{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_38855/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_38855","id":"gutenberg_38855","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38855","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - American","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Enslaved persons -- United States -- Social conditions","Slavery -- United States","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives","United States -- Politics and government -- 1861-1865"],"text":"Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images generously made available by The\nInternet Archive.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: John H. Aughey. _Engraved by Samuel Sartain, Phila._]\n\n\n\n\n  THE IRON FURNACE:\n  OR,\n  SLAVERY AND SECESSION.\n\n\n  BY REV. JOHN H. AUGHEY,\n  A REFUGEE FROM MISSISSIPPI.\n\n\n  Cursed be the men that obeyeth not the words\n  of this covenant, which I commanded your\n  fathers in the day that I brought them forth\n  out of the land of Egypt, from the _Iron\n  Furnace_.--Jer. xi. 3, 4. See also, 1 Kings\n  viii. 51.\n\n\n  PHILADELPHIA:\n  WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN.\n  606 CHESTNUT STREET.\n  1863.\n\n\n\n\n  Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1863,\n  BY WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN,\n  In the office of the Clerk of the District Court for the\n  Eastern District of Pennsylvania.\n\n\n\n\n  TO MY PERSONAL FRIENDS\n\n  REV. CHARLES C. BEATTY, D.D., LL.D.,\n  OF STEUBENVILLE, OHIO,\n  Moderator of the General Assembly of the (O.S.) Presbyterian\n  Church in the United States of America,\n  and long Pastor of the Church in which\n  my parents were members, and\n  our family worshippers;\n\n  REV. WILLIAM PRATT BREED,\n  Pastor of the West Spruce Street Presbyterian Church, of\n  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;\n\n  GEORGE HAY STUART, ESQ.,\n  OF PHILADELPHIA, PA.,\n  The Philanthropist, whose virtues are known and\n  appreciated in both hemispheres,\n\n  THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nA celebrated author thus writes: \"Posterity is under no obligations to a\nman who is not a parent, who has never planted a tree, built a house, nor\nwritten a book.\" Having fulfilled all these requisites to insure the\nremembrance of posterity, it remains to be seen whether the author's name\nshall escape oblivion.\n\nIt may be that a few years will obliterate the name affixed to this\nPreface from the memory of man. This thought is the cause of no concern. I\nshall have accomplished my purpose if I can in some degree be humbly\ninstrumental in serving my country and my generation, by promoting the\nwell-being of my fellow-men, and advancing the declarative glory of\nAlmighty God.\n\nThis work was written while suffering intensely from maladies induced by\nthe rigours of the Iron Furnace of Secession, whose sevenfold heat is\nreserved for the loyal citizens of the South. Let this fact be a\npalliation for whatever imperfections the reader may meet with in its\nperusal.\n\nThere are many loyal men in the southern States, who to avoid martyrdom,\nconceal their opinions. They are to be pitied--not severely censured. All\nthose southern ministers and professors of religion who were eminent for\npiety, opposed secession till the States passed the secession ordinance.\nThey then advocated reconstruction as long as it comported with their\nsafety. They then, in the face of danger and death, became quiescent--not\nacquiescent, by any means--and they now \"bide their time,\" in prayerful\ntrust that God will, in his own good time, subvert rebellion, and\noverthrow anarchy, by a restoration of the supremacy of constitutional\nlaw. By these, and their name is legion, my book will be warmly approved.\nMy fellow-prisoners in the dungeon at Tupelo, who may have survived its\nhorrors, and my fellow-sufferers in the Union cause throughout the South,\nwill read in my narrative a transcript of their own sufferings. The loyal\ncitizens of the whole country will be interested in learning the views of\none who has been conversant with the rise and progress of secession, from\nits incipiency to its culmination in rebellion and treason. It will also\ndoubtless be of general interest to learn something of the workings of the\n\"peculiar institution,\" and the various phases which it assumes in\ndifferent sections of the slave States.\n\nCompelled to leave Dixie in haste, I had no time to collect materials for\nmy work. I was therefore under the necessity of writing without those aids\nwhich would have secured greater accuracy. I have done the best that I\ncould under the circumstances; and any errors that may have crept into my\nstatements of facts, or reports of addresses, will be cheerfully rectified\nas soon as ascertained.\n\nThat I might not compromise the safety of my Union friends who rendered me\nassistance, and who are still within the rebel lines, I was compelled to\nomit their names, and for the same reason to describe rather indefinitely\nsome localities, especially the portions of Ittawamba, Chickasaw,\nPontotoc, Tippah, and Tishomingo counties, through which I travelled while\nescaping to the Federal lines. This I hope to be able to correct in future\neditions.\n\nNarratives require a liberal use of the first personal pronoun, which I\nwould have gladly avoided, had it been possible without tedious\ncircumlocution, as its frequent repetition has the appearance of egotism.\n\nI return sincere thanks to my fellow-prisoners who imperilled their own\nlives to save mine, and also to those Mississippi Unionists who so\ngenerously aided a panting fugitive on his way from chains and death to\nlife and liberty. My thanks are also due to Rev. William P. Breed, for\nassistance in preparing my work for the press.\n\nI am also under obligations to Rev. Francis J. Collier, of Philadelphia;\nto Rev. A. D. Smith, D. D., and Rev. J. R. W. Sloane, of New York, and to\nRev. F. B. Wheeler, of Poughkeepsie, New York.\n\nMay the Triune God bless our country, and preserve its integrity!\n\nJOHN HILL AUGHEY.\n\nFEBRUARY 1, 1863.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n  CHAPTER I.\n\n  SECESSION.\n\n  Speech of Colonel Drane--Submission Denounced--Northern\n  Aggression--No more Slave States--Northern _isms_--Yankees'\n  Servants--Yankee inferiority--Breckinridge, or immediate,\n  complete, and eternal Separation--A Day of Rejoicing--Abraham\n  Lincoln, President elect--A Union Speech--A Southerner's\n  Reasons for opposing Secession--Address by a Radical\n  Secessionist--Cursing and Bitterness--A Prayer--Sermon\n  against Secession--List of Grievances--Causes which led to\n  Secession                                                         13--49\n\n\n  CHAPTER II.\n\n  VIGILANCE COMMITTEE AND COURT-MARTIAL.\n\n  The election of Delegates to determine the status of\n  Mississippi--The Vigilance Committee--Description of its\n  members--Charges--Phonography--No formal verdict--Danger of\n  Assassination--Passports--Escape to Rienzi--Union sentiment--\n  The Conscript Law--Summons to attend Court-Martial--\n  Evacuation of Corinth--Destruction of Cotton--Suffering\n  poor--Relieved by General Halleck                                 50--69\n\n\n  CHAPTER III.\n\n  ARREST, ESCAPE, AND RECAPTURE.\n\n  High price of Provisions--Holland Lindsay's Family--The\n  arrest--Captain Hill--Appearance before Colonel Bradfute at\n  Fulton--Arrest of Benjamin Clarke--Bradfute's Insolence--\n  General Chalmers--The clerical Spy--General Pfeifer--Under\n  guard--Priceville--General Gordon--Bound for Tupelo--The\n  Prisoners entering the Dungeon--Captain Bruce--Lieutenant\n  Richard Malone--Prison Fare and Treatment--Menial Service--\n  Resolve to escape--Plan of escape--Federal Prisoners--\n  Co-operation of the Prisoners--Declaration of Independence--\n  The Escape--The Separation--Concealment--Travel on the\n  Underground Railroad--Pursuit by Cavalry and Bloodhounds--The\n  Arrest--Dan Barnes, the Mail-robber--Perfidy--Heavily\n  ironed--Return to Tupelo                                         70--112\n\n\n  CHAPTER IV.\n\n  LIFE IN A DUNGEON.\n\n  Parson Aughey as Chaplain--Description of the Prisoners--\n  Colonel Walter, the Judge Advocate--Charges and\n  Specifications against Parson Aughey, a Citizen of the\n  Confederate States--Execution of two Tennesseeans--Enlistment\n  of Union Prisoners--Colonel Walter's second visit--Day of\n  Execution specified--Farewell Letter to my Wife--Parson\n  Aughey's Obituary penned by himself--Address to his Soul--The\n  Soul's Reply--Farewell Letter to his Parents--The Union\n  Prisoners' Petition to Hon. W. H. Seward--The two Prisoners\n  and the Oath of Allegiance--Irish Stories                       113--142\n\n\n  CHAPTER V.\n\n  EXECUTION OF UNION PRISONERS.\n\n  Resolved to Escape--Mode of Executing Prisoners--Removal of\n  Chain--Addition to our Numbers--Two Prisoners become Insane--\n  Plan of Escape--Proves a Failure--Fetters Inspected--\n  Additional Fetters--Handcuffs--A Spy in the Disguise of a\n  Prisoner--Special Police Guard on Duty--A Prisoner's\n  Discovery--Divine Services--The General Judgment--The Judge--\n  The Laws--The Witnesses--The Concourse--The Sentence            143--167\n\n\n  CHAPTER VI.\n\n  SUCCESSFUL ESCAPE.\n\n  The Second Plan of Escape--Under the Jail--Egress--Among the\n  Guards--In the Swamp--Travelling on the Underground\n  Railroad--The Fare--Green Corn eaten Raw--Blackberries and\n  Stagnant Water--The Bloodhounds--Tantalizing Dreams--The\n  Pickets--The Cows--Become Sick--Fons Beatus--Find Friends--\n  Union Friend No. Two--The night in the Barn--Death of Newman\n  by Scalding--Union Friend No. Three--Bound for the Union\n  Lines--Rebel Soldiers--Black Ox--Pied Ox--Reach Headquarters\n  in Safety--Emotions on again beholding the Old Flag--Kindness\n  while Sick--Meeting with his Family--Richard Malone again--\n  The Serenade--Leave Dixie--Northward bound                      168--211\n\n\n  CHAPTER VII.\n\n  SOUTHERN CLASSES--CRUELTY TO SLAVES.\n\n  Sandhillers--Dirt-eating--Dipping--Their Mode of Living--\n  Patois--Rain-book--Wife-trade--Coming in to see the Cars--\n  Superstition--Marriage of Kinsfolks--Hardshell Sermon--Causes\n  which lead to the Degradation of this Class--Efforts to\n  Reconcile the Poor Whites to the Peculiar Institution--The\n  Slaveholding Class--The Middle Class--Northern _isms_--\n  Incident at a Methodist Minister's House--Question asked a\n  Candidate for Licensure--Reason of Southern Hatred toward the\n  North--Letter to Mr. Jackman--Barbarities and Cruelties of\n  Slavery--Mulattoes--Old Cole--Child Born at Whipping-post--\n  Advertisement of a Keeper of Bloodhounds--Getting Rid of Free\n  Blacks--The Doom of Slavery--Methodist Church South             212--248\n\n\n  CHAPTER VIII.\n\n  NOTORIOUS REBELS.--UNION OFFICERS.\n\n  Colonel Jefferson Davis--His Speech at Holly Springs,\n  Mississippi--His Opposition to Yankee Teachers and\n  Ministers--A bid for the Presidency--His Ambition--Burr,\n  Arnold, Davis--General Beauregard--Headquarters at Rienzi--\n  Colonel Elliott's Raid--Beauregard's Consternation--Personal\n  description--His illness--Popularity waning.--Rev. Dr. Palmer\n  of New Orleans--His influence--The Cincinnati Letter--His\n  Personal Appearance--His Denunciations of General Butler--His\n  Radicalism.--Rev. Dr. Waddell of La Grange, Tennessee--His\n  Prejudices against the North--President of Memphis Synodical\n  College--His Talents prostituted.--Union Officers--General\n  Nelson--General Sherman                                         249--263\n\n\n  CHAPTER IX.\n\n  CONDITION OF THE SOUTH.\n\n  Cause of the Rebellion--Prevalence of Union Sentiment in the\n  South--Why not Developed--Stevenson's Views--Why Incorrect--\n  Cavalry Raids upon Union Citizens--How the Rebels employ\n  Slaves--Slaves Whipped and sent out of the Federal Lines--\n  Resisting the Conscript Law--Kansas Jayhawkers--Guarding\n  Rebel Property--Perfidy of Secessionists--Plea for\n  Emancipation--The South Exhausted--Failure of Crops--Southern\n  Merchants Ruined--Bragg Prohibits the Manufacture and Vending\n  of Intoxicating Liquors--Its Salutary Effect                    264--281\n\n\n  CHAPTER X.\n\n  BATTLES OF LEESBURG, BELMONT, AND SHILOH.\n\n  Rebel Cruelty to Prisoners--The Fratricide--Grant Defeated--\n  Saved by Gunboats--Buell's Advance--Railroad Disaster--The\n  South Despondent--General Rosecrans--Secession will become\n  Odious even in the South--Poem                                  282--296\n\n\n\n\nTHE IRON FURNACE; OR SLAVERY AND SECESSION.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nSECESSION.\n\n    Speech of Colonel Drane.--Submission Denounced.--Northern\n    Aggression.--No more Slave States.--Northern _isms_.--Yankees'\n    Servants.--Yankee inferiority.--Breckinridge, or immediate, complete,\n    and eternal Separation.--A Day of Rejoicing.--Abraham Lincoln\n    President elect.--A Union Speech.--A Southerner's Reasons for opposing\n    Secession.--Address by a Radical Secessionist.--Cursing and\n    Bitterness.--A Prayer.--Sermon against Secession.--List of\n    Grievances.--Causes which led to Secession.\n\n\nAt the breaking out of the present rebellion, I was engaged in the work of\nan Evangelist in the counties of Choctaw and Attala in Central\nMississippi. My congregations were large, and my duties onerous. Being\nconstantly employed in ministerial labours, I had no time to intermeddle\nwith politics, leaving all such questions to statesmen, giving the\ncomplex issues of the day only sufficient attention to enable me to vote\nintelligently. Thus was I engaged when the great political campaign of\n1860 commenced--a campaign conducted with greater virulence and asperity\nthan any I have ever witnessed. During my casual detention at a store,\nColonel Drane arrived, according to appointment, to address the people of\nChoctaw. He was a member of one of my congregations, and as he had been\nlong a leading statesman in Mississippi, having for many years presided\nover the State Senate, I expected to hear a speech of marked ability,\nunfolding the true issues before the people, with all the dignity,\nsuavity, and earnestness of a gentleman and patriot; but I found his whole\nspeech to be a tirade of abuse against the North, commingled with the bold\navowal of treasonable sentiments. The Colonel thus addressed the people:\n\n    MY FELLOW-CITIZENS--I appear before you to urge anew resistance\n    against the encroachments and aggressions of the Yankees. If the\n    Black Republicans carry their ticket, and Old Abe is elected, our\n    right to carry our slaves into the territories will be denied us; and\n    who dare say that he would be a base, craven submissionist, when our\n    God-given and constitutional right to carry slavery into the common\n    domain is wickedly taken from the South. The Yankees cheated us out of\n    Kansas by their infernal Emigrant Aid Societies. They cheated us out\n    of California, which our blood-treasure purchased, for the South sent\n    ten men to one that was sent by the North to the Mexican war, and thus\n    we have no foothold on the Pacific coast; and even now we pay five\n    dollars for the support of the general Government where the North pays\n    one. We help to pay bounties to the Yankee fishermen in New England;\n    indeed _we_ are always paying, paying, paying, and yet the North is\n    always crying, Give, give, give. The South has made the North rich,\n    and what thanks do we receive? Our rights are trampled on, our slaves\n    are spirited by thousands over their underground railroad to Canada,\n    our citizens are insulted while travelling in the North, and their\n    servants are tampered with, and by false representations, and often by\n    mob violence, forced from them. Douglas, knowing the power of the\n    Emigrant Aid Societies, proposes squatter sovereignty, with the\n    positive certainty that the scum of Europe and the mudsills of\n    Yankeedom can be shipped in in numbers sufficient to control the\n    destiny of the embryo State. Since the admission of Texas in 1845,\n    there has not been a single foot of slave territory secured to the\n    South, while the North has added to their list the extensive States of\n    California, Minnesota, and Oregon, and Kansas is as good as theirs;\n    while, if Lincoln is elected, the Wilmot proviso will be extended over\n    all the common territories, debarring the South for ever from her\n    right to share the public domain.\n\n    The hypocrites of the North tell us that slaveholding is sinful. Well,\n    suppose it is. Upon us and our children let the guilt of this sin\n    rest; we are willing to bear it, and it is none of their business. We\n    are a more moral people than they are. Who originated Mormonism,\n    Millerism, Spirit-rappings, Abolitionism, Free-loveism, and all the\n    other abominable _isms_ which curse the world? The reply is, the\n    North. Their puritanical fanaticism and hypocrisy is patent to all.\n    Talk to us of the sin of slavery, when the only difference between us\n    is that our slaves are black and theirs white. They treat their white\n    slaves, the Irish and Dutch, in a cruel manner, giving them during\n    health just enough to purchase coarse clothing, and when they become\n    sick, they are turned off to starve, as they do by hundreds every\n    year. A female servant in the North must have a testimonial of good\n    character before she will be employed; those with whom she is\n    labouring will not give her this so long as they desire her services;\n    she therefore cannot leave them, whatever may be her treatment, so\n    that she is as much compelled to remain with her employer as the slave\n    with his master.\n\n    Their servants hate them; our's love us. My niggers would fight for me\n    and my family. They have been treated well, and they know it. And I\n    don't treat my slaves any better than my neighbours. If ever there\n    comes a war between the North and the South, let us do as Abraham\n    did--arm our trained servants, and go forth with them to the battle.\n    They hate the Yankees as intensely as we do, and nothing could please\n    our slaves better than to fight them. Ah, the perfidious Yankees! I\n    cordially hate a Yankee. We have all suffered much at their hands;\n    they will not keep faith with us. Have they complied with the\n    provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law? The thousands and tens of\n    thousands of slaves aided in their escape to Canada, is a sufficient\n    answer. We _have_ lost millions, and _are_ losing millions every year,\n    by the operations of the underground railroad. How deep the perfidy of\n    a people, thus to violate every article of compromise we have made\n    with them! The Yankees are an inferior race, descended from the old\n    Puritan stock, who enacted the Blue Laws. They are desirous of\n    compelling us to submit to laws more iniquitous than ever were the\n    Blue Laws. I have travelled in the North, and have seen the depth of\n    their depravity. Now, my fellow-citizens, what shall we do to resist\n    Northern aggression? Why simply this: if Lincoln or Douglas are\n    elected, (as to the Bell-Everett ticket, it stands no sort of chance,)\n    let us secede. This remedy will be effectual. I am in favour of no\n    more compromises. Let us have Breckinridge, or immediate, complete,\n    and eternal separation.\n\nThe speaker then retired amid the cheers of his audience.\n\nSoon after this there came a day of rejoicing to many in Mississippi. The\nbooming of cannon, the joyous greeting, the soul-stirring music, indicated\nthat no ordinary intelligence had been received. The lightnings had\nbrought the tidings that Abraham Lincoln was President elect of the United\nStates, and the South was wild with excitement. Those who had been long\ndesirous of a pretext for secession, now boldly advocated their\nsentiments, and joyfully hailed the election of Mr. Lincoln as affording\nthat pretext. The conservative men were filled with gloom. They regarded\nthe election of Mr. Lincoln, by the majority of the people of the United\nStates, in a constitutional way, as affording no cause for secession.\nSecession they regarded as fraught with all the evils of Pandora's box,\nand that war, famine, pestilence, and moral and physical desolation would\nfollow in its train. A call was made by Governor Pettus for a convention\nto assemble early in January, at Jackson, to determine what course\nMississippi should pursue, whether her policy should be submission or\nsecession.\n\nCandidates, Union and Secession, were nominated for the convention in\nevery county. The speeches of two, whom I heard, will serve as a specimen\nof the arguments used _pro_ and _con_. Captain Love, of Choctaw, thus\naddressed the people.\n\n    MY FELLOW-CITIZENS--I appear before you to advocate the Union--the\n    Union of the States under whose favoring auspices we have long\n    prospered. No nation so great, so prosperous, so happy, or so much\n    respected by earth's thousand kingdoms, as the Great Republic, by\n    which name the United States is known from the rivers to the ends of\n    the earth. Our flag, the star-spangled banner, is respected on every\n    sea, and affords protection to the citizens of every State, whether\n    amid the pyramids of Egypt, the jungles of Asia, or the mighty cities\n    of Europe. Our Republican Constitution, framed by the wisdom of our\n    Revolutionary fathers, is as free from imperfection as any document\n    drawn up by uninspired men. God presided over the councils of that\n    convention which framed our glorious Constitution. They asked wisdom\n    from on high, and their prayers were answered. Free speech, a free\n    press, and freedom to worship God as our conscience dictates, under\n    our own vine and fig-tree, none daring to molest or make us afraid,\n    are some of the blessings which our Constitution guarantees; and these\n    prerogatives, which we enjoy, are features which bless and distinguish\n    us from the other nations of the earth. Freedom of speech is unknown\n    amongst them; among them a censorship of the press and a national\n    church are established.\n\n    Our country, by its physical features, seems fitted for but one\n    nation. What ceaseless trouble would be caused by having the source of\n    our rivers in one country and the mouth in another. There are no\n    natural boundaries to divide us into separate nations. We are all\n    descended from the same common parentage, we all speak the same\n    language, and we have really no conflicting interests, the statements\n    of our opponents to the contrary notwithstanding. Our opponents\n    advocate separate State secession. Would not Mississippi cut a sorry\n    figure among the nations of the earth? With no harbour, she would be\n    dependent on a foreign nation for an outlet. Custom-house duties would\n    be ruinous, and the republic of Mississippi would find herself\n    compelled to return to the Union. Mississippi, you remember,\n    repudiated a large foreign debt some years ago; if she became an\n    independent nation, her creditors would influence their government to\n    demand payment, which could not be refused by the weak, defenceless,\n    navyless, armyless, moneyless, repudiating republic of Mississippi.\n    To pay this debt, with the accumulated interest, would ruin the new\n    republic, and bankruptcy would stare us in the face.\n\n    It is true, Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States.\n    My plan is to wait till Mr. Lincoln does something unconstitutional.\n    Then let the South unanimously seek redress in a constitutional\n    manner. The conservatives of the North will join us. If no redress is\n    made, let us present our ultimatum. If this, too, is rejected, I for\n    one will not advocate submission; and by the cooperation of all the\n    slave States, we will, in the event of the perpetration of wrong, and\n    a refusal to redress our grievances, be much abler to secure our\n    rights, or to defend them at the cannon's mouth and the point of the\n    bayonet. The Supreme Court favours the South. In the Dred Scott case,\n    the Supreme Court decided that the negro was not a citizen, and that\n    the slave was a chattel, as we regard him. The majority of Congress on\n    joint ballot is still with the South. Although we have something to\n    fear from the views of the President elect and the Chicago platform,\n    let us wait till some overt act, trespassing upon our rights, is\n    committed, and all redress denied; then, and not till then, will I\n    advocate extreme measures.\n\n    Let our opponents remember that secession and civil war are\n    synonymous. Who ever heard of a government breaking to pieces without\n    an arduous struggle for its preservation? I admit the right of\n    revolution, when a people's rights cannot otherwise be maintained, but\n    deny the right of secession. We are told that it is a reserved right.\n    The constitution declares that all rights not specified in it are\n    reserved to the people of the respective States; but who ever heard of\n    the right of total destruction of the government being a reserved\n    right in any constitution? The fallacy is evident at a glance. Nine\n    millions of people can afford to wait for some overt act. Let us not\n    follow the precipitate course which the ultra politicians indicate.