|
|
Valley Virginian: May 30, 1866Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
-Page 01- |
[No Title]
(Column 03)Summary: The paper reports that the National Intelligencer "says the Civil Rights law is a source of wholesale litigation, affording a harvest for lawyers, petifogging counsel for negroes in particular."[No Title]
(Column 03)Summary: The paper prints the following from a London Times Article "on the American negro": "Their place, there is no denying it, is service and submission. A law of nature we cannot alter, and the best their friends can do for them is to find out the position and occupation that fit their quality the best, and advise them to accept them cheerfully."The Future of Virginia
(Column 07)Summary: The paper prints an editorial which argues that the Virginia Canal and Covington and Ohio Railroad will allow Virginia to compete with the Northeast and New Orleans for the trade of the West. The editors envision a prosperous future, in which capital, industry, and population are attracted to Virginia.
Full Text of Article:ContractsReferring to the projects now afoot for completing the great Virginia canal and for constructing the Covington and Ohio railroad, the Philadelphia Inquirer says:
If those enterprises are carried out in the extent which is designed they will make Virginia a rival in the transportation of freight and travel with Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. The Virginia Canal will be able to compete with the Pennsylvania and New York and Erie Canals. The railroad will contest with the Baltimore and Ohio, Pennsylvania Central and New York and Erie for the trade of the West. It is claimed that by these means a shorter route will be furnished from the Ohio river to the mouth of the James than can be had by any other route north of it; that it will be shorter from St. Louis to Newport News, by railroad, than from St. Louis to New Orleans. If these plans are carried out, the consequences will be of advantage to Virginia in more ways than one. Her sources of industry will be opened; a vast emigration of laborers and business men will fill up the desert places, and under the stimulus of commerce and manufactures, the State will assert her claims to greatness which nature gave her, and which, by the supineness of her people were long since overshadowed and almost forgotten, by the advance in prosperity of more energetic and enterprising communities.
Writing upon the same topic, the Petersburg Express says:
In our present depressed and mutilated condition, there is at least some satisfaction in contemplating the prospective greatness of the State, in this ANCIENT DOMINION we should say, for it is now reduced to its original limits, since the violent segregation of one third of our rightful territory.
The geographical position and mineral riches of Virginia have long attracted the notice of intelligent men, even from the time of Washington; and efforts, feeble and almost futile, indeed, have from time to time been made by the State government to develop her resources. But the want of capital has hitherto interposed an insurmountable barrier.
At last, however, our great lines of improvement have been placed in the hands of companies who can command any amount of resources; and the James River Canal, and Covington and Ohio Railroad, are to be pressed forward to speedy completion.
It is confidently believed that by the opening of these lines, a greater amount of trade will be secured to the eastern cities of Virginia than ever was borne on the bosom of the Erie Canal. The great west will be brought nearer to Richmond and Norfolk than it is to New York, with the advantage that trade will not be interrupted during the winter months as in the case of the northern lines. And wherever trade centres, there will capital centre, and population congregate.
The companies which have undertaken the completion of these works have contracted to finish them in a few years. A new era will then dawn upon our beloved State and a career of unexampled prosperity will be opened to her; and we confidently believe she will yet vindicate her title to be in material as she is in intellectual wealth the first State of the Union.
(Column 07)Summary: The paper reminds readers that "contracts for service between whites and colored persons for any time longer than two months are required to be in writing, signed by both parties, and acknowledged before a justice, notary public, or two witnesses, who shall certify, on their oaths, that the contract was read and explained to the colored parties."
-Page 02- |
The Jailors and their Brutal Work
(Column 02)Summary: This editorial alleges that Jefferson Davis is ill due to mistreatment in prison. It denounces his captivity as groundless and demands his release or immediate trial.
Full Text of Article:A Damnable OutrageThe report of Dr. Geo. E. Cooper, Surgeon U. S. Army, the physician who was appointed by the President to examine into the state of the health of Mr. Davis, officially confirms the worst reports, which have reached the country, of the dangerous condition of the illustrious prisoner. It discloses a deliberate system of vindictive cruelty, made up of petty and irritating annoyances, which have at last culminated in the complete prostration of the feeble frame of the victim.
