FASTS' 'i- an 012 028 004 1 J Hollinger pH8.5 Mill Run F3.1955 E 458 .4 .G78 Copy 1 A.DJDRE88 SOLDIERS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANITE STATE LINCOLN CLUB OF ^^ASHING^TON, D. O. WASHINGTON: PRINTED BY LEMUEL TO WER3. 1864. ADDRESS SOLDIERS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE FROM THE GRANITE STATE LINCOLN CLUB. OF WASHINGTON, D. C. A meeting of the loyal sons of New Hampshire, held at the " Union League rooms" in "Washington, D. C, September 16, 1864, proceeded to organize a " Granite State Lincoln Club," by elect- ing the following dficers : President, N. G. Ordway ; Vice Presi- dents, M. B. Goodwin, Thomas Pearson, Lieut. Col. T. A. Barker, and John L. Carlton ; Recording Secretary, John A. Prescott ; Corresponding Secretary, H. W. Rowell ; Treasurer, Francis H. Morgan ; Ex. Com., Samuel M. Wilcox, J. H. Hobbs, L S. M. Gove, J. C. Tasker, Major Wm. H. H. Allen, Major A. H. Young, J. T. Pike, M. G. Emery, Z. C. Pvobbins, and Major^ E. W. Farr. The object of the club, as set forth at the organiza- tion, was to aid in the distribution of loyal documents among the soldiers and citizens of the Granite State, and render such other assistance to the Union cause as might be found practicable. Since its organization the club have distributed nearly thirty thousand copies of the ablest and best speeches and arguments tending to strengthen the loyalty and patriotism of the people yet published. A committee of one gentleman from each county in the State was chosen to prepare an address to their brethren in the iield. The committee, through tlieir chairman, Hon. E. A. Rollins, on Tuesday evening, October 18, reported the follow- ing address, which was unanimously adopted; and ten thousand copies were ordered to be printed for distribution. JOHN A. PRESCOTT, Recording Secretary. ^DDRJESS Soldiers : In 6pite of the hot and violent opposition of every Deinocriitic member of our Logishiture for two \oi\g years, and through the earnest and persistent labor of all the Republicans in both its branches, you are at last clothed with the elective franchise in the field, and have in your hands another weapon with which^o strike at the rebellion. You are about to vote for the otiicers and the policy of our na- tional administration for the next four years. Ballots for Abra- ham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and the Baltimore platform have already been sent t<» you. Upon them, for presidential electors, you will lind the names of some of the purest and best men of our iStuie, who, with our legislators, labored zealously to give you the right you are about to exercise. Other ballots will also be seJit you, bearing as electors the names of some of the very men who have so long and so cruelly toiled to rob you of this richly earned and potent privilege. These men now naturally anticipate your contempt instead of your favor ; but if you hon- estly believe in what seems to us the monstrous doctrines of the Chicago platform, and wish them vitalized and illustrated by ]\[cClellan and Pendleton, you will forgive this strange distrust and outrage, and astonish both your friends and your enemies by casting your vote f )r joui- despoilers. We address you in obedience to instructions from " The Granite ?tate Lincoln Club" of this cit}^ and our words shall be few and trutliful. Measures, not men, are important. Principles — platforms wiiich embody a&sumed fundamental prece])t8 and purposes — these are what political parties are lo be n)ainly measured by, and which are represented by tiie two classes of ballots refei-red to. li ii» for tliis reason that wu do not ask you to vote for Mr Lin- coln l)ecause of his wise statesmanship, his pure morality, his warm, tender and generous syiiipailiies, and his tried experienc*-, nor for Mr. Johrihion. because of his terribU; sacrifices, his lofty pHtriotinn and his rare intellectual ])ower, imr to reject General McClellan for his constitutional sluggishness and indecision, his long and diligent courtship of l)oth war men, and peace men, for j)artizan political purposes, nor for iiis wonderful performances as a deflctcroUH juggler, in so standing upon a political platform, Iniilt largely of material from Richmond and the Ganadas, that rebi.'llioM Kynipalhi/ATs i-uall