Staunton Spectator

We noticed last week that a meeting would be held in the Court House tonight for the purpose of organizing an Association in aid of the one established in Richmond for the benefit of maimed soldiers. It is hoped that the meeting will be well attended, and that many ladies will grace the occasion with their presence. It is hoped that Associations for the same purpose will be established in every neighborhood in the county. We believe that Augusta county will do as much as any county in the State to furnish artificial arms and legs to the brave soldiers who have been maimed in the military service of the country. We understand that Rev. J. L. STIREWALT has collected as much as $16,000 in the counties of Rockingham, Shenandoah and Page. These counties have done well, but we cherish the belief that, if Associations be formed in every neighborhood as we think should be done, this county will contribute more than all three of these counties. We hope that the proper kind of an Association will be organized in Staunton that it may be a model for those in the different villages and neighborhoods of the county. Form the Associations without delay, and appoint good committees to wait upon the people. The most efficient committees for such purposes are those composed of ladies. There are now in the Confederacy 10,000 maimed soldiers, and may be nearly as many more before this "cruel war" will be over. What a sublime spectacle it would present to see all these maimed soldiers supplied with limbs by generous, voluntary contributions. The page of our history which would contain the record of this fact would be among the brightest in the whole volume--it would be one which even angels could read with pleasure. This page will be written, and the name of this noble county will be found upon it. Augusta will not be excelled by other counties in deeds of generosity, liberality and humanity to the noble soldiers who have sacrificed their limbs in the service of their country.

The correspondent of the Petersburg Express on the Blackwater, gives a detailed account of the infamous conduct of the Yankees and negroes during the late raid into the counties of Isle of Wight and Nansemond. The negroes were turned loose on the women and children in Suffolk, and robbed every house in the town. Watches, jewelry, &c., were stolen from the persons of ladies, and every indignity and insult offered them. Two of the most respectable ladies in the town, ladies of high school position and refined feelings, being found with no male defenders near, were grossly insulted with propositions and attempted violence too indelicate to appear in print. These ladies were forced to defend themselves with knives against great, black, greasy, buck negroes, whilst their friends were away in the army. This fiendish proceeding has produced a sensation in Suffolk which has been equalled by nothing that has transpired since the war commenced.

The South is really menaced by one serious danger only; and that is the failure of adequate subsistence. While superfluous abundance exists in many considerable districts of the Confederacy, it cannot be denied that in those in which there is much the heaviest consumption of food, including Virginia, a most serious scarcity prevails. This scarcity is not only felt in the cities, towns and villages, but throughout the interiour [sic] country. There are many farmers in Western Virginia who could spare largely from their hoarded stores for the general want; but it is a fact notorious, which it were idle to deny, that a considerable proportion of the producing population of Virginia are stinted for the necessaries of life.

[We should be pleased to know where these "many farmers in Western Virginia who could spare largely from their hoarded stores" live. They do not live in this part of "Western Virginia."--Ed. SPECTATOR.]

As long as two months ago the county of Charlotte, in a region unoccupied by any army, took measures to obtain a supply of grain for the consumption of its inhabitants from the far South; and if this be the case on the South side, imagine what it must be in regions suffering from the presence of armies; where, first, producers voluntarily sold to Government what they could spare; where, second, a molety [sic] of what was left has been impressed by foraging parties sent out from the armies; and where, third, much of the residue has disappeared under the pilfering and robberies of straggling soldiers, over whom no discipline seems to be exerted.

[Rich. Examiner.

April 25th, 1864.

On motion it is ordered, that the order of this Court entered on the 22d day of Feb., 1864, be, and the same is hereby so modified as to empower the county agents authorized to procure and distribute supplies to the families of soldiers to disregard the limit of prices prescribed by said order, and to purchase such supplies as may be absolutely necessary for the support of the needy families of Soldiers at the best prices at which they can be bought, and that in making distribution and sale of such supplies to the Soldier's families the said agents, at their discretion, in cases of absolute necessity, may furnish the supplies required to protect such families from actual want, even to an amount greater than can be paid for out of the funds allowed to such families, and that such agents shall keep accurate accounts of the excess and report the same for levy at the next June term; and that the said order is further modified so as to authorize the said County agents to make the purchases and impressments authorized by said order, not only within their respective Magisterial Districts but anywhere within the county.

And it is further ordered that hereafter the families of persons who entered the Military service as substitutes for others, and who are now and may continue in active service, shall be provided for as other Soldiers' families, such substitutes being now liable to service themselves under the act of Congress.

A Copy-Teste [sic],
May 3-3t WM. A. BURNETT, D.C.