Staunton Vindicator

This tribute to Jackson notes that the victory at Chancellorsville came at the great cost of losing the Confederacy's best general. The article recounts the events at Chancellorsville and Jackson's subsequent death.

This long excerpt from a longer speech discusses how the war could have been averted and how the Southern states could have left peacefully. In his speech, Wall calls for an immediate end to the fighting.

Thirty thousand men gathered in New York City recently to register their opposition to the Lincoln administration. Democratic political leaders were absent, but the rank and file agreed that the administration was a failure and called for an end to the war.

At no time since the war began has the depression in trade been so deep and so widespread. This situation is not necessarily bad, in that the wheat crop is abundant, families are practicing economy and reduction of expenses, and people are simply doing without blockaded goods.

The Confederate states have an excess of prisoners captured throughout the Confederacy of about 17,000 noncommissioned officers and privates. The captures of commissioned officers are about equal between the North and South.

General Early's troops, many of whom are from the Valley, recaptured Winchester, taking all the enemy guns and stores and between 6000 and 7000 prisoners. A son of Mr. J. Givens Fulton, of Augusta, was a member of the Staunton Artillery and was killed.

After visiting several hospitals in the state and throughout the Confederacy, the editor asserts that the General Hospital in Staunton "is better adapted to the wants of a hospital and that more care is taken to render its patients comfortable than at any other." The board which oversees the hospitals speaks highly of the local one also.

The editor comments on some peace meetings in the North and sees nothing to encourage him in them, as, in his opinion, they are full of blather.

The Governor has called out all reserves to meet the call of the President for 8000 militia to serve for six months, beginning August 1, to repel enemy raids. The President wants volunteers for this project, rather than stretching the militia any further. Organizations to repel raiding parties have been forming in neighboring counties already. A meeting will be held in Staunton on next court day to form a similar group.

Rev. Dr. Dabney has been selected by Jackson's family to write a biography of the general. The popularity in the Valley of both the general and the biographer ensures a great demand for this work.

The writer is from another state but participated in the recent Valley campaign. Jackson's troops were few in number and were being driven up the Valley by the enemy. The troops left the main road, retreated to Port Republic, and thus left the town of Staunton open and unguarded. The writer notes that the editor of the Spectator took the first opportunity, left his town, office, and property, and relocated to Lewisburg. The soldier criticizes the editor for not staying to protect his and his neighbors' homes.