seem to see liiiii on it, and rebellion haters shall seem to see him spurn it. We do not even ask you to reject him because of his freezing purposes towards you and his rich gratuity to rebels, of which he himself boasts over his own hand upon the fifth page of his pulished report. There you will find as the last words of his extraordinary letter to the President: " In conclusion I would submit that the exigencies of the treas- ury may be lessened by making only partial payments to our troops while in the enemy's country and by giving the obligations of the United States for such supjMes as may be there obtained.'''' Your fondly cherished and dependent families among the hills aud valleys of our beloved State to be sustained upon partial payment for your heroic service. But the obligations of the gov- ernment, for supplies taken from malignant traitors, to feed its half-paid but faithful soldiers to be immediately recognized and discharged ! ISTor do we ask you to refuse Mr. Pendleton your votes, because in almost every instance, during his eventful congressional career, whenever opportunity offered, he denied you his ; whether it was for the increase of your numbers, the appropriation of money for your support, the more summary punishment of guerillas over- taken in their murderous hunt for your lives, or the security of homesteads for you upon the confiscated estates of insurrection- ary districts. These things are personal, and most of them vital, only as they reveal the impulses and objects of the great political parties which have selected these men as their standard bearers. You have carefully read the platforms of these parties. They are their creed and their covenant, and by them must they stand or fall in the great tribunal of the election. The key-note of one is the resolution that we will " do every thing in our power to aid the government in quelling by force of arms., the rebellion noio waging against its authority y That of the other is that : " After four years of failure to restore the Union by the ex- periment of war, * * * immediate efforts be made for a cessatio7i of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of all the States or other peaceable means to the end, that at the earliest practicable moment, peace may be restored." These resolutions sharply reveal the very soul of the questions in issue, and, illustrated by those personal to yourselves and your families, comprise most that is of weight or value. Now we are of those whose hearts have often throbbed at the story of your exploits, aud among whom the proud names of your great battle fields quicken altnost holier emotions and deeper gratitude than do Bunker Hill and Saratoga. With more than national pride have we seen that " The Father of Waters again 6 goes unvexed to the sea," that territory after territory and State after State have been disenthralled and redeemed, and that the entire coast rejoices again under the ample iblds of our national ensign. We have long believed that the naval and military power of the Government can alone scatter rebels in arms ; and wo now believe that, after a few more months of exposure and toil, our battle scarred heroes will come back to us laden with the riciies of unbounded triumphs and the glories of a saved and un- divided nationality. Kven now the rebellion, bleeding at every })()re, reels and totters to its overthrow. Already does Jefferson Davis, in his recent lamentations at Macon, tell the people of Georgia, " You have not many men hetioeen eighteen and forty -five Uft. * * * It is not proper forme to speak of the number of men in the field ; but, this I will say, that two-thirds of our men are absent, some sick, some wounded, hut most of them ab- sent without leave,'"' that no troops can be sent from Lee to Hood, because " in Virginia the disparity in numbers is as great as it is in Georgia." Old Virginia, that never tired before, is tired and almost exhausted now. Already are our victorious legions threading every avenue of the confederacy, and crushing with terrible and inevitable power the despairing foe in his last strong- holds. We can almost see the gathering death-damp, and hear his wail of dissolution and remorse. The exultation and thanksgiv- ing of a nation saved — the gratitude and ascriptions of