Editorial #8 LEE SURRENDERS!

APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE, VIRGINIA.  On April 9, 1865 in the Mclean house in the village of Appomattox Courthouse, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant, Commander-in-Chief of the Union forces.  In a sign that is pregnant with hope for the healing of a nation, General Grant allowed the defeated Lee to keep both his sword and his beloved horse, Traveller.

 

This paper can understand Grant’s (who was certainly acting on Lincoln’s orders) desire to not humiliate the humble and capable Lee.  But should the North be so kind to the rest of the South?  Consider:  625,000 dead; over 412,000 wounded – many of them without arms, legs, and eyes; billions of dollars of property damage; a skyrocketing national debt due to the cost of the war; and finally, perhaps the greatest cost, a nation of people with hatred, anger, and even revenge swelling in their breasts.  Have we truly seen an end to fighting?

 

Several Confederate armies still exist, especially General Johnston’s army in Tennessee.  Will they surrender?  This paper also wants to know what will be done with Southern leaders like President Jefferson Davis.  For many Northerners, hanging seems too good for Jeff Davis.  Hang John Brown and not this traitor?

 

And then there is the Negro problem.  Suddenly millions of freed slaves will flood our cities, fill our jobs, demand schools and homes.  Will they reek their own special vengeance on their humiliated Southern masters?  It is hard to believe that bloodshed is truly over.  Even so, this paper rejoices with the news that the end of the war is at hand, and this paper has total confidence in President Abraham Lincoln to continue to guide this country back to the thriving Union it was and hopes to be.

Editorial #7 ATLANTA IS BURNING

ATLANTA, GEORGIA.  Most Americans thought the war would be over by Christmas, 1863.  The South was reeling from two major defeats – Vicksburg and Gettysburg.  Reports say that many Southern soldiers are fighting barefoot – no shoes.  They have very little food and their ammunition is running low.  The North’s blockade is slowly strangling the South.

But Dixie won’t die.

The South’s spirit, their will to keep on fighting appears to be superhuman.  Robert E. Lee has fought a brilliant series of battles against General Grant.  Grant keeps throwing his troops at the rebel defenses like a fireman throwing buckets of water at a burning building.  And the flames crackle and consume.  Northern boys are dieing by the thousands.  The North is angry… at President Lincoln! 

 

This election of 1864 will be the most interesting in our history.  It looks like Lincoln might lose!  General George McClellan is running against him, and McClellan has promised to end this terrible war by making peace with the South… allowing them to become their own country.  Lincoln will never allow that.  He says, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  Lincoln will NOT get rid of Grant… he likes his fighting spirit.

 

Only one thing might help Lincoln win the election and continue the war.  Atlanta.  General William Tecumseh Sherman has turned Georgia into a burning hell.  He devastates everything in his path – TOTAL WAR he calls it.  Sherman believes the only way to break the South’s spirit is to make them hate war.  He has captured Atlanta, the heart and soul of the South’s railroads.

Atlanta is burning and maybe the north will see the light, see that the war can be won and vote for Lincoln.

You in the North, will you vote for Lincoln?

You in the South, will you continue to fight?

July 4th!

GETTYSBURG.  Once again, we celebrate our freedom with fireworks… but this time, the bombs are real, the rockets reveal the fields of blood and broken bodies.  In the North, they are rejoicing with General Grant’s successful capture of Vicksburg.  Vicksburg, the last Southern stronghold on the Mississippi, now belongs to Lincoln.  The North has taken its knife and cut the Confederacy in half.

 

And at the same time, the vaunted General Robert E Lee has been stopped in Gettysburg, PA.  General Meade’s Union forces turned him back, including a heroic stand by the men from Maine led by Colonel Joshua Chamberlin.  As Lee hobbles back into Virginia, one wonders if the great general will soon lay down his sword and surrender.

 

Our reporters were present on the battlefield of Gettysburg when President Lincoln gave what this paper believes is one of the most memorable speeches in American history.  In his address at Gettyburg, Lincoln reminds us that, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” 

    

Do you hear that, America?  ALL MEN ARE EQUAL.  Tell that to the brave soldiers of the Massachussettes 54^th regiment – all negroes led by brave white officers like Colonel Robert Shaw.  Tell that to the slaves hiding in the underground railroad.  Tell that to our neighbor Queen Victoria.

    

All men are equal… as they lay silent and bloody, side by side on the hallowed ground of Gettyburg and Vicksburg.  Will the South – finally – listen?

