The Abingdon Virginian. [volume], October 24, 1862, Image 1

About The Abingdon Virginian. [volume] (Abingdon [Va.]) 1849-1883

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In the mail.
AW ACT
To provide for the production, distribution and
sale of Salt in this Commonwealth, passed
October Ist, 1662.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly,
-'hat the Governor of this Commonwealth may
adopt every such measure and do every such
apt as in his judgment may be necessary and
proper to be done in order to secure the pos
session, production, or distribution to conven
ient places, of such quantity of salt as will in
his judgment be sufficient to supply the peo
ple of this Commonweal*h ; And to that end
may bind the faith of the Commonwealth for
the'performance of such contracts and engage
ments as he may determine to be necessary
and proper, and may exercise full authority
and control over the property and franchises
of any person, firm or company in this Com
monwealth, whenever he shall judge it to be
necessary and proper to exercise the same in
order to secure the possession, production, or
distribution of the quantity of salt aforesaid,
provided that nothing herein contained shall be
construed to authorize the purchase of the
Smyth and Washington or Kanawha Salt
Works, or any freehold interest therein.
2. If, in the opinion of the Governor, in or
der to obtain a speedy and sufficient supply »f
salt, it shall be expedient to do so, he may
seize, take posession of and hold and exercise
full authority and control over the property,
real and personal, of any person, firm, or com
panv, and any engines, machinery or fixtures
andother property or things necessary for the
"production of salt in the Commonwealth when
ever he shall judge it to be necessary to exer
cise the power hereby conferred, in order to
secure the production and distribution of the
quantity of salt aforesaid.
3. If, by the exercise of the power conferred
by the 2d section of this act, any property
should be taken in relation to which there
may be existing contracts with the Confede
rate' States or any of the States of the Con
federate States, or with any county, city or
town in this Commonwealth entered into by
virtue of an act of the General Assembly, en
titled, '"An act to authorise the County Courts
to purchase and distribute salt among the peo
ple and provide payment for the same," pass
ed May 9, 1862, or any contract with individ
uals for the benefit of any county, city or
town, under the act aforesaid ; Provided that
such contracts with and for said counties,
shall not for a larger amount of
'sa.it than the twenty pounds for each inhabi
tant .proposed by the lessees to be furnished
,in the proposition on which said act was found
ed, the same shall be respected and the sup
ply of salt or salt water so contracted for shall
be furnished. If a sufficient supply of salt
w„ter Cannot be obtained at the wells now
producing salt water for the production of a
sufficient Supnly of Salt for the people of the
State, or cannot be promptly obtained from
new wells, then the Governor is empowered to
disregard in whole, or in part, such contracts
with the States of the Confederate States;
bdt if a surplus of water may exist, then the
Governor is directed to furnish to the other
States of the Confederate. States out of any
supplies of salt water that may remain after
the supply of a sufficient quantity to the State
of Virginia; Provided, that nothing in this
set shall be so construed, as to authorise the
Governor to prevent the owners of salt pro
perty or their assignees from manufacturing
and selling salt water, or fossil salt remaining
after all the uses of the State, under the pro
visions of this act, are supplied.
■4. The Governor may take control of any
railroad or canal in this State, if necessary
for the transportation of salt for distribution,
or for the transportation of fuel or other things
necessary for the production of salt; but the
power conferred by this section shall not be sc
exercised as to interfere with the transporta
tion of troops, munitions.pf war and army
supplies by the Confederate Government.
5. The Governor shall designate places in
the Commonwealth from whioh the sale aad
distribution of sOch salt may be made to citi
zens of this Commonwelth and prescribe
rules and regulations for the sale of the same
and the prices at which it shall be sold.—
When such prices shall be so prescribed and
published for two weeks in some newspaper
published in the City of Richmond, the saleoi
such salt at any higher price than the price so
prescribed, shall be a misdemeanor, and the
sale of each bushel or any part of a bushel
thereof at a rate higher than the price so pre
scribed shall be a separate offence. Any vio
lation of the rule and regulations so prescrib
■
Ed shall be a misdemeanor. Upon conviction
of any person under this act he shall pay a
fine of net less than one hundred nor more
" than two thousand dollars.