Christendom has been called upon frequently in past ages, and sometimes in more modern times, to visit with its scorn and reprobation, such national outrages--but never one so brutal, so mean as this; no, not even among the perfidious Greek, or the stern, vindictive Roman. Not even in the dark annals of the reign of terror can a parallel be found to the treatment of Mr. Davis; combining all its elements of fraud, cruelty, cowardly and ineffable meanness. Great Britain still labors and sinks under the odium of the confinement of Napoleon to the rock of St. Helena, tho' the fearful effects of his presence in France were fresh in the minds of all men, and the pressing necessity of excluding him from participation in the politics of Europe, was apparent to the least observant. Charles the First is to this day revered as a martyr by two thirds of the English people, and his execution has left a stain, never to be effaced, upon the fair fame of the Government of Cromwell. Yet Charles is conceded, on all hands, to have been one of the most tyrannical and perfidious of Princes, and the stern old Puritan scorned to work his destruction, by petty annoyances and prison assassination, but brought him to trial and execution in the broad light of day before the face of the world. Neither of these are parallel cases, the United States Government or the creatures who have brought this foul disgrace upon the country, have neither the justification of extreme necessity of the one, or the palliation of boldness and hardihood in crime of the other.
Arrested originally upon the suspicion of complicity in assassination, which its authors know to be a foul and baseless slander, when they preferred the accusation, he has been continued in lingering confinement upon the charge of treason in the cause of rebellion--a cause for which Washington struggled, and which has made him ever "first in the hearts of his countrymen." The sickening details of this cruel imprisonment are given in the official report of an United States Surgeon, appointed for the purpose; the ceaseless trampings of the numerous guards; the agony of the feeble and illustrious victim in his living grave, are pictured in concise and truthful language, and must inevitably hand down, through endless ages, the names of the authors of this horrible and atrocious national crime, to the scorn and hissing of outraged humanity. The English language utterly fails to describe the disgust and loathing, which the sickening recital of the outrage and barbarity which have been perpetuated upon this distinguished and unfortunate gentleman, by his brutal jailors, excites in the breast of every humane man. It becomes President Johnson, if he wishes to wash his hands of this great crime and escape the boundless contempt of future ages, to have this dark and atrocious transaction sifted to the bottom; let the blood-hounds who have cast this ineffaceable blot upon the fair fame of the country, be disclosed and visited with the punishment due their infamous conduct. At least, in difference to outraged humanity, let the brutal Miles be brought before the appropriate tribunal, to answer for the murder of which he stands guilty in the eyes of God and man.
(Column 02)Summary: The paper reports a rumor that "the agent of the Freedmen's Bureau, at Franklin, Tennessee, has turned over the lands, in which our soldiers are buried, to the negroes, and, that under the direction of a radical preacher, who is the agent, they are plowing up the graves."Official Report of the Health of ex-President Davis
(Column 03)Summary: The paper prints the report of U. S. army surgeon George E.Cooper concerning the health of the imprisoned Jefferson Davis. Cooper reports that Davis is sick, emaciated, and suffering from want of sleep due to the noise of sentinels and guards. The editors denounce the Radicals for keeping him incarcerated, declaring their crimes worse than those allegedly committed by Wirz, the commandant at Andersonville.Judicious Advice
(Column 03)Summary: The paper reprints an article from a journal "established in the interests of the freedmen" that urges them to seek the friendship and good will of their former masters. The article argues that any rights "forced" on the white South cannot be enjoyed peacefully by blacks, and that northerners will eventually abandon African Americans. The greatest hope for equal rights lies in patience and gradual compromise with Southern whites.
Full Text of Article:A journal in the South, established in the interests of the freedmen and sustained by their subscriptions, gives them in a recent issue these words of wholesome advice:
Cultivate by every means in your power the good opinion of your former masters. Remember that they have suffered much and been severely tried the last five years. Bear in mind, too, that they have their prejudices and the traditions of their fathers to contend against; and that, besides, they cannot, from their very circumstances, be expected to regard innovations in their midst in the same light that Northern Utopians do. But be patient. Recollect, when the time does come, that whatever claims or privileges are granted to you by them will, in their practical bearing, be worth to you far more than all the recognitions of the North.
But anything suddenly forced upon the whites by any party hostile to the South, that you can never enjoy? In the North itself the black man's steps have been but of gradual measurement. We have heard some of your so-called friends say that nothing short of another revolution could save the cause; and you may be told by interested parties, vampires who feed on the "cause," that, in the event of a collision between ourselves and the whites, the North would stand by you. They would insinuate that, now that you know how to use the cartridge-box, you should insist immediately on the ballot-box.
Yes, the red man dared to assert his claim to the fair country the Great Spirit had given him, and these men's fathers speedily "improved him off the face of the earth;" and their descendants to this day ignore the claims of the colored man, as in Connecticut and other States! Out on the canting hypocrites! Be not deceived by these men. If a collision ever occurs, the government would, of course, be compelled to see order preserved; but should a war of races ever ensue, the whites would join the whites, and the blacks join the blacks. Your most implacable enemies are to be found among the white soldiers. Their hatred toward your race seems to have grown in intensity from the very moment they entered the service.
