Staunton Spectator

During the retreat of the Yankees thro' Tazewell county in their late unprofitable raid on Wytheville one of their number fell behind on Bluestone, and was met in the road by Misses Martha and Nannie Hendrickson, daughters of John Hendrickson, a refugee from the county of Fayette. Miss Martha ordered the Yankee to deliver up his gun, which he refused to do: not in the least daunted, this brave young lady advanced upon him, and siezing [sic] his gun, gave him a peremptory order to surrender. This he did, and the two noble girls marched him to the house of the nearest neighbor, and kept him closely guarded for five and six hours, until some of our soldiers, in pursuit of the Yankees, relieved them of their prisoner.

Such is a plain, unvarnished statement of a fact that adds one more item to the long list of noble deeds performed by the daughters of the South in this war. After the pursuit of the Yankees was abandoned by our forces north of Abb's valley, John Marrs pursued them alone for several miles, killing two, wounding several, and capturing eight or nine horses.

To Colonel May, of Kentucky, and his brave men, the country owes a debt of gratitude for the bold and determined manner in which he kept up the pursuit from the beginning to the end of the chase. He pursued them steadily for seventy-five miles, without eating or sleeping, fought them twice, killing seven, wounding many more, capturing 27 prisoners, and over one hundred horses, without losing a man. --[Examiner].

On the small farms throughout this section all is life, activity and industry. Many a woman who never before held a plow, is now seen in the corn-field--many a young girl who would have blushed at the thought before of handling a plow-line, now naturally and unconsciously cries, "gee up Dobbin," to the silvery tones of which the good brute readily responds, as if it were a pleasure to comply with so gentle a command.--Many a Ruth, as of old, is today binding and gleaning in the wheat-field, but, alas! no Bess is there to console or to comfort. The picture of the rural soldier's home is at this time but a picure [sic] of primitive life. Throughout the country, at every farm house and cottage, the regular sound of the loom, as the shuttle flies to and fro, with the whirl of the spinning wheel, is heard, telling of home industry. Cotton fabrics, of neat, pretty figures, the production of home manufacture, are now almost wholly worn in Tennessee, instead of calicoes.

After more than two years of warfare scarcely equalled in the number, magnitude and fearful carnage of its battles--a warfare in which your courage and fortitude have illustrated your country and attracted not only gratitude at home, but admiration abroad--your enemies continue to struggle in which our final triumph must be inevitable. Unduly elated with their recent successes, they imagine that temporary reverses can quell your spirit or shake your determination, and they are now gathering heavy masses for a general invasion in the vain hope that by a despearte [sic] effort success may at length be reached.

You know too well, my countrymen, what they mean by success. Their malignant rage aims at nothing less than the extermination of yourselves, your wives and children. They seek to destroy what they cannot plunder. They propose as the spoils of victory that your homes shall be partitioned among the wretches whose atrocious cruelties have stamped infamy on their Government. They design to incite servile insurrection and light the fires of incendiarism whenever they can reach your homes, and they debauch the inferior race, hitherto docile and contented, by promising indulgence of the vilest passions as the price of treachery. Conscious of their inability to prevail by legitimate warfare, not daring to make peace lest they should be buried from their seats of power, the men who now rule in Washington refuse even to confer on the subject of putting an end to outrages which disgrace our age, or to listen to a suggestion for conducting the war according to the usages of civilization.

Fellow citizens, no alternative is left you but victory, or subjugation, slavery, and the utter ruin of yourselves, your families, and your country. The victory is within your reach.--You need but stretch forth your hands to grasp it. For this and all that is necessary is that those who are called to the field by every motive that can move the human heart, should promptly repair to the post of duty, should stand by their comrades now in front of the foe, and thus so strengthen the armies of the Confederacy as to ensure success. The men now absent from their posts would, if present in the field, suffice to create numerical equality between our force and that of the invaders--and when with any approach to such equality have we failed to be victorious? I believe that but few of those absent are actuated by unwillingness to serve their country; but that many have found it difficult to resist the temptation of a visit to their homes and the loved ones from whom they have been so long separated; that others have left for temporary attention to their affairs with the intention of returning, and then have shrunk from the consequences of their violation of duty; that others again have left their posts from mere restlessness and desire of change, each quieting the upbraidings of his conscience, by persuading himself that his individual services could have no influence on the general result. These and other causes (although far less disgraceful than the desire to avoid danger, or to escape from the sacrifices required by patriotism,) are nevertheless, grievous faults, and place the cause of our beloved country, and of everything we hold dear, is imminent peril. I repeat, that the men who now owe duty to their country, who have been called out and who have not yet reported for duty, or who have absented themselves from their posts, are sufficient in number to secure as victory in the struggle now impending.