6. If the governor shall find it necessary to
! employ Agents to receive money for the sales
of salt, he shall require them to give bond.
" with such penalty as the Governor may re
quire, with good security to be approvel by
' the Governor, payable to the Common wealth,
I with condition to pay all money received from
: the sale of salt into the Treasury to the
{ j credit of the Commonwealth, at the end of
j eaih ruonih.
j7. The sum of five hundred thousand dol
. lars is hereby appropriated to be paid out of
> ! the Treasury, upon warrant to be issured by
3 j the Auditor of Public Accounts upon the or
-1 ders of the Governor in writing, to be given
' only in payment of liabilities incurred for the
1 purposes of this Act.
8. For the use of any of the property real
>or personal, which may be used, occupied,
* possessed or controlled by the Governor, a
" board of assessors, to be composed of five per-
I sons not members of the General Assembly,
who shall be appointed by a joint vote of the
- two Houses, a majority of whom may act and
shall concur, shall assess reasonable compeu
! sation and damages, which shall be paid up
■on a written order of the Governor upou a
written assessment, to be signed by a majority
of the members of the board, with their affi
davits that such assessmeut is, in the opinion
of the board, reasonable and just. Such as
sessment shall be delivered to the Governor to
be filed by him in the office of the Secretary
of State; and a copy thereof shall be for
warded by the Secretary to the person,
firm or company who may be entitled to the
compensation or damages, and unle-s such
person, firm or company shall, within thirty
days after such copy shall be delivered to them,
refuse by written objections to accept the
same, such assessment shall be deemed to be
final. If the Governor, on behalf of the State,
or if any such person, firm or company shall
within thirty days after such assessment shall
have been so filed with the Secretary of the
Commonwealth, file such written objections
with die Secretary of the Commonwealth, and
in the office of the Circuit Court in the city of
Richmond, an appeal shall lie from such as
sessment to the said Circuit Court, and the!
(proceedings thereon in said court shall be ac- j
I cording to the provisions of chapter 56 of the I
I Code of Virginia, as far as the same are anpli;
cable thereto, except that the Common wealth
I shall not be required to pay the compensation
for damages to the party entitled thereto, nor
into court before the decision of the appeal.—
No order shall be made nor any injunction
awarded by any court or judge to stay any
proceedir;gs of the Governor or his authorized
agents under this act. The board shall be
convened at such time and places as the Gov
ernoi may order, and shall he paid each the
-sum of four dollars per day, and actual ex
penses incurved (h travelling, to he paid by
the warrants to be issued upon the orders of
the Governor.
This be in force from its passage,
and shall continue until the expiration of the
prjesent war.
A copy from the Rolls—Teste
WM. F. GORDON,
C El, D.
-j ♦ ■» ♦ ———
BY THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA:
A PROCLAMATION.
Under authority of an Act 'passed on the first
day of the present month, (October,) I, John
Letcher, Governor of the Commonwealth of Vir
ginia, do hereby proclaim the regulation hereto
annexed as having botn adoptea by me, and to
be obligatory upou all persons and corporations
coming within their purview from the date here
of.
,—>--, Given under my hand as Governor
«! seal land under the seal of the Conimon-
srv-f« ' wealth this tenth day of October, 1862,
and in the 87th year of the Commonwealth.
JOHN LETCHER.
By the Governor : • > ■
George W. Musiord, Secretary of the Com
monwealth. . .
Regulations for obtaining possess/ion of salt in
this Commonwealth for distribution to the peo
ple. Prescribed by the Governor under the
act to pi-ovide for the production, distribu
tion and sale of salt in this Commonwealth,
Passed October 1, 1862.
1. No railroad, canal, or other internal im
provement company in this State, sha 1 under
take to transport any salt beyond the limits of
the State, unless under seme contract already ex
isting with the Confederate States or some State
of the Confederate States. Before said salt
shall be removed, the person asking for such
transportation, shall make oath or affirmation
that the removal asked for is of salt furnished
under such existing contract. Without such
oath, the salt shall be seized by the superintend
ent or other agent of the transportation comoanv
for the use of the Commonwealth, and notice be
immediately given to the Governor of the am»unt
of salt seized, and the name of the person or per
sons asking for the transportation.
