NASHVILLE DAILY UNION
December 1863 – December 1864
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
December 12, 1863
E.
Sincere & H. Freeman,
Practical
Opticians,
33 Union Street,
McClure's Music Store.
Spheroidal Spectacles,
The greatest help for
the human sight ever invented. Also,
Superior Field and Marine Glasses, Opera Glasses, and a full line of Optical and
Mathematical
Instruments.
Glasses put in old
Frames.
Artificial Eyes Inserted.
Nashville, June 20, 1863
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
December 12, 1863
Reading
World,
Look at the List of Authors of New
Books, just received at Brown & Co's.
Popular News Depots.
48 College, One
Door
}
{ 54 Cherry, in
from Merchant's Bank,
}
{ the Gazette
Building.
Alex. Dumas,
George Sand,
Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth.
G. W. M. Reynolds,
G. P. R. James,
"
Ann S. Stephens,
Emerson Bennett,
Capt. Marryatt,
" Caroline
L. Hentz,
Charles Dickens
Doesticks,
"
Henry Wood,
Wilkie Collins,
T. W. Arthur,
"
_____ Grey.
J. B. Jones,
Chas. Lever,
Miss Bremer,
"
Pardoe,
Miss M. E.
Braddon.
We also receive daily all of the latest Daily and
Weekly Newspapers, English and American Magazines, New Books, Dime
Novels, and Song Books; Monthly Novelettes, Diaries, Almanacks, etc., etc.
To the Trade we offer special inducements.
Dealers in the army and elsewhere, give us a call, or send for our Trade
List.
Brown & Co.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
January 8, 1864, p. 1, c. 6
From the Cincinnati Commercial.
CHATTANOOGA, Dec. 28, 1863.
UNION
REFUGEES
Are daily arriving from
the interior of Georgia and Middle Tennessee in large numbers.
Here they are dependent upon the bounty of the Government until
arrangements are completed for sending them North.
The picture of destitution and suffering presented by all of them is
truly heart-rending. They are almost naked, and the traces of gradual starvation
are visible upon their gaunt forms, that resemble walking skeletons.
Mothers with sickly children, with scarcely enough rags to cover their
nakedness, are forced to listen to their cries for bread, and press them to
their bosoms in the embrace of death; sons are to be seen supporting the
trembling forms of parents as they faint beneath the fatigue of travel and
starvation, and are unable to quench their hunger.
Could your philanthropic men and women of the North witness the ray of
joy that lights their countenances, and behold the grateful look as the sunken
eyes of these starved loyalists are raised to heaven in mute return of thanks to
God for the Government rations distributed to them, they would in the
distribution of their bountiful supplies, remember this class of their
fellow-creatures, upon whom the war has fallen with crushing weight.
One circumstance, however, strikes the spectator as a little singular. Many of these refugee families arrive with their negroes'
children, for whose welfare they seem as much concerned as for that of their own
flesh and blood.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
February 13, 1864
Fresh
Groceries
Just Received by
R. A. Barnes & Co.,
No. 47 and 49 South Market Street.
5 hhds. choice New
Orleans Sugar
50 bbls beautiful white Neshannock
10 bbls. choice New Orleans Molasses,
Potatoes
10 bags Grain Pepper,
5 boxes Kentucky Mustard
20 bags prime Rio Coffee,
20 do
Lemon Syrup,
1 chest superior Oolong Tea,
10 do
Tomato Catsup
10 chests Green Teas,
10 do
Pepper Sauce
50 boxes fine hard Candy,
100 do
Tobacco
20 boxes best English Dairy Cheese,
500 kegs Nails
100 boxes assorted Can Fruits,
300,000 fine and common Segars
100 boxes assorted Preserves,
500 reams Wrapping Paper
200 boxes assorted Pickles,
100 do
post and cap Paper
100 boxes Baltimore Cove Oysters,
100 do
note Paper
100 boxes Sardines,
500 Stone Jugs
10 boxes prime Italian Macaroni
300 Demijohns
100 boxes Family Soap,
50 packages Virginia Smoking Tobacco
25 boxes fine Soda,
40 cases Matches
20 boxes fine and common Glass Tumblers,
5 bbls Alum
20 boxes Ground Pepper,
10 do
Copperas
5 bbls Filberts,
10 boxes Indigo
5 bbls Almonds,
10 do
Garret's Snuff
5 bbls cream or Brazil Nuts,
100 do
Duryea's blue and pearl Starch
100 kits Mackerel, No. 1 and 2,
100 kegs Pigs Feet
50 half bbls Mackerel, No. 1 and 2
500 bbls Salt
10 bbls Mackerel,
100 packages Northern Butter
5 bbls Halibut,
500 bbls extra White Wheat Family
Flour
50 gross Mason's Blacking,
500 bbls extra Red Wheat Family Flour
100 boxes Star Candles,
100 drums Figs
100 half boxes and quarters,
10 boxes Fig Paste
50 doz. Washboards,
100 do
½ and ¼ boxes Raisin
50 doz Brooms,
100 dozen painted Buckets
10 boxes Jamaica Brown and raw Ginger,
10 do
covered wooden do
10 sacks Spice,
100 do
Baking Powder and Quick
Yeast
10 bbls Dried Apples
500 Sugar Cured Hams
10 do
Peaches
50 mats Cinnamon and Nutmegs
100 bbls Onions
10 bales Cotton Twine
5 bbls Onion Sets and Cloves,
10 doz Coffee Mills
5 boxes French Mustard,
500 bbls Ale and Lager Beer
400 boxes Better Envelopes
36 do
purified Indigo for washing
10 bbls Madder
Besides several other things. Also,
a large stock of fine old Liquors and Wines, to be sold as soon as the Military
get in a drinking mood, and allow its sale.