\n    Let W. L. Yancey urge his treasonable policy of firing the Southern\n    heart and precipitating a revolution; but let us follow no such\n    wicked advice. Let us follow the things which make for peace.\n\n    We are often told that the North will not return fugitive slaves. Will\n    secession remedy this grievance? Will secession give us any more slave\n    territory? No free government ever makes a treaty for the rendition of\n    fugitive slaves--thus recognising the rights of the citizens of a\n    foreign nation to a species of property which it denies to its own\n    citizens. Even little Mexico will not do it. Mexico and Canada return\n    no fugitives. In the event of secession, the United States would\n    return no fugitives, and our peculiar institution would, along our\n    vast border, become very insecure; we would hold our slaves by a very\n    slight tenure. Instead of extending the great Southern institution, it\n    would be contracting daily. Our slaves would be held to service at\n    their own option, throughout the whole border, and our gulf States\n    would soon become border States; and the great insecurity of this\n    species of property would work, before twenty years, the extinction\n    of slavery, and, in consequence, the ruin of the South. Are we\n    prepared for such a result? Are we prepared for civil war? Are we\n    prepared for all the evils attendant upon a fratricidal contest--for\n    bloodshed, famine, and political and moral desolation? I reply, we are\n    not; therefore let us look before we leap, and avoiding the heresy of\n    secession--\n\n        \"Rather bear the ills we have,\n        Than fly to others that we know not of.\"\n\nA secession speaker was introduced, and thus addressed the people:\n\n    LADIES AND GENTLEMEN--FELLOW-CITIZENS--I am a secessionist out and\n    out; voted for Jeff Davis for Governor in 1850, when the same issue\n    was before the people; and I have always felt a grudge against the\n    _free state_ of Tishomingo for giving H. S. Foote, the Union\n    candidate, a majority so great as to elect him, and thus retain the\n    State in this accursed Union ten years longer. Who would be a\n    craven-hearted, cowardly, villanous submissionist? Lincoln, the\n    abominable, white-livered abolitionist, is President elect of the\n    United States; shall he be permitted to take his seat on Southern\n    soil? No, never! I will volunteer as one of thirty thousand, to\n    butcher the villain if ever he sets foot on slave territory. Secession\n    or submission! What patriot would hesitate for a moment which to\n    choose? No true son of Mississippi would brook the idea of submission\n    to the rule of the baboon Abe Lincoln--a fifth-rate lawyer, a\n    broken-down hack of a politician, a fanatic, an abolitionist. I, for\n    one, would prefer an hour of virtuous liberty to a whole eternity of\n    bondage under northern, Yankee, wooden-nutmeg rule. The halter is the\n    only argument that should be used against the submissionists, and I\n    predict that it will soon, very soon, be in force.\n\n    We have glorious news from Tallahatchie. Seven tory-submissionists\n    were hanged there in one day, and the so-called Union candidates,\n    having the wholesome dread of hemp before their eyes, are not\n    canvassing the county; therefore the heretical dogma of submission,\n    under any circumstances, disgraces not their county. Compromise! let\n    us have no such word in our vocabulary. Compromise with the Yankees,\n    after the election of Lincoln, is treason against the South; and still\n    its syren voice is listened to by the demagogue submissionists. We\n    should never have made any compromise, for in every case we\n    surrendered rights for the sake of peace. No concession of the scared\n    Yankees will now prevent secession. They now understand that the South\n    is in earnest, and in their alarm they are proposing to yield us much;\n    but the die is cast, the Rubicon is crossed, and our determination\n    shall ever be, No union with the flat-headed, nigger-stealing,\n    fanatical Yankees.\n\n    We are now threatened with internecine war. The Yankees are an\n    inferior race; they are cowardly in the extreme. They are descended\n    from the Puritan stock, who never bore rule in any nation. We, the\n    descendants of the Cavaliers, are the Patricians, they the Plebeians.\n    The Cavaliers have always been the rulers, the Puritans the ruled. The\n    dastardly Yankees will never fight us; but if they, in their\n    presumption and audacity, venture to attack us, let the war come--I\n    repeat it--let it come! The conflagration of their burning cities, the\n    desolation of their country, and the slaughter of their inhabitants,\n    will strike the nations of the earth dumb with astonishment, and serve\n    as a warning to future ages, that the slaveholding Cavaliers of the\n    sunny South are terrible in their vengeance. I am in favour of\n    immediate, independent, and eternal separation from the vile Union\n    which has so long oppressed us. After separation, I am in favour of\n    non-intercourse with the United States so long as time endures. We\n    will raise the tariff, to the point of prohibition, on all Yankee\n    manufactures, including wooden-nutmegs, wooden clocks, quack nostrums,\n    &c. We will drive back to their own inhospitable clime every Yankee\n    who dares to pollute our shores with his cloven feet. Go he must, and\n    if necessary, with the bloodhounds on his track. The scum of Europe\n    and the mudsills of Yankeedom shall never be permitted to advance a\n    step south of 36 deg. 30'. South of that latitude is ours--westward to\n    the Pacific. With my heart of hearts I hate a Yankee, and I will make\n    my children swear eternal hatred to the whole Yankee race. A mongrel\n    breed--Irish, Dutch, Puritans, Jews, free niggers, &c.--they scarce\n    deserve the notice of the descendants of the Huguenots, the old\n    Castilians, and the Cavaliers. Cursed be the day when the South\n    consented to this iniquitous league--the Federal Union--which has long\n    dimmed her nascent glory.\n\n    In battle, one southron is equivalent to ten northern hirelings; but I\n    regard it a waste of time to speak of Yankees--they deserve not our\n    attention. It matters not to us what they think of secession, and we\n    would not trespass upon your time and patience, were it not for the\n    tame, tory submissionists with which our country is cursed. A fearful\n    retribution is in waiting for the whole crew, if the war which they\n    predict, should come. Were they then to advocate the same views, I\n    would not give a fourpence for their lives. We would hang them\n    quicker than old Heath would hang a tory. Our Revolutionary fathers\n    set us a good example in their dealings with the tories. They sent\n    them to the shades infernal from the branches of the nearest tree. The\n    North has sent teachers and preachers amongst us, who have insidiously\n    infused the leaven of Abolitionism into the minds of their students\n    and parishioners; and this submissionist policy is a lower development\n    of the doctrine of Wendell Philips, Gerritt Smith, Horace Greely, and\n    others of that ilk. We have a genial clime, a soil of uncommon\n    fertility. We have free institutions, freedom for the white man,\n    bondage for the black man, as nature and nature's God designed. We\n    have fair women and brave men. The lines have truly fallen to us in\n    pleasant places. We have indeed a goodly heritage. The only evil we\n    can complain of is our bondage to the Yankees through the Federal\n    Union. Let us burst these shackles from our limbs, and we will be free\n    indeed.\n\n    Let all who desire complete and eternal emancipation from Yankee\n    thraldom, come to the polls on the ---- day of December, prepared not\n    to vote the cowardly submissionist ticket, but to vote the secession\n    ticket; and their children, and their children's children, will owe\n    them a debt of gratitude which they can never repay. The day of our\n    separation and vindication of States' rights, will be the happiest day\n    of our lives. Yankee domination will have ceased for ever, and the\n    haughty southron will spurn them from all association, both\n    governmental and social. So mote it be!\n\nThis address was received with great eclat.\n\nOn the next Sabbath after this meeting, I preached in the Poplar Creek\nPresbyterian church, in Choctaw county, from Romans xiii. 1: \"Let every\nsoul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God:\nthe powers that be, are ordained of God.\"\n\nPrevious to the sermon a prayer was offered, of which the following is the\nconclusion:\n\n    ALMIGHTY GOD--We would present our country, the United States of\n    America, before thee. When our political horizon is overcast with\n    clouds and darkness, when the strong-hearted are becoming fearful for\n    the permanence of our free institutions, and the prosperity, yea, the\n    very existence of our great Republic, we pray thee, O God, when flesh\n    and heart fail, when no human arm is able to save us from the fearful\n    vortex of disunion and revolution, that thou wouldst interpose and\n    save us. We confess our national sins, for we have, as a nation,\n    sinned grievously. We have been highly favoured, we have been greatly\n    prospered, and have taken our place amongst the leading powers of the\n    earth. A gospel-enlightened nation, our sins are therefore more\n    heinous in thy sight. They are sins of deep ingratitude and\n    presumption. We confess that drunkenness has abounded amongst all\n    classes of our citizens. Rulers and ruled have been alike guilty; and\n    because of its wide-spreading prevalence, and because our legislators\n    have enacted no sufficient laws for its suppression, it is a national\n    sin. Profanity abounds amongst us; Sabbath-breaking is rife; and we\n    have elevated unworthy men to high positions of honour and trust. We\n    are not, as a people, free from the crime of tyranny and oppression.\n    For these great and aggravated offences, we pray thee to give us\n    repentance and godly sorrow, and then, O God, avert the threatened and\n    imminent judgments which impend over our beloved country. Teach our\n    Senators wisdom. Grant them that wisdom which is able to make them\n    wise unto salvation; and grant also that wisdom which is profitable to\n    direct, so that they may steer the ship of State safely through the\n    troubled waters which seem ready to engulf it on every side. Lord,\n    hear us, and answer in mercy, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.\n    Amen and Amen!\n\nThe following is a synopsis of my sermon:\n\n    Israel had been greatly favoured as a nation. No weapon formed against\n    them prospered, so long as they loved and served the Lord their God.\n    They were blessed in their basket and their store. They were set on\n    high above all the nations of the earth. * * * * When all Israel\n    assembled, ostensibly to make Rehoboam king, they were ripe for\n    rebellion. Jeroboam and other wicked men had fomented and cherished\n    the sparks of treason, till, on this occasion, it broke out into the\n    flame of open rebellion. The severity of Solomon's rule was the\n    pretext, but it was only a pretext, for during his reign the nation\n    prospered, grew rich and powerful. Jeroboam wished a disruption of the\n    kingdom, that he might bear rule; and although God permitted it as a\n    punishment for Israel's idolatry, yet he frowned upon the wicked men\n    who were instrumental in bringing this great evil upon his chosen\n    people.\n\n    The loyal division took the name of Judah, though composed of the two\n    tribes, Judah and Benjamin. The revolted ten tribes took the name of\n    their leading tribe, Ephraim. Ephraim continued to wax weaker and\n    weaker. Filled with envy against Judah, they often warred against that\n    loyal kingdom, until they themselves were greatly reduced. At last,\n    after various vicissitudes, the ten tribes were carried away, and\n    scattered and lost. We often hear of the lost ten tribes. What became\n    of them is a mystery. Their secession ended in their being blotted out\n    of existence, or lost amidst the heathen. God alone knows what did\n    become of them. They resisted the powers that be--the ordinance of\n    God--and received to themselves damnation and annihilation.\n\n    As God dealt with Israel, so will he deal with us. If we are exalted\n    by righteousness, we will prosper; if we, as the ten tribes, resist\n    the ordinance of God, we will perish. At this time, many are\n    advocating the course of the ten tribes. Secession is a word of\n    frequent occurrence. It is openly advocated by many. Nullification and\n    rebellion, secession and treason, are convertible terms, and no good\n    citizen will mention them with approval. Secession is resisting the\n    powers that be, and therefore it is a violation of God's command.\n    Where do we obtain the right of secession? Clearly not from the word\n    of God, which enjoins obedience to all that are in authority, to whom\n    we must be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake.\n    The following scriptural argument for secession is often used, 1 Tim.\n    vi. 1--5. In these verses Paul was addressing believing servants, and\n    commanding them to absent themselves from the teaching of those who\n    taught not the doctrine which is according to godliness. In a former\n    epistle he had commanded Christians not to keep company with the\n    incestuous person who had his father's wife. He directed that they\n    should not keep company with any man who was called a brother, if he\n    were a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a\n    drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat; but he\n    expressly declares that he does not allude to those who belong to the\n    above classes that have made no profession of religion. He does not\n    judge them that are without, for them that are without, God judgeth.\n    He afterwards exhorts that the church confirm their love toward the\n    incestuous person as he had repented of his wickedness. This direction\n    of the Apostle to believers to withdraw from a brother who walked\n    disorderly, till he had manifested proper repentance; and his\n    exhortation to believing servants to absent themselves from the\n    teachings of errorists, cannot logically be construed as a scriptural\n    argument in favour of secession. Were the President of the United\n    States an unbeliever, a profane swearer, a Sabbath-breaker, or a\n    drunkard, this fact would not, _per se_, give us the right to secede\n    or rebel against the government.\n\n    There is no provision made in the Constitution of the United States\n    for secession. The wisest statesmen, who made politics their study,\n    regarded secession as a political heresy, dangerous in its tendencies,\n    and destructive of all government in its practical application.\n    Mississippi, purchased from France with United States gold, fostered\n    by the nurturing care, and made prosperous by the wise administration\n    of the general government, proposes to secede. Her political status\n    would then be anomalous. Would her territory revert to France? Does\n    she propose to refund the purchase-money? Would she become a territory\n    under the jurisdiction of the United States Congress?\n\n    Henry Clay, the great statesman, Daniel Webster, the expounder of the\n    Constitution, General Jackson, George Washington, and a mighty host,\n    whose names would fill a volume, regarded secession as treason. One of\n    our smallest States, which swarmed with tories in the Revolution,\n    whose descendants still live, invented the doctrine of nullification,\n    the first treasonable step, which soon culminated in the advocacy of\n    secession. Why should we secede, and thus destroy the best, the\n    freest, and most prosperous government on the face of the earth? the\n    government which our patriot fathers fought and bled to secure. What\n    has Mississippi lost by the Union? I have resided seven years in this\n    State, and have an extensive personal acquaintance, and yet I know not\n    a single individual who has lost a slave through northern influence. I\n    have, it is true, known of some ten slaves who have run away, and have\n    not been found. They may have been aided in their escape to Canada by\n    northern and southern citizens, for there are many in the South who\n    have given aid and comfort to the fugitive; but the probability is\n    that they perished in the swamps, or were destroyed by the\n    bloodhounds.\n\n    The complaint is made that the North regards slavery as a moral,\n    social, and political evil, and that many of them denounce, in no\n    measured terms, both slavery and slaveholders. To be thus denounced is\n    regarded as a great grievance. Secession would not remedy this evil.\n    In order to cure it effectually, we must seize and gag all who thus\n    denounce our peculiar institution. We must also muzzle their press. As\n    this is impracticable, it would be well to come to this\n    conclusion:--If we are verily guilty of the evils charged upon us, let\n    us set about rectifying those evils; if not, the denunciations of\n    slanderers should not affect us so deeply. If our northern brethren\n    are honest in their convictions of the sin of slavery, as no doubt\n    many of them are, let us listen to their arguments without the dire\n    hostility so frequently manifested. They take the position that\n    slavery is opposed to the inalienable rights of the human race; that\n    it originated in piracy and robbery; that manifold cruelties and\n    barbarities are inflicted upon the defenceless slaves; that they are\n    debarred from intellectual culture by State laws, which send to the\n    penitentiary those who are guilty of instructing them; that they are\n    put upon the block and sold; parent and child, husband and wife being\n    separated, so that they never again see each other's face in the\n    flesh; that the law of chastity cannot be observed, as there are no\n    laws punishing rape on the person of a female slave; that when they\n    escape from the threatened cat-o'-nine-tails, or overseer's whip, they\n    are hunted down by bloodhounds, and bloodier men; that often they are\n    half-starved and half-clad, and are furnished with mere hovels to live\n    in; that they are often murdered by cruel overseers, who whip them to\n    death, or overtask them, until disease is induced, which results in\n    death; that masters practically ignore the marriage relation among\n    slaves, inasmuch as they frequently separate husband and wife, by sale\n    or removal; that they discourage the formation of that relation,\n    preferring that the offspring of their female slaves should be\n    illegitimate, from the mistaken notion that it would be more numerous.\n    They charge, also, that slavery induces in the masters, pride,\n    arrogance, tyranny, laziness, profligacy, and every form of vice.\n\n    The South takes the position, that if slavery is sinful, the North is\n    not responsible for that sin; that it is a State institution, and that\n    to interfere with slavery in the States in any way, even by censure,\n    is a violation of the rights of the States. The language of our\n    politicians is, Upon us and our children rest the evil! We are willing\n    to take the responsibility, and to risk the penalty! You will find\n    evil and misery enough in the North to excite your philanthropy, and\n    employ your beneficence. You have purchased our cotton; you have used\n    our sugar; you have eaten our rice; you have smoked and chewed our\n    tobacco--all of which are the products of slave-labour. You have grown\n    rich by traffic in these articles; you have monopolized the carrying\n    trade, and borne our slave-produced products to your shores. Your\n    northern ships, manned by northern men, brought from Africa the\n    greater part of the slaves which came to our continent, and they are\n    still smuggling them in. When, finding slavery unprofitable, the\n    northern States passed laws for gradual emancipation, but few obtained\n    their freedom, the majority of them being shipped South and sold, so\n    that but few, comparatively, were manumitted. If the slave trade and\n    slavery are great sins, the North is _particeps criminis_, and has\n    been from the beginning.\n\n    These bitter accusations are hurled back and forth through the\n    newspapers; and in Congress, crimination and recrimination occur every\n    day of the session. Instead of endeavouring to calm the troubled\n    waters, politicians are striving to render them turbid and boisterous.\n    Sectional bitterness and animosity prevail to a fearful extent; but\n    secession is not the proper remedy. To cure one evil by perpetrating a\n    greater, renders a double cure necessary. In order to cure a disease,\n    the cause should be known, that we may treat it intelligently, and\n    apply a proper remedy. Having observed, during the last eleven years,\n    that sectional strife and bitterness were increasing with fearful\n    rapidity, I have endeavoured to stem the torrent, so far as it was\n    possible for individual effort to do so. I deem it the imperative duty\n    of all patriots, of all Christians, to throw oil upon the troubled\n    waters, and thus save the ship of State from wreck among the\n    vertiginous billows.\n\n    Most of our politicians are demagogues. They care not for the people,\n    so that they accomplish their own selfish and ambitious schemes. Give\n    them power, give them money, and they are satisfied. Deprive them of\n    these, and they are ready to sacrifice the best interests of the\n    nation to secure them. They excite sectional animosity and party\n    strife, and are willing to kindle the flames of civil war to\n    accomplish their unhallowed purposes. They tell us that there is a\n    conflict of interest between the free and slave States, and endeavour\n    to precipitate a revolution, that they may be leaders, and obtain\n    positions of trust and profit in the new government which they hope\n    to establish. The people would be dupes indeed to abet these wicked\n    demagogues in their nefarious designs. Let us not break God's command,\n    by resisting the ordinance of God--the powers that be. I am not\n    discussing the right of revolution, which I deem a sacred right. When\n    human rights are invaded, when life is endangered, when liberty is\n    taken away, when we are not left free to pursue our own happiness in\n    our own chosen way--so far as we do not trespass upon the rights of\n    others--we have a right, and it becomes our imperative duty to resist\n    to the bitter end, the tyranny which would deprive us and our children\n    of our inalienable rights. Our lives are secure; we have freedom to\n    worship God. Our liberty is sacred; we may pursue happiness to our\n    hearts' content. We do not even charge upon the general Government\n    that it has infringed these rights. Whose life has been endangered, or\n    who has lost his liberty by the action of the Government? If that man\n    lives, in all this fair domain of ours, he has the right to complain.\n    But neither you nor I have ever heard of or seen the individual who\n    has thus suffered. We have therefore clearly no right of revolution.\n\n    Treason is no light offence. God, who rules the nations, and who has\n    established governments, will punish severely those who attempt to\n    overthrow them. Damnation is stated to be the punishment which those\n    who resist the powers that be, will suffer. Who wishes to endure it? I\n    hope none of my charge will incur this penalty by the perpetration of\n    treason. You yourselves can bear me witness that I have not heretofore\n    introduced political issues into the pulpit, but at this time I could\n    not acquit my conscience were I not to warn you against the great sin\n    some of you, I fear, are ready to commit.\n\n    Were I to discuss the policy of a high or low tariff, or descant upon\n    the various merits attached to one or another form of banking, I\n    should be justly obnoxious to censure. Politics and religion, however,\n    are not always separate. When the political issue is made, shall we,\n    or shall we not, grant license to sell intoxicating liquors as a\n    beverage? the minister's duty is plain; he must urge his people to use\n    their influence against granting any such license. The minister must\n    enforce every moral and religious obligation, and point out the path\n    of truth and duty, even though the principles he advocates are by\n    statesmen introduced into the arena of political strife, and made\n    issues by the great parties of the day. I see the sword coming, and\n    would be derelict in duty not to give you faithful warning. I must\n    reveal the whole counsel of God. I have a message from God unto you,\n    which I must deliver, whether you will hear, or whether you will\n    forbear. If the sword come, and you perish, I shall then be guiltless\n    of your blood. As to the great question at issue, my honest conviction\n    is (and I think I have the Spirit of God,) that you should with your\n    whole heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, oppose secession. You\n    should talk against it, you should write against it, you should vote\n    against it, and, if need be, you should fight against it.