Doc. 15. Gov. Dennison's proclamation.
In your efforts to aid the General Government in the suppression of the unnatural rebellion now waged against it, you have anticipated the wants of that Government, and have promptly responded to whatever demands it made upon you, as liberally in the expenditure of treasure as in furnishing soldiers.
The public service has not languished for one day when your resources were competent to meet its requirements.
Without a regiment of troops at the opening of hostilities, you have sent upward of thirty thousand men into the field, armed and equipped.
By the magnitude of your force you have assisted the loyal men of Kentucky in protecting that State from the domination of the rebels.
The presence of our troops and the victories in which they shared in Western Virginia, have preserved it for the Union, and secured it as a barricade against the threatened invasion of your soil, thus maintaining unbroken the peace of a border nearly five hundred miles in extent, and protecting the heart of the Republic from the immediate havoc of war.
The Federal Government again calls upon you for soldiers.
The late disaster at Manassas, serious as it was in many respects to the rebels, has added to their audacity and insolence.
Encouraged by apparent success, they have augmented their forces and have enhanced the necessity for vigilance and power at Washington, in Western Virginia, and in Missouri. Twenty-nine regiments of infantry, together with a proportionate force of artillery and cavalry, are now being organized in your State.
As the Executive of the State, it becomes my duty to appeal to you to perfect those organizations as rapidly as possible.
I invoke you to give no ear to any counsels unfriendly to the prompt and effectual consolidation of the military force which the General Government requires to repel the threatened assaults of the enemy, and crush the rebellion.
It must be suppressed or the Government be subverted.
Its suppression can only be effected by vigorous measures on the part of that Government, promptly sustained by the people, animated by a positive and comprehensive policy.
I conjure you to give no heed to any proposition, under whatever sanction it may come, for negotiation or compromise with armed rebellion.
The only condition upon which negotiation can be tolerated is the complete surrender of the rebels to the National Government, and an unqualified return of their allegiance to its supreme authority.
Without that there should be no adjustment, without it there can be no peace.
It is gratifying to me to be enabled to assure you that many of the hardships and privations to which your first levies were subjected, in consequence of the suddenness of the call and the unprepared condition of the Governments, Federal and State, will not be encountered by your troops now being prepared for the field.
The amplest arrangements are made for the clothing, arming, and equipping of our soldiers.
No regiment will be sent from its camp until it is provided with every thing essential to the comfort and efficiency of its men. Regular payments at increased rates and short intervals will hereafter be made to all the Federal soldiers, and with allotments and bounties, generous provision is proffered for the support of families.
The promptness of your response to the previous calls of the Government is its assurance that all it now expects of Ohio will be immediately realized by the enrolment of volunteers enough to complete the regiments being formed.
A general order will forthwith be issued from the office of the Adjutant-General, defining the condition of the service, the modes of recruiting, and the places of rendezvous.
