Dem
47
GOP
53
Today, a blast pretty far into the past, courtesy of K.C. in El Cajon, CA:
This is a photo of my great-uncle, Private Allen M. Patton, from Palestine, IL. He was a member of "Colonel Grant's Regiment," the 21st Illinois Volunteers, Company I. He was a licensed schoolteacher. He was killed in action at the battle of Stones River, in Tennessee, shortly before his 21st birthday. The family saved his letters, and I published them in a book entitled I Remain, as Ever, Your Kinsman.
On August 11, 1862, he wrote his family from Camp Jacinto, Mississippi, concerning the Emancipation Proclamation:The ni***rs have at last become mixed up in the war policy and I suppose will be pretty well used up before the end of the struggle, but a conservative policy was the standard for over 12 months and they would not listen to it. I was one who clung to the old policy and have always expressed myself in favor of it, but they have treated it with so much contempt and at the same time gathered so much strength that I'm now in for a more vigorous policy.
I believe this government can not exist in Republican form without Union. If the Southern Confederacy should be acknowledged, I believe the territory included in North America will eventually be ruled by different monarchs. As said Daniel Webster, the Union must, and shall be preserved. It makes no difference at what expense; even the death blow to slavery shall be no objection to Union. If the slave holders had listened to reason and 12 months of conservative policy this institution would have been safe at present, and I am opposed to any acts now interfering with it when it cannot weaken the rebels or strengthen our army. I am not yet an abolitionist, as you might infer from the above, but I'm in favor of almost any means to bring about a speedy termination of this accursed war. (Emphasis in original.)
Thanks, K.C. (Z)