\n\n    I have now declared what I believe to be your high duty in this\n    emergency. Do not destroy the government which has so long protected\n    you, and which has never in a single instance oppressed you. Pull not\n    down the fair fabric which our patriot fathers reared at vast expense\n    of blood and treasure. Do not, like the blind Samson, pull down the\n    pillars of our glorious edifice, and cause death, desolation, and\n    ruin. Perish the hand that would thus destroy the source of all our\n    political prosperity and happiness. Let the parricide who attempts it\n    receive the just retribution which a loyal people demand, even his\n    execution on a gallows, high as Haman's. Let us also set about\n    rectifying the causes which threaten the overthrow of our government.\n    As we are proud, let us pray for the grace of humility. As a State,\n    and as individuals, we too lightly regard its most solemn obligations;\n    let us, therefore, pray for the grace of repentance and godly sorrow,\n    and hereafter in this respect sin no more. As many transgressions have\n    been committed by us, let the time past of our lives suffice us to\n    have wrought the will of the flesh, and now let us break off our sins\n    by righteousness, and our transgressions by turning unto the Lord, and\n    he will avert his threatened judgments, and save us from dissolution,\n    anarchy, and desolation.\n\n    If our souls are filled with hatred against the people of any section\n    of our common country, let us ask from the Great Giver the grace of\n    charity, which suffereth long and is kind, which envieth not, which\n    vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself\n    unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no\n    evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth\n    all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all\n    things, and which never faileth; then shall we be in a suitable frame\n    for an amicable adjustment of every difficulty; oil will soon be\n    thrown upon the troubled waters, and peace, harmony, and prosperity\n    would ever attend us; and our children, and our children's children\n    will rejoice in the possession of a beneficent and stable government,\n    securing to them all the natural and inalienable rights of man.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nVIGILANCE COMMITTEE AND COURT-MARTIAL.\n\n    The election of Delegates to determine the status of Mississippi--The\n    Vigilance Committee--Description of its\n    members--Charges--Phonography--No formal verdict--Danger of\n    Assassination--Passports--Escape to Rienzi--Union sentiment--The\n    Conscript Law--Summons to attend Court-Martial--Evacuation of\n    Corinth--Destruction of Cotton--Suffering poor--Relieved by General\n    Halleck.\n\n\nSoon after this sermon was preached, the election was held. Approaching\nthe polls, I asked for a Union ticket, and was informed that none had been\nprinted, and that it would be advisable to vote the secession ticket. I\nthought otherwise, and going to a desk, wrote out a Union ticket, and\nvoted it amidst the frowns and suppressed murmurs of the judges and\nbystanders, and, as the result proved, I had the honour of depositing the\nonly vote in favour of the Union which was polled in that precinct. I knew\nof many who were in favour of the Union, who were intimidated by threats,\nand by the odium attending it from voting at all. A majority of secession\ncandidates were elected. The convention assembled, and on the 9th of\nJanuary, 1861, Mississippi had the unenviable reputation of being the\nfirst to follow her twin sister, South Carolina, into the maelstrom of\nsecession and treason. Being the only States in which the slaves were more\nnumerous than the whites, it became them to lead the van in the\nslave-holders' rebellion. Before the 4th of March, Florida, Alabama,\nGeorgia, Louisiana and Texas had followed in the wake, and were engulfed\nin the whirlpool of secession.\n\nIt was now dangerous to utter a word in favour of the Union. Many\nsuspected of Union sentiments were lynched. An old gentleman in Winston\ncounty was arrested for an act committed twenty years before, which was\nconstrued as a proof of his abolition proclivities. The old gentleman had\nseveral daughters, and his mother-in-law had given him a negro girl.\nObserving that his daughters were becoming lazy, and were imposing all the\nlabour upon the slave, he sent her back to the donor, with a statement of\nthe cause for returning her. This was now the ground of his arrest, but\nescaping from their clutches, a precipitate flight alone saved his life.\n\nSelf-constituted vigilance committees sprang up all over the country, and\na reign of terror began; all who had been Union men, and who had not given\nin their adhesion to the new order of things by some public proclamation,\nwere supposed to be disaffected. The so-called Confederate States, the new\npower, organized for the avowed purpose of extending and perpetuating\nAfrican slavery, was now in full blast. These _soi-disant_ vigilance\ncommittees professed to carry out the will of Jeff. Davis. All who were\nconsidered disaffected were regarded as being tinctured with abolitionism.\nMy opposition to the disruption of the Union being notorious, I was\nsummoned to appear before one of these august tribunals to answer the\ncharge of being an abolitionist. My wife was very much alarmed, knowing\nthat were I found guilty of the charge, there was no hope for mercy.\nFlight was impossible, and I deemed it the safest plan to appear before\nthe committee. I found it to consist of twelve persons, five of whom I\nknew, viz., Parson Locke, Armstrong, Cartledge, Simpson, and Wilbanks.\nParson Locke, the chief speaker, or rather the inquisitor-general, was a\nMethodist minister, though he had fallen into disrepute among his\nbrethren, and was engaged in a tedious strife with the church which he\nleft in Holmes county. The parson was a real Nimrod. He boasted that in\nfive months he had killed forty-eight raccoons, two hundred squirrels, and\nten deer; he had followed the bloodhounds, and assisted in the capture of\ntwelve runaway negroes. W. H. Simpson was a ruling elder in my church.\nWilbanks was a clever sort of old gentleman, who had little to say in the\nmatter. Armstrong was a monocular Hard-shell-Baptist. Cartledge was an\nilliterate, conceited individual. The rest were a motley crew, not one of\nwhom, I feel confident, knew a letter in the alphabet. The committee\nassembled in an old carriage-shop. Parson Locke acted, as chairman, and\nconducted the trial, as follows.\n\n\"Parson Aughey, you have been reported to us as holding abolition\nsentiments, and as being disloyal to the Confederate States.\"\n\n\"Who reported me, and where are your witnesses?\"\n\n\"Any one has a right to report, and it is optional whether he confronts\nthe accused or not. The proceedings of vigilance committees are somewhat\ninformal.\"\n\n\"Proceed, then, with the trial, in your own way.\"\n\n\"We propose to ask you a few questions, and in your answers you may defend\nyourself, or admit your guilt. In the first place, did you ever say that\nyou did not believe that God ordained the institution of slavery?\"\n\n\"I believe that God did not ordain the institution of slavery.\"\n\n\"Did not God command the Israelites to buy slaves from the Canaanitish\nnations, and to hold them as their property for ever?\"\n\n\"The Canaanites had filled their cup of iniquity to overflowing, and God\ncommanded the Israelites to exterminate them; this, in violation of God's\ncommand, they failed to do. God afterwards permitted the Hebrews to reduce\nthem to a state of servitude; but the punishment visited upon those seven\nwicked nations by the command of God, does not justify war or the\nslave-trade.\"\n\n\"Did you say that you were opposed to the slavery which existed in the\ntime of Christ?\"\n\n\"I did, because the system of slavery prevailing in Christ's day was cruel\nin the extreme; it conferred the power of life and death upon the master,\nand was attended with innumerable evils. The slave had the same complexion\nas his master; and by changing his servile garb for the citizen dress, he\ncould not be recognised as a slave. You yourself profess to be opposed to\nwhite slavery.\"\n\n\"Did you state that you believed Paul, when he sent Onesimus back to\nPhilemon, had no idea that he would be regarded as a slave, and treated as\nsuch after his return?\"\n\n\"I did. My proof is in Philemon, verses 15 and 16, where the apostle asks\nthat Onesimus be received, not as a servant, but as a brother beloved?\"\n\n\"Did you tell Mr. Creath that you knew some negroes who were better, in\nevery respect, than some white men?\"\n\n\"I said that I knew some negroes who were better classical scholars than\nany white men I had as yet met with in Choctaw county, and that I had\nknown some who were pre-eminent for virtue and holiness. As to natural\nrights, I made no comparison; nor did I say anything about superiority or\ninferiority of race; I also stated my belief in the unity of the races.\"\n\n\"Have you any abolition works in your library, and a poem in your\nscrap-book, entitled 'The Fugitive Slave,' with this couplet as a refrain,\n\n  'The hounds are baying on my track;\n  Christian, will you send me back?'\"\n\n\"I have not Mrs. Stowe's nor Helper's work; they are contraband in this\nregion, and I could not get them if I wished. I have many works in my\nlibrary containing sentiments adverse to the institution of slavery. All\nthe works in common use amongst us, on law, physic, and divinity, all the\ntext-books in our schools--in a word, all the works on every subject read\nand studied by us, were, almost without exception, written by men opposed\nto the peculiar institution. I am not alone in this matter.\"\n\n\"Parson, I saw Cowper's works in your library, and Cowper says:\n\n  'I would not have a slave to fan me when I sleep,\n  And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth\n  That sinews bought and sold have ever earned.'\"\n\n\"You have Wesley's writings, and Wesley says that 'Human slavery is the\nsum of all villany.' You have a work which has this couplet:\n\n  'Two deep, dark stains, mar all our country's bliss:\n  Foul slavery one, and one, loathed drunkenness.'\n\nYou have the work of an English writer of high repute, who says, 'Forty\nyears ago, some in England doubted whether slavery were a sin, and\nregarded adultery as a venial offence; but behold the progress of truth!\nWho now doubts that he who enslaves his fellow-man is guilty of a fearful\ncrime, and that he who violates the seventh commandment is a great sinner\nin the sight of God?'\"\n\n\"You are known to be an adept in Phonography, and you are reported to be a\ncorrespondent of an abolition Phonographic journal.\"\n\n\"I understand the science of Phonography, and I am a correspondent of a\nPhonographic journal, but the journal eschews politics.\"\n\nAnother member of the committee then interrogated me.\n\n\"Parson Aughey, what is Funnyography?\"\n\n\"Phonography, sir, is a system of writing by means of a philosophic\nalphabet, composed of the simplest geometrical signs, in which one mark is\nused to represent one and invariably the same sound.\"\n\n\"Kin you talk Funnyography? and where does them folks live what talks it?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir, I converse fluently in Phonography, and those who speak the\nlanguage live in Columbia.\"\n\n\"In the Destrict?\"\n\n\"No, sir, in the poetical Columbia.\"\n\nI was next interrogated by another member of the committee.\n\n\"Parson Aughey, is Phonography a Abolition fixin?\"\n\n\"No, sir; Phonography, abstractly considered, has no political complexion;\nit may be used to promote either side of any question, sacred or profane,\nmental, moral, physical, or political.\"\n\n\"Well, you ought to write and talk plain English, what common folks can\nunderstand, or we'll have to say of you, what Agrippa said of Paul, 'Much\nlearning hath made thee mad.' Suppose you was to preach in Phonography,\nwho'd understand it?--who'd know what was piped or harped? I'll bet high\nsome Yankee invented it to spread his abolition notions underhandedly. I,\nfor one, would be in favour of makin' the parson promise to write and talk\nno more in Phonography. I'll bet Phonography is agin slavery, tho' I never\nhearn tell of it before. I'm agin all secret societies. I'm agin the\nOdd-fellers, Free-masons, Sons of Temperance, Good Templars and\nPhonography. I want to know what's writ and what's talked. You can't throw\ndust in my eyes. Phonography, from what I've found out about it to-day, is\nagin the Confederate States, and we ought to be agin it.\"\n\nParson Locke then resumed:\n\n\"I must stop this digression. Parson Aughey, are you in favour of the\nSouth?\"\n\n\"I am in favour of the South, and have always endeavoured to promote the\nbest interests of the South. However, I never deemed it for the best\ninterests of the South to secede. I talked against secession, and voted\nagainst secession, because I thought that the best interests of the South\nwould be put in jeopardy by the secession of the Southern States. I was\nhonest in my convictions, and acted accordingly. Could the sacrifice of my\nlife have stayed the swelling tide of secession, it would gladly have been\nmade.\"\n\n\"It is said that you have never prayed for the Southern Confederacy.\"\n\n\"I have prayed for the whole world, though it is true that I have never\nnamed the Confederate States in prayer.\"\n\n\"You may retire.\"\n\nAfter I had retired, the committee held a long consultation. My answers\nwere not satisfactory. I never learned all that transpired. They brought\nin no formal verdict. The majority considered me a dangerous man, but\nfeared to take my life, as they were, with one exception, adherents of\nother denominations, and they knew that my people were devotedly attached\nto me before the secession movement. Some of the secessionists swore that\nthey would go to my house and murder me, when they learned that the\ncommittee had not hanged me. My friends provided me secretly with arms,\nand I determined to defend myself to the last. I slept with a\ndouble-barrelled shot-gun at my head, and was prepared to defend myself\nagainst a dozen at least.\n\nLearning that I was not acceptable to many of the members of my church,\nwhilst my life was in continual jeopardy, and my family in a state of\nconstant alarm, I abandoned my field of labour, and sought for safety in a\nmore congenial clime. I intended to go North. Jeff. Davis and his Congress\nhad granted permission to all who so desired, to leave the South. Several\nUnion men of my acquaintance applied for passports, but were refused. The\nproclamation to grant permits was an act of perfidy; all those, so far as\nI am informed, who made application for them, were refused. The design in\nthus acting was to get Union men to declare themselves as such, and\nafterwards to punish them for their sentiments by forcing them into the\narmy, confining them in prison, shooting them, or lynching them by mob\nviolence. Finding that were I to demand a passport to go north, I would be\nplaced on the proscribed list, and my life endangered still more, I\ndeclared my intention of going back to Tishomingo county, in which I owned\nproperty, and which was the home of many of my relatives. I knew that I\nwould be safer there, for this county had elected Union delegates by a\nmajority of over fourteen hundred, and a strong Union sentiment had always\nprevailed.\n\nOn my arrival in Tishomingo, I found that the great heart of the county\nstill beat true to the music of the Union. Being thrown out of employment\nI deemed it my duty, in every possible way, to sustain the Union cause and\nthe enforcement of the laws. It was impossible to go north. Union\nsentiments could be expressed with safety in many localities. Corinth,\nIuka, and Rienzi had, from the commencement of the war, been camps of\ninstruction for the training of Confederate soldiers. These three towns in\nthe county being thus occupied, Union men found it necessary to be more\ncautious, as the cavalry frequently made raids through the county,\narresting and maltreating those suspected of disaffection. After the\nreduction of Forts Henry and Donelson, and the surrender of Nashville, the\nConfederates made the Memphis and Charleston railroad the base of their\noperations, their armies extending from Memphis to Chattanooga. Soon,\nhowever, they were all concentrated at Corinth, a town in Tishomingo\ncounty, at the junction of the Memphis and Charleston railroad with the\nMobile and Ohio. After the battle of Shiloh, which was fought on the 6th\nand 7th of April, the Federal troops held their advance at Farmington,\nfour miles from Corinth, while the Confederates occupied Corinth, their\nrear guard holding Rienzi, twelve miles south, on the Mobile and Ohio\nrailroad.\n\nThus there were two vast armies encamped in Tishomingo county. Being\nwithin the Confederate lines, I, in common with many others, found it\ndifficult to evade the conscript law. Knowing that in a multitude of\ncounsellors there is wisdom, we held secret meetings, in order to devise\nthe best method of resisting the law. We met at night, and had our\ncountersigns to prevent detection. Often our wives, sisters, and daughters\nmet with us. Our meeting-place was some ravine, or secluded glen, as far\nas possible from the haunts of the secessionists; all were armed; even the\nladies had revolvers, and could use them too. The crime of treason we were\nresolved not to commit. Our counsels were somewhat divided, some\nadvocating, as a matter of policy, the propriety of attending the militia\nmusters, others opposing it for conscience' sake, and for the purpose of\navoiding every appearance of evil. Many who would not muster as\nconscripts, resolved to escape to the Federal lines; and making the\nattempt two or three at a time, succeeded in crossing the Tennessee river,\nand reaching the Union army, enlisted under the old flag, and have since\ndone good service as patriot warriors. Some who were willing to muster as\nconscripts, were impressed into the Confederate service, and I know not\nwhether they ever found an opportunity to desert. Others, myself among the\nnumber, were saved by the timely arrival of the Federal troops, and the\noccupation of the county by them, after Beauregard's evacuation of\nCorinth. I had received three citations to attend muster, but disregarding\nthem, I was summoned to attend a court-martial on the first day of June,\nat the house of Mr. Jim Mock. The following is a copy of the citation.\n\n    Ma the 22d. 1862\n\n    _Parson Awhay_, You havent tended nun of our mustters as a konskrip.\n    Now you is her bi sumenzd to attend a kort marshal on Jun the fust at\n    Jim Mock.\n\nWhen I received the summons, I resolved to attempt reaching the Union\nlines at Farmington. Two of my friends, who had received a similar\nsummons, expected to accompany me. On the 29th of May, I left for Rienzi,\nwhere my two friends were to meet me. I had not been many hours in Rienzi\nwhen it became evident that the Confederates were evacuating Corinth. On\nthe 1st of June, (the day the court-martial was to convene,) I had the\npleasure of once more beholding the star-spangled banner as it was borne\nin front of General Granger's command, which led the van of the pursuing\narmy. Had I remained and attended the court-martial, I would have been\nforced into the army. Were I then to declare that I would not take up arms\nagainst the United States, I would have been shot, as many have been, for\ntheir refusal thus to act. General Rosecrans, on his arrival, made his\nhead-quarters at my brother's house, where I had the pleasure of forming\nhis acquaintance, together with that of Generals Smith, Granger, and Pope.\nAs this county was now occupied by the Federal army, I returned to my\nfather-in-law's, within five miles of which place the court-martial had\nbeen ordered to convene, considering myself comparatively safe. I learned\nthat the court-martial never met, as Colonel Elliott, in his successful\nraid upon Boonville, had passed Jim Mock's, scaring him to such a degree,\nthat he did not venture to sleep in his house for two weeks. The Union\ncavalry scoured the country in all directions, daily, and we were\nrejoicing at the prospect of continuous safety, and freedom from outrage.\n\nThe Rebels, during their retreat, had burned all the cotton which was\naccessible to their cavalry, on their route. At night, the flames of the\nburning cotton lighted up the horizon for miles around. These baleful\npyres, with their lurid glare, bore sad testimony to the horrors of war.\nIn this wanton destruction of the great southern staple, many poor\nfamilies lost their whole staff of bread, and starvation stared them in\nthe face. Many would have perished, had it not been for the liberal\ncontributions of the North; for, learning the sufferings of the poor of\nthe South, whose whole labour had been destroyed by pretended friends,\nthey sent provisions and money, and thus many who were left in utter\ndestitution, were saved by this timely succor. I have heard the rejoicings\nof the poor, who, abandoned by their supposed friends, were saved, with\ntheir children, from death, by the beneficence of those whom they had been\ntaught to regard as enemies the most bitter, implacable, unmerciful, and\npersistent. Their prayer may well be, Save us from our friends, whose\ntender mercies are cruel! I have never known a man to burn his own cotton,\nbut I have heard their bitter anathemas hurled against those who thus\nrobbed them, and their denunciations were loud and deep against the\ngovernment which authorized such cruelty. It is true that those who thus\nlose their cotton, if secessionists, receive a \"promise to pay,\" which all\nregard as not worth the paper on which it is written. Ere pay-day, those\nwho are dependent on their cotton for the necessaries of life, would have\npassed the bourne whence no traveller returns. 'Tis like the Confederate\nbonds--at first they were made payable two years after date, and printed\nupon paper which would be worn out entirely in six months, and would have\nbecome illegible in half that time. The succeeding issues were made\npayable six months after the ratification of a treaty of peace between the\nUnited States and the Confederate States. Though not a prophet, nor a\nprophet's son, I venture the prediction that those bonds will never be\ndue. The war of elements, the wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds,\nannouncing the end of all things, will be heard sooner.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nARREST, ESCAPE, AND RECAPTURE.\n\n    High price of Provisions--Holland Lindsay's Family--The\n    arrest--Captain Hill--Appearance before Colonel Bradfute at\n    Fulton--Arrest of Benjamin Clarke--Bradfute's Insolence--General\n    Chalmers--The clerical Spy--General Pfeifer--Under\n    guard--Priceville--General Gordon--Bound for Tupelo--The Prisoners\n    entering the Dungeon--Captain Bruce--Lieutenant Richard Malone--Prison\n    Fare and Treatment--Menial Service--Resolve to escape--Plan of\n    escape--Federal Prisoners--Co-operation of the Prisoners--Declaration\n    of Independence--The Escape--The Separation--Concealment--Travel on\n    the Underground Railroad--Pursuit by Cavalry and Bloodhounds--The\n    Arrest--Dan Barnes, the Mail-robber--Perfidy--Heavily ironed--Return\n    to Tupelo.\n\n\nAt this time--May and June, 1862--all marketable commodities were\ncommanding fabulous prices; as a lady declared, it would soon be\nnecessary, on going to a store, to carry two baskets, one to hold the\nmoney, and the other the goods purchased. Flour was thirty dollars per\nbarrel, bacon forty cents per pound, and coffee one dollar per pound.\nSalt was nominally one hundred dollars per sack of one hundred pounds, or\none dollar per pound, but there was none to be obtained even at that\nprice. Ladies were compelled to dispense with salt in their culinary\noperations; even the butter was unsalted. Cotton-cards, an article used in\nevery house at the South, the ordinary price of which is fifty cents per\npair, were selling at twenty-five dollars per pair, and wool-cards at\nfifteen dollars per pair, the usual price being thirty-eight cents. All\nthe cotton used in the manufacture of home-made cloth, is carded into\nrolls upon these cotton-cards, which are brought from the North, there\nbeing not a single manufactory of them in the South. When the supply on\nhand becomes exhausted, the southern home manufacture of cloth must cease,\nno one as yet having been able to suggest a substitute for the\ncotton-card. There are only three factories in Mississippi, which must\ncease running as soon as their machinery wears out, as the most important\nparts of the machinery in those factories are supplied from the North. The\npeople are fully aware of these difficulties, but they can devise no\nremedy, hence the high price of all articles used in the manufacture of\nall kinds of cloths. All manufactured goods were commanding fabulous\nprices. On the occupation of the county by Federal troops, goods could be\nobtained at reasonable prices, but our money was all gone, except\nConfederate bonds, which were worthless. Planters who were beyond the\nlines of the retreating army had cotton, but many of them feared to sell\nit, as the Rebels professed to regard it treason to trade with the\ninvaders, and threatened to execute the penalty in every case. As there\nwas no penalty attached to the selling of cotton by one citizen of\nMississippi to another, some of my friends offered to sell me their cotton\nfor a reasonable price.