, and the writer is casting doubt on the honesty of all the Transcript's writing by the publication of this obvious falsehood. The issue is connected to an ongoing argument over the cutting down of a flagpole raised by Michael Hanstine, a Democrat.
(Names in announcement: Michael Hanstine)

Full Text of Article:

It is not often that we notice the productions of anonymous scribblers and never when our paper is the target at which they aim their malicious and cowardly shafts. We invariably allow all such assassin like scribblers to simmer down in their own malice, after ridding themselves of their superfluous froth and foam, without being in the least annoyed by their spiteful ebullitions. We depart from our usual rule in this respect to notice briefly a writer in the Transcript. This veracious correspondent in an effort to establish a reputation for truth telling lets off the following:

"But Mr. Editor, it does not surprise me that the Valley Spirit--a sheet notorious for its traitorous proclivities--should attempt to screen rebel sympathisers by a suppression of facts, in order to cast odium upon the brave soldiers of the Union army, for if I have been correctly informed, compulsory measures had to be used before the publishers of that vile sheet would hoist the Stars and Stripes at the commencement of the rebellion."

We fear the above extract might seriously damage the writers reputation unless he is very careful to keep it in the dark. Should he let himself be known his character must suffer some from such a dubious statement. If the writer intended that this community should believe his balderdash about Mr. Hanstine's Flag he was most unfortunate in introducing the above item into his article about the Valley Spirit's Flag. Nobody in this community ever heard of the "compulsory measures" that this writer prates about so knowingly. People are not so easily deceived as this anonymous scribbler imagines and when they detect one deliberate falsehood in an article are apt to look upon the balance of the production in the same light. In this instance they would be taking a very correct view of the writers "facts" for a more dastardly tissue of lies was never penned. His entire statement about Mr. Hanstine's disloyalty is on a par with his assertion that "compulsory measures had to be used" before the Stars and Stripes adorned our office. We have in this community some very rabid sympathisers with abolition treason, like the writer in the Transcript, who will assert almost anything about a Democrat, but we defy one of them to say that there is a single circumstance upon which to found such a report about the Valley Spirit. It is a lie manufactured out of the whole cloth, and the writer who penned it and the printer who published it knew it to be such. Every man in this community knows, and every honest man will say, that the Valley Spirit was the first paper in this place to run up the Stars and Stripes, and that too without any demand, or under any threat or force-work about it, but from a sense of right and duty. These negro-worshiping [sic] abolition traitors must not think that because they hide the meanest political bigotry under the mask of patriotism other men do the same. They are mistaken and it is time they should know it.

That's What's the Matter
(Column 4)

Summary: The flag on Mr. Hanstine's pole in Waynesboro which was cut down read "Democracy and the Union Now and Forever." The editors claim that it was bound to come down, due to the fanaticism of Republican partisans.
(Names in announcement: Michael Hanstine)

Full Text of Article:

The Star-Spangled Banner that Mr. Hanstine, of Waynesboro, hoisted upon the Union pole at his residence, had inscribed on it "Democracy and the Union Now and Forever." That is where the treason was smelt--better a thousand Unions perish than that Democracy should endure forever! That pole was bound to come down. No abolitionized Republican could look at it and not become enraged--it was enough to give them fits.

A Fool Answered
(Column 5)

Summary: The Transcript's accusation that Hanstine was not a supporter of the Union is false, because at the time of the rebellion Hanstine was occupied putting up Union poles and trying to "encourage a spirit of patriotism" in Waynesboro. He has a better record, the editors claim, than many Republicans who are trying to make money off the war by "robbing the Government as a contractor by selling them worthless horses."
(Names in announcement: Michael Hanstine)

The Management of the War
(Column 5)

Summary: The Patriot and Union cites the Philadelphia Union, a Republican paper, which blames Secretary of War Stanton for the recent reverses in the Virginia theater. It was not McClellan's fault, but the disorganization resulting from four different generals commanding troops in the region. While soldiers die needlessly, the article claims, Stanton tries to play soldier. The Patriot and Union notes that if a Democratic paper had said such things, they would have been branded traitors. The tone of the article, overall, is very pessimistic.

Origin of Article: Patriot and Union

Delightful Entertainment
(Column 1)

Summary: The pupils of the Chambersburg Female Seminary gave a "Grand Vocal and Instrumental" concert in Franklin Hall on Thursday. The editors praise both the performers and the director of the school, Rev. Dr. Reeves.
(Names in announcement: Rev. Dr. Reeves)

Editorial Comment: "We do not remember of witnessing so brilliant an array of talent at any former exhibition of this kind in any place."

Died
(Column 6)

Summary: Maggie Burns died in Fayetteville on June 23 at the age of 5 years, 1 month and 14 days.
(Names in announcement: Maggie Burns)

Died
(Column 6)

Summary: Mrs. Hannah Cook died in New Guilford on June 28, aged 65 years, 4 months and 12 days.
(Names in announcement: Mrs. Hannah Cook)

Died
(Column 6)

Summary: Joseph Mahaffy died near Marion, aged 54 years, 9 months and 14 days.
(Names in announcement: Joseph Mahaffy)

Draft at Savannah--Georgia Patriotism at a Low Ebb
(Column 1)

Summary: Describes a scene in which a Confederate colonel attempted to raise volunteers for the army in Savannah with very little luck. Most men tried to use excuses to avoid volunteering, and they didn't join the army until they were faced with the threat of a draft.

Origin of Article: Charleston Courier