R. A. Barnes & Co.
Nashville, February 13, 1864.—1m.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
February 19, 1864
Soap
Chapter.
To Make Washing Soap.—One gallon soft water; 2 lbs. hard soap, made of
palm or olive oil and soda ash; 4 oz. sal. soda; 2 oz. borax.
Put all in a clean kettle, bring to a gentle boiling, and in ten minutes
put in three tablespoonfuls of burning fluid and two of hartshorn.
Simmer till well blended, then pour off.
How to Make Toilet or Shaving Soap.—One gallon water, 4 lbs. hard soap,
as above, 2 oz. borax, 2 oz. sal soda. Color
with a teaspoonful of Chinese vermillion [sic], dissolved in two teaspoonfuls of
warm water. Streak through the
mould, while warm, stirring in flavoring, also, at the same time.
To Make Transparent Soap.—Shave very fine the soap used.
Use the same soaps as above—Colgate & Co.'s Opodeldoc soap for the
white, and common bar and chemical soap for the fine transparent.
Put best alcohol in a vessel deep enough to be safe on a stove.
When it begins to simmer, put in the shavings; 1 lb. of soap to 1 pint of
alcohol, is all the soap the alcohol will cut; pour off as soon as dissolved.
Keep from fire. If it should
take fire, smother out.
To Make Honey Soap.—Shave and dissolve two pounds of yellow soap in a
vessel suspended in boiling water. Then add one-quarter pound of each of strained honey and palm
oil, and three cents worth of the oil of cinnamon. Useable when cold.
To Make One Barrel of Soft Soap into Two.—Put one barrel of soft water
to a barrel of soap, and five lbs. sal soda, a half-pint of hartshorn, and a
half-pint of burning fluid. Green soaps must be kept from freezing; if frozen, melt over.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
March 1, 1864, p. 2, c. 2
Daily Union Office,
Nashville, March 1st, 1864.
. . . Groceries—N. O. Sugar 19@21c pr lb; Crushed 24c; Coffee 44c; Tea
$1.75@2.25 pr lb., according to quality; Molasses, $1@$1.10 per gall; Syrup
$1.10@$1.20.
. . . Candles—Star 24c pr lb., Tallow $6 per box.
. . . Soap—German 12 1/2c per lb; Family 12½ c.
Cheese.—Western Reserve 18c per lb; Hamburg 18½; English Dairy 20c.
. . . Dye Stuffs.—Indigo $1.75 per lb; Madder 20c per lb. Coperas [sic] 60c
per lb.
Cotton Cards.--$15@$18 per dozen.
. . . Note.—The above are wholesale prices.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
April 2, 1864
The
Orphan's Ball
The lady managers of the fair now being held for the benefit of the
Orphans, respectfully inform their friends and the public that they will give a
Grand
Ball
In the Hall of Representatives,
at the Capitol, on
Monday Night, April 4th,
for the same benevolent object.
Refreshments served at all hours.
Tickets, admitting a Gentleman and Ladies, Two Dollars each, will be sold
at the Fair.
Ladies'
Fair
for the Benefit of the
Catholic Orphan Asylum.