-Page 03- |
[No Title]
(Column 01)Summary: The paper supports The Spectator's call for a public library in Staunton, to be located in the Town Hall.[No Title]
(Column 01)Summary: The paper reports that Staunton's Stonewall Band raised $1000 at a benefit concert in Gordonsville for use in burying Confederate dead in that town.Augusta Election
(Column 01)Summary: The paper reports results of elections held in Augusta County. Capt. Paul was re-elected Sheriff. G. M. Apple was elected constable for Greenville district; E. J. Bell for Mt. Solon; T. Marshall for 1st district; William Craig for 2nd district; William M. Bush for Waynesboro district. "The vote was small, and no excitement was created by the result."Musical
(Names in announcement: Capt. Paul, G. M. Apple, E. J. Bell, T. Marshall, William Craig, William M. Bush)
(Column 01)Summary: The paper reports that Madame Corlotta Pozzoni gave a series of "excellent" and well-attended concerts at the Staunton town hall to benefit the Soldiers' Cemetery Committee. "Judges pronounce Madame Pozzoni the greatest singer in the world and all applauded her to the echo."The Spring Travel
(Names in announcement: Madame Corlotta Pozzoni)
(Column 01)Summary: The paper reports that travel to the mountains is increasing, "among whom we are pleased to see many Northern gentlemen." 290 people arrived in Staunton last week, 173 staying at the American hotel, and 117 at the Virginia. "This shows that sensible people are not afraid to come here, in spite of the tales of the Radicals."The Colored People
(Column 01)Summary: The paper calls the attention of readers to a card of thanks from "the respectable colored people of Staunton" published elsewhere in this issue. "We take pleasure in publishing this card, as the characters of those who sign it are well known to our people, and we are glad to see the proper spirit manifested. With such feeling on the part of the colored people, and kindness and consideration on part of the whites, we can never have any trouble."May Party
(Column 02)Summary: The paper reports that the "young ladies of the Primary Department of the Augusta Female Seminary, had a May party on Thursday evening last, in the Seminary grounds, which was attended by a large number of persons. The young ladies dressed in white and garlanded with flowers emerged from their school room and marched around the lawn to the throne, a graceful structure covered with evergreens." Miss Maggie Stuart was crowned Queen.The Soldiers' Cemetery
(Names in announcement: Alice Byers, Alice Wilson, Laura O'Ferrall, Mary Crawford, Martha Stuart, Sallie Harman, Ise Carrington, Nettie Stuart, Jennie Mayse, Maggie Stuart, Maria Stevenson)
(Column 02)Summary: The paper reports that the Ladies' Cemetery Committee has received some contributions, and is now in the process of planting grass seed over the graves. The paper urges farmers to contribute dirt. "They gave all for you and yours, and all they ask of you is a little earth."
(Names in announcement: Madame Pozzoni, M. Pilson, Col. M. G. Harman)Full Text of Article:The Staunton BandThe Ladies' Cemetery Committee, acknowledge a handsome contribution from Madame Pozzoni's Concert, and $10 50 through Mr. M. Pilson, from Bethel Congregation. Col. M. G. Harman furnished a wagon and team for two days. The ladies have received, from Baltimore, the lawn seed, and it is now being sown over the graves. They wish our patriotic farmers to haul all the rich earth they can, as three inches of earth is required to be placed over seed. Let all lend a helping hand, and the untiring energies of the Committee will complete this great work. In honoring the dead you honor yourselves. Let none be so mean as to hold back now. They gave all for you and yours, and all they ask of you is a little earth. Is it too much?