Individuals in like manner are prohibited from
transporting salt beyond the limits of the State.
Any person may seize and hold the same for the
State and give like notice.
All saU manufactured in the counties of Smyth
and Washington, and on hand on the day when
the abovefact was passed, unless heretofore re
moved frdto the salt Works,' and all silt ihanu
factured after that day, until due notice to the
country be given, by publication in some news-.
paper printed in the city of Richmond and in the
town of Abingdon,'shall be thereafter held to be
the property of the Commonwealth of Virginia,
and shall nut be removed without authority from
the Gavernor or his duly constituted agent, un
less it be salt made to supply some existing con
tract with the Confederate States or with th* se
i parate States of the Confederate States, or with
i individuals for the benefit of any county, city or
3 town.
If the owners of Salt Works in said conntiea
-, shall re'fnse or cease to maaufacture salt other
fi than an amount sufficient: to execute existing
contracts as aforesaid, ther„,irom and after such
refusftl or ccsation shall appear to the Governor
to exist, he will exercise th* authority vested in
' him, and seize, take-possesion of and hold and
' exercise full authority and tontrql over the pro
-1 perty, real and personal, of any person, firm or.
c . company, so refusing or ceuiing to manufacture.
If the supply of salt. manufactured be not
enough to furnish the peopi.'! of this Comuion
'". weal th with a suifioU at quantity of salt for home
• consumption, then as soon as such fact shall ap
)' pear to the Governor he will exercise the autho
rity vested in him, aiul "disregard any contract
i made with the separate Statfes of the Confederate
c States" until the State of Virginia is supplied.
When salt is procured by|he State of Virginia,
1 and its contituted agent sli&l offer the same for
transportation on the rcute'Sof' any railroad, car
j, nal or other imprpvemor.ttaompany, the same
. shall be immediately transported to the depot
dtsignated, unless such transportation will inter-'
g fere with" th« transportation of troops, munitions
j of war and army the- Confederate
Government. Upon refusa of such company to
transport the said salt, the constituted agent of
the State will be authorized to take control of
1 any' such work and to mm age the saineuntil
the transportation be accomplished.
The like provision shall ibe observed when it
1 becomes proper to transport fuel or other things '
necessary for the production of salt.
> The following places are designated for the
' present as the points at which salt will be con
• cent rated' for sale and dijftsDution, via: Millbo
, rough depot on the Central rjtilroad, and Dublin
' depot, on the Virginia and Tennessee railroad;
i Other places of deposit will "fe speedily designat
ed when suitable arrangamruts for supplies shall
, have been perfected. **
■ Due notice will be given of the time when the
» Sidt will he ready for delivery. The price,
quantity for each person, ainf how it is to be sold
[ iindMelivered, and the agents employed therefor,
i will be prescribed in future ftgulatioßS aad pub J
, lished »s required by law. j
After the price is so prescribed the sale of any
: salt within the Commonwealth at a higher rate
. per bushel, is declared by law to be a misde
meanor; and any violation the rules and regu*
httions prescribed by the._4vernor, is also a mis
demeanor, to he puuished, [upon conviction, by
fine of not less than one hundred nor more than
: two thousand dollars. . |
A hoard of asseseora-baji itoeen appointed by. -
the Legislature to assess [the compensation or
' damages to be paid for property seized or used
'by the State under this lurf The time and place
•of their meeeting will be htreai'ier prescribed.
i The act prohibits all courts or judges from is
- surir.g orders or injunctions to stay any proceed
-1 ings of the Governor, orlas authorized agents,
. under this law. Oct. 11.
»■♦•■»' .
Gen. Brad's Address to the Peo
ple ©1 the VoHh west.
p General Bragg has isMied from his head
quarters at Bardstown, Jiff., one of the strong
est addesses which has Men issued by any
[ military man during this war. It is address
ed to "The people of the Northwes'."