\n\nI was solicited also to act as their agent in the purchase of commodities.\nI agreed to this risk, because of the urgent need of my friends, many of\nwhom were suffering greatly for the indispensable necessaries of life. I\nthought it was better that one should suffer, than that the whole people\nshould perish. By this arrangement my Union friends would escape the\npunishment meted out to those who were found guilty of trading with the\nYankees; if discovered, I alone would be amenable to their unjust and\ncruel law, and they would thus save their cotton, which was liable to be\ndestroyed at any moment by a dash of rebel cavalry. I now hired a large\nnumber of wagons to haul cotton into Eastport and Iuka, that I might ship\nit to the loyal States. On the 2d of June the wagons were to rendezvous at\na certain point; there were a sufficient number to haul one hundred bales\nper trip. I hoped to keep them running for some time.\n\nOn the first of June I rode to Mr. Holland Lindsay's on business. I had\nlearned that he was a rabid secessionist, but supposed that no rebel\ncavalry had come so far north as his house since the evacuation of\nCorinth. Mr. Lindsay had gone to a neighbour's. His wife was weaving; she\nwas a coarse, masculine woman, and withal possessed of strong prejudice\nagainst all whom she did not like, but especially the Yankees. I sat down\nto await the arrival of her husband, and it was not long before Mrs.\nLindsay broached the exciting topic of the day, the war. She thus vented\nher spleen against the Yankees.\n\n\"There was some Yankee calvary passed here last week--they asked me if\nthere wos ony rebels scoutin round here lately. I jest told em it want\nnone of ther bizness. Them nasty, good for nothin scamps callen our men\nrebels. Them nigger-stealin, triflin scoundrels. They runs off our\nniggers, and wont let us take em to Mexico and the other territories.\"\n\nI ventured to remark, \"The Yankees are mean, indeed, not to let _us_ take\n_our_ negroes to the Territories, and not to help catch them for _us_ when\nthey run off.\"\n\nThe emphatic _us_ and _our_ nettled her, as none of the Lindsays ever\nowned a negro, being classed by the southern nabobs as among the _poor\nwhite trash_; nor did I ever own a slave. Her husband, however, had once\nbeen sent to the Legislature, which led the family to ape the manners, and\nstudiously copy the ultraism of the classes above them. Mrs. Lindsay\nbecame morose. I concluded to ride over and see her husband.\n\nOn my way I met a member of Hill's cavalry. He halted me, inquired my name\nand business, which I gave. He said that, years ago, he had heard me\npreach, and that he was well acquainted with my brothers-in-law, who were\nofficers in the Rebel army. He informed me that his uncle, Mr. Lindsay,\nhad gone across the field home, and that he himself was on his way there.\nI returned with him, but fearing arrest, my business was hastily attended\nto, and I at once started for my horse. By this time one or two other\ncavalry-men rode up. I heard Mrs. Lindsay informing her nephew that I was\na Union man, and advising my arrest. When I had reached my horse, Mr.\nDavis, Lindsay's nephew arrested me, and sent my horse to the stable.\nAfter supper, my horse was brought, and I was taken to camp. Four men were\ndetached to guard me during the night. They ordered me to lie down on the\nground and sleep. As it had rained during the day, and I had no blanket,\nI insisted upon going to a Mr. Spigener's, about fifty yards distant, to\nsecure a bed. After some discussion they consented, the guards remaining\nin the room, and guarding me by turns during the night. The next morning I\nsought Captain Hill, and asked permission to return home, when the\nfollowing colloquy ensued.\n\n\"Are you a Union man?\"\n\n\"I voted the Union ticket, sir.\"\n\n\"That is not a fair answer. I voted the Union ticket myself, and am now\nwarring against the Union.\"\n\n\"I have seen no good reason for changing my sentiments.\"\n\n\"You confess, then, that you are a Union man?\"\n\n\"I do; I regard the union of these States as of paramount importance to\nthe welfare of the people inhabiting them.\"\n\n\"You must go to head-quarters, where you will be dealt with as we are\naccustomed to deal with all the abettors of an Abolition government.\"\n\nA heavy guard was then detached to take charge of me, and the company set\noff for Fulton, the county seat of Ittawamba county, Mississippi, distant\nthirty miles. After going about ten miles, we halted, and two men were\ndetached to go forward with the prisoners, a Mr. Benjamin Clarke and\nmyself. Our guards were Dr. Crossland, of Burnsville, Tishomingo county,\nMississippi, and Ferdinand Woodruff. They were under the influence of\nliquor, and talked incessantly, cursing and insulting us, on every\noccasion, by abusive language. They detailed to each other a history of\ntheir licentious amours. We halted for dinner at one o'clock, and being\nout of money, they asked me to pay their bill, which I did, they promising\nto refund the amount when they reached Fulton. This they forgot to do.\n\nOn our arrival at Fulton, we were taken into the office of the commander\nof the post, Colonel Bradfute. My fellow-prisoner was examined first.\nWoodruff stated that they had played off on Mr. Clarke--calling on him,\nas he was plowing in the field, stating that they were Federal soldiers.\nThey asked Clarke what were his political views. He replied that he always\nhad been a Union man--had voted the Union ticket, and would do it again,\nif another election were held; that he hated the secession principles, and\nwould enlist in the Federal army as soon as he got his crop in such a\ncondition that his family could attend to it. On hearing this statement,\nBradfute became very angry, swearing that Clarke ought to be taken out and\nshot then, but that a few days' respite would make but little difference.\nSaid he, addressing the guards, had you hung Clarke, you would have saved\nus some trouble, and have done your country good service. The Colonel,\nturning round, glared upon me with eyes inflamed with passion and liquor,\nand thus addressed me:\n\n\"Are you a Union man too?\"\n\n\"I am, sir. I have never denied it.\"\n\n\"Where do you reside?\"\n\n\"I consider Rienzi my home, but have been staying for some time at my\nfather-in-law's, in the south-eastern part of Tishomingo county.\"\n\n\"What is your father-in-law's name?\"\n\n\"Mr. Alexander Paden.\"\n\n\"I know the old gentleman and his three sons. They are all in the\nConfederate service. They are brave men, and have done some hard fighting\nin our cause. How happens it that you look at matters in a different light\nfrom your relatives?\"\n\n\"I am not guided in my opinions by the views of my friends.\"\n\n\"What is your profession?\"\n\n\"I am a minister of the gospel.\"\n\n\"I suppose, then, that you go to the Bible for your politics, and that you\nare a sort of higher-law man.\"\n\n\"My Bible teaches, 'Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for\nthere is no power but of God; the powers that be, are ordained of God.\nWhosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God;\nand they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.' I have seen\nno reason for resistance to the government under which we have, as a\nnation, so long prospered.\"\n\n\"I command you to hush, sir; you shan't preach treason to me, and if you\nget your deserts you will be hung immediately. Have you ever been within\nthe Federal lines?\"\n\n\"I have, sir.\"\n\n\"At what points?\"\n\n\"At Rienzi and Iuka.\"\n\n\"When were you at Iuka?\"\n\n\"On last Saturday.\"\n\n\"Had the Federals a large force at that place, and who was in command?\"\n\n\"They have a large force, and Generals Thomas and Steadman are in\ncommand.\"\n\n\"That is contrary to the reports of our scouts, who say that there are but\ntwo regiments in the town. I fear you are purposely trying to mislead us.\"\n\n\"General Steadman has but two regiments in the town, but General Thomas is\nwithin striking distance with a large force.\"\n\n\"What was your business in Iuka?\"\n\n\"I went there to pay a debt of fifty dollars which a widow owed, as she\nwished it to be paid in Confederate money before it became worthless.\"\n\n\"Have you a Federal pass?\"\n\n\"I have none with me, but I have one at home.\"\n\n\"How does it read?\"\n\n\"It was given by General Nelson, and reads thus: 'The bearer, Rev. John H.\nAughey, has permission to pass backward and forward through the lines of\nthis division at will.'\"\n\n\"Where were you born?\"\n\n\"I was born in New Hartford, Oneida county, New York.\"\n\n\"Yankee born,\" said the Colonel, with a sneer; \"you deserve death at the\nrope's-end, and if I had the power I would hang all Yankees who are among\nus, for they are all tories, whatever may be their pretensions.\"\n\n\"My being born north of the nigger-line, Colonel, if a crime worthy of\ndeath, was certainly not my fault, but the fault of my parents. They did\nnot so much as consult me in regard to any preference I might have\nconcerning the place of my nativity.\"\n\nWoodruff, one of my guards, now informed the Colonel that I was a spy,\nand, while the Confederates were at Corinth, had, to his certain\nknowledge, been three times at Nashville, carrying information. I told\nWoodruff that his statement was false, and that he knew it; that I had\nnever been at Nashville in my life. General Chalmers, who was present, and\nColonel Bradfute, at the conclusion of the examination, spent fifteen or\ntwenty minutes in bitterly cursing all Yankees, tories, and traitors, as\nthey termed us. All the conversation of the rebel officers was interlarded\nwith the most horrid profanity. General Chalmers, in speaking, invariably\ncalled me the clerical spy. We were placed under guard, and sent to\nBrooksville, ten miles distant, the head-quarters of General Pfeifer.\nImmediately after our arrival, we were soundly berated by General Pfeifer,\nand then sent out to the camp, half a mile from the town, where we were\nplaced under guard for the night, in a small plot of ground surrounded by\na chain. We had no supper, and no blankets to sleep on. Our bed was the\ncold ground, our covering the blue canopy of heaven. The next morning we\nwere started, without breakfast, under a heavy guard, numbering fourteen\ncavalry, to Priceville, six miles west of Brooksville. Priceville was\nnamed in honour of General Sterling Price, or rather the little village\nwhere he encamped had its name changed in his honour. When we reached\nPriceville we were taken to the head-quarters of General Jordan, and\nimmediately brought into his presence. After reading the letter handed to\nhim by one of the guard, he said, looking sternly at me,\n\n\"You are charged with sedition.\"\n\nI asked him what sedition meant, to which he replied:\n\n\"It means enough to hang you, you villanous tory!\"\n\nHe also asked me where I was born. My reply was, in the State of New York,\nnear Utica, in Oneida county.\n\n\"Then you doubly deserve death,\" said he.\n\n\"As to the guilt of my nativity,\" said I, \"it is not my fault, for I could\nnot have helped it if I had tried. But I glory in my native State. She has\nnever done anything to disgrace her. She never repudiated her just debts,\nnor committed any other disgraceful act.\"\n\n\"Well, you ought to have staid there, or have gone back when Mississippi\nseceded.\"\n\n\"Give me an opportunity, and I will go instanter.\"\n\n\"The first _going_ you will do, will be to go to hell, where, if the devil\nhad his due, you would have been long ago; and before you leave us, we\nwill give you a free ticket to the shades infernal.\"\n\n\"Thank you for your kind offer to give me a free pass to the infernal\nregions. I did not know before that you were the devil's ticket-agent. You\nhave me in your power, and may destroy my life; but when you have done\nthat, there is no more that you can do.\"\n\nVery little was said to my fellow-prisoner, Clarke. A few curses for a\ntraitor, tory, &c., was about all. We were now placed under guard, and\nconducted to Tupelo, and after visiting the provost-marshal's office and\nthe office of the commander of the post, whose names were Peden and Clare,\nwe were committed to the Central Military Prison. As we entered, Captain\nBruce and Lieutenant Malone (two gentlemen who had been elected to those\noffices by their fellow-prisoners) received us with a cordial greeting.\nCaptain Bruce thus addressed us:\n\n\"Welcome, gentlemen, thrice welcome. I am rejoiced to see you at my hotel.\nWe are now doing a land-office business, as the large number of my\nboarders, whom you see, will testify. We have numerous arrivals daily,\nwhilst the departures are very few, giving evidence that all are satisfied\nwith their treatment. The bill of fare is not very extensive. In these war\ntimes we must not expect the luxuries of life, but be content with the\nnecessaries. It is true, we cannot furnish you with coffee, or molasses,\nor sugar, or salt, or beef, or vegetables; but we have something more\nsubstantial--we have flour, rather dark in colour, to be sure, but people\nmust not be squeamish. The boarders are required to do their own cooking,\nas they could otherwise have but little exercise; we consider it a\nsanitary measure, exercise being indispensable to health. We furnish the\nboarders, also, with meat--none of your lean meat, either, but fat\nmiddling, with a streak of lean in it. The Bible promises the righteous\nthat their bread shall be given, and their water sure; but we go beyond\nthe promise, and give not only bread (or rather the flour to make it) and\nwater, but also fat, strong meat. What room will you be pleased to have?\"\n\nI replied, that as they seemed to be crowded, I would choose number 199.\n\n\"Well,\" said the Captain, \"it shall be prepared. Lieutenant Malone, have\nroom number 199 fitted up for the reception of these gentlemen.\"\n\nLieutenant Malone replied, that the room designated would be fitted up in\nstyle for our reception. He asked us if we had dined.\n\n\"No,\" replied Clarke; \"we have not tasted food since yesterday at noon,\nwhen the Parson paid for his own dinner and the dinner of the guards. We\nasked for something to eat, but were as often refused, and now we are in a\nstarving condition.\"\n\n\"I pity you,\" said Malone, laying aside his facetious style; \"you shall\nhave something to eat as soon as it can be cooked.\"\n\nHe then went to some of the prisoners, and set them to cooking, and we\nwere soon furnished with the best repast the poor fellows could supply.\n\nWe entered the prison July 3d, 1862, at two o'clock, P. M. Our prison was\na grocery-house, its dimensions about twenty-five by fifty feet. When we\nwere incarcerated, there were about seventy prisoners in the building,\nwhites, mulattoes and negroes. The prison was filthy in the extreme, and\nfilled with vermin; even our food was infested with them. No brooms were\nfurnished us, and we could not sweep the floor. No beds were furnished,\nand we were compelled to lie upon the floor, with no covering, and\nnothing but the hard planks beneath us.\n\nSeveral times a day officers would come in and order a specified number of\nmen to go and work, under a strong guard. We were made to clean the\nstreets, roll barrels, and clean the hospital; but our own prison we were\nnot permitted to clean. Every kind of drudgery, and the most menial\nservices, were imposed upon us.\n\nThe crimes charged upon the prisoners were desertion, trading with the\nYankees, adhesion to the United States government or Unionism, acting as\nspies, refusing Confederate bonds, and piloting the Yankees. The crime of\nthe negroes and mulattoes was endeavouring to escape on the underground\nrailroad from Dixie land and the Iron Furnace. These remained till their\nmasters were informed of their arrest, and came for and released them. On\nthe evening preceding our imprisonment, two prisoners had been led out and\nshot, and I soon learned that this was no unusual occurrence. Nearly\nevery day witnessed the execution of one or more of us. Those who were\ndoomed to die were heavily ironed. In some cases, however, those who were\nnot in fetters were taken out and shot or hanged, often with no previous\nwarning; though sometimes a few hours warning was given.\n\nOur privations were so great from a want of proper food and water--for the\nscanty amount of water furnished us was tepid and foul--and from a lack of\nbeds, cots, couches, or something better than a filthy floor whereon to\nsleep, that I resolved to attempt an escape at the risk of my life. I felt\nconfident that I could not long survive such cruel treatment. As soon as\nmy arrest was known to the thirty-second Mississippi regiment, encamped in\nthe suburbs of Tupelo, the colonel, major, adjutant, and one of the\ncaptains called upon me. This regiment was raised in Tishomingo county,\none of the companies, the Zollicoffer Avengers, being from Rienzi, where I\nhad been for years proprietor and Principal of the Rienzi Female Seminary.\nThe daughters of many of the officers of this regiment had been educated\nat this Seminary during my superintendence. Some of these officers had\nexpressed themselves under great obligations to me, for the thorough,\nmoral, mental, and physical training of their children while under my\ncare. As proof of this, I have their own statements, as published in the\npublic journals of the day. Owing me a debt of gratitude, as they\nprofessed, could I expect less than the manifestation of deep sympathy for\nme in my sad condition--confined in a gloomy dungeon, deprived of the\ncomforts, yea, even the necessaries of life, menaced and insulted by the\nofficers in whose power I was? Whatever may have been my hopes, they were\ndoomed to be blasted. These summer friends, so obsequious in my\nprosperity, conversed for a while on indifferent topics, never alluding to\nmy condition, and as I did not obtrude it upon their attention, they left,\npromising to call again. I said, \"Do so, gentlemen; you will always find\nme _at home_.\" Adjutant Irion, as he passed out, asked Lieutenant Malone\nwhat the charge was against me. Malone replied that I was charged with\nbeing a Union man. The adjutant said, in a bitter and sarcastic tone, that\nI should never have been brought to Tupelo, but on my arrest should have\nbeen sent to hell from the lowest limb of the nearest tree.\n\nHaving determined to escape at all hazards, I sought out an accomplice, a\n_compagnon de voyage_; that person was Richard Malone; his piercing eye,\nhis intellectual physiognomy, led me to believe that if he consented to\nmake the attempt with me, our chances for escape would be good. I drew\nMalone to one side, and covertly introduced the matter. He soon got my\nidea, and drawing from his pocket a paper, showed me the route mapped out\nwhich he intended to pursue, as he had for some days determined to escape,\nor die in the attempt. He was charged with being a spy, and there was\nlittle doubt that they would establish his guilt by false testimony. We\nwent out now under every possible pretext. We no longer shunned the guard\nwho came to obtain prisoners to do servile labour. Our object being to\nreconnoitre, in order to learn where guards were stationed, and to\ndetermine the best method of escape through the town after leaving the\nprison. During the day we made these observations: that there were two\nguards stationed at the back door, who were very verdant; that they would,\nafter relief, come on duty again at midnight; that there was a building on\nthe south side of the prison, extending beyond the prison and beyond the\nguards; that the moon would set about eleven o'clock, P. M.; that there\nwere no guards stationed on the south side of the prison during the day;\nthat one of the planks in the floor could be easily removed; and that\nthere were several holes, when we were once under the floor, by which\negress might be made either on the north or south side; that the coast was\nprobably clearest in the direction of a corn-field some two hundred yards\ndistant in a northwest direction.\n\nAt four o'clock P. M., our plan was fully matured. At midnight, (the moon\nbeing down, and the verdant guards on duty) we would raise the plank, get\nunder the floor, and myself in the advance, make our exit through one of\nthe holes on the south side of the jail, then crawl to the building, some\nfifteen feet distant, and continue crawling till we passed the guards;\nthen rise and make our way as cautiously as possible, to a point in the\ncorn-field, a short distance in the rear of a garment which was hanging\nupon the fence. The one who first arrived must await the other. A signal\nwas agreed upon, to prevent mistake. If the guards ordered us to halt, we\nhad resolved to risk their fire, our watchword being, Liberty or death!\n\nAbout this time the prisoners chose me their chaplain by acclamation.\nDuring the day, we made known our intention of escaping to several\nfellow-prisoners, who promised us all the assistance in their power. All\nthe prisoners who knew of the matter, earnestly desired our escape, and\nco-operated with us in effecting it. Clarke and Robinson begged us to take\nthem along, averring there was no doubt that they would be shot. Malone\ntold them that no more than two could go together; that if they wished to\nescape, they could make the attempt half an hour after us, which they\nagreed to. Clarke, however, came to me, and desired me to take him along,\nas he would rather go with us than with Robinson. He had a wife and five\nsmall children dependent on him for support, and if he perished, they must\nperish too. I consulted Malone, but he would not agree to have Clarke go\nwith us. Three would be too many for safety, and he doubted whether Clarke\nhad sufficient nerve to face the glittering bayonet, or tact enough to\npass through the camps without detection. He might commit some blunder\nwhich would endanger our safety. I informed Clarke that the arrangement\nmade, in which he and Robinson were to go together, must be adhered to. He\nbegged me, by all that was sacred, to take him along. But Malone was\ninexorable, and I thought it best to acquiesce in his judgment.\n\nNight drew on apace. Thick darkness gathered around us, and murky clouds\ncovered the sky, as we sat down with the Federal prisoners to our scanty\nallowance. While partaking of our rude fare, Malone thus spoke:\n\n\"This day is the 4th of July, 1862, the anniversary of our patriot\nfathers' declaration of independence of British tyranny and oppression.\nThey had much to complain of. They suffered grievous wrongs and cruel\nbondage. But eighty-six years ago to-day they declared themselves to be a\nfree and independent people, who would rather die than be again enslaved.\nOf what worth was their declaration if they had remained inactive?\nSupineness would not have saved them. But trusting in our God, who gives\nsuccess to the righteous cause, they imperilled their lives, they hazarded\ntheir fortunes, and with untiring energy and sleepless vigilance they\ncontested to the bitter end against all efforts to deprive them of their\ninalienable rights. Success crowned their efforts, and they rid themselves\nof tyrants' chains. We (I allude to my friend, Parson Aughey, and myself,)\ndegenerate sons of these noble sires, have suffered wrong, nay, gross\noutrage. Citizens of the sunny South, guilty of no offence whatever, not\neven of constructive crime, we are immured in a loathsome dungeon,\ndeprived of the comforts of life, separated from our families, and\nsuffered to have no communication with them; dragging out a miserable\nexistence, which an ignominious death on the scaffold must soon end. We,\ntherefore, John H. Aughey and Richard Malone, in view of these accumulated\nwrongs and outrages, solemnly swear before High Heaven, and in presence of\nthese witnesses, that we will be free, or perish in the attempt. Appealing\nto the God of liberty, of truth, and of righteousness, for the rectitude\nof our motives and the justness of our cause, we commit ourselves into his\nhands, and implore his protection amid the dangers through which we are\nabout to pass, and humbly pray that he will give us success, and restore\nus speedily to our families and friends, and to the enjoyment of our\ninalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.\"\n\nGrasping the Lieutenant by the hand, I consented to this Declaration of\nIndependence of rebel thraldom. We gave our respective addresses to our\nfriends, who promised, that if they were ever liberated, and we were\nkilled by the guards, they would write to our families, informing them of\nthe manner of our death.\n\nAbout ten o'clock, Malone raised the plank, and I went under to\nreconnoitre. I remained under the floor about ten minutes, having learned\nthat there were no guards patroling the south side of the house, as we\nfeared might be the case after night. We had learned, from observation,\nthat there were none during the day. Just at the noon of night, we heard\nthe relief called. Malone and I endeavoured to find the prisoners who were\nto raise the plank, but not being able readily to do so, we raised the\nplank ourselves, and both got under without difficulty. Malone getting\nunder first, was, contrary to agreement, compelled to take the lead. As he\nwas passing out, he made considerable noise. To warn him of the danger, I\npatted him on the back. Reaching back, he gave my hand a warm pressure, to\nassure me that all was right, and passed out. I followed, and reached the\ndesignated point in the corn-field in about half an hour, having to use\nthe utmost precaution, and in some cases to pass the guards by crawling in\na serpentine manner. When I arrived, I gave the preconcerted signal, but\nMalone was nowhere to be seen. I waited for him two hours at least, when I\nwas compelled to seek my safety alone.