The ladies of Nashville respectfully inform their friends and the public
that the Fair for the benefit of the Catholic Orphan Asylum will open at the
McKendree Church (kindly tendered for this purpose by the Rev. Dr. Baldwin, the
Trustees, and the military authorities) on Monday evening, the 28th
of March, and continue open every night during the week.
The ladies solicit public patronage in this truly charitable work.
Refreshments will be served on each evening.
A full Brass Band will be in attendance, and every means used to make
visitors happy.
Tickets, 25 cents each.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
April 3, 1864
New
Fashioned Fangled Factions.
at
L. Block & Co.,
72 Public Square,
Wholesale Sutlers' Supplies.
Our stock embraces
everything in the line of
2 pound can oysters, sardines, pickles in kegs, pickles in bottles, pigs feet,
sour krout, fresh butter, green apples, dried apples, dried peaches, molasses in
barrels, molasses in kegs, peaches, pears, blackberries, raspberries,
strawberries, blackberry jam, currant jelly, pine apples, pepper sauce, tomato
catsup, chow chow, honey, French mustard, ground mustard, horse radish.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
July 22, 1864, p. 1, c. 6
For
the Nashville Union.
What is to Become of the East Tennesseans?
The
above inquiry is one of grave importance, and the urgent necessity for a prompt
answer is made manifest by the wasted farms and pillaged houses of thousands of
the loyal citizens of this neglected section.
Our
farms are wantonly laid waste, all our horses and cattle are taken
unnecessarily, all the hogs killed that will do to eat, and the stock hogs shot
down to prevent us from raising more. Our
best farmers will not be able to start a single plow when spring comes, and if
they had the horses they have nothing to feed them on.
In such a condition of things, what is to become of a population of near
one hundred and fifty thousand women and children?
It is a high time we had some intimation of the policy of the Government
towards the loyal people of East Tennessee, now that such easy terms are
given to the Rebels.
After
near three years of a reign of terror over this people by the most unfeeling,
relentless of oppressors that ever lorded it over humanity; after their friends,
sons and fathers have been shot, hung, drowned, imprisoned, starved to death,
poisoned, hunted down with bloodhounds and savages; robbed, sacked and
plundered; after near twenty thousand of her loyal citizens have gallantly
enrolled themselves under their old flag, and have shown themselves ever willing
to battle for its honor, we find the families of these same soldiers robbed and
plundered of everything by our own army, and are now left in mid-winter begging
for bread. The spectacle presented
in this country would melt a heart of stone; but it seems the large force lately
sent to Knoxville and back to Chattanooga, contained but few hearts of such soft
material. That army will long be
remembered for its wholesale plundering and robbing along the road.
It is true they were just from the battle-field, where they had done some
good service in breaking up the siege of Chattanooga.
Many a brave companion had fallen in the bloody fray, but they fell
fighting the enemies of the country, not its friends.
Much
allowance should be made, however, for the conduct of some of those men, from
the fact that they had to subsist on the country, not having rations to take
with them. But no allowance can, or
should, be made for the officers in command, for not giving proper vouchers to
the loyal people for their subsistence and forage. The Rebels had already gleaned the country of nearly all its
surplus, and but little was left more than was absolutely necessary for the
support of the families living in the country. But what there was would have
been spared cheerfully, had the officers in command desired it or asked for it.
But no, none were asked for anything!
The poor woman, whose husband had been gone for two years in the Union
army, was suddenly deprived of the little stock of corn, hogs, and cattle, and
herself and children left to beg; and when she demanded vouchers or pay, she was
insulted, and told to go to Chattanooga, and prove her loyalty and she
would get pay!! A soldier's wife
have to prove her loyalty before she can get pay for the corn which herself and
daughters raised!! And after they
had thus robbed a poor soldier's wife, or the widowed mother of some of our
soldier boys, shoulder strapped gentry feast upon their ill-gotten booty and
laught [sic] at what a handsome thing they have done for the old lady. After a long continuance of such outrage as this, are not
loyal people entitled to be heard? If
this is to continue, for what do we East Tennesseans fight? We thought we were fighting for the protection of the
Government. We certainly did not
suppose that after we had aided in bringing the arms of the Union to our
hearth-stones, that these arms would be turned on our women and children, to
force from them the last morsel of subsistence without compensation.
But in
all this there is a deep laid policy and the attention of every East Tennessee
Union soldier should be called to it. That policy was indicated very freely and frequently by a
Major General in the United States army, not long since, to be to lay waste the
country, destroy the towns and farmhouses and improvements; in fact, leave the
whole country a barren waste, and then, (to use his classic language) "if
the rebels want the damned country, let them take it!
