The Daily Gazette Davenport, Iowa Friday Morning August 8, 1862 Part 2 Negroes coming North A fellow citizen concluding he would like to have a contraband woman to do his cooking; and hearing through the Democratic papers that Washington was flooded with them wrote to a friend of his living at the Capital, Judge John Penn Jones, of Pennsylvania, upon the subject. The following was the Judge's reply:-- "About the niggers you are misinformed. Washington is not overflowing with them; and the demand for them, at fair wages, is not supplied. Cooks and nurses, such as would suit you, are too much needed here to leave. My wash-woman is a contraband who escaped from her master in Virginia about the time of the Bull Run disaster. She is handy with a needle, and a tidy, good-natured woman. I recommended her to a gentleman from Michigan, who was leaving on the adjournment of Congress, and advised her to go with him, but she wouldn't begin to think about it. And so it is, generally-those that are worth having won't go North; those who are not worth having have a still greater dislike to leave "the Sunny South." The assertion that the liberation of the slaves of the South would flood the North with Negroes, I am satisfied is not well founded. The Negroes are needed in the South; and they prefer staying there, if they can be paid for their labor. You Northern folks may make up your mi! nds that Sambo will never trouble you-in the way of service-to any very considerable extent. "I heartily agree with you about the kid glove policy; but I am happy to say that it is 'played out,' and that now we are going to have a vigorous, active policy; depending more on the bayonet than on the spade for success." ~~~*~~~ Benefits to be Gained from Enlisting in Old Regiments.-An old soldier, who has served sixteen years in the regular service, suggests the following facts as inducements for volunteers to enter old regiments: Volunteers entering an organized regiment will enjoy the following advantages: 1. They will learn more in one month in an old regiment than they will learn in four or six months in a new regiment, for in the one case every old officer and soldier is by precept and example an instructor, and oftentimes but inexperienced and imperfect ones. 2. They will better escape the diseases of camp life among old and experienced soldiers than in newly organized regiments. Presuming that the inefficient and selfish officers who have neglected their men have to a great extent resigned or have been displaced, the officers and men who remain in the old regiments have learned by observations and experience the means of preserving health, and will impart their knowledge to the young soldier. In proof of this, I know a captain in the army of the Potomac who had been for years in the regular army and through the campaign in Mexico, who has not lost a single man by sickness. 3. There will probably be less loss of life in battle in an old organization than in a new one. Experienced officers will be less likely to expose their men needlessly than inexperienced ones. Old regiments will be less likely to be thrown into disorder under fire. As a general thing, the men will be better cared for if wounded, because the old surgeons have had greater experience in the treatment of the sick and wounded. 4. Young soldiers in an old regiment will share the glory of a veteran corps. And, finally, as it is presumed that all who volunteer desire to render the most efficient service to the Government, it is safe to say that ten thousand men distributed through the regiments now in the field will accomplish more in the next six months than thirty thousand organized into new regiments. ~~~~~~*~~~~~~ Elaine Rathmann List Adm: *IA-CIVIL-WAR *IA-DANES ACC Scott Co, IAGenWeb Project