He assures them thatrthe Confederate Go
vernment is waging this war with no design
of conquest, but "to seetire peace, and the
abandonment by the Unrted States of its pre
tensions to govern a people who never have
been their subjects, and who prefer self-govern
. ment to a union with them." He further
( assures them that the Confederate Govern
ment and people, deprecating civil strife from
, the beginning; and anxious for a peaceful ad
, justment of all differences growing out of a .
, political separation, which they deemed es
sential to their fiapp : ness and well being, at
the moment of its inauguration sent comrais
• sioners to Washington to treat for these ob
• jects, but that their commissioners were not
received or even allowed to communicate the
object of their mission; "and that on a subse
quent occasion a communication from the
President of the Confederate States to Presi
dent Lincoln remained without answer, al
though a reply was promised by Gen. Scott,
into whose hands the communication was
delivered.
_ That among the pretexts- urged for the con
tinuance of the war hTfnV assertion that the
Confederate Government desires to deprive
the United States of the free navigation of
the Western rivers, although the truth is, that
the-Confederate Congress, by public act prior
to the commencement of the "war, enacted that
"the peaceful navigation of the Mississippi
river is hereby declared free to the citizens of
any of the States upon its borders or upon
the borders of its tributaries"—a declaration,
to which our Government has always been
aHd is still ready to adhere.
From these declarations, people of the
Northwest.it is made manifest that by the
invasion of our territories by land and from
sea, we have been unwillingly forced into a
war for self-defence, and to vindicate a great
once dear to all Americans, to wit:
ithat no people can be rightly governed except
by their own consent. "We-ddsire peace now.
We desire to see a stop put to a useless and
cruel effusion of blood, and that waste of
national wealth rapidly leading to and sure
to end in national bankruptcy. We are,
therefore, now as ever,-Teady to treat with
the United States, or any one or more of them,
upon terms of mutual justice and liberality.-
And at this juncture, when our arras have
been successful on many hard-fought field,
when our people have-exhibited a constancy,
a fortitude, and a courage worthy of the v DOon
of self-government, we restrict ourselves to
the same moderate demand that we made at
the darkest period of our reverses —the de
mand that the people of the United States
cease to war upon us, and permit us in peace
to pursue our path to happiness, while they
in peace pursue theirs.
We are, however, debarred from the re
newal of former proposals fir peace, because
the relentless spirit that actuates the Govern
ment'at'Washington' leaves lis no reason to
expect that they would be received with the
respect naturally due by nations in their in
tercourse, whether in. peace or war. It is un
der these circumstances that we are driven to
protect our own country by transferring the
seat of war to that of an enemy who pursues
us with an implacable and apparently aimless
hostility. If "the war must continue, its
theatre mus.tbe changed, and with it the poli
cy that has heretofore kept us on the defen
sive on our soil. So far, it is only our fields
that have been laid waste, our people killed,
our homes made desolate, and our frontiers.
ravaged by rapine and murder. The sacred
right of self-defence demands that henceforth '
some of the' consequences of the war shall/
fall upon those Who persist in their refusal to '
make peace. With the people of the North
west rests the power to put an end to the In
vasion of their homes; for, if unable to pre
vail upon the Government of the United
States to conclude a general peace, their own.
state governments, in the exercise of their
sovereignty, can secure immunity from the
desolating effects-of warfare ou their soil, by
a separate treaty of peace which our Govern
ment will be ready to conclude on the most
just and liberal basis.
The responsibility then rests with you the
people of the Northwest, of continuing an
unjust and aggressive warfare.upon the peo
ple of the Confederate States. Aud in the
name of reason and humanity, I call upon
you to pause and reflect what cause of quar
rel so bluoi;.' have you against these States,
and what are you to gain by, it ? Nature has
set her seal upon these States, and marked
them out to be your friends and allies. She
has bouad them to you by all the ties of!
geographical contiguity and conformation, and j
the great mutual interests of commerce and |
productions. When the passions of this un- ;
natural war shall have, subsided, and reason
resumes her sway, a community of interest
will force commercial and social coalition be
tween the grain and stock growing States of
the Northwest, and the cotton, tobacco and
sugar regions of the South. The Mississip
pi river is a grand artery of their mutual
national lives, wnjfih *jneu cannot sever, and
which never dught to have been suffered to
be disturbed W the antagonisms, the cupidi
ty and the- bigotry of New England an(i the
East. It is from the East that have come the
jrerms of this bloody and most unnatural
strife.