After all, then, is our country to be given up to the rebels?
Certainly such can not be the intention of the Government.
But for a Major General in the army to use such language; and, not only
that, but to instruct his soldiers on the march to pillage and ransack every
house along the road, it is high time we began to inquire, what is to become of
us. The worst, however, is yet to
be told. This same General used
language that must and shall be remembered by every loyal East Tennessean as
long as life lasts. They can
forgive him for laying waste their houses, and leaving their women and children
in mid-winter at starvation's door. But
after thousands of her loyal men have had to leave their houses and all they
held sacred, and swim rivers, and toil hundreds of miles through rugged
mountains to join our army, to engage in what might at one time have been
regarded as a doubtful issue; after near two years of absence, and many
much longer than that, to return to their houses and find them laid waste by our
own army, and then be denounced publicly by a Major-General in the army as
COWARDS, and their families pronounced disloyal, is more than every loyal
East Tennessean can bear without complaint.
Speaking for the East Tennessee soldiers in our army, I take pleasure in
pronouncing the statement as to our disloyalty or cowardice, a base slander, and
challenge a test of the matter in any way desired by those maintaining the
opposite opinion. But there is a
point, to which I would call the attention of both the authorities, military and
civil, as well as the truly loyal people of the nation.
That is, the thread to burn the towns, lay waste the farms, and make the
country uninhabitable, and then if the Rebels want it, let them take the
damned country."
We have
been fighting to restore East Tennessee to the Federal Union, and now after we
have buried hundreds of our companions in Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, have
suffered all the calamities and misfortunes incident to camp life and the
vicissitudes of war, for two, and many of us for near three years, now to be
told that our "damned country" is to be given up to the rebels,
is enough to arouse an inquiry as to what is to become of us.
Whatever may be the opinion of strangers as to the merits or demerits of
our country, yet to us, it is the one dearest spot of earth--it is our home.
It is to restore this, our home, to the Federal Union, the Government of
our choice, that we have engaged in the cause of the Union; and he who denies us
the privilege of living in the Union, or who would agree to our
abandonment to the secessionists, is himself a secessionist, and a traitor to
the cause of the Union, and if, in authority, should be dismissed the service.
There
is but little difference in my judgment between the red-mouthed, fire-eating
secessionists of the South, who advocate secession for protection to the
nefarious slavery traffic, and the equally disgusting and red-mouthed
abolitionist, who either advocates or agrees to "let the South slide,"
in order to get rid of slavery. Each
doctrine leads to the same end--disunion; and the advocated of disunion or
secession were pronounced by General Jackson to be traitors to the country, and
the law of the land pronounces against such the penalty of death.
We East
Tennesseans assimilate the unity of the States to the lion's den--"all
tracks go inward, but none outward"--all States can come into our Union,
but none can go out. This is the
doctrine held by loyal East Tennesseans, and we adjudge no man truly loyal who
believes or advocates the doctrine that any power under the sun can relieve the
people of a State of their fealty to the Union.
Suppose, however, after all our troubles and difficulties, after being
robbed by the rebels, our women and children insulted and treated as menial
slaves, by the lordly Georgia and Alabama slave-dealer, and the product of their
summer work snatched from them at harvest time, and then our army comes along
and takes not only what was hid away for the winter's support, but also the
household furniture in many cases, and then when the country is laid waste they
and their section of country is to be abandoned to the Southern Confederacy, in
what light will be held up to the world in the history of this new Government?
Do you not all remember the story of the traitor Arnold? If this accursed Southern treason is to be allowed to
establish itself and write its history, it will set us down in the same light.
He then who advocates the abandonment of this or any other part of the
United States to the Rebels advocates secession, and is a co-worker to that
extent with Rebels and traitors, and should be treated accordingly.
Then,
East Tennesseans, let us stand by our colors independent of the jeers of
Southern or Northern secessionists, and still show to the world an example of
heroic devotion to the cause of the Union that should challenge the admiration
of our Southern enemies, and heap shame and confusion upon the heads of those in
our ranks who take such pride in slandering your fair fame, and disgrace the
cause by robbing your families. Let
us by our devotion to the Union, independent of slave-dealers or abolition
fanatics, prove ourselves worthy descendants of the noble band who marched from
East Tennessee to King's Mountain in the old Revolution, and the time will come
when we may again be proud to be called East Tennesseans.
