Replies

"Specification 4th. In this, that he, the said Captain B. F. Sells, 'D' Company, 122d O. V. I., in the service of the U.S.; did utter and use the following language, to wit: I am going to vote for Vallandigham, and so are all my company, except a few, or words to that effect. This at or near Martinsburg, Va., on or about the 13th day of August, 1863."

Not too surprising. Soldiers are held to a different standard than civilians are. Secession is treason. Advocating secession is treason. You don't have the right to yell "fire!" in a crowded theater and you don't have the right to advocate the violent overthrow of the government.

Do you think you've found something new to lay on President Lincoln? This is all old hat.

Walt

[Wlat] Not too surprising. Soldiers are held to a different standard than civilians are. Secession is treason. Advocating secession is treason. You don't have the right to yell "fire!" in a crowded theater and you don't have the right to advocate the violent overthrow of the government.

[Wlat] Do you think you've found something new to lay on President Lincoln? This is all old hat.

Being a Democrat is not treason.
Wlat is a radical left-wing wacko Democrat.
A soldier has a right to vote for whom he chooses.
Mr. V was a Unionist, not a Secessionist.
Mr. V did not advocate the overthrow of the government.
Mr. V advocated Mr. L obeying the Constitution.
According to Wlat, voting Dem was a valid court-martial offence.
According to Wlat, Mr. L did not try to fix the election.
Wlat's intellect is obviously second to none.

For many years after the Civil War, to be called a "Vallandigham" was a terrific insult to one's patriotism. It was as bad as being called a "Benedict Arnold" after the Revolutionary War, and somewhat similar to being labeled a "Quisling" after the Second World War.

Franklin Roosevelt used the "Vallandigham" invective several times in speeches.

CLEMENT LAIRD VALLANDIGHAM
March 13, 1863
Dayton, Ohio

Referring to the Conscription Bill, he said:

The three-hundred-dollar provision is a most unjust discrimination against the poor. I propose that the City Council of Dayton appropriate money enough, and vote a tax for it, to release the city from the draft, and thus spare the lives and limbs of those citizens who are too poor to pay. I would recommend the same measure to Cincinnati, Chicago, and other cities of the North. The tax will equalize the burden, and make the rich pay some part of that "last dollar." Three hundred dollars, too, is just the price fixed, by an Abolition congress, for the emancipated negroes of the District of Columbia. It is not the price of blood. The Administration says to every man between twenty and forty-five, THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS OR YOUR LIFE. A tax by every city, township and country is just the way to meet and equalize the demand.

[italics in original]