So long as the question of Union or Disunion was debateable,
so long you did well to debate it and vote on it. You had a
clear right to vote for the Union, but when Secession was
established by the voice of the people, you did ill to distract
the country by angry words and insurrectionary tumult. In
doing this you commit the highest crime known to the laws.
     Out of the Southern Confederacy no people possess such ele-
ments of prosperity and happiness as those of East Tennessee.
The Southern market which you have hitherto enjoyed only
in competition with a host of eager Northern rivals, will now be
shared with a few States of the Confederacy, equally fortunate
politically and geographically. Every product of your agri-
culture and workshops will now find a prompt sale at high
prices, and so long as cotton grows on Confederate soil, so long
will the money which it brings, flow from the South through
all your channels of trade.

      At this moment you might be at war, with the United States,
or any other foreign nation and yet not suffer a tenth the
evils which pursue you in this Domestic strife. No man's life
or property is safe, no woman or child can sleep in quiet. You
are deluded by selfish demagogues who take care of their own
personal safety. You are citizens of Tennessee, and your State
one of the Confederate States.

      So long as you are up in arms against these States, can you
look for any thing but the invasion of your homes, and the wast-
ing of your substance? This condition of things must be ended.
The Government commands the peace and sends troops enough
to enforce the order. I proclaim that every man who comes in
promptly and delivers up his arms will be pardoned on taking
the oath of allegiance. All men taken in arms against the
Government will be transported to the military prison at Tus-
culoosa, and be confined there during the war. Bridge burners
and destroyers of Rail Road track are excepted from among
those pardonable. They will be tried by drum head court
martial and hanged on the spot.

D. LEADBETTER
Col. Comd'g.

Headquarters,
     Greeneville. E. Tenn. Nov. 30th 1861

NOTE: The above is a transcription of the Proclamation, as the original version is not scanable. The rare original example of Col. D. Leadbettter's "Proclamation", is from the Tony Marion Collection

This "Proclamation" issued by Col. D. Leadbetter, was published in Greeneville, Tennessee, on the same day that Henry Fry and Jacob M. Hinshaw, were hanged there. NOTE THE WARNING IN THE LINES.

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