This
appeal, however, to East Tennesseans to stand by their colors, is superfluous,
as they are unconditional Union men, and cannot be driven from duty by
the thieves who rob their families, nor by the jeers of irresponsible, cowardly
letter writers, who are continually writing to Northern journals about their
ignorance, nor by that "most unkindest cut of all"--the charge
of cowardice. They will still
"rally around the flag," with a faith in the perpetuity of the Union
as unfaltering as that which animated the Israelites of old in following the
"pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night."
It
would be improper to conclude this article without giving proper credit to Major
General Howard, who has won golden opinions from all loyal people everywhere
through East Tennessee, and is everywhere regarded by them as a friend, not an
enemy. And it may be proper to
further remark that there are many officers who disapprove of such conduct as I
have narrated, among whom I may mention Gen. Thomas.
Yet there are many who not only permit, but seem to countenance and
encourage the devastating process which has been resorted to in East Tennessee.
I may say further, this public complaint of the conduct of certain
portions of the army, would not now appear, were it not for the fact that longer
silence on the part of East Tennesseans, might be construed by the pusillanimous
scribblers who write about us, into an acknowledgment of the of the charges of
cowardice and ignorance. Such
insinuations and charges made wholesale by these scribblers is intended to beget
in the minds of Northern people and Government officials a sort of contempt for
our people, in order that no attention may be paid to or sympathy shown to them
when they complain of their losses. No
doubt such scribblers are paid by some Quartermaster to do so. At any rate such attacks are mean and cowardly, and in bad
taste, and no man having the least particle of principle would thus attack a
people who have shown such devotion to the cause of the Union.
To all such, a general challenge from East Tennesseans is tendered, to go
into the ranks with them and stay on the field as long as they do.
This is all the East Tennesseans will demand of any who believe them
cowards or ignorant of their rights. This
communication is already too long, but the enormities and outrages committed on
loyal East Tennesseans demand public attention; and little popinjay
shoulder-strapped gentry need not think that because we have submitted thus long
that we have not spirit; and the day may not be far distant when they will find,
instead of women and children, some manlier forms will be there to protect the
loyal families of the soldiers of East Tennessee.
***
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
February 12, 1864, p. 1, c. 6
BRIDGEPORT, ALA.,}
Feb. 4, 1864 }
...A poor woman with a baby in her arms asks to be directed to the Provost
Marshal's quarters. She has a
husband, a refugee who is at work for the government at Nashville.
She wishes to join him, and desires to see the Provost marshal in order
to get the necessary papers. She inquires for a doctor also, and the tent in
which is occupied by Galen is pointed out.
She pleads with the man of the scalpel for a little "sperrits"
for her sick baby. This looks
suspicious, but mankind are uncharitable--very.
Possibly the dirty little innocent may have been accustomed to imbibe
strong drink from its earliest babyhood. The
custom is an ancient one, and therefore entitled to respect....
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
February 27, 1864, p. 2, c. 1
Particular
Notice--No More Ladies to Go to the Front.
We
are requested by the highest authority to announce that no more passes will be
granted to the wives and families of officers, to the front of any of the armies
in this theatre of operations. Northern
papers will save such persons much useless expense and trouble by giving
publicity to this statement.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
March 8, 1864, p. 3, c. 1
Yesterday afternoon, we notices a family of humble refugees from rebel tyranny,
"stowed away" in one of the piles of cross ties on Broad Street, near
the wharf. They had stretched
canvass over it to ward off the rain, and, with their household plunder, had
gone in for comfort. A parcel of
children were abed asleep, a couple of half grown girls sat diligently arranging
their sable locks, while a youth of about fifteen looked on without concern.
Two men stood by, a mother sat in a chair with a youngster in her lap,
whilst "grand ma" and her "specs" and pipe, looked the very
picture of dont-care-a-copper comfort. Thus far on their journey north, they
take a resting spell, awaiting transportation to the land of milk and honey,
where "yankee soldiers" grow. With
all their humility, these poor people love freedom too well to live willingly
under the rule of the Jeff Davis despotism.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
March 8, 1864, p. 4, c. 1
Letter
from the 12th Army Corps.
Camp 13th New Jersey Volunteers}
Duck River Bridge, Tenn., March 4th, 1864.}
....The conscription is working fearfully for the citizens of the Southern
States; whole families are compelled to leave their homes on account of
non-subscribing to the will of Jeff. Davis.
A party of fifty came through here yesterday, direct from Georgia; they
were driven from their homes on account of their loyalty.
Among the number were several children, all without shoes, and many sick,
occasioned by the cold weather and unremitting exposure.
Their last camping ground is only a few miles from here, and a visit to
it would convince any one of the barbarity of the enemy.