I call on you, then, my countrymen, to hasten to your camps, in obedience to the dictator of honor and of duty, and summon those who have absented themselves without leave, or who have remained absent beyond the period allowed by their furloughs, to repair, without delay, to their respective commands; and I do hereby declare that I grant a general pardon and amnesty to all officers and men within the Confederacy, now absent without leave, who shall, with the least possible delay, return to their proper posts of duty; but no excuse will be received for any delay beyond twenty days after the first publication of this proclamation in the State in which the absentee may be at the date of the publication. This amnesty and pardon shall extend to all who have been accused of, or who have been convicted and are undergoing sentence for, absence without leave or desertion, excepting only those who have been twice convicted of desertion.

Finally, I conjure my countrywomen--the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters--of the Confederacy, to use their all-powerful influence in aid of this call, to add one crowning sacrifice to those which their patriotism has so freely and constantly offered on their country's altar, and to take care that none who owe service in the field shall be sheltered at home, from the disgrace of having deserted their duty to their families, to their country, and to their God.

Given under my hand, and the seal of the Confederate States, at Richmond, this 1st day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.

SEAL.

There is considerable excitement here in anticipation of a visit from the Yankee in considerable force from the West. Preparations are being made to meet them.

We would invite the attention of the public generally, and of stragglers and deserters from the army particularly, to the appeal from their posts of duty, to return immediately, and avail themselves of the pardon granted to all who will return to their commands by the 20th of this month. All who return by that time will be pardoned, and those who refuse to do so will be punished as deserters. All who are in confinement will be released and returned to their respective commands. Those who were confined in Castle Thunder in Richmond, 1080 in number, have been released, and sent rejoicing to join their commands in the field. To stragglers and deserters, the time between this and the 20th instant, is a period of jubilee, in which their bonds are broken and the stigma of disgrace erased from their characters, if they return promptly, as they should to their commands. To those who fail to avail themselves of the privilege thus granted, but little, if any, mercy will be shown. If there be any stragglers or deserters in this section of the State, we would appeal to them, as they value their characters, love their country, and dread ignominious punishment, to return at once to their posts of duty. There are soldiers improperly absent from their commands, perhaps quite a number, who do not see or read the newspapers at their homes, and if left to that source of information alone, will not he informed of the President's address; or, if they are, will hear of it too late to respond fully to the appeal, by returning to their respective commands in time to avail themselves of the pardon, which it proffers.

We would, therefore, in the language of a correspondent of the "Sentinel," suggest "that the old and influential citizens of the country, who take the newspapers, or who become otherwise informed as to the character and terms of this address, proceed without delay to make it known in their respective neighborhoods throughout the Confederacy. Let them, as a sacred duty, give the information to every soldier and officer improperly absent from the army whom they may see; and, if necessary, make it their special business to seek such soldiers at their homes, to read to them the address, urge on them its importance, and to furnish those who may need it (if any) with the means of transportation to rejoin their commands. If this be done at once, in every neighborhood, not only will these soldiers get this information with certainty and in proper time, but the influence and weight of character of the old men of the whole community, will be brought to bear practically in aid of the President's address.

Stragglers and deserters take advantage of the universal sympathy of our people for the soldiers, and impose upon them. An Aid of one of our distinguished Generals, in writing to the editor of the "Enquirer" upon the subject, says: "Let the people be warned that in feeding any straggling soldier, they may be aiding desertion, certainly encouraging a vice nearly as bad practically--that of straggling. Let them be informed that no matter how plausible the tale of the straggler, it is always false; and designed to deceive the unwary.--No good soldier is ever separated from his command, unless from sickness, or on furlough, or under orders. When from the first cause, provision is made for the transportation of such as are unable to walk; and if any are found away from the army, and not in charge of the persons designated to take care of the sick, be assured that absentees are stragglers. In the second case, no man ever straggles when going home on furlough; and, besides, no man gets a furlough now; so that any soldier who pretends to have a furlough (unless a sick furlough) is probably a deserter, certainly a straggler. In the third case, (absence under orders) the orders will show why the soldier is absent; and when thus absent he is nearly always accompanied by a commissioned or noncommissioned officer.

With the exception of the skirmishes which occurred on Saturday week and Tuesday last at Brandon, in Culpeper, in which the enemy were repulsed, there has been no news of interest from the army of Gen. Lee. The Lynchburg Republican reports the substance of a letter from a very reliable officer in Lee's army which contains the gratifying intelligence that the ranks of our forces are being daily filled with returning volunteers, that the spirit of the troops is first-rate, and that shoes and clothing are being furnished those deficient in such articles in abundance. He thinks that Meade is not yet in a condition to give us battle, and that when he does venture upon that experiment, Lee will whip him badly.

We think it will be some time before Meade will throw down the guantlet [sic] for battle to Gen. Lee, and we confidently believe that when he shall do so that he will be defeated. Our boys are now on Southern soil and are determined to avenge their repulse at Gettysburg.

"The world was sad, the garden was a wild,
And man, the hermit, sighed till woman smiled."