\n\nNot being able to meet with my friend, I regarded as a great misfortune,\nbecause, after reaching a point ten miles north of Tupelo, he would be\nfamiliar with the country. I had frequently passed through the town on the\nrailroad, but knew nothing of the country through which I must travel.\nSomewhat depressed in spirits at the loss of my _compagnon de voyage_, I\nresolved to reach my family by the safest and most practicable route.\nStill in the midst of camps, I had considerable difficulty in making my\nway out of them. When I thought that this had been effected, I found that\nday was brightening in the east. Looking around for some place to hide, I\nsoon found a dense, though small thicket, in which I secreted myself as\ncovertly as possible. Having slept but little since my arrest, I\nendeavoured to compose myself to slumber, and partially succeded; but soon\nthe noise and confusion of soldiers passing and re-passing near, awoke and\nalarmed me. I soon learned that I was near a camp, and that the soldiers\nhad found a suitable place for bathing in a creek which ran within thirty\nyards of my place of concealment. There were two paths by which they\nreached the creek. On one, they passed within fifteen feet of me; on the\nother, within six or seven. About nine o'clock, I heard the booming of\ncannon all around me, proceeding from the different camps. The soldiers\nwho passed me stated, in their conversation, that the cannon were firing\nin honour of a great victory obtained over General McClellan, in Virginia.\nAccording to their statement, his whole army, after a succession of\nlosses, during eight days' fighting, had been completely annihilated, and\nthat Stonewall Jackson would be in Washington city before the close of the\nweek.\n\nThe day passed slowly away. At one time two soldiers came within a few\nfeet of me in search of blackberries, but passed out without detecting me.\nAt another time two soldiers sat down to converse, so near that their\nlowest tones were distinctly audible. One informed the other that he had\nbeen in town in the morning, and had learned that the _Clerical Spy_,\nParson Aughey, and a fellow by the name of Malone, had broke jail, but\nthat they would soon be brought in, as a company of cavalry had been put\non their track, with a pack of bloodhounds. Soon after this, one of them\narose and struck a bush several times, which seemed to be but a very short\ndistance above my head. I thought that he had discovered me, and was about\nto rise and run, when I heard him say to his companion, that he had\nattempted to kill a very large snake, which had escaped to the bushes. I\nbegan to feel somewhat uncomfortably situated when I learned that I was in\nclose proximity to a large snake, though I would have preferred meeting\nwith an anaconda, boa-constrictor, rattlesnake, or even the deadly cobra\ndi capello, rather than with those vile secessionists thirsting for\ninnocent blood.\n\nI thought this 5th of July was the longest day I had ever known. The sun\nwas so long in reaching the zenith, and so slow in passing down the steep\necliptic way to the occident. The twilight, too, seemed of endless\nduration. But as all long days have had an end, so had this. The stars\ncame glittering one by one. I soon recognised that old staunch and\nimmovable friend of all travellers on the underground railroad, the\npolar-star.\n\nRising from my lair, I was soon homeward bound, guided by the north-star\nand an oriental constellation. Plunging into a dense wood I found my rapid\nadvance impeded by the undergrowth, and great difficulty in following my\nguiding stars, as the boughs of the great oaks rendered them invisible, or\ndimly seen. Fatigued, hungry, and sleepy, I at length lay down at the foot\nof a large swamp-oak tree, intending to take a nap, and then rise and\npursue my journey. When I awoke the sun was just rising. I arose filled\nwith regret for the time I had lost. Though somewhat refreshed by my\nsound sleep, yet I was very hungry and almost famished with thirst.\n\nAfter travelling about half a mile I came to a small log-house on a\nroad-side. Feeling sick and faint, I resolved to go to the house to obtain\nwater, and, if I liked the appearance of the inmates, to reveal my\ncondition and ask for aid. Upon reaching the house I met the proprietor,\nbut did not like his physiognomy. He looked the villain; a sinister\nexpression, a countenance revealing no intellectuality, except a sort of\nlow cunning, bore testimony that it would be foolish to repose confidence\nin the possessor of such villanous looks. I asked for water, intending to\ndrink and leave. He pointed to the bucket; I drank and bade him good\nmorning, and turned to leave. I had proceeded but a few steps, when I was\nordered, in a stentorian tone, to halt. On looking round, I saw a soldier\nwithin a few steps, presenting a double-barrelled gun; another soldier was\nstanding near, heavily armed. I asked by what authority he halted me. To\nwhich he replied:\n\n\"I know you, sir; I have heard you preach frequently. You are Parson\nAughey, and you were arrested and confined in prison at Tupelo. I was in\nLowrey's regiment yesterday, and learned that you had broken jail; and\nnow, sir, you must return. My name is Dan Barnes. You may have heard of\nme.\"\n\nI had indeed heard of him. He had been guilty of robbing the United States\nmail, had fled to Napoleon or Helena, Arkansas, where he was arrested,\nbrought back, and incarcerated in jail at Pontotoc, and confined there for\nnearly a year. As the evidence against him was positive, he would have\nbeen sent to the penitentiary; but, fortunately for him, at this juncture\nMississippi seceded. There being then no United States officers to execute\nthe laws, he was liberated, and soon after joined the army.\n\nAfter breakfast, which I paid for, Barnes called me to one side, and told\nme that he felt sorry for me, and would afford me an opportunity of\nescaping, if I would pay him a reasonable sum. He had been in a tight\nplace himself, and would have been glad had some friend been near to aid\nhim. He named two hundred and forty dollars as the _reasonable sum_ for\npermitting me to escape. After getting my money, their horses were\nsaddled, and telling me he was playing-off on me, said I must go to\nGeneral Jordan's head-quarters at Priceville, to which place he and Huff,\nthe proprietor of the log cabin, conducted me.\n\nOn my arrival, General Jordan ordered me to be put in irons, and placed\nunder guard. I was taken to a blacksmith's shop in the town, the General\naccompanying the guard, and heavy iron bands were put around my ankles,\nand connected by a chain. The bands were put on hot, and my boots were\nburnt in the operation. The blacksmith seemed averse to the order, and\nonly obeyed it upon compulsion. The General stood by, and saw that it was\nwell done. \"Iron him securely--securely, sir,\" was his oft repeated order.\nThe ironing caused me much pain. My ankles were long discoloured from\nthe effects of it.\n\n[Illustration: \"I was taken to a blacksmith's shop, and heavy iron bands\nput around my ankles.\" Page 104.]\n\nAfter my manacles were put on, I was taken back to Tupelo by Barnes and\nanother guard. On my arrival, the commander of the post and the Provost\nMarshal were filled with joy. Barnes gave them the history of the arrest,\nstating that I had attempted to bribe him; that he listened to my\nproposition with indignation, and when he had got the money, performed\nwhat he regarded his duty. The commander replied that all the property of\ntraitors was theirs, and that he did right in deceiving me, after\naccepting the bribe. He also recommended Barnes for promotion for his\nheroic and patriotic act in arresting me. (Perhaps it secured for him a\ncaptaincy.) The following colloquy now took place between the commander of\nthe post, the Provost Marshal, and myself:\n\n\"Why did you attempt to leave us?\"\n\n\"Because, sir, your prison was so filthy, and your fare so meagre and\nunwholesome, that I could not endure it long, and live.\"\n\n\"Parson, you know the Bible says, the wicked flee when no man pursueth,\nbut the righteous are as bold as a lion. You must have been guilty of\ncrime, or you would not have tried to escape.\"\n\n\"I may have been guilty of the offence charged against me, and yet\ninnocent of real _guilt_.\"\n\n\"You shall never be taken back to the prison you left, rest assured of\nthat. Did any of the prisoners know of or aid you in your escape?\"\n\n\"No, sir; none of them knew anything about it.\"\n\n\"Are you telling the truth?\"\n\n\"I am.\"\n\n\"Where is Malone?\"\n\n\"I never saw him after I left the building.\"\n\n\"He cannot escape; the cavalry are after him, and he will be brought in\nsoon, dead or alive.\"\n\n\"Why did you attempt to bribe Barnes?\"\n\n\"It was his own offer. I knew that his cupidity was great, and thought it\nno harm to accept his offer. If Barnes had his deserts, he would now be\nhard at work in the penitentiary.\"\n\n\"Did the jury that tried him, acquit him?\"\n\n\"No. The secession of Mississippi saved him. I refer you to Colonel Tison,\nwho is in Tupelo, for the particulars. He being marshal of North\nMississippi, arrested Barnes, and knows all about it. He found on his\nperson the evidence of his guilt, the money and checks stolen when he\nrobbed the mail.\"\n\n\"Parson, you will not be immediately executed, but you will, without\ndoubt, hang in a week or two, so that, if you have any word to send your\nfamily, you have permission to do so.\"\n\n\"May I write a letter to my wife?\"\n\n\"You may, and I will see that it is forwarded to her.\"\n\nI sat down and wrote a letter, a very common-place letter, to my wife,\ninserting, occasionally, a word in phonography, which, taken in\nconnection, read thus: \"If possible, inform General Rosecrans or Nelson of\nmy arrest.\" While inspecting the letter, Lieutenant Peden noticed the\nphonography, and asked me to read it. I read it thus: \"My dear wife, I\nhope to be at home soon. Do not grieve.\" This letter they never sent. It\nwas merely an act of duplicity on their part, to obtain some concession,\nwhich might be used against me. The guard, receiving orders, now conducted\nme to a hotel, and placed me in a small room, two guards remaining inside,\nand two at the door outside, with orders to shoot me if I made the least\nattempt at escape. I remained in this room only a few hours, after which I\nwas taken to my old prison. As I entered, my old friends, the prisoners,\ncrowded around me, and Captain Bruce addressed me in his facetious manner.\nIn prison, his wit had beguiled many a tedious hour. His humour was the\npure Attic salt.\n\n\"Parson Aughey, you are welcome back to my house, though you have played\nus rather a scurvy trick in leaving without giving me the least inkling of\nthe matter, or settling your bill.\"\n\nI replied: \"Captain, it was hardly right; but I did not like your fare,\nand your beds were filled with vermin.\"\n\n\"Well, you do not seem to have fared better since you left, for you have\nreturned.\"\n\n\"Captain, my return is the result of coercion. Some who oppose this\nprinciple when applied to themselves, have no scruples in enforcing it\nupon others.\n\n  \"No rogue e'er felt the halter draw,\n  With good opinion of the law;\"\n\nis an old saw, and the truth of proverbs is seldom affected by time. I am\nyour guest upon compulsion; but remember, I will leave you the first\nopportunity.\"\n\nUpon hearing this, an officer present swore that when I again left that\nbuilding, it would be to cross the railroad, (the place of execution.)\n\nThe prisoners gathered around me, and I related to them my adventures.\nThey then informed me of what had transpired during my absence. Clarke was\ntaken out of prison to guide a cavalry company in search of me. Clarke\ninformed me that they scoured the country, and then went to my\nfather-in-law's; and after searching the premises, returned, believing\nthat I had gone due north towards Rienzi, in which direction another\ncompany had been despatched. On their return, Clarke was remanded to jail.\nAt roll-call--seven o'clock, A. M., we were missed. The cavalry were\nimmediately sent in pursuit. All the guards on duty during the night were\nput under arrest. Our method of escape was soon discovered, and the guards\nwere released, as they were not at fault. A large number of spikes were\nhammered in the floor, the guards were doubled, and greater vigilance\nenjoined. The prisoners were questioned, strictly and individually, to\nlearn whether any of them knew of our intention to escape, or had rendered\nus any assistance. They all positively denied any knowledge of the matter.\nThey asked me whether I had given the officers any information about their\nknowledge of our designs, and cooperation in effecting them. I replied\nthat I had positively denied that any except Malone and myself were privy\nto our plans.\n\nI may state here that it is difficult to justify a falsehood. We ought to\nutter truth always, without exaggeration or prevarication, leaving\nconsequences with God. We should do right without regard to results, for\nwith consequences we have no business; but in this case the temptation to\nutter an untruth was great. These wicked men, thirsting for my blood, had\nno right to make me criminate myself or my coadjutors. It would have been\nwrong for me to give them the information they desired. Truth is too\nprecious for a secessionist, thirsting for innocent blood. Had I refused\nto answer, they would have suspected that some of my fellow-prisoners\naided us, and would have either forced me to tell who they were, or would\nhave hanged me instantly for my refusal. If I had given information, and\ncriminated those who had befriended us, they would have been severely\npunished, and I have been guilty of the basest ingratitude; I would have\nbeen shunned by the prisoners, and regarded as one of the meanest of men,\none of the veriest wretches in existence; I could never again ask nor\nexpect aid in a similar attempt to save myself from a violent death.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nLIFE IN A DUNGEON.\n\n    Parson Aughey as Chaplain--Description of the Prisoners--Colonel\n    Walter, the Judge Advocate--Charges and Specifications against Parson\n    Aughey--A Citizen of the Confederate States--Execution of two\n    Tennesseeans--Enlistment of Union Prisoners--Colonel Walter's second\n    visit--Day of Execution specified--Farewell Letter to my Wife--Parson\n    Aughey's Obituary penned by himself--Address to his Soul--The Soul's\n    Reply--Farewell Letter to his Parents--The Union Prisoners' Petition\n    to Hon. W. H. Seward--The two Prisoners and the Oath of\n    Allegiance--Irish Stories.\n\n\nI was remanded to jail on Sabbath, the 6th of July, 1862. On the day of my\nescape I had been elected chaplain. Captain Bruce asked permission for me\nto hold divine service, to which no special objection was made. I\nconducted the services as I would have done were I in my own pulpit. The\nbest order was maintained by the prisoners, and a deep seriousness\nprevailed. The songs of Zion resounded through the prison-house, and a\ngreat concourse of soldiers assembled outside the guards in front of the\ndoor, causing considerable interruption by their noise and insulting\nlanguage. Several officers, also, saw fit to come in and interrupt the\nservices by conversing in a loud tone, and asking me how I liked my\njewelry, referring to my fetters. The prisoners protested against their\nrude and ungentlemanly conduct, but with little effect. They sent a\nremonstrance to the commander of the post, but he treated it with silent\ncontempt.\n\nAs the prisoners insisted upon it, I persisted in preaching,\nnotwithstanding the persecutions endured, as long as I remained with them.\nWe were a motley assemblage. Some were dressed in cloth of finest texture;\nothers were clad in filthy rags. There were present the learned and the\nilliterate, the rowdy and the minister of the gospel, the holy and the\nprofane, the saint and the sinner. All the Southern States, and every\nprominent religious denomination were represented. The youth in his\nnonage, and the gray-haired and very aged man were there. The superior and\nthe subordinate were with us. The descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth,\nwere here on the same common level, for in our prison were Afric's\ndark-browed sons, the descendants of Pocahontas, and the pure Circassian.\nDeath is said to be THE great leveller; the dungeon at Tupelo was _a_\ngreat leveller. A fellow-feeling made us wondrous kind; none shared his\nmorsel alone, and a deep and abiding sympathy for each other's woes\npervaded every bosom. When our fellow-prisoners were called to die, and\nwere led through us with pallid brows, and agony depicted on their\ncountenances, our expressions of sorrow and commiseration were not loud\n(through fear) but deep.\n\nOn Monday morning an officer entered; my name was called, and I arose from\nthe floor on which I had been reclining. I recognised him as my old\nfriend, Colonel H. W. Walter, of Holly Springs, Mississippi. After the\nordinary salutations, he informed me that he was Judge Advocate, and that\nmy trial would take place in a few days, and inquired whether I wished to\nsummon any witnesses. I gave him the names and residences of several\nwitnesses, but he refused to send for them, upon the plea that they were\ntoo near the Federal lines, and their cavalry might be in danger of\ncapture were they to proceed thither. I told him that the cavalry which\nwent in pursuit of me had visited that locality. He then wished to know\nwhat I desired to prove by those witnesses. I replied that I wished to\nprove that the specifications in the charge of being a spy were false.\n\n\"Your own admissions are sufficient to cause you to lose your life,\" said\nthe Colonel, \"and I will not send for those witnesses.\"\n\nI replied: \"I know that I must die, and you need not go through the\nformality of a trial. If condemned as a spy, I must be hanged. I only\nwished the witnesses to prove that Woodruff is a man of no moral worth,\nthat his testimony is false; that Barnes is a mail-robber, and that his\ntestimony, therefore, should be rejected. Proving these facts, the other\ncharges which I admit, will cause me to be shot. I hope I am prepared to\ndie, but do not wish to die a dog's death. Promise me that I shall be\nshot, and not hanged, and I will cavil no more.\"\n\n\"Parson Aughey, your chances for living are very slender. The proof\nagainst you on both charges will be established; the testimony as to your\nguilt is positive, and spies are always hanged.\"\n\nHe then stated the charges and specifications against me as follows:\n\nFirst charge--_Treason_.\n\nSpecification 1st. That said Aughey stated to a member of Hill's cavalry,\nthat if McClellan were defeated, the North could raise a much larger army\nin a very short time; that the North would eventually conquer the South,\nand that he was a Union man--this for the purpose of giving aid and\ncomfort to the enemy.\n\nSpecification 2d. That when said Aughey was requested to take the oath of\nallegiance to the Confederate States, he refused, giving as a reason, that\nEngland, France, and himself, had not yet recognised the Southern\nConfederacy, stating, also, that he had voluntarily taken the oath of\nallegiance to the United States Government, which he regarded as\nbinding--this in North Mississippi.\n\nSpecification 3d. That said Aughey was acting as a Federal agent in the\npurchase of cotton, and had received from the United States Government a\nlarge amount of gold, to pay for the cotton purchased.\n\nSecond charge--_Acting as a spy_.\n\nSpecification 1st. That said Aughey, while a citizen of the Confederate\nStates, repeatedly came into our lines for the purpose of obtaining\ninformation for the benefit of the enemy, and that he passed through the\nlines of the enemy at pleasure, holding an unlimited pass from General\nNelson, granting that privilege--this in the vicinity of Corinth,\nMississippi.\n\nWitnesses, ---- Wallace, Dan Barnes, Ferdinand Woodruff, ---- Williams,\nDavid Huff.\n\nI demanded a copy of the charges, which Colonel Walter promised to\nfurnish.\n\nAbout three o'clock in the afternoon, I went to a couple of prisoners who\nwere heavily ironed; they were handcuffed, had a chain on their legs\nsimilar to mine, and were chained together to a post, or to some fixture\nat the side of the jail. I inquired for what offence they were\nincarcerated.\n\nThe prisoner whom I addressed was a tall gentleman, with a very\nintellectual countenance, and of prepossessing manners. He was somewhat\npale, and wore a sad countenance. He replied:\n\n\"We are charged with desertion.\"\n\n\"Did you desert?\"\n\n\"I enlisted in the Confederate service for twelve months. At the\nexpiration of my term of service, I asked permission to return home,\nstating that my family were suffering for the necessaries of life; that\nthey lived in Tennessee, which is occupied by Federal troops. Confederate\nbonds are there not worth the paper on which they are printed; provisions\nare scarce, and my family have not the means of purchasing. I wish to\nrelieve their wants, and as my term of service has expired, I wish a\ndischarge. This they refused, stating that the Confederate Congress had\npassed a law requiring all troops who had enlisted for any term, however\nshort, to be held to service during the war, and all who left before that\ntime would be considered guilty of desertion, and if arrested, would be\nshot. I attempted to return to my family, regarding the law a tyrannical\nenactment. I was arrested and committed to this prison.\"\n\n\"What will be your fate?\"\n\n\"I know not, but fear the worst.\"\n\nI learned that the other prisoner had about the same statement to make,\nand was also in dread of capital punishment. I left them and walked to the\nopposite side of the prison, when I observed a file of soldiers drawn up\nin front of the building. Two officers entered, and walking up to the two\nprisoners whom I had just left, unfastened their chains, and ordered them\nto follow. One of the prisoners asked whether he should bring his blanket.\n\"No,\" replied the officer, in a jocular tone; \"you have no more need for a\nblanket in this world.\"\n\nOn reaching the door, the soldiers separated, received the prisoners in\ntheir midst, closed up, and marching them across the railroad, shot them.\nAs the officers passed Captain Bruce, he asked where the prisoners were\ngoing. They replied, \"Going to be shot!\" and showed him the warrant for\ntheir execution, having written across it, in red letters, \"_Condemned to\ndeath!_\"\n\nThus was perpetrated an act of cruel tyranny, which cries loudly to Heaven\nfor vengeance. Two families, helpless and destitute, were thus each\ndeprived of its head, on whom they were dependent for support, and\nabandoned to the cold charity of a selfish world. The wages they earned by\na year's faithful service in behalf of the wicked, cruel, and vindictive\nConfederate States, was an ignominious death and a dishonoured grave. Will\nnot God visit for this? The widow and the fatherless cry to Heaven for\nvengeance, and their cries have entered into the ears of the Lord of\nSabaoth.\n\nOn Tuesday morning, six young men, who had been arrested for their Union\nsentiments, resolved to escape. Their plan was to enlist in the\nConfederate service, then to desert on the first opportunity, and make\ntheir way to the Federal lines. They consulted me as to the propriety of\ntaking the oath of allegiance under these circumstances. Such a step would\ngive them another chance for life; but were they to profess adherence to\ntheir Union principles, they had no hope of living many days. If permitted\nto enlist, they thought there was little doubt of their escape in a few\ndays; and should a battle take place, no Federal soldiers would be injured\nby them, and an opportunity to desert might occur during the engagement. I\ndrew up a paper for them, requesting permission to enlist in a company\nwhich they specified. Their petition was granted by the authorities, and\nthey were removed from prison to the camp. I feel confident that ere this,\nthey are safe in the Federal lines, for they knew the whole country, so as\nto be able to travel by night or by day, with little danger of detection.\nThey had all been arrested at their homes by the Rebel cavalry. They were\nbitter in sentiment against the military usurpation, self-styled the\nConfederate States of America.\n\nThis (Tuesday) evening, Colonel Walter called again, to give me a copy of\nthe charges against me. He informed me that my trial had been deferred\ntill Monday, the 15th inst. He also informed me in advance, that I must\ndie, and that, doubtless, on the day after the trial. I asked and obtained\npermission to send for the Rev. Dr. Lyon, of Columbus, Mississippi, to be\npresent at my execution. Dr. Lyon and I were co-presbyters, both being\nmembers of the Tombeckbee Presbytery. Colonel Walter was a renegade\nYankee. Coming from Michigan to Mississippi, he married the daughter of a\nwealthy slave-holder. Obtaining through her the control of a large number\nof slaves, he became a very ultra advocate of the peculiar institution,\nand a rabid secessionist.