Confederate Negro Soldiers
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1862, by Harper & Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. MAJOR-GENERAL O. M. MITCHELL, [PHOTOGRAPHED BY ANSON]When the war broke out he was among the first to inculcate the necessity of defending the unity of the country at all hazards. He was one of the speakers at the great meeting on Union Square, and his speech was probably the most thrilling that was delivered that day. He said : " I owe allegiance to no particular State, and never did, and, God helping me, I never will. I owe allegiance to the Government of the United States. A poor boy, working my way with my own hands, at the age of twelve turned out to take care of myself as best I could, and beginning by earning but four dollars per month. I worked my way onward until this glorious Government of the United States gave me a chance at the Military Academy at West Point. There I landed with my knapsack on my back, and, I tell you God's truth, just a quarter of a dollar in my pocket. There I swore allegiance to the Government of the United States. I did not abjure the love of my own State, nor of my adopted State, but high above that was proudly triumphant and predominant my love for our common country." His speech was continued with a fervor that held his hearers enthralled, and amidst his remarks the following words also fell from his lips : " When the rebels come to their senses we will receive them with open arms; but until that time, while they are trailing our glorious banner in the dust, when they scorn it, condemn it, curse it, and trample it under foot, I must smite, and in God's name I will smite, and as long as I have strength I will do it I am ready, God help me, to do my duty. I am ready to fight in the ranks or out of the ranks. Having been educated in the Academy, having been in the army several years, having served as a commander of a volunteer company for ten years, and having served as an Adjutant-General, I feel I am ready for something. I only ask to be permitted to act; and in God's name, give me something to do!" He was appointed Brigadier-General from New York, and sent to Kentucky. 'There lie obtained command of a division of BUELL's army, which was the first of our troops in Bowling Green. From Nashville he was sent due south through Murfreesboro and Columbia. Near the latter place he left the bulk of his division under one of the brigadiers, and with a brigade of infantry, a squadron of cavalry, and two batteries, he made an extraordinary forced march on Huntsville, which place he occupied before the rebels suspected his proximity. He seized the telegraph office, and, it is believed, obtained some useful information in the shape of dispatches from and to Beauregard. Since then lie has been dashing hither and thither on the Memphis and Charleston Road, until now (April 25) he holds two hundred miles of the line, from Stevenson, Alabama, to Tuscumbia. He is one of our most dashing and splendid generals.
A REBEL CAPTAIN FORCING NEGROES TO LOAD CANNON UNDER THE FIRE OF
BERDAN'S SHARP-SHOOTERS. - SEEN
THROUGH A TELESCOPE
FROM OUR LINES, AND SKETCHED
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