Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Secretary Cameron,” July 8, 1861

    Source citation
    “Secretary Cameron,” Fayetteville (NC) Observer, July 8, 1861, p. 3: 2.
    Original source
    Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer
    Newspaper: Publication
    Fayetteville Semi Weekly Observer
    Newspaper: Headline
    Secretary Cameron
    Newspaper: Page(s)
    3
    Newspaper: Column
    2
    Type
    Newspaper
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Transcriber
    Don Sailer, Dickinson College
    Transcription date
    The following text is presented here in complete form, as it originally appeared in print. Spelling and typographical errors have been preserved as in the original.

    SECRETARY CAMERON. – The Philadelphia Inquirer says that the Secretary of War is the weak spot in the Lincoln administration, possessing neither the President’s nor the people’s confidence, and a fit person to be made responsible for the late military disasters. It adds, -

    Between two stools, our three months’ volunteers seem quite likely to come to the ground. They write to the Secretary of War to say that they are barefooted, and more or less naked, that they would like to be able to leave their tents in daylight without infringing the laws of decency, &c. Mr. Cameron replied that the United States cannot supply the three months’ volunteers with clothing and refers them to Gov. Curtin. That functionary makes answer – Fellow-citizens, have I not already given you a complete outfit of shoddy and pine shaving shoes? If your shoes did not last three days, reflect that my proteges have made a handsome thing of it. If your trowsers have dropped to rags at once, consider that my contractors could not make cent per cent and furnish you with a respectable article. If your clothes are not well lined, their pockets are. If you are not well shod, you are well shodded – so be satisfied.

    We are told by a friend, who has a relative amongst the troops at Federal Hill, that his clothes were in rags three days after being put on – that he had eaten no meat, none fit to eat having been served out, &c., &c. If Mr. Cameron refers to Gov. Curtin respecting clothes, Gov. Curtin may refer back to Mr. Cameron respecting such abominable rations – Arcades ambo par nobile fratrum.

    How to Cite This Page: "Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Secretary Cameron,” July 8, 1861," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/37280.