praise from the ages to come are already the reward of our gallant defenders, when lo ! a sepulchral voice from Chicago, " Four years of failure" — "immediate cessation of hostilities — " "Con- vention of all the States or other peaceable means," all which in simple English is this: If the war goes on much longer, the re- bellion will l)e crushed, peace men will be infamous, in greater or less degree, according to their criminality. Soldiers will be heroes. These vexed qnestions must be transferred, therefore, from the ar))itrament of arms to the arbitrament of the hustings. Soldiers must make way for politicians. It is they who must wear the garlands of victory. Grant and Sherman, and Farragut, and Hooker, and Sheridan must pale before the more effulgent lights of Pundletcm and Ben. Wood, August Behnont, Lazarus Powell, and Vallandigham. Our conquering armies must come back from the grave of treason they are digging, and, leaving tliL'ir lanuMiIrd deail, fallen in battle, to sleep in foreign soil, " unhonorc'-fl and luihung," with trailing banners and unwilling stepn, ihey must retire to the privacy of seclusion and the ])ro- mised "sympathy" and charity of their cold hearted Chicago defamers, while tluise same political tricksters (^f the North and the red handed rebel.s of the South congratnlate each other over the " ce.^sation of h(»stilities," "the ])euceal)le solution of all onr difliciiltieb," a disgraced soldiery, and a divided country. From hUih a spectacle and hu( h degradation mav the God of our Fathers deliver us. We might survive it, but our honor will be gone, our boasted institutions shipwrecked, and our proud old national ensign tarnished and lustreless. History will be ashamed of us, and our children lament the weakness and wickedness of those they must call their fathers. These little ballots, then, are freighted heavily with destiny. There is more upon them than idle words. Upon those for Abra- ham Lincoln are faith in our Army, peace, civilization, freedom, and immortality. There are tears for the departed hero, love and sustenance for his bereaved ones, and profoundest honor for those who still bear their breasts to the storm. Upon those for George B. McClellan are compromise, political chicanery, pity for poor deluded soldiers, nationalized slavery and national dis- grace. There are the names of Pendleton, Yallandigham, Gar- ret Davis, and the truly loyal can almost read Eobert E. Lee amd Jefferson Davis. Which will you cast ? When the news from the Chicago Convention reached the confederacy early in September, you heard triumphant cheers all through the rebel lines. O let them not jeer at and mock you in November. When this accursed rebellion broke out with all its horrors, one fourth of our little army was in distant Texas, and the rebel Twiggs surrendered it to the foe. But to its everlasting honor and the honor of our army everywhere, it is written that though imprisoned for fourteen months and threatened with starvation, there was not a single private soldier who forgot his duty and turned his back upon his country. Soldiers ! you stand in the Thermopylae of the ages. A few more sharp, quick, vigorous blows, with all the weapons God and nature have put into your hands, and your names shall be more imperish- able than brass or marble. It is more glorious to save a nation than to found one. . Washington, D. C, October 18, 1862. E. A. ROLLINS, L. D. MASON, D. W. PEABODY, THOMAS PEARSON, MYKON L. STORY, A. J. FOGG. J. T. PIKE. S. S. BEAN, E. A. KEMP, E. H. HILDKETH, Committee. illiilwS), °'' CONGRESS '■iiiiiiiiii]iii'jiii(iiii]i(iiiiiiii 012 028 004 1 'i| (GRANITE STATE LINCOLN CLUB. (Rooms south wing of the Capitol, Washington, D. C.) Hon. N. G. ORDWAY President. VICE-PRESIDENTS. M. B. Goodwin, Esq., Hon. T. Pearson, John A. Prescott, Esq., Recording Secretary; Col. H. W. Rowell, Corresj^onding Secretary / F. H. Morgan, Esq., Treasurer. J, L. Oaklton, Esq., A. B.F. V. EXECUTIVE AND FINANCIAL COMMITTEE. S. M. Wilcox, Esq., J. H. Hobbs, " I. S. M. Gove, " J. C. Tasker, " M. G. Emoiy, " Major W. H. H. AUen, " A. H. Young, " E. W. Farr, Z. C. Bobbins, Esq., J. T. Pike, 012 028 OC J «J' Hollinger pH8.5 MillRunF3'19 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 012 028 004 1 ^ J Hollinger pH8.5 Mill Run F3'l 955