(Column 02)Summary: The paper reprints praise bestowed by a Charlottesville correspondent for the Lynchburg news for Staunton's Stonewall Band. "The 'Stonewall' band served in the confederate army from the first year of the war until its close, and one of the number lost a leg in the service. They are young gentlemen of good habits and standing in society, perform skilfully and artistically, and to my ear will do no discredit to any place or occasion to which they may be called." The correspondent saw them perform at the Gordonsville benefit concert.County Court
(Column 02)Summary: The County Court met on May 28th, J. Marshall McCue presiding. The court named commissioners authorized to hold elections for officers of militia regiments approved by the March 2, 1866, law passed by the legislature for the reorganization of the militia. The following were named: J. G. Fulton, Rudolph Turk, and F. F. Sterrett, for the 160th Regiment; M. W. D. Hogshead, James W. Newton, and James Henry, for the 93rd Regiment; S. McCane, James W. Patrick, and Thomas W. McClug, for the 32nd Regiment. Also, Rev. John H. Taylor "gave bond and security" to "celebrate the rites of marriage." John N. Hendren and Hugh W. Sheffey qualified as executors of the will of the late Judge Lucas P. Thompson. Henry Woodson and Peter Ransom were charged with felonies and remanded to Circuit Court for trial. The county took charge of the Middlebrook and Brownsburg Turnpike which was divided into precincts. John Miller was fined $50 and sentenced to six months in jail for petit larceny. George W. Griever and James W. Hudson were authorized to rebuild bridges over Christian's Creek and at mill race, in Waynesboro, on the old Staunton and Scottsville Turnpike.That Petition
(Names in announcement: J. Marshall McCue, J. G. Fulton, Rudolph Turk, F. F. Sterrett, M. W. D. Hogshead, James W. Newton, James Henry, S. McCane, James W. Patrick, Thomas W. McClug, Rev. John H. Taylor, John N. Hendren, Hugh W. Sheffey, Judge Lucas P. Thompson, Henry Woodson, Peter Ransom, John Miller, George W. Griever, James W. Hudson)
(Column 02)Summary: The paper reports that a number of men have come forward denying that they ever signed the petition calling for the return of Federal troops to Augusta. W. J. Dews, the originator of the petition, has had it withdrawn while he attempts to prove that it was indeed signed by all those he had previously listed.
(Names in announcement: John Shank, Z. F. Galbreath, G. W. Fauber, W. Armstrong, Martin Roher, W. J. Dews, William Herndon, A. T. Maupin, J. H. StoverJr., Todd)Full Text of Article:[No Title]John Shank, Z. F. Galbreath, G. W. Fauber, W. Armstrong and Martin Roher published statements in the last Vindicator denying signing "that petition" or saying they signed it under a misapprehension of its true meaning. "That petition" has been returned, and W. J. Dews says that all who say they have not signed it can prove it by coming forward and seeing if their signatures are attached. He sends us a letter signed Wm. Herndon, Secretary of the Commonwealth, which says "appended to the (Dew's) application (for appointment as Notary Public) is the following, signed by A. T. Maupin, P. M., alone, "we the undersigned cordially endorse the application of W. J. Dews." That petition is withdrawn, Dews says, for ten days only, and can be seen at his house by all. One J. H. Stover Jr., states, in the American Union, at Harrisonburg, that he deserted the Confederate service and after he came back signed "that petition" and has nothing to regret. It is believed that Stover, being an ignorant man, never wrote this statement, but was used by others. We understand that Todd swears he will prosecute all who say they never signed the petition, and it remains with them to settle the question. It will be interesting to see where the "lie" is.
(Column 03)Summary: The paper reports that Thad Stevens is "still bitter against the South, and introduced a bill declaring that Congress alone had the right to Legislate for us."[No Title]
(Column 03)Summary: The paper reports that W. G. Sterrett was elected Magistrate for the 1st District, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John D. Brown. The paper declares it "a good selection."[No Title]
(Names in announcement: W. G. Sterrett, John D. Brown)
(Column 03)Summary: The paper reports that "the gentlemen of Richmond devoted Monday to using the pick and spade, in repairing the graves of our soldiers" and urges the ladies to "appoint your day for Staunton."A Card of Thanks from the Colored People
(Column 03)Summary: The members of the African American M. E. Church of Staunton publish a letter of thanks to the whites who aided the church at a recent fair. The members warn that Emila Rodney is soliciting contributions to the Bethel Church under false pretences, and declare that they have no intention of advocating black independence from whites. Instead they acknowledge their dependence of the aid and good-will on Staunton's white citizens.
(Names in announcement: Emila Rodney, Rev. E. Lawson, James Scott, Phillip Rosshell, Henry Davenport, Aaron Shoveler, Frances Overton, Phillip Ransome, Oscar Morris, Adison King, F. Parris, Thomas Campbell, William Denny, James Carter, John Harris, John Napper, Nelson Shelton, David Devenport, A. M. GarberJr.)Full Text of Article:MarriagesFor the "Valley Virginian."
SIR:--The members of the colored M. E. Church, through the columns of the Virginian, would take occasion to thank the white citizens, of Staunton, for their valuable aid at a Fair recently held by them.
