Franklin Repository

When the war of the rebellion was precipitated, the then authorities at Washington, calculated that sixty thousand men and three months would be sufficient force and time to crush the plot of treason. It is not necessary now to refer to the fact that this calculation of a force of necessity to arrest rebellion was woefully wrong, and that instead of requiring three months, four years, four terrible, weary, bloody, and self-sacrificing years were consumed in the struggle to restore the Union to peace. But it is a curious fact that one of the States of the Union has furnished almost five times as many men to aid in crushing rebellion as was at first demanded of all the States, to accomplish that result.

On inquiry in the office of the Adjutant General, A. L. Russell, for information relative to the full number of men furnished by the State of Pennsylvania, as recruits for the armies of the Republic, we were placed in possession of the following letter:

WAR DEPARTMENT, PRO. MAR. GEN.'S OFFICE,
Washington, D.C., Sept. 2, 1865
His Excellency, A. G. Curtin, Governor of Pennsylvania:

SIR: I have the honor to inform you that the number of men furnished by the State of Pennsylvania from April 17, 1861, to April 20, 1865, is three hundred and sixty-one thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine (361,939) without reference to period of service, which varied from three months to three years. Please acknowledge the receipt.

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JAMES H. FRY, Pro. Mar. Gen.

The number of men credited to Pennsylvania, in the foregoing official account tallies so closely with the records that we are willing to accept it as correct. But there are other official records besides those kept at Washington of men furnished by Pennsylvania, to aid in crushing the rebellion, which greatly swell the aggregate force we sent into the fields. These records show, that for State defence and in response to the demands of sudden emergencies, Pennsylvania put into the field at various times a force of between 86,000 and 90,000 men. On several occasions we had a cordon of bayonets stretched along the southern border of the State. Then again, the number of men who were induced to leave the State for enlistment in other States, was very large. The border counties of New York along the entire border line, were paying heavy bounties before the counties in this State along the same line, offered pecuniary inducements for enlistments. The same inducements were offered to citizens of Pennsylvania by other border States. An entire regiment was raised in the western counties of Pennsylvania for Western Virginia. In New Jersey, for a time enlistments were largely discouraged by the copperhead leaders, so that loyal men in districts in that State, anxious to fill up their quotas, were compelled to find substitutes through the influence of heavy bounties offered to the people of Pennsylvania. Nor was it only the States immediately on our border that filled their quotas from among our citizens. States on the Pacific coast did the same; in proof of which we need only refer to the fact that a full regiment was recruited in the city of Philadelphia, for the State of California, a regiment afterwards commanded by one of the California United States Senators. Carefully estimating the men thus raised and enlisted in various localities, we put down the aggregate number of troops thus furnished by Pennsylvania at 25,000. Indeed, so great was this drain on our military resources that the Legislature passed a law sternly forbidding the enlistment of men within the borders of the State for service in the organizations of other States, and districts emphatically declared that the families of those thus leaving the Commonwealth, should not receive the benefits of the relief offered to the families of the soldiers in Pennsylvania organizations. Nor must we forget the large number of colored troops that were enlisted in Pennsylvania for other States. At least 2,500 colored troops went into service in other States, who were taken out of Pennsylvania. Taking these figures at fair estimates we have the following:

Recapitulation of Troops Furnished by the State of Pennsylvania, to Aid in Restoring the National Authority in the Revolted States:
Number of men regularly furnished and accounted for by the Provost Marshal of the United States, 361,939.
Number of men in the aggregate called at various times to meet emergencies growing out of the attempted invasions of the North by the rebel army of Northern Virginia, 96,000.
Number of men who left Pennsylvania to enlist in other States, 25,000.
Number of colored men who left Pennsylvania to enlist in the organizations of other States, on account of there being no opportunity for colored troops to enlist in this States, 2,500.
Aggregate number of troops furnished by the State of Penn'a to sustain the National Authority, 479,459.

The above is a record of which the State may well feel proud, and taken in connection with the other fact--the reduction of our State debt--reflects honor and credit upon the patriotism and fidelity of the people of the Keystone State and their public servants, who administered its affairs.

To the Democrats of Adams and Franklin Counties:

According to the true theory of representative governments every voter is entitled to consult his individual interest in voting.