Beside one of the shelter tents, made of rails and brush, are three
graves, about two feet long, where some heartbroken women have been compelled to
lay the remains of their dear children, who had frozen to death the night
previous. Many are yet sick, and
but few will live until they arrive at Nashville.
Terrible will be the retribution for such acts, and soon will come the
day of execution.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
March 10, 1864, p. 4, c. 2
Destitution
in Bradley County.
Office of Public Charity,}
Cleveland, Tenn., Feb. 29, 1864}
Permit
me, through the columns of your paper, and other Union papers in Tennessee, to
call attention to the condition of families of Union soldiers in this county
(Bradley).
On the
arrival of the Detached Division of the 15th army corps, General Matthis,
commanding, there was found to be the greatest destitution prevailing throughout
this region of country. I was
detailed, by the General commanding, to open an office in this place to receive
and examine applications, and endeavor partially to relieve the universal want
from our meagre supply of army stores. As the wants of the army had to be the first consideration,
it left but little to relieve the wants of destitute citizens, but we have been
giving them what little could be spared.
This
country has been so completely ravaged by the rebels that those who were in good
circumstances have nothing left with which to aid their needy neighbors--all
are destitute.
Most of
those who have been applicants for aid are females, and nearly all of them have
husbands, sons or brothers in the Union army, either in Nashville or Knoxville,
or in the vicinity of those places. For
want of mail facilities or other means of intercommunication, they do not so
much as hear from their friends in the army, and of course have received very
little pecuniary aid from them.
But if
they had money in the greatest abundance there is nothing to buy.
If the little supply we are giving them is cut off, as it probably must
be, very soon, I see nothing but starvation before many of these poor
people. They cannot long live here,
and my purpose in writing these few lines is to ask (unsolicited) if there
cannot be some arrangement made by which the wives and children of soldiers in
our army can be got to some place where remittances from their friends in the
army can reach them, and where they can obtain at least a precarious
living until these troublous times are over.
Let me say that the Unionism of these people has been proved in
the fire.
I am a
perfect stranger to these people--have been among them but a few days, and
expect to leave them to-morrow, probably never to see them again in this world.
All that I have said for them is perfectly disinterested in me and
unsolicited by them.
Yours, &c.,
W. G. KEPHART,
Chaplain 10th Iowa Infantry.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
March 15, 1864, p. 3, c. 7
CHATTANOOGA, March 12.--
Gen.
Steadman, commanding this post, issues 5,000 rations daily to citizens, some of
whom came a distance of fifty miles.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
March 31, 1864, p. 2, c. 1
Relief
for East Tennesseans.
The
fund for the relief of the people of East Tennessee has, throughout the North,
reached nearly $100,000; of which sum the penurious Yankees of Massachusetts
contribute $71,813. Mr. Everett
prints a daily list of subscriptions, averaging about $2,000; and before the
first of May, it is highly probable that New England will contribute at least a
quarter of a million to the suffering loyalists of East Tennessee.
The money comes from all sources; from almost every man whose name is
eminent commercially, or politically, or socially, or professionally.
It seems to have been a matter of honor among the solid men of Boston to
give to this fund.
The
agent who was sent out to distribute the first installment of the fund, has
returned to New York, and informs the Tribune that he was called on to relieve
not mere suffering and want, but absolute destitution.
Thousands of loyal men and women have lost literally everything but their
fidelity to the Union, and are to-day dependent on the army commissariat for
food. Their farms have been
ravaged; they need tools, stock, seed, and the means of hiring labor, to resume
their cultivation. They have no houses left.
They are like a people suddenly planted in the midst of a fertile
country, compelled to trust to their own industry, but without any means to make
it productive. The charity which
they will accept is not to support them idle.
What can a few hundred thousand dollars do for the population of half a
State? It is to put them once more
on their feet, to enable them to live in the country they have nobly defended,
to make the territory again capable of feeding the Union armies.
It is
to be hoped that the money collected will be appropriated as speedily as
possible. We know something of the
destitution existing in the mountain regions of this State; we witnessed it, in
all its horror, in December last; and it has no doubt increased since that time.
The
country is fertile, and the people are industrious; but they have neither
animals, farming utensils, nor seed grain; and their farms are unenclosed.
This summer they will be protected and they can raise good crops, if they
can only get a fair start.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
March 31, 1864, p. 3, c. 6
CHATTANOOGA, March 30.--
Refugees just from Walker county, Georgia, says the rebels are hunting Union men
with blood hounds.