It is from the 'meddlesome, grasping and
fanatical disposition of the same people who
have imposed upon you and us alike those
tariffs, internal improvement, and fishing
bounty laws whereby we have been taxed for
their aggrandizement. It is from the East
.that will come the tax gatherer to collect from
you the mighty debt which is being amassed
mountain high for the purpose of ruining
your Best customers and natural friends.—
When this war ends the same antagonism of
interest, policy and feeling which have been,
pressed upon. us from the East and forced us
from a political union, when we had ceased
to find safety for our interest or respect for
our rights, will bear down upon you and
separate you from a people whose traditional
policy it is to live by their wits upon the labor
of their neighbors. Meantime, you are be- i
ing used by them to fight the battle of eman- -
cipation—a battle which, if successful, des
troys your prosperity, and with it your best
markets to buy and sell. Our mutual depen
dence is the work of the Creator. With our
peculiar productions, convertible into gold, we
should in a state of peace, draw from you
largely the products of your labor.
In us of the South, you will find rich and
willing customers; in the East you must con
front rivals in productions and trade, and the
tax gatherer in alb the forms of partial legis
lation. You are blindly following abolition
ism to this encL while they are nicely calcula
ting the gain of obtaining your trade on terms
that' would 'impoverish your country. You
say you are fighting for the free navigation of
the Mississippi. It is yours freely, and has
always been* without striking a blow. You
say you are fighting to maintain 'the Union.—
That Union is a thing of the' past A Union
of consent w%s the only Union, ever worth a
drop of blood. When force came to be sub
stituted for consent, the casket was broken
and the constitutional jewel of your patriotic
adoration was forever gone.
I come, then, to you with the olive branch
of peace, and offer, it to your acceptance in
the name of memories of the past and the
ties of- the present and future. With you re
main the responsibility and the option of con
tinuing a cruel and wasting war, which can
only end after still greater sacrifices in such
treaty of peace as we now offer; or of pre
serving the blessings *of peace by the simple
abandonment of the design of subjugating a
people over, whom no fight of dominion has
been conferred on you by God or man.
Braxton Btugg, Gen'l C. S. Army.
. H 1 *■»■♦ »: '
From the Mobile Advertiser and Register.
Tbe Disaster at Corinth.
We regret that the particulars thus far at ,
hand of the recent battles at and near Corinth
leave no reom for doubt that the-result is a
serious disaster. Our special correspondent
has furnished by telegraph such .accounts as
he could obtain, but the conflict was even
hotter and more bloody than be has led us to
believe. We have had the pleasure of an in
terview with Col. J. W. Portis, of the 42d
I
Alabama, who arrived by the morning train;
having been sent home by the Surgeon Gene
ral, from whom we obtained some details of
the battle. Colonel _*. was himself wounded
by the concussion of an exploding shoH which
struck near him, killing two men and knock
ing him down, and considerably, injuring
him. From his statement and other informa
tion, we make up the following narrative":
The battle was opened on Friday last, com
mencing at 8 o'clock in the morning and con
tinuing without cessation unlil 8 o'clock a\
night. Our forces numbered about 20,000
fighting men, tinder command or Major Gene
ral Van Dorn, and they fought with a despe
rate valor not exceeded by any troops during
the war.