\n\nSoon after Colonel Walter left, Colonel Ware came in, and asked me if I\nhad been President of a Female College in Rienzi. I replied in the\naffirmative. 'Tis strange, said he, that one who has been so favoured, and\none who has accumulated property in the South, should prove a traitor to\nthe land of his adoption, and side with his enemies. I replied that I had\ngiven a fair equivalent for every dollar I had obtained from the citizens\nof the South; that for eleven years I had laboured faithfully as a teacher\nand minister of the gospel to promote the educational and spiritual\ninterests of the Southern people; and that now I was receiving my reward\nin being chained, starved, and insulted; and that they intended soon to\npay the last instalment by putting me to death ignominiously on the\nscaffold; I also denied being an enemy to the South. I regarded those who\nimperilled all her best interests, and plunged her into a protracted and\ndesolating war, as the real enemies of the South. If my advice had been\nfollowed, the South and the whole country would now be enjoying its wonted\npeace and prosperity. He only replied with cursing and vituperation.\n\nBelieving my end to be near, I sat down upon the floor of my dungeon, and\npenned the following letter to my wife.\n\n    TUPELO MILITARY DUNGEON, July 10th, 1862.\n\n    MY DEAR MARY--The Confederate authorities announce to me that I have\n    only a few more days to live. When you receive this letter, the hand\n    that penned it will be cold in death. My soul will have passed the\n    solemn test before the bar of God; I have a good hope through grace\n    that I will be then rejoicing amid the sacramental host of God's\n    elect, singing the new song of redeeming love in the presence of Him\n    who is the Chief among ten thousand, and the one altogether lovely.\n    Mary, meet me in heaven, where sorrow, and crying, and sin are not\n    known, and where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at\n    rest. I will request your brother Ramsey, and cousin, Captain\n    Tankersley, to convey my body to you. Bury me in the graveyard at\n    Bethany. Plant an evergreen--a cedar--at my head, and one at my feet,\n    and there let me repose in peace, till the Archangel's trump shall\n    sound, calling the dead to the judgment of the great day, and\n    vouchsafing to saints the long wished-for \"redemption of the body.\"\n\n    As to my property, it has all been confiscated; and after years of\n    incessant toil, I leave you penniless and dependent; but trust in God.\n    To his protecting care I commit you and our dear little Kate, who has\n    promised that he will be the widow's husband, and the father of the\n    fatherless. Rest assured, the Lord will provide. Only trust in him,\n    and love him with your whole heart, and soul, and mind, and strength.\n    \"I know that it shall be well with those that love God.\" Be not\n    faithless, but believing, and though clouds and thick darkness\n    surround you at present, a more auspicious day will dawn, and God will\n    bring you safely to your journey's end, and our reunion in heaven will\n    be sweet.\n\n    Our dear little daughter, Kate, bring up in the nurture and admonition\n    of the Lord. Teach her to walk in wisdom's ways, for her ways are ways\n    of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. Her mind may be compared\n    to wax, in its susceptibility for receiving impressions, and to\n    marble, for its power of retaining those impressions. O that she may\n    be satisfied early with the mercy of God, that she may rejoice and be\n    glad all her days! Teach her to remember her Creator in the days of\n    her youth, before the evil days come, in which she shall say, I have\n    no pleasure in thee. Make the Bible her constant study, and let its\n    words be as household words to her. Inspire her mind with a reverence\n    for _the Book_ which is able to make wise unto salvation. See to it\n    that the words of Christ dwell richly in her soul, that she may be\n    filled with wisdom, and knowledge, and spiritual understanding. Pray\n    for the Holy Spirit to bless your labours and instructions, without\n    which all your efforts would be in vain, and pray that the Third\n    Person of the adorable Trinity may take up his abode in her heart, and\n    dwell with her for ever.\n\n    As my duties in regard to instructing our child, will devolve solely\n    on you, take for your guidance, in this respect, Deut. vi. 5-9. Let\n    your example be such as you would wish her to follow. Children are\n    much more inclined to follow example than precept. Exercise care in\n    this respect, for, \"as is the mother, so is her daughter.\"\n\n    I regret my family will, from the force of circumstances, be compelled\n    to remain in a land where my death will be considered disgraceful, but\n    it cannot be avoided. The time may come when, even in Mississippi, I\n    may be regarded as a patriot martyr. My conscience is void of offence,\n    as regards the guilt attached to the charges made against me. I am\n    charged with treason against the Confederate States. The charge and\n    the specifications are true, except that I was not a Federal agent in\n    the purchase of cotton. That was a private arrangement altogether. I\n    am also charged with acting as a spy. The specifications under this\n    charge are false. I think that this accusation was made to prevent\n    retaliation by the Federal generals; and in the Rebel army they are\n    not at a loss to prove any charge, however false. Ferdinand Woodruff\n    is their tool to prove me a spy, and he will do it, though he knows\n    his testimony to be as false as that of the suborned witnesses who\n    bore testimony against the Saviour.\n\n    How long shall the wicked triumph? How long will God forbear to\n    execute that vengeance which is his, and which he will repay sooner or\n    later! I feel confident that the right cause will prevail, and though\n    I will not live to see it, for my days are numbered, yet I firmly\n    believe that the rebel power will be destroyed utterly.\n\n        \"Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again;\n          The eternal years of God are hers;\n        But error, wounded, writhes in pain,\n          And dies amid her worshippers.\"\n\n    I write this letter amid the din and confusion incident to a large\n    number of men crowded into a narrow compass, and free from all\n    restraint. This letter will be transmitted to you by friends. The\n    names of those friends you will know hereafter. They will present your\n    case to General Rosecrans or Nelson, who may obtain a pension for you.\n    My services heretofore in the Union cause are known to them, and I\n    think they will see that you do not suffer; all my real estate will\n    be restored to you if the Union cause triumphs, and I think there is\n    no doubt as to its success. Give my love to all my friends. Remember\n    that I have prayed for you unceasingly during my imprisonment, and my\n    last utterances on earth will be prayers for your welfare.\n\n    Farewell. God bless you, and preserve you and our dear little Kate.\n\n    Your affectionate husband,\n\n        JOHN H. AUGHEY.\n\nI next wrote my obituary, which I placed in the hands of a Union soldier\nwho expected soon to be exchanged. By him it was to be sent to the editors\nof _The Presbyterian_, published in Philadelphia, with a request that it\nshould appear in their columns.\n\nOBITUARY.\n\nDied, in Tupelo, Ittawamba county, Mississippi, July --, 1862, the Rev.\nJohn H. Aughey. The subject of the above notice was executed on the\ngallows, by authority of the Confederate States, on the charges of treason\nand acting as a spy.\n\nJohn H. Aughey was born in New Hartford, Oneida county, New York, May 8th,\n1828; removed with his parents to Steubenville, Ohio, in 1837; is an\nalumnus of Franklin College, New Athens, Harrison county, Ohio; studied\ntheology in Memphis, Tennessee, under the Rev. John H. Gray, D. D.,\nPresident of Memphis Synodical College--also under the care of the Rev. S.\nI. Reid of Holly Springs, Mississippi; was licensed to preach the gospel\nby the Presbytery of Chickasaw, October 4th, 1856; was ordained to the\nfull work of the gospel ministry by the Presbytery of Tombeckbee, at its\nsession in Winston county, Mississippi, in April, 1861. God blessed his\nlabours by giving him many seals to his ministry. After labouring eleven\nyears in the South as a teacher and minister of the gospel, having never\ninjured a citizen of the South either in person or property, he suffered a\nfelon's death for attachment to the Federal Union, because he would not\nturn traitor to the government which had never in a single instance\noppressed, but had always afforded him protection. He rests in peace, and\nin the hope of a blessed immortality.\n\n      \"Leaves have their time to fall,\n  And flowers to wither in the north wind's breath,\n      And stars to set; but all--\n  Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death!\"\n\nADDRESS TO MY SOUL.\n\nO my soul! thou art about to appear in the presence of thy Creator, who is\ninfinite, eternal, unchangeable in his being, power, wisdom, holiness,\njustice, goodness, and truth. He cannot look upon sin. He is a\nsin-avenging God, and thou art stained with sin. Thy transgressions are as\nnumerous as the stars of heaven, and the sand that is upon the sea-shore.\nThou art totally debased by sin, and thy iniquities abound. Thou art\nguilty of sins of omission and of commission. Justice would consign thee\nto everlasting burnings, to dwell with devouring fire, even to everlasting\ndestruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power.\nGuilty, helpless, wretched as thou art, what is thy plea why sentence of\neternal death should not be pronounced against thee?\n\nTHE SOUL'S REPLY.\n\nI plead the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood cleanses from\n_all_ sin, even from sins of the deepest dye. I plead the sufferings of\nHim who bore my sins in his own body, on the tree, and wrought out a\nperfect righteousness, which I may obtain by simple faith. No money, no\nprice is demanded. This I could not pay, for all my righteousness is as\nfilthy rags, and I must perish, were any part of the price demanded.\nNothing in my hand I bring. My salvation must be _all_ of grace, or to me\nit would be hopeless. I trust that Christ will clothe me in the spotless\nrobes of his own righteousness, and present me faultless before his\nFather. With this trust, I go to the judgment-seat, assured that the soul\nwhich trusts in Christ shall never be put to shame. God is faithful who\nhas promised.\n\n    MILITARY DUNGEON, Tupelo,\n    Ittawamba Co., Miss., July 11th, 1862.\n\n    DEAR PARENTS--\"Life is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing to behold the\n    sun.\" \"All that a man hath, will he give for his life.\" \"Having\n    promise of the life that now is.\" \"The life is more than meat.\" \"They\n    hunt for the _precious_ life.\" The above quotations from the Word of\n    Life, show the high estimate that is placed upon life. My life is not\n    \"_precious_\" in the eyes of the Secessionists, for their authorities\n    declare that \"my chances for living long are extremely slender.\" \"Yet\n    a few days, and me the all-beholding sun shall see no more in all his\n    course.\" Mourn not for me, my dear parents, as those who have no hope.\n    \"For me to live, is Christ; but to die, is gain.\" I fear not those\n    who, when they have killed the body, have no more that they can do.\n    But I fear Him whose fear casteth out every other fear. When these\n    lines are read by you, their author will be an inhabitant of the\n    Celestial City, the New Jerusalem, and will be reposing in Abraham's\n    bosom, in the midst of the Paradise of God. Next to God, my thanks are\n    due to you, for guiding my infant feet in the paths of wisdom and\n    virtue. In riper years, by precept, I have been warned and instructed.\n    By example I have been led, until my habits were fixed, and then,\n    accompanied by your parental blessing, I sought a distant home, to\n    engage in the arduous duties of life. Whatever success I have met\n    with, whatever influence for good I may have exerted, are all due to\n    your pious training. I owe you a debt of gratitude which I can never\n    repay. Though I cannot, God will grant you a reward lasting as\n    eternity. It will add to that exceeding and eternal weight of glory\n    which will be conferred on you in that day when the heavens shall be\n    dissolved, and the elements melt with fervent heat. I die for my\n    loyalty to the Federal Government. I know that you would not have me\n    turn traitor to save my life. Life is precious, but death, even death\n    on the scaffold, is preferable to dishonour. Remember me kindly to all\n    my friends. Tell sisters Sallie, Mary, and Emma, to meet me in heaven.\n    I know that _my_ Redeemer liveth. Dying is but going home. I have\n    taught many how to live, and now I am called to teach them how to die.\n    May God grant that as my day is, so may my strength be, and that, in\n    my last moments, I may not bring dishonour upon my Master's cause,\n    but may glorify him in the fires!\n\n    My dear parents, farewell till we meet beyond the river.\n\n        Your affectionate son,\n        JOHN H. AUGHEY.\n\n    TO DAVID AND ELIZABETH AUGHEY,\n    Amsterdam, Jefferson Co., Ohio.\n\nThe following letter was written to the Hon. William H. Seward in behalf\nof the Union men in prison and within the rebel lines.\n\n    CENTRAL MILITARY PRISON, Tupelo,\n    Ittawamba Co., Mississippi, July 11th, 1862.\n\n    Hon. William H. Seward:\n\n    DEAR SIR--A large number of citizens of Mississippi, holding Union\n    sentiments, and who recognise no such military usurpation as the\n    so-called Confederate States of America, are confined in a filthy\n    prison, swarming with vermin, and are famishing from hunger--a\n    sufficient quantity of food not being furnished us. We are separated\n    from our families, and suffered to hold no communication with them.\n    We are compelled, under a strong guard, to perform the most menial\n    services, and are insulted on every occasion by the officers and\n    guards of the prison. The nights are very cool; we are furnished with\n    no bedding, and are compelled to lie down on the floor of our dungeon,\n    where sleep seldom visits us, until exhausted nature can hold out no\n    longer; then our slumbers are broken, restless, and of short duration.\n    Our property is confiscated, and our families left destitute of the\n    necessaries of life; all that they have, yea, all their living, being\n    seized upon by the Confederates, and converted to their own use. Heavy\n    fetters are placed upon our limbs, and daily some of us are led to the\n    scaffold, or to death by shooting. Many of us are forced into the\n    army, instant death being the penalty in case of refusal; thus\n    constraining us to bear arms against our country, to become the\n    executioners of our friends and brethren, or to fall ourselves by\n    their hands.\n\n    These evils are intolerable, and we ask protection, through you, from\n    the United States Government. The Federal Government may not be able\n    to release us, but we ask the protection which the Federal prisoner\n    receives. Were his life taken, swift retribution would be visited upon\n    the rebels by a just retaliation--a rebel prisoner would suffer death\n    for every Federal prisoner whom they destroyed. Let this rule hold\n    good in the case of Union men who are citizens of the South. The loyal\n    Mississippian deserves protection as much as the loyal native of\n    Massachusetts. We ask, also, that our confiscated property be restored\n    to us, or, in case of our death, to our families. If it be destroyed,\n    let reparation be demanded from the rebels, or the property of known\n    and avowed secessionists sequestered to that use.\n\n    Before this letter reaches its destination, the majority of us will\n    have ceased to be. The writer has been informed by the officers that\n    \"his chances for living long are very slender;\" that he has confessed\n    enough to cause him to lose his life, and the Judge Advocate has\n    specified Tuesday, the 15th inst., as the day of his execution. We\n    have, therefore, little hope that we, individually, can receive any\n    benefit from this petition, though you regard it favourably, and\n    consent to its suggestions; but our families, who have been so cruelly\n    robbed of all their substance, may, in after time, receive\n    remuneration for their great losses. And if citizens of avowed\n    secession proclivities, who are within the Federal lines, are arrested\n    and held as hostages for the safety of Union men who are and may be\n    hereafter incarcerated in the prison in Tupelo and elsewhere, the\n    rebels will not dare put another Union man to death.\n\n    Hoping that you will deem it proper to take the matters presented in\n    our petition under advisement, we remain, with high considerations of\n    respect and esteem, your oppressed and imprisoned fellow-citizens,\n\n        JOHN H. AUGHEY,\n        BENJAMIN CLARKE,\n        JOHN ROBINSON,\n        and thirty-seven others.\n\nTwo young men informed me to-day that they had been forced into the rebel\nservice. They had been taken prisoners at Corinth by General Pope, and had\ntaken the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government, to which their\nhearts had always been loyal. Recently they had been arrested, and on\nrefusing to rejoin their regiment, were immured in this dungeon. From the\nthreats of the officers, they expected to be shot at any moment. They had\nused every means to banish the thoughts of death--had forced themselves to\nengage in pleasantry and mirth to drive away the sadness and gloom which\noppressed them when alone, and recalled the pleasures of their happy\nhomes--homes which they would never see again. I counselled them to\nprepare to meet their God in peace; to wisely improve the short time\ngranted them to make their calling and election sure. They replied that\nthey hoped all would be well. They had long since confessed Christ before\nmen, and hoped for salvation through his merits. Still, they could not\nhelp feeling sad in the near prospect of death. They left me to mingle\nwith a group of prisoners, who were endeavouring to dissipate the tedium,\nand vary the monotonous routine of prison life, by \"telling stories.\"\nCaptain Bruce led off by telling the following Irish story:\n\n\"Once upon a time, an Irishman, who rejoiced in the possession of a fine\nmare and a colt, wished to cross the Mississippi river at Baton Rouge with\nthem. By some mishap, they were all precipitated from the ferry-boat into\nthe water. The Irishman, being unable to swim, grasped the colt's tail,\nhoping thus to be carried to the shore. Some of the passengers called out\nto him: 'Halloo, Pat, why don't you take hold of the mare's tail; she is\nmuch stronger, and much more able to carry you safely to the shore.' 'O,\nbe jabers!' says Pat, 'this is no time for swapping horses.'\" This tale\nwas received with applause.\n\nBaltimore Bill, a real Plug-ugly, told his story next, as follows: \"Two\nIrishmen, immediately after their arrival in America, found a gun. After\nlong inspection, they concluded it was some kind of musical instrument,\nand wishing to hear the music, it was agreed that Jimmie should blow at\nthe muzzle, while Pat worked with the 'fixins' at the breech. At it they\nwent. Soon the gun went off, and Jimmie fell down, shot dead. 'Och!' says\nPat, 'are you charmed at the first note?'\" This story was received with\nloud bursts of laughter. An officer then entered, and ordered us to be\nquiet, forbidding us to narrate any more tales.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nEXECUTION OF UNION PRISONERS.\n\n    Resolved to Escape--Mode of Executing Prisoners--Removal of\n    Chain--Addition to our Numbers--Two Prisoners become Insane--Plan of\n    Escape--Proves a Failure--Fetters Inspected--Additional\n    Fetters--Handcuffs--A Spy in the Disguise of a Prisoner--Special\n    Police Guard on Duty--A Prisoner's Discovery--Divine Services--The\n    General Judgment--The Judge--The Laws--The Witnesses--The\n    Concourse--The Sentence.\n\n\nOn Friday morning, the twelfth of July, as I lay restless and sore,\nendeavouring to find some position which would be sufficiently easy to\npermit me to enjoy, even for a few moments, the benefit of \"Tired nature's\nsweet restorer, balmy sleep,\" the thought occurred that it would be well\nto attempt an escape, though it should result in death from the fire of\nthe guards, which would be far preferable to death by strangling at the\nrope's end, and in the presence of a large concourse of rebel enemies.\nTheir method of shooting was, to dig a hole, and make the victim sit with\nhis legs hanging in it. The soldiers would fire three balls through the\nbrain, and three through the heart; then the mangled and bleeding body\nfell into the grave, and was immediately covered with earth. At first,\ncoffins were used, but of late, these had been dispensed with, owing to\nthe increased expense, and the increasing number of executions.\n\nI had not long meditated upon this subject, when I arose, fully resolved\non death or liberty. My intentions were communicated to several prisoners,\nwho promised me all the aid in their power. My fetters were examined, and\nit was concluded, that with proper instruments my bands could be divested\nof the iron which secured the chain-rings. A long-handled iron spoon, a\nknife, and an old file, were obtained, and two were detached at a time to\nwork on my fetters. We went to one side of the building, and a sufficient\nnumber of prisoners stood in front of us, to prevent the guard from\nnoticing our proceedings. Our locations were changed frequently, to\nprevent detection; and when an officer entered, labour was suspended till\nhis exit.\n\nWe called General Bragg, Robespierre; General Jordan, Marat; and General\nHardee, Danton. Several prisoners were led out and shot to-day. The\nmajority of them were Union men. Six Union men were committed to jail\nto-day. The horrors of our situation were sufficient to render two of\nthese victims insane. A reign of terror had been inaugurated, only\nequalled, in its appalling enormity, by the memorable French Revolution.\nSpies and informers, in the pay of the Rebel government, prowl through the\ncountry, using every artifice and strategy to lead Union men to criminate\nthemselves, after which they are dragged to prison and to death. The\ncavalry dash through the country, burning cotton, carrying off the\nproperty of loyal citizens, and committing depredations of every kind.\n\nSeveral prisoners resolved to attempt an escape with me. Our plan was, to\nbring in the axe with which we split wood for cooking, and raise a plank\nin the floor, a sufficient number to stand around those who lifted it, to\nprevent observation, and then make our way out among the guards, who were\noff duty on the north side of the building. At this time there were three\nguards in front of each door, and two on the south side of the building.\nOn the north side of the building, there were no guards on duty, for, if\nthe other three sides were securely guarded, the prisoners could not\nescape on the north side. There were, however, several hundred guards,\nwho, when off duty, slept on this side of the prison. When their turn\ncame, they went on duty; and those who were relieved, came there to sleep.\nThey were coming and going all the time, and during the whole night, they\nkept up an incessant noise.\n\nAfter the unremitting labour of my friends during the day, I found that I\ncould slip my chain off and on at pleasure. The sun was now setting, but\nthe axe had not been brought in. At this time a guard was stationed in\neach door; the favourable moment had passed; none dared to bring the axe\npast the guard. While deliberating on the best course to pursue--as\nraising a plank had proved a failure for the present--General Jordan and\nColonel Clare entered. I was standing with others in the middle of the\nfloor. General Jordan came directly to me; either accidentally or\nintentionally, he held up a light to my face. \"Ah! you are here yet,\" said\nhe. I gave an affirmative nod. \"Well,\" said he to Colonel Clare, \"I must\nexamine this fellow's irons.\" Putting his hand down, and ascertaining that\nthey had been tampered with, he endeavoured, ineffectually, to pull the\nbands off; he did not notice that I could slip the chain-rings off. \"These\nirons,\" said he, \"are very insecure; who helped you to put them in this\ncondition?\" I made no reply. After waiting until he found I intended none,\nhe continued: \"Colonel Clare, have these irons secured in the morning;\nalso put handcuffs on him, and chain him, so as to confine him to one\nlocality; the gallows shall not be cheated of their due.\" Having given\nthese orders, they passed out. As soon as they were gone, the prisoners\nwho had aided me crowded around, stating that they believed there was a\nspy in the house, in the guise of a prisoner, and declaring that I must\nescape that night, or it would be too late. All realized that on to-morrow\nthere would be no hope.