Four
hundred and thirteen refugees were sent north during the past week.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
June 16, 1864, p. 1, c. 6-7
[in Knoxville]...This part of East Tennessee is now left to the mercy of the
rebel bush-whackers and guerrillas--who are robbing the women and children of
what little Longstreet's bands of thieves did not deprive them. Old gray-haired
men are fleeing from their homes to the Union lines to seek protection; and such
of the women and children as are able to stand the long, fatiguing journeys on
foot--such things as horses or vehicles of conveyance of any kind having long
since been appropriated by the rebel authorities--even to old blind horses.
We saw and conversed with many refugees who arrived in Knoxville at or
about the same time we did, whose description of affairs in these unprotected
counties is of the most awful and heart-rending nature.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
October 2, 1864, p. 2, c. 1
Many of
Atlanta's most destitute citizens continue to arrive in this city daily.
Some of them are without means, and are very poor indeed.
The winter will soon be here, and the Lord only knows how these destitute
people will get along. We sincerely
trust that something can be done to alleviate the sufferings of this class.
Let us remember that "He who gives to the poor, lends to the
Lord."
We understand that four children of some refugee family died night before last
at the Chattanooga depot from cold, hunger, and exposure.
It is a terrible thing that in our midst persons are dying by inches from
suffering, while thousands of our citizens have an abundance of the comforts of
life. We entreat our city
authorities to inquire into this matter and not let human beings in this city
die, neglected and unnoticed as if they were brutes.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
November 24, 1864, p. 1, c. 6
Sufferings
of Refugees--An Appeal to the Charitable.
Correspondence of the
Nashville Union.
A
professional call, Mr. Editor, to see a patient prostrated by a sharp attack of
pleurisy, took me Tuesday amongst the Southern refugees at the Nashville and
Chattanooga Railroad Depot. I had
heard something of the privations and distress off this unfortunate class, but
previously knew nothing from personal observation of the extent and severity of
their sufferings. Satisfied that
the major portion of this community are as ignorant as I was, on the subject;
and for this reason alone little has been done by private parties to relieve
their necessities, I ask leave to call public attention to the matter through
your columns.
The
cruel necessities of war have, during the past two years, caused large numbers
of persons to seek a refuge from oppression here and at other points, within the
lines of the national army, as well as further north; but, at no former period,
have we had it in our midst such scenes of misery and woe, as are now to be seen
at the above named place. Hundreds
of men advanced in years, grey-haired sires, with decrepit forms, gaunt, half
famished boys within the rebel conscript ages, delicate women, lightly clothed;
half-grown girls, and tender little children, of all ages, are congregated here.
The most of them arrived within the past week from Georgia, having been
compelled to leave their homes, and all that was dear to them, in the land of
their birth, or to remain and encounter persecution, insult, and whatever injury
a maddened foe might choose to inflict. Many are citizens of respectability and
worth, reared in the lap of plenty, and strangers hitherto to want.
Amongst them are accomplished matrons, and young ladies of culture
accustomed to refined society. They
arrived here in the rain and mud of the week past, and finding no hospitable
voices to invite them to comfortable shelter, have found it necessary to put up
with such accommodations as they could get, in the vicinity of the depot.
Their condition was sufficiently deplorable, when they stopped here, but
it has been made worse by the sudden reduction in the temperature of the weather
now below the freezing point. Without
proper shelter, covering, or fuel, they are exposed to the frigid winds, and are
suffering intensely. Much sickness
prevails, and a number of children have already died from cold and exposure; and
unless something is done to relieve them, others must also die.
It is enough to make the heart bleed to witness the patient endurance and
misery of these innocent people; and humanity shudders at the thought of their
remaining a day or an hour longer in their present condition.
In
times past, citizens of Nashville, you won deserved praise for your noble deeds
of charity. The poor, which have
always been with you, have been provided for, and made comparatively
comfortable. But never before have
you had such an opportunity to do good, and to make yourselves a blessing to
your race; and I implore you not to let it pass unimproved.
Bestir yourselves. No time
should be lost. Act promptly and
efficiently. If you need to be
convinced, leave the warm fires in your grates and visit the refugees at their
quarters; and my word for it, you will be stricken with horror and shed bitter
tears of sympathy and sorrow.
I do
not make these remarks merely to incite others to perform their duty.
Heaven knows I am willing to contribute liberally of whatever means I
possess, and shall do so whether others follow the example or not.
But what are the resources of one person in such an emergency.
Let us all act together, and combined effort may accomplish much.
There are thousands of the strangers sojourning in our city who will
gladly, as I believe, join us in this christian work.