The good ladies of Greenville and vicinity have, upon several occasions, furnished the sick and wounded soldiers in this place with large supplies of provisions, such as bread, pies, bacon, chickens, honey, butter, vegetables, &c., &c. These articles were all of the very best quality, and such as to make some of the well almost wish they were sick or wounded that they might partake of some of them. It has been so long since some of us have tasted chicken that we have forgotten whether they are fish, flesh, or fowl.

The Yankees are reported to be burning the wheat and destroying everything in the line or reach of their march. They are arresting citizens, and many are fleeing leaving their wives and children. Meade's Headquarters are said to be at Catlett's station and Sedgewick's at Warrenton.

A gentleman from Washington, Wednesday, says that 50,000 runaway negroes are around the city. Lincoln is enrolling the negroes, free and slave, in Maryland.

If any short-sighted Confederates, of feeble knees and pallid livers, says the Enquirer, have been deluding themselves with the idea that in case of subjugation by our enemy, the worst that could happen to us would be merely to go back into the "Union as it was," with the "Constitution as it is," &c., it is time for them to awake from that dream. For us, in case of being overcome in the field, there is to be no Constitution and no law. The entire possession of the whole Southern country, with every house and estate; the absolute fee-simple of all the land, with its "woods and waters, mills and fishings, to have and to hold unto Yankees, their heirs and assigns," this is the prize for which our enemy fights, and without the prospect of which he would not strike another lick. To fully attain this, it will be necessary for the Yankees to abolish the Constitution entirely, so far as regards us Confederates. We must be left without rights, without legal remedies, an inferior race creeping on the face of our own land. To make all ready for this sweeping operation (which they think they will be in condition to enforce some time next winter) the Yankee legislators, it seems, are preparing an ingenious law. The design of this law is thus explained by the N. York "Times":

"The Confiscation Act.--The question of an amendment to the Confiscation act, so that the property of traitors once confiscated shall pass from them and their heirs forever, is being discussed by Congressmen, and will be brought up early in the next session. The law is now construed that after the death of the traitor, the estate reverts to his heirs, which renders the intended working of the act practically void."

Since the 1st August, the Treasury notes issued on and before December 1st, 1862, (generally known as "old issue,") have been refused by a number of persons, who formerly received them. The only reason for this refusal is the fact that the said notes ceased to be fundable on the 1st inst., and, furthermore, because some of the brokers had stopped buying them; but holders should remember that they are as "good" for paying taxes due to the Confederate Government as any other money, gold not excepted. Therefore, let no one be alarmed by the rejection of those notes by a few persons, who ought to know better and act more wisely.

A New York paper admits the loss at Gettysburg of 16 Generals, and according to some accounts 18, killed, wounded or prisoners, and that the aggregate losses on both sides were about equal, say 25,000 each. This is equivalent to an admission of double our loss. An officer writes, that of the 1st Minnesota regiment, 87 out of 220 are left; and that of the brigade of 2,100, only 400 rations were drawn after the battle, and that was more than were needed.

[From the Richmond Sentinel]

As we need soldiers just at this time, allow me to suggest the propriety of calling into service the thousands of able-bodied Commissaries, Quartermasters, Clerks and public agents, generally, who are snugly and profitably (to themselves) out of harm's way, and let their places be filled by maimed soldiers and men over the age of 45. I suppose there are not less than 30,000 able bodied men now employed in this way, who are under as much obligation to carry a musket as we are; and who could be as well spared. Among them are many who were real "blood and thunder" gentry just before the war opened, but have taken remarkably good care of their precious bodies ever since. many of them are also distinguished for criticising our military movements, and volunteering suggestions to our military authorities, as to what should be done in in [sic] certain contingencies. They are also famous for urging aggressive movements, such as invasions, storming of strong positions, and the like, well knowing that they will be in the rear while there is danger, but taking good care to go to the front when the enemy is routed, and pick up the nice spoils that we have fought for and won.

Let them be brought out, Mr. Sentinel, let them be brought out; justice demands it.

A SOLDIER.

On the real soldier the country should, and will, shower its blessings and rewards. But he must be the real soldier; he who remains at his post; he who asks few furloughs, and is never absent without leave; who never straggles on the march; who does not skulk from the fire; who is seen in the ranks of the army or in the hospital, but never at home, never in the wayside house, never in the cities, unless with a broken limb. To him be honor and reward, the first places of the nation will be his by right when his work shall be finished--not before and not otherwise.

But what is the due of those wretches who straggle to rob and beg, who skulk or are sickly at every pinch, who are visible here, there, and everywhere, except in their companies when the roll is called? Are they entitled to any part of the consideration due to their comrades in the camp? Is it not a cruel robbery of the brave and true to call them soldiers? Their name is deserter, the vilest of malefactors! As such they should be treated, by every man and every woman, and every child, every civil and every military functionary. The house that gives such a one shelter is disgraced. Those who feed them, harbour them, or who, knowing of them, do not promptly inform the proper authority, partake of their crime, and stab their country.--[Examiner.