By doing so, it results that all interests are represented in the legislature, and the general interest is consulted in the legislation of the country.

You will be required to make the application of this great principle of popular government at the approaching State election. Among the questions affecting your interests which will come before the next legislature, there is one which overshadows all others. I refer to that of compensation for the losses which you have sustained by the rebel raids and invasions of the last few years. So vitally does this question affect your interests, that all parties and all candidates for office in these counties have been obliged to declare in favor of compensation.

If the political parties and candidates for the State legislature in other counties of this State were equally favorable to this measure, it would not be necessary for you to consult any other interest in this election than that of your party. But unfortunately such is not the case.

The political parties in other counties of the State have not declared in favor of this measure of justice and generosity to their suffering fellow citizens on the Southern border.

They are in fact interested in opposing it, and certainly never will consent to it except in consequence of the most persevering and determined efforts on the part of your representatives.

More will therefore depend on the personal character of the men whom you are about to select to represent you in the legislature in procuring the allowance of these claims, than upon their merits or upon any other cause whatever.

While the representatives from the other sections of the State will oppose these claims, party leaders will endeavor to avoid the responsibility of their rejection by doing indirectly and covertly what they dare not do directly and openly.

And in this they will surely succeed if your representatives do not posses sufficient nerve and ability to unmask their efforts and to extort from their fears what will be refused on an appeal to their sense of justice and magnanimity.

Fortunately it is in your power by sacrificing party to your individual interests to elect at least one man of the requisite ability to represent you in the next legislature.

I need not name the person to whom I refer. It is only necessary to describe the man of energy, of address, and of persistence required for the occasion, and all who know him personally or by reputation will instinctively pronounce the name of David McConaughy. I need not add that he is a successful lawyer and advocate with the experience of twenty years practice, and earnestly devoted to the cause of the Border claims.

This gentleman has just been presented as a candidate for Senator by the Union convention, and will of course be supported by Republicans on political grounds. It is therefore only necessary for him to receive the votes of Democrats who are interested in the compensation question to be elected. These votes he must receive (at any hazard) or you will be without a representative in the Senate from the Border known to be qualified to successfully advocate your cause before that body.

If the Democratic party, or more properly speaking its managers and leaders, should suffer from this preference of your own interests to theirs, the fault is not yours. It is that of the Democratic State Convention which failed to endorse the compensation proposition. It is that of the Democratic district convention which nominated Mr. Duncan instead of Mr. Sharpe, as its candidate for Senator. It is not my purpose to disparage Mr. Duncan, he is no doubt worthy of the nomination which he has received, though it was one under the circumstances, not expedient to be made.

Mr. Sharpe was known to be man of mark and ability, who possessed considerable influence in the legislature, and had he received the nomination instead of Mr. Duncan, the Democrats of Franklin and Adams counties would have found it to be their interest to sustain him, and he might, even have received the votes of many Republicans who knew him better than Mr. M'Conaughy. But unfortunately different councils prevailed with the convention. A gentleman comparatively unknown and wholly untried and inexperienced was nominated. Will it be said that he may possess abilities superior to those of Mr. Sharpe, and might, if elected, come to exercise as great an influence in the legislature than the latter is known to have exerted? Surely this is no time to make experiments with new men, so far as the suffering voters of Southern Pennsylvania are concerned.

This was a matter for the consideration of the nominating convention and it has been disregarded by its members, who preferred selfish or personal considerations to the general interest, they will have no right to complain if the Democratic masses prefer their own vital interests to those of their would be leaders. But I apprehend the party and the country will survive should you in the exercise of your sovereign discretion prefer your own interests to those of other people, as you are entitled to do according to the principles of your party and of our government.

It has been urged by leading Republicans who are deeply interested in the result, that it is the true policy of the Democrats in the border counties to vote for representatives who are in political communion with the party in power both at Harrisburg and Washington, and which holds the majority vote which can give success to your claims.

Whether there is any force in this argument or not it is not material to inquire, since the folly of the Democratic district convention has left the Democrats of Franklin and Adams no other alternative than to adopt the course I have suggested.

These remarks are addressed to you by a Democrat who is, like yourselves, deeply interested in the speedy and satisfactory solution of the local question which for the time, so far as the people of Adams and Franklin are concerned, supersedes in vital importance all others of a general nature. A DEMOCRAT.