Lincoln
summoned former North Carolinian Edward Stanly from California in early
1862 to assume the role of governor and rule North Carolina from a few
occupied counties near New Bern. Eventually losing faith in his Northern
associates, Stanly wrote Charles Sumner of Massachusetts describing the
vandalism of the Northern army after observing “thousands and thousands
of dollars worth of property conveyed North….Libraries, pianos,
carpets, mirrors, family portraits, everything….that could be removed
was stolen by men….preaching liberty, justice and civilization. I was
informed that one regiment of abolitionists had conveyed North more that
40,000 dollars worth of property. They literally robbed the cradle and
the grave.” Below, Governor Zebulon Vance responds to a letter from
Stanly announcing his appointment by Lincoln.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
“Dismiss Your Hopes for the Subjugation of North Carolina”
Governor Zebulon B. Vance to Edward Stanly, Nov. 24, 1862:
“Coming
to the people who had often honored you, in the wake of destroying
armies; assuming you to be governor of the State by the Suffrages of
abolition bayonets red with the blood of your kindred and friends, how
could you expect it to be otherwise?
Do
you not know sir, that your name is execrated, and only pronounced with
curses in North Carolina. Could any sane citizen believe in the
“blessings” which you propose to bestow upon the people whom you
betrayed and seek to subjugate, or trust your professions of a desire to
mitigate the evils of war, in the presence of damnable atrocities every
day almost under our very eye, upon a defenceless and unarmed people?
Are
you aware, Sir, of the shooting of a private citizen, of the burnings
of the villages of Hamilton and Williamston, turning naked women and
children out upon the bare earth, and of the vandal destruction of
property on the Roanoke by Gen. Foster’s command recently? Do you know
the fact that two helpless females were recently, almost in gun-shot of
the town of New Bern, seized by a brutal soldiery -- “With liberty of
the bloody hand, And conscience wide as hell” -- and forced to submit to
the last and crowning outrage which can be inflicted on the sex?
Are
you informed Sir, lastly, that even the sleeping dust of the dead – of
the great and good dead of North Carolina has been robbed of its
covering in sight of that man who speaks of himself as a “son of North
Carolina,” “Solicitous of her honor,” who comes to “Confer blessings”
and who “thanks heaven that he is a representative of a government”
&c?”
When
you use your influence to suppress the outrages of your associates, nay
when you avow yourself ashamed of them, then and not till then, will
your professions be entitled to slightest credence.
No
Sir, the people of North Carolina know all these things, and have
learned well the character of their foes, and the nature of his
“blessings” in store for them. Her “Chief Magistrate” too appreciates
her position, and glories in the fact that he represents a people who
are prepared for the worst and have sincerely resolved to endure it all,
even as their fathers did, which a merciless foe can inflict, for the
sacred cause of liberty and independence.
Dismiss
therefore your hopes of the subjugation of North Carolina through the
weakness and baseness of her people. She may be subjugated, you may
reach her Capitol and take possession of her government, the fortunes of
war are fickle. But I assure you upon the honor of a Son, who will
follow as he has followed and maintained her, whether right or wrong,
who has every means of knowing the sentiments of her people, that you
can only do so over the dead bodies of the men who once respected you,
through the smoking ashes of the homes which once greeted you with
hospitable welcome, and through fields desolated, which once gladdened
your eye, rich with the glorious harvest of peace.”
(The Papers of Zebulon B. Vance, Frontis W. Johnson, editor, NCDAH, 1963, pp. 391-393)
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