The Daily Gate City

THE GATE CITY.

A Democratic Soldier to the Copperhead.

[From the Muscatine Journal.]

CAMP U. S. SIGNAL CORPS,
MEMPHIS, TENN., April 4, 1863.

ED. JOURNAL—Sir: I am in receipt of a Muscatine Courier, of the date of March 20th, from a member of the Democratic party. Charity requires that I should deem the sending of the same an act of courtesy, in which light I choose to view it. But I hope you will not deny me the columns of your paper to make some comments and state some facts.

Such papers as the Courier and Chicago Times are regarded in the army as disloyal and traitorous, and are spurned with the contempt their sentiments merit. Without attributing unworthy motives to the sender of the Courier, I will state that such papers are sent to Democrats in the army for the purpose of fomenting discord and insubordination. There is a systematic attempt on the part of the Copperheads and the Democrats are in constant receipt of disloyal papers to corrupt the army. Of these treasonable productions of northern poltroons, who have the will but lack the nerve to take up arms against the Government. It is insulting to Democrats in the field. We are here in direct contact with the rebellion, and should certainly know as much about its features as those at a distance; and the only construction I can put upon the circulation of such documents is that they take us to be either fools or knaves. I have been a Democrat ever since I attained my majority. I was a member of the State Convention that assembled at Davenport in 1860, and occupied a place on the ticket it put before the people, but if opposition to the Constitutional Government, placed in power by the unbiased vote of the people, is Democracy, I am no longer Democrat. I love my country better than I do my party, and now in her time of need I think it is the duty of every loyal citizen to stand unequivocally in the support of the Government. I, for one, will denounce any man or party that will not give the Government a cordial and hearty support. There is no middle ground to occupy in this struggle. Every citizen must be for or against, and every man that is making an outcry about the measures the Government has been compelled to adopt for its self preservation is at heart a traitor.

I have been a participant in this struggle from the commencement, and been so unfortunate as to be a prisoner in the South for over eleven months. I have seen my comrades bayoneted when maimed and asking for quarter on the field of battle. I have seen prisoners shot down in cold blood when not violating any order, rule or regulation of their captors, and the authors of these murders not punished, but in one instance promoted. I have seen our flag, that was bravely borne over a bloody field—a flag round which brave hearts had rallied that are now still in death—a flag that was stained with the life-blood of its defenders—trampled in the dust and subjected to every indignity. I have been spit upon by females calling themselves ladies, when marched prisoner through the streets of Memphis. I have been fed on horse beef; I have been starved for three days; I have been loaded with chains for no offense but trying to regain my liberty. I have seen prisoners beat with a club and permanently disabled. I have seen rebel officers cast stones and brickbats into a crowd of prisoners, careless of who was hurt. I have been answered, when applying for medicine for a sick comrade, that they would rather furnish coffins than medicine. I have seen men knocked down, beat and starved, until they would swear into the Confederate service.

My experience in Southern dungeons is but the experience of thousands of others who have been unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. And when the Government undertakes to punish these fiends in human shape, there is a party in our midst that will make an outcry about the violation of their constitutional rights! Who first trampled the Constitution under foot? Who has deluged the land with blood? Who has caused the widows and orphans to mourn throughout the Union? Is it constitutional to turn hostile cannons on our Capital and boast that Jeff. Davis will issue proclamations from the White House? It must be, for I never hear these Constitutional sticklers denounce it. But when the Government which exists by the voice of the majority, is beset by armed rebels in front and cowardly curs in the rear; puts forth its energies to maintain its existence, it must be bound by an instrument that is not recognized by the opposing force and was not found to meet the exigencies of an intestine war, it is assailed with vituperation and abuse. I deny that the Administration has violated the Constitution, but in law and equity a party violating a contract forfeits its benefits, and it looks fanciful for traitors and their sympathizers to be making an ado about the violation of an instrument they have done their utmost to destroy.

A nation the same as an individual, has the right of self-preservation, and history teaches us that in the maintenance of that right the law of necessity or the law of the time being is paramount to the organic law, or, in other words, war measures supersede the organic code when the life of a nation is threatened. We find that the Roman Republic invested one man with Dictatorial powers and with the return of peace their civil code resumed its vitality.

But it is useless to refute the sophisms of these men. Their course from the beginning has shown them to be traitors at heart, and that their proper places are in our military prisons. They pronounced the calling out of troops for the protection of the Capital unconstitutional, because it lacked the sanction of Congress. They now pronounce the raising of troops under the act of Congress unconstitutional. They have been the fomenters of discord and dissension. They have opposed every measure looking to the subjugation of the rebels. They have abused and traduced every man, no matter what his political opinions are, who has shown any disposition to strengthen the hands of the Administration. They have magnified the successes of the enemy and colored and distorted the facts in relation to the advantages and misfortunes of our army.

Now a word to the Courier-man's Vicksburg correspondent: No man with his heart in the success of the Union cause could write such a letter. He puts a false coloring on all the operations of the army, and stoops to falsehood with regard to facts, some of which are within my own personal knowledge. From the sentiments he makes manifest in his letter, his appropriate place would be private Secretary to Jeff Davis. The Courier I have passed around the camp to all that I know to be Democrats, and it met their unqualified condemnation; nevertheless, I would like my Democratic friend to continue to send it, for I feel a curiosity to know how far depraved a Northern editor can get, and how long the people of Iowa will suffer soldiers that stand between their homes and desolation to be traduced. I skulk behind no fictitious name, but hold myself personally responsible to the editor of the Courier or his correspondent, and would as soon throw the gauntlet to a Northern as a Southern traitor.