We would take occasion to inform the citizens of Staunton, that we have in our midst, one Emila Rodney, of Pennsylvania, of the Bethel Church, soliciting subscriptions under a false misrepresentation of facts, and would say, that if the white citizens feel disposed to further aid us in paying for our Church, they will please be careful who they pay money to, as we have been informed several gentlemen have contributed, thinking it was for the benefit of the M. E. Church, Colored, when it was intended for the Bethel Church.
They regret to learn that an impression seems to exist among the citizens, that the colored people wish to "draw out from among the whites," and in church and business matters, become independent of them; thus acknowledging little obligation to them. We are sorry to hear that this doctrine is taught by some of our color from the North, who are endeavoring to form a sect, new to us, here, but so far as that is concerned we have no sympathy with them. We do not desire this foolish independence, but are very thankful for sympathy and aid from the whites, and respectfully acknowledge our obligations.
Rev. E. Lawson, Pastor; James Scott, Local Preacher; Phillip Rosshell, Exhorter; Henry Davenport, Aaron Shoveler, Frances Overton, Phillip Ransome, Oscar Morris, Adison King, F. Parris, Thos. Campbell, William Denny, James Carter, John Harris, John Napper, Nelson Shelton and David Devenport.
To Major A. M. Garber, Jr.,
Editor of the "Valley Virginian."
(Column 04)Summary: H. B. Dickerson, of Charlotte County, and Miss Julia A. Crawford, of Augusta, were married on May 29th by the Rev. J. C. Baker.Marriages
(Names in announcement: H. B. Dickerson, Julia A. Crawford, Rev. J. C. Baker)
(Column 04)Summary: H. P. Cease, of Staunton, married Miss Mollie A. F. Bear, of Rockingham, on May 17th. Rev. J. W. Howe presided.Deaths
(Names in announcement: H. P. Cease, Mollie A. F. Bear, Rev. J. W. Howe)
(Column 04)Summary: Mrs. Amanda J. Hunter, of Augusta county, died on May 19th. She was 37 years old.
(Names in announcement: Amanda J. Hunter)
-Page 04- |
Cruci Dum Spiro; Fido
(Column 01)Summary: The paper prints a poem honoring the Confederate flag and its cause.
Full Text of Article:[No Title]Ye may furl that gleaming star-cross
That lit a hundred fields;
And sing your triumphs o'er its loss;
'Tis all your power yields;
Aye, tear the buttons from the gray,
"Confederate" from our scroll;
The heart will scar its own decay
Ere ye can chain the soul!Furl the red banner!-scribe its tale,
And shroud with regal pall! Thrill the requiem's surging wail
While ye sound our thrall.
A dauntless race has owned its sway,
That cross baptized in flame,
That shone on Jackson's deathless ray,
That valley-march of fame!Aye, live the years that hailed thy light
Flash immortality!
Laburnum waving for the Right,
Claim yet our fealty!
Cruci dum spiro, fido,
Echoes each fiery soul--
The dead yet crown their thousand hills,
And point their hero-roll"Subdued!" ye whisper; catch the gleam
That flashes from the West;
From the staunch heart of Donelson,
From Shiloh's gory breast!
Mansfield, Belmont, mem'ries bring--
Olustee and her glades--
And boldly Cleburne's echoes ring
From the kingly realms of shades;And Charleston, prouder in her pride,
More haughty in her fall,
Than when upon the stormy tide
She rang the evangel call!
And last, those faces gaunt and grim
That caught that April light;
Mark! 'neath that gray, with war-smoke dim
Smouldered heart-fires of might.Then furl our banner'd glory
That first that flamed in fight;
Ye cannot tomb the story
Burned on its stainless white!
From Sumpter's battlements it calls,
When Elliott guarded there,
And each proud fold a hero palls
Whose life nerves our despair!
(Column 01)Summary: The paper publishes a piece ridiculing African Americans and labeling them thieves.
Full Text of Article:New Definition of Loyalty"Say, Pomp, you nigger, where you get dat new hat?"
"Why at de shop ob course."
"What is de price of such an artikle as dat?"
"I don't know, nigger--I don't know--de shop keeper wasn't dar."
(Column 01)Summary: The article labels those loyal to the Union as thieves in recounting the story of a "brawling Kentuckian who was bragging about how loyal he felt, and who being asked what he meant by it, replied: 'I feel as if I sh,d like to shoot sumbody and steal sunthin'."[No Title]
(Column 01)Summary: The paper complains that "when the negroes were worsted in the Memphis riots, a Congressional committee had been sent down to investigate. When white people were slaughtered in Norfolk by negroes unprovoked, Congress had no tears to shed. Is this a white or black government?"