\n\nThere were eleven guards on duty--three in front of each door, one in each\ndoor, two on the south side of the building, and at night one passing back\nand forth through the centre of the prison, which was lighted during the\nwhole night. There was also a special police guard on duty that night, as\nfive Federal prisoners, who remained in our prison until some formalities\nwere gone through with, would be sent in the morning to the prison at\nColumbus, Mississippi, and it was feared they might attempt to escape ere\nthey were sent further south.\n\nAt this juncture, a young man ran up and informed me that he had made a\ndiscovery which might result in my escape; I must go alone, however, and\nthough they would aid me, they would run great risk in doing so. Only\nfour could assist, and he would volunteer to be one of them. Several\nothers immediately volunteered, of whom three were selected by M----, and\nthe plan then communicated. At this moment, Captain Bruce announced that\nthe hour for divine worship had arrived. I asked my friends whether I\nshould plead indisposition, and dispense with the services for that time.\nThey replied that it might lead to suspicion, and advised me to give them\na short sermon. I went to my usual place of standing, clanking my chains\nas heretofore. I give a synopsis of the sermon.\n\nThe text was 2 Cor. v. 10: \"We must all appear before the judgment-seat of\nChrist, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according\nto that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.\"\n\nThe doctrine of a general judgment was revealed to mankind at a very early\nperiod of the world's history. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied,\nsaying, \"Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to\nexecute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among\nthem of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of\nall their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.\"\nJob declares: \"I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at\nthe latter day upon the earth.\" Daniel also speaks of a general judgment:\n\"I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did\nsit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the\npure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning\nfire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand\nthousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood\nbefore him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.\" The New\nTestament is also explicit in its declarations that God hath appointed a\nday in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he\nhath ordained. The text declares that we must all appear before the\njudgment-seat of Christ.\n\nThe scenes which will usher in the judgment of the great day will be of\nthe most magnificent character. \"The heavens shall pass away with a great\nnoise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and\nthe works that are therein, shall be burned up.\" This does not indicate\nannihilation. God will never annihilate any of his creatures, animate or\ninanimate.\n\nThe inquiry is often made, what becomes of the soul after death, and where\ndoes it await the general judgment? A sect called the Soul-sleepers, take\nthe position that the soul, after death, goes into a torpid state, like\nbears in winter, and thus remains till the sounding of the Archangel's\ntrump. There is no Scripture to sustain this view, and it is only assumed,\nto avoid the objection that God would not judge a soul, and send it to\nreward or punishment, and then bring it back, to be again judged. That the\nsoul, at death, passes immediately into glory or torment, is proved by\nmany scriptures. Paul \"desired to depart, and be with Christ, which was\nfar better,\" than remaining on earth. He declares that to be present with\nthe body, is to be absent from the Lord. The dying Stephen calls upon the\nLord Jesus to receive his spirit. These holy men would not thus have\nspoken, if they supposed that ages must elapse ere they entered heaven.\nGod is not the God of the dead or torpid, but of the living. Moses and\nElias appeared on the mount of transfiguration in a state far from\ntorpidity. The dying thief received the promise, \"This day shalt thou be\nwith me in paradise.\" No mention is made of Purgatory or torpidity. The\nobjector urges that paradise is not heaven. We are told that the river of\nlife flows from the throne of God, that the tree of life grows on both\nsides of the river, and that the tree of life grows in the midst of the\nparadise of God. The paradise of God is where he is seated on his throne,\nwhich is heaven. Paradise is where Christ is. The thief would be with\nChrist in paradise. He who regards the Lord Jesus as the Chief among ten\nthousand, the One altogether lovely, will deem his presence heaven indeed.\nAs to the wicked, it is said of the rich man, that in hell he lifted up\nhis eyes, being in torment. If, after being judged, the souls of\nbelievers, do pass immediately into glory, and the wicked into torment,\nwhat use is there of another or general judgment. I reply, We are\nresponsible not only for our acts, but for the influence which those acts\nexert through all time. Gibbon, Hume, Rosseau, Paine, and other infidel\nwriters, wrote works which, during the life of the authors, did great\nevil. If those wicked men passed away from earth impenitent, they are now\nsuffering the vengeance of eternal fire. But the influence for evil, of\nthose wicked works, did not cease with the death of their authors.\nThousands of young men every year are led into pernicious and hurtful\nerrors by their perusal. At the general judgment, the accumulated guilt,\nfor the baleful influence exerted through their writings in all time, will\nsink them deeper in the flames of perdition. The sainted Alexander, and\nother pious men who are now in heaven, wrote many works whose influence\nfor good was great while their authors lived; and since their death they\nare, and will continue to be, instrumental in the hand of God in turning\nmany to righteousness. All the good accomplished by their writings,\nthrough all time, will, at the judgment, add to their exceeding and\neternal weight of glory.\n\nIn this life, we often see the righteous man contending with life's\nunnumbered woes; all the dealings of Providence seem to be adverse. While\nthe wicked are in great power, they flourish in life, like the green\nbay-tree, and have no bands in their death. These things are strange and\nmysterious. We understand them not now; but we shall learn, in that great\nday, when all mysteries are made plain, that God's dealings were just,\nboth with the righteous and the wicked.\n\nThe text declares that _we_ must all appear before the judgment-seat of\nChrist. This _we_ includes all who are now within the sound of my voice,\nand not only us, but all who live upon the face of the earth; and the\nArchangel's trump will wake the pale nations of the dead, and summon them\nto judgment. The dark domain of hell will be vacated, and the angels that\nkept not their first estate, and are now reserved in chains of darkness,\nwill appear in the presence of the Judge. Heaven's holy inhabitants will\nbe present. Thus heaven, earth, and hell, will be represented in that\naugust assemblage. The scene will bear some resemblance to that which\ntakes place in our earthly courts. The Lord Jesus Christ will be the\nJudge, and the angels and saints will be the jurors, who will consent to\nand approve of the acts of the Judge. The angels will be the officers who\nwill summon, from the prison-house of hell, the devils, to the trial, and\nalso those wicked men who will call upon the rocks and mountains to fall\nupon them, and hide them from the face of the Lamb. Nor, as is so often\nthe case with earthly officers, will any be able to elude the vigilance of\nthese. They will be clothed with ample power to compel the attendance of\nall; none will escape. We _must all_ appear before the judgment-seat. As\nin earthly courts, law is the basis of judgment, so we shall be judged\naccording to law in that day. The heathen will be judged by the law of\nnature--the law written in their hearts, and on their consciences. The\nlight of nature teaches the being, wisdom, power, and goodness of God. For\na violation of this law, they will be beaten with few stripes. The Jews\nwill be judged by both the law of nature, which they have, in common with\nthe heathen and the Mosaic law. But we who live in the nineteenth century,\nin the full blaze of gospel light, will be judged not only by the light of\nnature and the Mosaic law, which we possess in common with the heathen and\nthe Jew, but also by the glorious gospel of the Son of God, which brought\nlife and immortality to light; and if condemned, how fearful our doom, who\nare so highly favoured! In earthly courts, we are judged for our overt\nacts alone; but in the court of heaven, the commandment is exceeding\nbroad; it reaches every thought. Our words, too, are taken into account.\nWe must give an account for every idle word. By our words, we shall be\njustified, and by our words we shall be condemned. Our thoughts, our\nwords, our deeds, will all be taken into account.\n\nAs in our courts there are witnesses, so also there will be at the bar of\nGod. Our pious relatives and friends will bear this testimony, that they\nhave prayed with us and for us; that they had a deep concern for our\nsouls, and that we who are found on the left hand of the Judge, refused\nall their counsel, and despised their admonitions. Ministers of the gospel\nwill testify that they came as ambassadors from the King of kings, and\nbeseeching you, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God, pointing to\nthe coming wrath, and warning you from that wrath to flee; and yet their\nlabour of love ye despised, and scorned the message from on high. The\nBible will be a witness against you. Its teachings are able to make wise\nunto salvation. It is the chart which is given to guide us through this\nwilderness-world, to fairer worlds on high. It tells of the Lamb of God,\nwho taketh away the sin of the world. It is truth without any mixture of\nerror, and yet you have despised this necessary revelation, and chosen to\nperish, with the Word of Life open before you. God, the Father, will be a\nswift witness against you. In the greatness of his love for you, in the\ncounsels of eternity, he devised the plan of salvation, and sent his only\nbegotten Son to suffer and die, that you might live, and yet you have\ndespised that love, and rejected that Saviour. God, the Son, will bear\nthis testimony, that he came from the shining abodes of glory, where\nseraphim and cherubim fell prostrate at his feet, in humble adoration, and\nemptying himself of his glory, bore all the ills of life--the persecutions\nof wicked men, and the accursed death of the cross, that salvation might\nbe yours, and yet ye refused it, and trod the blood of the Son of God\nunder foot, and put him to an open shame. The Holy Spirit, the Third\nPerson of the adorable Trinity, will bear witness that he often knocked at\nthe door of your hearts for admittance; that he wooed you to embrace his\nlove, offering to abide with you for ever, and yet you rejected the offer,\nand did despite to the Spirit of grace, till, in sorrow, he took his\neverlasting flight.\n\nThe devil is now going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may\ndevour, and sometimes transforming himself into an angel of light. He is\ntempting you to sin, by presenting before your minds the superior charms\nof the riches and pleasures of earth, to things that are unseen and\neternal. He has no power to compel you to sin. His evil suggestions are\nwhispered in your oft too willing ears, and then it remains with you to\naccept or reject. He has no power of compulsion. Your sin must be an act\nof your own will, or it is not sin. When you consent to the wiles of this\narch enemy, and sin against God, remember that with eager desire and base\ningratitude he will fiercely accuse in the great day of God Almighty, and\nurge these very sins of his suggestion as a reason why he should have you\nto torment you for ever in the bottomless pit.\n\nThat internal monitor, that light which enlightens every man that cometh\ninto the world--the moral sense, or conscience--will be a swift witness\nagainst you. By it you have been enlightened and warned; and in the case\nof many who have denied a future state of punishment, the goadings of\nremorse have convinced them that there is a hell, the kindlings of whose\nfires they have felt in their own bosoms. Conscience will compel you to\nconfess that your doom is just, though for ever debarred from the joys and\nhappiness of heaven. O! my fellow-prisoners and travellers to the bar of\nGod, listen to her warning voice to-day, before it be too late, and you\nare compelled mournfully to exclaim, \"The harvest is past, the summer is\nended, and I am not saved!\" The conscience of the sinner will be compelled\nto admit the truth of the testimony. In earthly courts, oftentimes\nwitnesses are suborned, and their testimony false. Not so at the grand\nassize. Not a scrap of false testimony will be admitted. The evidence will\nbe in truth, and the judgment in righteousness.\n\nAfter all these scenes have occurred, the Judge will render a verdict, and\npronounce the sentence, which will be irreversible and eternal. With\nregard to the righteous, though they have been guilty of many sins, both\nof omission and commission, and have no merits of their own to plead, and\nconsider themselves justly obnoxious to eternal banishment, their\nAdvocate, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom, while in the flesh, they\nexercised a true and living faith, will now present them, clad in the\nwhite robes of his perfect righteousness, faultless before his Father, and\nthey will now hear the welcome plaudit, \"Come ye blessed, inherit the\nkingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.\" But those on\nthe left hand, who all their life rejected the mercy offered--the great\nsalvation proffered without money and without price--will now hear the\ndread sentence, \"Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for\nthe devil and his angels!\"\n\nO my dear, impenitent fellow-prisoners! how can ye take up your abode,\nyour eternal abode, in everlasting burnings? How can ye dwell with\ndevouring fire? How can ye endure everlasting destruction from the\npresence of the Lord and the glory of his power, shut up for ever in the\nfearful pit out of which there is no egress except for the vision of the\ndamned, and the smoke of its torment? Be wise to-day, 'tis madness to\ndefer. Procrastination is the thief of time. Delay is fraught with awful\ndanger. Trust not in promises of future amendment. The way to hell is\npaved with good resolutions, which are never kept. The future convenient\nseason never arrives. Like Felix, we may tremble when the minister reasons\nof a judgment to come; and like Agrippa, we may be almost persuaded to be\na Christian, and yet come short of the glory of God through\nprocrastination. Procrastination has populated hell. All the doomed and\ndamned from Christian lands are victims of this pernicious and destructive\nwile of the devil. It is foolish to procrastinate. Though the Bible teems\nwith rich and glorious promises of a hundred-fold blessings in this life,\nand eternal glory in the world to come, to those who break off their sins\nby righteousness, and their transgressions by turning unto the Lord, yet\nall these promises are limited to the present tense. There is not a single\nblessing promised the future penitent. He procrastinates at the risk of\nlosing all. Behold, _now_ is the accepted time, and now is the day of\nsalvation. _To-day_ if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.\n\"Ho, every one that thirsteth, _come_ ye to the waters; and he that hath\nno money, _come_ ye, _buy_ and _eat_; yea, _come buy_ wine and milk\nwithout money and without price.\" \"Seek ye _first_ the kingdom of God and\nhis righteousness.\" \"And the Spirit and the Bride say, _come_; let him\nthat heareth say, _come_; and let him that is athirst _come_: and\nwhosoever will, let him _take_ the water of life freely.\"\n\nChoose ye _this day_ whom ye will serve. There is no warrant for deferring\ntill to-morrow the momentous and eternal interests of the immortal soul.\nThe shortness and uncertainty of life furnish a strong reason why we\nshould not procrastinate. In the Bible, life is compared to everything\nthat is swift, transient, and fleeting in its nature. It is compared to\nthe swoop of the eagle hasting to the prey; to the swift post, to the\nbubble on the river. Life is compared in its duration to a year, a day,\nand to nothing, yea, less than nothing, and vanity. All these comparisons\nindicate that it is very brief and evanescent. We have no lease of life;\nwe hold it by a very slight tenure; and this is especially true of us in\nour present condition. Confined in prison, some of us led to death every\nday without a moment's warning, every evening I address some who, before\nthe next evening, are in eternity. Myself in chains, my life declared\nforfeited, ought we not all to be deeply impressed with the necessity of\nimmediate preparation to meet our God? I feel that I am preaching as a\ndying man to dying men, and I beseech you in Christ's stead, be ye\nreconciled to God. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and ye shall be\nsaved. Trust in him for salvation, for he is faithful who has promised.\nGod has never said to any, seek ye my face in vain. By the love and mercy\nof God, by the terrors of the judgment, by the sympathy and compassion of\nJesus, I entreat you, my fellow-prisoners, to seek an interest, a present\ninterest, in the great salvation!\n\nI close for the present. We shall never all engage in divine service\ntogether again on earth. We separate--some to go to a distant prison, and\nsome to death. May God grant that when we are done with earthly scenes, we\nmay all meet in the realms of bliss, where there is in God's presence\nfulness of joy, and at his right hand pleasures for evermore! And may the\nlove of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the communion of the\nHoly Spirit, rest and abide with us, and all the Israel of God, now,\nhenceforth, and for ever, Amen!\n\nThe following hymn was then sung:\n\n  In the sun, and moon, and stars,\n    Signs and wonders there shall be;\n  Earth shall quake with inward wars,\n    Nations with perplexity.\n\n  Soon shall ocean's hoary deep,\n    Tossed with stronger tempests, rise;\n  Wilder storms the mountains sweep,\n    Louder thunders rock the skies.\n\n  Dread alarms shall shake the proud,\n    Pale amazement, restless fear;\n  And, amid the thunder-cloud,\n    Shall the Judge of men appear.\n\n  But though from his awful face,\n    Heaven shall fade, and earth shall fly,\n  Fear not ye, his chosen race,\n    Your redemption draweth nigh.\n\nI preached longer than I had intended, having become so fully engrossed\nwith the subject as to forget my chains and my frustrated plans. My\nfellow-prisoners were listening apparently with interest; great solemnity\nprevailed, and penitential tears were flowing. It was evident that the\nSpirit of the living God was in our midst; and though danger and death\nwere before our eyes, the consolations of the glorious gospel of the\nblessed God caused our peace to flow like a river. The precious seed was\nsown in tears. May we not entertain a good hope that he who cast the seed\ninto this soil, prepared by affliction, shall come again with rejoicing,\nbringing his sheaves with him. By my side stood two in chains, who\nappeared deeply moved. During the day I had conversed with them about\ntheir souls. They expressed regret that they had not heretofore given this\nmatter the attention its importance demanded. Since their imprisonment,\nhowever, they had been led to feel that they were great sinners, and had,\nas they hoped, put their trust in Christ alone for salvation. I have since\nlearned that on the morrow they were shot.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nSUCCESSFUL ESCAPE.\n\n    The Second Plan of Escape--Under the Jail--Egress--Among the\n    Guards--In the Swamp--Travelling on the Underground Railroad--The\n    Fare--Green Corn eaten Raw--Blackberries and Stagnant Water--The\n    Bloodhounds--Tantalizing Dreams--The Pickets--The Cows--Become\n    Sick--Fons Beatus--Find Friends--Union Friend No. Two--The night in\n    the Barn--Death of Newman by Scalding--Union Friend No. Three--Bound\n    for the Union Lines--Rebel Soldiers--Black Ox--Pied Ox--Reach\n    Headquarters in Safety--Emotions on again beholding the Old\n    Flag--Kindness while Sick--Meeting with his Family--Richard Malone\n    again--The Serenade--Leave Dixie--Northward bound.\n\n\nAfter the sermon was concluded, the preparations for my escape were\ncommenced. The building used for our prison was built with the front\ntoward the east. The doors were at the eastern and western extremities,\nwhich were the gable ends, one door being in each end. There were also two\nwindows at each end, the door being between them. The doors and\nwindow-sashes had been removed, to allow the guards stationed in front an\nunobstructed view of the interior. At night the apartment was lighted, and\na guard patrolled the floor; it was, therefore, nearly impossible for a\nperson to escape the observation of the guards, either within or without\nthe jail. In the North, the houses are usually built with a cellar\nunderneath; at the South, such a thing is very rare, the houses being\nbuilt upon the ground, or upon piles. Our prison was built upon piles, the\nfloor being elevated about eighteen inches above the ground. The boards\nwere nailed upon the building perpendicularly, and in some cases did not\nquite reach to the ground. Small openings were thus left between the floor\nand the ground, through which a person could crawl underneath the\nbuilding. Around each door was an enclosure, formed by stakes surmounted\nwith poles, in the shape of a parallelogram, whose dimensions were about\nten by sixteen feet. In each of these enclosures four guards were\nstationed, one of them being seated in the doorway. The rear enclosure was\nused for cooking purposes; and into both enclosures we were permitted to\ngo at pleasure during all hours of the day, and as late at night as ten\no'clock. Only three prisoners were allowed to be in an enclosure at one\ntime.\n\nM---- had discovered a hole by the side of the steps within the front\nenclosure, by which I could get under the building. I felt unwilling to\nmake such an attempt, as the aperture was in the immediate vicinity of the\nguards. M---- stated that four others would aid me, though at considerable\nrisk on their part. \"I'll take the risk,\" was the individual response of\nall present. M---- selected three, who with himself assumed the perilous\ntask, in which discovery would have cost them their lives. M----, who had\ndevised the plan of escape, now instructed us in the respective parts we\nwere to perform. All promised implicit obedience. At half-past nine, three\nprisoners and myself were to go into the enclosure. They would stand up\nand converse with the guards, whilst I sat upon the ground by the hole, to\nwait for an opportunity to crawl under the building unobserved. This\nopportunity we expected to occur at ten o'clock, when the relief-guard\ncame on duty. The duty of one prisoner was to remain inside and engage the\nattention of the guard who sat in the doorway, while the other three would\ngo into the enclosure, and entertain the other guards, according to the\npreviously devised plan. At half-past nine o'clock, we placed ourselves in\nthe designated positions. I readily removed my chain, coiled it up, and\nlaid it by the side of a little stump. The moon shone with great\nbrilliancy, revealing the tents which surrounded us on every side.\nOfficers and soldiers passed hurriedly to and fro. We were in the midst of\nthe noise and confusion of a great encampment, as there were in and around\nTupelo some fifteen thousand soldiers. Mingled sounds of mirth and\ncontention proceeded from the surrounding tents. My prisoner friends were\nengaged in a fierce argument with the guards as to the comparative merits\nof Tennessee and Mississippi troops. This was done to divert their\nattention, and I observed with pleasure that they were meeting with\nsuccess. I reflected that a few more moments would decide my fate. If\ndetected, my life must end ignominiously and on the gallows. In the\nmorning, my anklets would be securely welded. I would also be handcuffed\nand chained to a post. Then all hope must end, and soon my corpse would be\nborne into the presence of her whose tears were flowing, and who refused\nto be comforted because of my ominous absence.\n\nThe order for the relief-guard now came loud and clear. I heard their\nhurried tramp, and saw their glittering bayonets in the bright moonlight.\nThe set time, the appointed moment, big with my fate, had arrived. I\noffered an ejaculatory prayer to Him who sits upon the throne of heaven\nfor protection at this critical moment. The guard stood within ten feet of\nme, with their eyes constantly upon me. Just as they were turning to\nreceive the advancing relief-guard, I crawled backward under the building,\nand disappeared from their view. The relief-guard went on duty, and those\nrelieved retired. The prisoners were ordered into the house, and as the\nnew guards did not know that four were in the enclosure, I was not\nmissed.