It now appears that our Generals, or at
least the General in command, were terribly
deceived, haying been lured by the enemy, into
a trap carefully prepared for them, and made
to fight against' heavy odds without the hope
of any substantial advantage for this waste of
blood and life. The movement on Corinth
' was made from the West, the enemy with
drawing his pickets at our approach, destroy
ing camps, strewing the way with knapsacks,
guns, clothing, etc., until he reached his first
line of entrenchments, where he made a reso
lute stand. Our men rapidly pursued, what
they supposed a flying enemy, counting, on a
bloodless victory, some of the Generals even
expecting to obtain possession of the town
without firing a gun. Their eyes were open
ed when they saw the serried ranks of the
enemy prepared to receive tiiem, and they
then knew that a hard and blondy > fight was
at hand. Moore's brigade of Maury's divi
sion, led the advance and the battle sodh
raged hot and furiously. The enemy fought
well—better, it is said, than ever before irt
the West—but they could not withstand the
furious charges of our gallant men, whe'
steadily gained upon them driving them from
! entrenchment to entrenchment nntil night
I closed upon the scene. ■ ■ » ,
j The next day the, fight was resumed, the
; enemy meantime, having been heavily re
inforced, but our troops again pressed for
ward, gaining the town of Corinth, and the
gallant 42d Alabama planting its colors with
in a square of the Tisaimipgo Hotel. It be
came evident, however, that the struggle was
too unequal to be continued to advantage by
our forces, whose rrfnks were becoming fear
fully thinned and worn down by fatigue and
hunger, while the enemy were being con
tinually reinforced. The order was then
given to fall back, and bur troops withdrew
from the field, leaving many of our* dead and
some of the wounded in the possession of the
enemy. Meanwhile the Federals had throwji
a heavy force, estimated at 20,0' >0 men, from'
Bolivar, to the south of Corinth', with the
design to cut off our retreat and bsrg bur whofe
army. These fresh troops were -met with un
exampled bravery and vigor by our jaded
men in the sanguinary engagement of Sunday
at Pocahontas, which resulted in the disconi;
fiture of the foe, and thanks to th?> genius anct,
experience of General Price, in the escape of
our army by an improvised road to a point
west of Ripley, where they made a stand. ,
The battle on Friday is said to have been
the hottest and most desperate of all. Sol
diers who were in the battle* of Shiloh say a
was more terrible than that memorable con
flict. The enemy appear to have been thor
roughly posted with regard .to ail ,our move
ments. They knew when a given division
passed a given point, what was its strength,
the direction of its march, how, when and
; where the attack was to be made; in short,
i everything they wished to know, and of course
! could make all the preparation they desired
to meet us.
We have not been able to obtain particulars
of the casualties, but the record, we fear, will
be sad enough. The Forty-Seem-i Alabama
went into the fight of Friday five hundred
and thirty strong. On Saturday it mustered,
about three hundred, and on Sunday evening
a staff officer met the Major, who/,had been'
wounded in - the breast, with only eight or
ten men, who were all, he said,' he had been
able to gather of the regiment. The rest
Were either killed, wounded, prisoners, or had
fallen by the way from weakness.
On Sunday an order was sent to Gen. Mau
ry to make a charge with his division, but this
gallant officer was forced to reply that he bad
scarcely two regiments left fit for duty.
Sengstake's artillery was badly cat up,
being at one time nearly surrounded by the
enemy. Dowdell's (35th Alabama) Regiment
was also roughly handled, bnt nobly sustain
ed the reputation of Alabama in the unequal
strife.
Such is the brief, but we believe in the ,
main, a truthful narrative of our recent move
ment towards Corinth. It is not our purpose
here to comment upon the facts related.—
They are too painful to dwell upon, and call
loudly for prompt and searching investiga
tion by the Government. If it shall be found
that our gallant little army has been led into
the "jaws of death" and thus cut up thro' the
ignorance, stupidity or mismanagement of com
manders, the country will demand that an
example be made that shall prove at once an
assurance to the people and a warning to in
competent or self-sufficient Generals.
The situation in Mississippi demands the
prompt and earnest attention of onr military
authorities. They cannot act too soon or too
vigorously. Reinforcements should at oncft
be sent "forward and aS rapidly as possible,
and our whole people must once more rouse
themselves to united and energentic action,—
We are every day learning afresh the lesson
that "eternal vigilance is the price" of victory
as well as of liberty.