Perhaps
it would be well to have a public meeting, and appoint committees, to solicit
contributions and apply them; and I make the suggestion.
What
say you, fellow-citizens?
L. L. COLEMAN, M. D.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
November 24, 1864, p. 2, c. 1
Thanksgiving Day comes to-day, the 24th day of November.
For victories by land and sea, for bounteous and overflowing harvests,
for the preservation of our national honor and integrity, for the additional
star that has come out of the eclipse of obscurity to glow and burn upon our
national banner, for the deliverance and preservation from pestilence, we are
called upon to give thanks. And
where is the citizen, that, thinking over the record of the past year, does not
feel his heart throb with pride and thankfulness for such a glorious record.
But the
day demands other thoughts and other services, as well as these.
With the loud paen of victory and triumph comes also the wail of the
fatherless, the groans of the suffering, and the faint entreaties of the
starving. In our own city, today,
hundreds are suffering for clothes, for food, for warmth. To many an unfortunate
has the gaunt spectre of starvation appeared, pointing with long and bony
fingers to the grave, as the last refuge to earth's weary ones.
Last night, men, women, and children, were starving in our midst.
Benumbed with cold, faint with hunger, weak from exposure, human beings
died almost within speaking distance of those dwellings where luxury and ease
brooded, and where plenty dwelt. Nor
can it be said "I am not my brother's keeper."
That was the plea of the first fratricide.
But we
say not these words to reproach or censure, but to wake up the dormant
sympathies of those benevolent hearts that have but to know these things, to
make an effort to relieve them. And
while in thousands of homes the day will pass with mirth and pleasure, we hope
those who are suffering will not be forgotten.
The consciousness of kind deeds performed, of hearts made glad, will add
a keen relish to all the pleasures of the day, and like a benison of peace hover
over the record of life's deeds. Let
some concerted action upon this matter be taken and the day will then be made a
Thanksgiving day indeed.
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
November 27, 1864, p. 4, c. 1
THE
REFUGEES--Receipts yesterday, fifteen men, twenty women, thirty five children;
total, sixty. Sent North--forty-two
men; seventy-four women, ninety-four children; total, 210.
Whole number on hand, 4,147. Two
births, both boys, occurred at the "Refugee House."
Mothers are as well as could be expected.
One negro man died at the Nashville Depot, and one negro woman at the
"House." In order to get
all those lying in the sheds and warehouses along the railroad, into camp, no
more rations will be issued to them, and only those in the camp are to be
furnished subsistence.--Gaz. 25th [Chattanooga]
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
November 29, 1864, p. 1, c, 5
THE
REFUGEES.--10 men, 29 women, and 50 children, a total of 89 persons, were
received at the "Refugee House" yesterday; 8 men, 13 women, and 27
children, a total of 48, were sent North. Whole
number in the camp 4299, being an increase of 41 over yesterday's report.
Of this number 1674 are negroes, and 2625 are whites.
The authorities are sending the white refugees North as fast as possible,
but no negroes. Twenty-five negro
men, each with families were sent to camp over the river, where they are to be
employed in chopping wood for the Government.
Three deaths, one white man and child, and one colored child, were
reported at the Post Provost marshal's yesterday.
Several families of refugees moved into the "Soldiers' Home"
yesterday.--Gaz. 24th [Chattanooga]
NASHVILLE DAILY UNION,
December 10, 1864, p. 3, c. 2
There
are large numbers of indigent refugees remaining in our city, and many destitute
citizens, who have before them the gloomy prospect of intense suffering, if they
remain here this winter. The prices
of clothing, provisions, fuel, and everything else necessary for the support of
human life, have attained an altitude which renders it impossible for those, in
what might have heretofore been esteemed easy circumstances, to maintain their
families, without the most pinching economy.
With every disposition to extend the hand of assistance to the needy,
they find themselves unable to render material aid.
It is upon this great middle class that the expense of all our public and
private charities have principally fallen heretofore.
The wealthy, wrapped up in their conceit and self importance, and
regarding the poor as not fit to breathe the air they do, have never done much,
and never will, unless from the vainglorious motive of having their alms
published to the world. During the
present winter, therefore, it will be as much as the really benevolent can do to
take care of themselves. It would,
then be better for all those who have not the means of subsistence to avail
themselves of the notification of the Mayor of Nashville, published this
morning, and go north where there is peace and plenty.
Our city is too full; and we fear if the number of non-producers is not
greatly lessened, they will pay dearly before the blossoms of another Spring
gladden our vision.