THE SURPRISING SOUTH

VIRGINIA.  It is now abundantly and terrifyingly clear that this war will not be over in a few months.  Families in the North and the South are grieving the loss of husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers.  Perhaps readers of this very paper have lost a loved one in the last month.  This is not surprising considering the staggering loss of life at such battles as Bull Run, Antietam, and bloody Shiloh Church.  Those who thought the South would crumble under the might of northern armies and weapons are painfully and shockingly surprised.  The  South has done more than put up a fight.  They are winning the war in the East.  Virginia is theirs.  And so much for the North’s vaunted advantage in technology.  It was the Southern ironclad, Virginia, that reeked havoc on Northern ships in Hampton Roads last March.

 Reports of spies seeping into the very fabric of our lives in the North and the South have alarmed not only Presidents Lincoln and Davis, they have aroused the suspicions of ordinary citizens.  There are also reports that the Confederacy is sending representatives to Great Britain to ask Queen Victoria to join the South in defeating the North.  Great Britain!  It appears that the Revolutionary War is NOT over.

Editorial #4 WAR!

FORT SUMTER at CHARLESTOWN,S.C. It is done.  It has come.  War is ripping our beloved country into two seething halves of anger, suspicion, and violence.  On the morning of April 12^th, General P.T. Beauregard’s batteries opened fire on the Federal troops stationed inside the main fort guarding the entrance to Charleston’s lifeblood – her harbor.  Why?  President Lincoln would not back down and withdraw the troops from the harbor; instead, he decided to resupply them.  South Carolina could not live with “enemy” troops pointed like a dagger at her throat.  The cannons roared, calling a country to battle.  Every American must decide.  Secessionist or Unionist?  Slaver or Abolitionist?  Federal or Confederate?  True Blue or Proud Gray?  Who will you fight for?  Cry for?  Bleed for?  As for this paper, we will never cease to do all that is within our power to preserve the integrity of one of the greatest nations on earth.  With some reluctance, but with eternal resolve, we support President Lincoln’s decision to call for volunteers to join the Federal army, and to FORCIBLY return the miscreant southern prodigals to the UNITED States of America.  UNION FOREVER!

A HOUSE DIVIDED

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA. The United States… are united no more.  On February 4^th, delegates from seven states, seven SOUTHERN states, seven SECEDED states, seven servants of that tyrant, KING COTTON, mutinously gathered like bloody pirates and created a new ship of state – The Confederate States of America.  And why?  Because a REPUBLICAN was elected president.  A no-name country lawyer from Illinois with the folksy moniker of “Honest Abe.”  Honest?  We shall see.  Honest Abe has promised not to abolish slavery where it already exists.  He promises this despite the howls from the self-righteous abolitionists who claim to know what is better for the black man than the black man himself.  Lincoln promises the abolitionists that he will not let slavery spread.  Isn’t this enough to appease the Quakers, the Ministers, the Moralists?  No.  no one is happy.  NO ONE IS HAPPY.  And now our beautiful country lies broken and wounded.  One can only imagine the salivating wolves like Mexico and Great Britain ready to pounce upon America’s helpless carcass and tear us into further pieces.  What are we to do with these 7 rebellious states?  How can we shut the shrill voices of the abolitionists crying for blood?  Will it be war? 

EDITOR’S NOTE !!!   It has come to the attention of this publication that spies for both North and South are already afoot.  Specifically, there is talk of a plot against our new President’s life.  This paper urges all Americans to be vigilant.

Editorial #2 JOHN BROWN: HERO OR VILLIAN?

Editorial #2  JOHN BROWN:  HERO OR VILLIAN?

 

HARPER'S FERRY, VIRGINIA. Last week on October 16th, John Brown and several of his followers raided the federal weapons storage depot at the Harper's Ferry Arsenal in Virginia. The raid, which some have characterized as "heroic" and others as "an outrage" has served one purpose. It has raised the tensions between those states that support slavery and those who do not. This paper, which has often questioned the practice of slavery in the past, does NOT support, and never will support the use of violence to solve what is really a political problem. Brown has shown his true colors.  He made Kansas “bloody” with his raids on innocent settlers.  And now he has raided a FEDRAL ARMS DEPOT. John Brown should be punished, and his exploits should be denounced by President Lincoln. It is the only way to return to the compromise solutions that have worked for us in the past. Throw John Brown in jail where he can do no more harm.