\n\n[Illustration: \"Just as they were turning to receive the relief-guard, I\ncrawled backward under the building, and disappeared from view.\" Page\n172.]\n\nI was now under the prison, but there were guards on every side, and the\njail was in the midst of a camp, so that I was still in great danger of\ndetection. I saw, through the crevices in the floor, the guard who\npatrolled the prison. I heard the murmurings and mutterings of the\nprisoners, as he occasionally trod upon them in his carelessness. I could\nhear, though not distinctly, the conversation of the prisoners. One of my\nassistants was detailing to his companions their success in getting me off\nunnoticed. The prisoners slept but little that night, owing to their\nanxiety for my safety, and I frequently heard my name mentioned, and hopes\nfor my safety expressed. I occasionally fell into uneasy slumbers, but the\nfleas and other vermin were so annoying, that my sleep refreshed me but\nlittle. I could distinctly hear the new guard conversing, and among other\ntopics, one remarked that he had forgotten the countersign; the other\nreplied that it was _Braxton_. Well, said the former, I thought it was\nBragg, or Braxton, or something like that. Knowing the countersign\nemboldened me, as I could, if halted, give it, and pass on. I soon crawled\nto the north side of the prison, and found that there were three apertures\nsufficiently large to admit of my egress. Upon reaching the first one, I\nfound a number of guards, some sitting and some lying so close to it, that\nI dared not make the attempt at that point.\n\nCrawling to the second, I remained till there was comparative quiet; but\nat the instant I was about to pass out, a soldier, who was lying with his\nface toward me, commenced to cough, and continued to do so, at intervals,\nfor more than an hour. Finding it unadvisable to run the risk of detection\nat this point, I made my way, with considerable difficulty, to the third\nand last aperture, near the rear of the building, and not very distant\nfrom the rear-guards. I remained at this aperture till I heard one guard\nsay to another that it was three o'clock, and that they must soon go on\nduty. I felt confident that then was my time, or never, as morning would\nfind me under the house, and I would be re-arrested in that situation.\nCommitting myself into the hands of God, and asking him to keep me from\ndetection, and grant me a safe escape, I arose from under the building,\npassed by two sleeping guards, who were lying within three or four feet of\nthe prison. As it was my first essay at walking without chains, I reeled,\nas if under the influence of strong drink, striking my foot against the\nhead of one of those sleeping guards, who, awaking, turned over, and\nuttering some exclamation of disapprobation, took no further notice of me,\ndoubtless mistaking me for one of his companions. After proceeding a few\nsteps, I sat down upon the ground among some of the guards. I took out my\nknife, and whistling, to appear as unconcerned as possible, commenced\nwhittling a stump, around which they were collected--some sitting, some\nstanding, and others reclining. I readily passed for one of them, as I was\nwearing a colored shirt, which resembled that worn by the guards. I soon,\nhowever, arose, and wound my way among the various groups, endeavouring\nto reach the corn-field, to which I had made my first escape. After\npassing the guards off duty, a sentinel arose a short distance in front of\nme, evidently with the intention of halting me, if I advanced farther.\nStopping a few minutes, to avoid suspicion, I changed my direction,\nbearing southwest, and after a time, got into the woods. Kneeling down, I\nreturned God thanks for thus crowning my efforts with success, and prayed\nfor his continuous protection, and that he would choose out my path, that\nI might escape detection, and rejoin my family and friends in safety.\n\nI now pursued my journey rapidly in a southwest direction, choosing that\nwhich led directly from my home, for two reasons. The cavalry and\nbloodhounds would not be so likely to follow in that direction, and after\nlistening, while in prison, to the drum-beat morning and evening, in the\nvarious surrounding camps, I noticed that it had ceased in the southwest\nfor several mornings; hence I supposed that the camp in that direction had\nbeen broken up, and that, in taking that route, I could more readily get\nbeyond the rebel pickets, and then I could change my course, and bear\nnorthward, and reach the Federal lines at some point on the Memphis and\nCharleston railroad. I hastened on till the sun arose, having passed\nthrough woods and corn-fields, studiously avoiding all roads, when, as I\nwas rapidly travelling along a narrow path, I met a negro. The suddenness\nof our meeting alarmed both. I, in a peremptory tone, addressed him, in\nquick succession, the following interrogatories:\n\n\"Where are you going? To whom do you belong? Where have you been? Have you\na pass?\"\n\n\"I belong,\" said the boy, trembling, \"to Mr. ----. I have been to wife's\nhouse; am gwine back home, but I haint got nary pass.\"\n\n\"I suppose it is all right with you?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes, master! it's all right wid me.\"\n\nConcluding that it was not all right \"wid\" myself, I hurried on, soon\nleaving the path, and turning into a dense woods. Travelling on till\nabout one P. M., I came to an open country, so extensive that I could not\ngo round it, neither could I, in daylight, travel through it with safety.\nI sought out a place to hide, and finding a ditch which bisected a\ncorn-field, I concealed myself in that. During the day, negroes and whites\npassed near, without discovering me. Becoming hungry, I ate a small piece\nof the bread which one of my fellow-prisoners had given me, but it made me\nquite sick. On my former escape, I had, just before leaving the house,\ntraded pants with a fellow-prisoner, without his knowledge or consent. On\nmy return, he refused to trade back. My reason for trading was, to get a\ndark pair, as mine were so light-coloured, I feared the guards would\ndiscover me more readily. Their owner had been accustomed to use tobacco,\nand the bread had become tinctured with it. Tobacco being very offensive\nto me, its presence on my bread caused me to lose it.\n\nThe day passed away, and the night came. The stars came out in silent\nglory, one by one. Fixing my eye upon the pole-star, the underground\nrailroad travellers' guide, I set out, bearing a little to the west of\nnorth. I soon reached the thick woods, and found it very difficult to make\nrapid progress, in consequence of the dense under-growth and obscure\nlight. The bushes would strike me in the eyes, and often the top of a\nfallen tree would cause me to make quite a circuit. Soon, however, the\nmoon arose in her brightness--the old silver moon. But her light I found\nto be far less brilliant than that of the sun, and her rays were much\nobscured by the dense foliage overhead; hence my progress was necessarily\nslow, laboured, and toilsome. I slept but little during the day, in\nconsequence of the proximity of those who might be bitter foes, and also\nthe unpleasant position I occupied, as the ditch in which I had concealed\nmyself was muddy, and proved an uncomfortable bed. I therefore became\nweary, my limbs stiff from travel and from the pressure of the heavy iron\nbands. Sleep overpowered me, and I laid down in the leaves, and slept till\nthe cold awoke me, which, judging from the moon's descent, must have been\nan hour and a half. The nights in Mississippi are invariably cool, however\nhot the days may be. Arising from my uneasy slumber, I pressed on. My\nthirst, which for some time had been increasing, now became absolutely\nunendurable. I knew not where to obtain water, not daring to go near a\nwell, through fear of being arrested. At length I heard some suckling pigs\nand their dam, at a short distance from me, in the woods. There seemed to\nbe no alternative. I must either perish, or obtain some fluid to slake my\nraging thirst; so I resolved to catch a little pig, cut its throat, and\ndrink the blood. I searched for my knife, but I had lost it. I was,\ntherefore, reluctantly compelled to abandon my design on the suckling's\nlife. As I went forward, the sow and her brood started up alarmed, and in\ntheir flight, plunged into water. I immediately followed, and found a\nmud-hole. Removing the green scum, I drank deep of the stagnant pool. My\nthirst was only partially quenched by this draught, and soon returned. As\nday dawned, I found some sassafras leaves, which I chewed, to allay the\npangs of hunger; but they formed a paste which I could not swallow.\n\nI soon after came to an old field, where I obtained an abundant supply of\nblackberries, which not only served to check the gnawings of hunger, but\nalso to allay my intolerable thirst. I reflected that this day was the\nholy Sabbath, but it brought neither rest to my weary frame, nor composure\nto my agitated and excited mind. Like Salathiel, the Wandering Jew, the\nword _March!_ was ringing in my ears. Onward! was my motto; Liberty or\ndeath! my watchword. About ten o'clock I came to an open country, and\nsought out a ditch, in which to conceal myself. Here I fell into a\ntroubled sleep. I saw, in dreams, tables groaning under the weight of the\nmost delicious viands, and brooks of crystal waters, bubbling and\nsparkling as they rushed onward in their meandering course; but when I\nattempted to grasp them, they served me as they did Tantalus, of olden\ntime, by vanishing into thin air, or receding beyond my reach. While lying\nhere, I was now and then aroused by the trampling of horses grazing in\nthe field, which I feared might be bringing on my pursuers. And once the\nvoices of men, mingled with the sounds of horses' feet upon a little\nbridge, some twenty feet distant, induced me to look out from my\nhiding-place, and lo! two cavalry-men--perhaps hunting for my life!--rode\nalong.\n\nWhen the sun had reached the zenith, I was again startled by voices, which\napproached nearer and nearer my place of concealment, till at length the\ncause was discovered. Several children, both black and white, had come\nfrom a farm-house, about a quarter of a mile distant, to gather\nblackberries along the margin of the ditch. They soon discovered me, and\nseemed somewhat startled and alarmed at my appearance. I soon saw them\ngazing down upon me, in my moist bed, with evident amazement and alarm.\nPallid, haggard, unshaven, and covered with mud, I must have presented a\nfrightful picture.\n\nAs soon as the children passed me, fearing the report they would carry\nhome, I arose from my lair, and hurried on, though I had to pass in sight\nof several houses. After travelling three or four miles through an open\nchampaign country, I came to a dense woods, bordering a stream which had\nceased running, in consequence of the great drought that had, for a long\ntime, prevailed throughout this section of Mississippi. The creek had been\na large one, and in the deep holes, some water still remained, though\nwarm, and covered with a heavy scum, and mingled with the spawn of frogs.\nI drank it, however, from sheer necessity, tepid and unhealthy as it was.\nIt did not allay my thirst, but created a nausea, which was very\nunpleasant.\n\nAbout four o'clock P. M., I was startled by the baying of bloodhounds\nbehind me, and apparently on my track. Before escaping from jail, I had\nbeen advised by the prisoners to obtain some onions, as these, rubbed on\nthe soles of my boots, would destroy the scent. They could only be\nprocured, however, by a visit to some garden-patch, and I feared to go so\nnear a house. I had left no clothes in prison from which the hounds could\nobtain the scent in order to find my track, and my starting in a\nsouthwest direction was an additional precaution against bloodhounds.\nTheir baying soon became alarmingly distinct. Having heard them almost\nevery night for years, as they hunted down the fugitive slave, I could not\nmistake the fearful import of their howling. I could devise no plan for\nbreaking the trail. Dan Boone, when pursued by Indians, succeeded in\nbaffling the hounds by catching at some overhanging branches, and swinging\nhimself forward. Negroes often destroy the scent by carrying matches, and\nsetting the leaves on fire. One negro of whom I heard, ran along the brink\nof a precipice, and dug a recess back from the narrow path. Crawling into\nit, he remained till the hounds reached that point, when he thrust them\nfrom the path. They fell and were dashed to pieces on the jagged rocks\nbelow.\n\nNone of these plans were practicable to me, and I supposed death imminent,\neither from being torn to pieces by the hounds, or by being shot by the\ncavalry, who were following them. Climbing a tree, I resolved to await\nthe arrival of the cavalry, and having determined to die rather than be\ntaken back again to Tupelo, I would refuse to obey any summons to descend.\nO, how I wished for my navy repeater, that I might sell my life as dearly\nas possible! that I might make some secessionist bite the dust ere I was\nslain! I often thought of the couplet in the old song--\n\n  \"The hounds are baying on my track,\n  Christian, will you send me back?\"\n\nA feeling of strong sympathy arose in my bosom for the poor African, who,\nin his endeavour to escape from the Iron Furnace of Southern slavery,\noften encountered the bloodhounds, and was torn to pieces by them. \"A\nfellow feeling makes us wondrous kind.\"\n\nI had remained but a short time in the tree, when I ascertained that the\nhounds were bearing eastward, and they soon passed at a distance. They\nwere on the track of some other poor fugitive, and I rejoiced again in the\nhope of safety. Coming to a corn-field, I plucked two ears of corn, and\nate them raw, having no matches wherewith to kindle a fire, which, indeed,\nwould have increased my peril, as the smoke might advertise my presence to\nbitter and unrelenting foes.\n\nToward night I lay down in the woods, and fell asleep. Visions of\nabundance, both to eat and drink, haunted me, and every unusual sound\nwould startle me. A fly peculiar to the South, whose buzz sounded like the\nvoice of an old man, often awoke me with the fear that my enemies were\nnear. As soon as Ursa Minor appeared, I took up my line of march. The\nnight was very dark, and I became somewhat bewildered. At length I reached\na crossroads, and as I was emerging from the wood, I saw two pickets a few\nyards from me. Stooping down, I crawled on my hands and knees back into\nthe woods. As I retired, I heard one picket say to the other, \"Who is\nthat?\"\n\nHe replied, \"It is the lieutenant of the guard.\"\n\n\"What does he want?\" said the first.\n\n\"He is slipping round to see if we are asleep.\"\n\nAfter I got a safe distance in the bushes, I lay down and slept till the\nmoon arose. To the surprise of my bewildered brain, it seemed to rise in\nthe west. Taking my course, I hastened on, sometimes through woods,\nsometimes through cornfields, and sometimes through swamps. Coming to a\nlarge pasture, in which a number of cows were grazing, I tried to obtain\nsome milk, but none of them would allow me to approach near enough to\neffect my purpose. My face was not of the right colour, and my costume\nbelonged to a sex that never milked them. I travelled until day-break,\nwhen I concealed myself in a thicket of cane, and had scarcely fallen\nasleep when I heard the sound of the reveille, in a camp close at hand.\nArising, I hurriedly beat a retreat, and travelled several hours before I\ndared take any rest. I at length lay down amid the branches of a fallen\ntree, and slept. Visions of home and friends flitted before me. Voices\nsweet and kind greeted me on all sides. The bitter taunts of cruel\nofficers no longer assailed my ears. The loved ones at home were present,\nand the joys of the past were renewed. But, alas! the falling of a limb\ndissipated all my fancied pleasures. The reality returned, and I was still\na fugitive escaping for life, and in the midst of a hostile country.\n\nTo-day my mock trial would have taken place, and I fancied the\ndisappointment of Woodruff, who had stated that to his knowledge I was a\nspy, and to-day would have sworn it. And Barnes, the mail-robber,\nrecommended for promotion because of his heroism in re-arresting me, how\nsad he must feel, that the bird had flown, and that he would not have the\npleasure of witnessing my execution. I thanked God and took courage.\nThough faint and weary, I was still hopeful and trusting, often repeating,\n\n  \"'Tis God has led me safe thus far,\n    And he will bring me home.\"\n\nOn this (Monday) night, I travelled steadily, crossing swamps,\ncorn-fields, woods, and pastures. I came to only one cotton-field during\nthe night. I passed through several wheat-fields, where the wheat had been\nharvested; I pulled a handful from a shock, and rubbed out some of the\ngrain, but it was so bitter I could not eat it. I suspected every bush a\nsecessionist, though I felt much more secure at night than in daylight. I\navoided roads as much as possible, travelling on none except to cross\nthem, which was done with great rapidity. The rising sun still found me\npressing onward, and thirst and hunger were now consuming me. To satisfy\nhunger, I had recourse to the corn-field; but I could find no water. I\nwould gladly have drank any kind of beverage, however filthy, so that my\nthirst might be allayed. About nine o'clock, when I had almost despaired\nof getting water at all, I came to a copious fountain in a gorge of the\nhills, and from its appearance, I seemed to be the discoverer. Around it\nthere was no trace of human foot, nor hoof of cattle. On beholding it, I\nwept with joy. I remained by it about four hours, quaffing its cool and\ncrystal waters, the first running water I had tasted since leaving\nprison. I also bathed my body and washed my clothes, drying them in the\nsun, and endeavoured to rid them of vermin, in which I only partially\nsucceeded. I named this fountain _Fons Beatus_, and left it with sincere\nsorrow.\n\nThree o'clock, P. M., arrived, and I felt bewildered. I knew not where I\nwas. I might be near friends, I might be near bloodthirsty foes. I could\nscarcely walk. My iron bands had become very irksome. I felt that I was\nbecoming childish. I could tell all my bones. I tried to pray, but could\nonly utter, \"Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner!\" Still I felt thankful\nthat it was so well with me as it was.\n\nAt that very hour, had I not escaped, I should have been either on the\nscaffold at Tupelo, or suspended between heaven and earth, surrounded by\nan insulting and jeering army. This reflection made me thankful to God,\neven though I should die in the swamps. The sky became overcast, and I\nfound it impossible to distinguish north from south. I therefore concealed\nmyself and slept. It was night when I awoke, and the clouds still covered\nthe sky threateningly, concealing my guiding star, and rendering it\nimpossible for me to proceed. Thus, when I wished most to go forward, my\nprogress was arrested, and my distressing suspense prolonged. During the\nwhole night I was asleep and awake alternately, but could not at any time\ndiscern either moon or stars. Once, while sleeping behind a fallen tree by\nthe roadside, a horseman passed by. His dog, a large and ferocious-looking\nanimal, came running along by the side of the tree where I was lying. When\nhe reached me, I raised up suddenly and brandishing a club menacingly, the\nalarmed and howling dog incontinently and ingloriously fled, leaving me\nmaster of the field.\n\nOn Wednesday morning the sun was still obscured until nine o'clock. I was\nthen sick. There was a ringing in my ears, and I was affected with\nvertigo, a dimness of vision and faintness, which rendered me absolutely\nunfit for travel. It required an hour to walk a quarter of a mile. I found\na good supply of blackberries, which very much refreshed me. Before me\nwas a hill, the top of which I reached after two hours' laborious ascent.\nI despaired of getting much further. I thought I must perish in the Iron\nFurnace of secession, which was heated very hot for me. Feeling confident\nthat I must be near Tippah county, and knowing that there were many Union\nmen in that county, I resolved to call at the first house on my route. If\nI remained where I was, I must perish, as I could go no further, and if I\nmet with a Union family, I should be saved; if with \"a secesh,\" I might\npossibly impose upon their credulity, and get refreshment without being\narrested. They might, however, cause my arrest. It was a dilemma such as I\nhope never to be placed in again. About an hour before sunset I came to a\nhouse, and remained near it for some time. At length I saw a negro girl\ncome to the door. Knowing that where there were negroes, in nine cases out\nof ten there were secessionists near, I left the house as quickly as my\nenfeebled condition would permit. Going to another house, I remained near\nit till I was satisfied there were no negroes held by that family. I then\nwent boldly up, knocked, gained admittance, and asked for some water,\nwhich was given me. The lady of the house, scrutinizing me closely, asked\nme if I were from Tupelo. I replied in the affirmative. She then inquired\nmy name. I gave her my Christian name, John Hill, suppressing the surname.\nHer husband was sitting near, a man of Herculean frame; and as the wife's\ninquisitiveness was beginning to alarm me, I turned to him and said: \"My\nfriend, you are a man of great physical powers, and at this time you ought\nto be in the army. The Yankees are overrunning all our country, and the\nservice of every man is needed.\" His wife replied that he was not in the\narmy, nor would he go into it, unless he was forced to go. They had been\ntold that the cavalry would be after him in a few days, to take him as a\nconscript; but she considered the conscript law, base and tyrannical.\nOverjoyed at the utterance of such sentiments as these, I then revealed my\ntrue character. I told them that I had recently made my escape from\nTupelo, where I was doomed to execution on the gallows, and that I was\nnow flying from prison and from death. I then exhibited the iron bands\nupon my ankles. Both promised all the aid in their power. The lady at once\nproposed to prepare supper, but I was too near the point of starvation to\nawait the slow process of cooking. She therefore turned down the\ntablecloth, which covered the fragments remaining from dinner, and\ndisclosed some corn bread and Irish potatoes. Though I never liked corn\nbread, I must confess I thought that was the sweetest morsel I had ever\ntasted.\n\nAfter eating a little, however, I became very sick, and was compelled to\ndesist. It was so long since I had partaken of any substantial food, that\nmy stomach now could not bear it. The lady soon prepared supper,\nconsisting of broiled chicken, and other delicacies. The fowl was quite\nsmall, and I ate nearly the whole of it, much to the chagrin of a little\ndaughter of mine host, whom I heard complaining to her mother, afterward,\nin an adjoining room, saying, \"Ma, all I got of that chicken was a little\npiece of the wing,\" and \"aint that gentleman a hoss to eat?\" with other\nremarks by no means complimentary to my voracious appetite.\n\nAfter supper, mine host endeavoured to remove the heavy iron bands by\nwhich my ankles were clasped. This was accomplished after considerable\nlabour. I asked him to retain the bands till called for, which he promised\nto do. The good lady furnished me with water and a suit of her husband's\nclothes. After performing a thorough ablution, I donned the suit, and felt\ncompletely metamorphosed, and was thoroughly disguised, as my new suit had\nbeen made for a man of vastly larger physical proportions. I spent the\nnight with my new friends, during which a heavy thunder-storm passed over.\nHad I been out in the drenching rain in my wretched condition, I must\nsurely have perished. In the morning my host informed me of a Union man\nwho knew the country in the direction of Rienzi, the point which I now\ndetermined to reach. This gentleman lived half a mile distant, and my host\naccompanied me to a thicket near his house, where I concealed myself till\nhe brought Mr. ---- to me. Said my friend No. 2, \"I am not familiar with\nthe route to Rienzi, but will go with you to friend No. 3, who I am\npositive is well acquainted with the road. He can take you through the\nwoods, so as to avoid the Confederate cavalry. As I undertake this at the\nrisk of my life, we must wait till night. I would gladly have you come to\nmy house, but I fear that it might transpire through my children that I\nhad helped you to escape. I have a large family, and most of 'em is gals,\nand you know gals will talk. You can stay in my barn till I come for you.\nI will carry you provisions during the day, and to-night we will go to my\nfriend's.\"\n\nAbout three o'clock in the morning, he came with two horses, one of which\nhe mounted, and I the other. The horse I rode was a blooded animal, and to\nuse my friend's expression, could run like a streak of lightning. I\nprovided myself with a good whip, resolving, in case of danger, to put my\nhorse to his utmost speed. A short time after daylight, we reached friend\nNo. 3, who promised to conduct me to Rienzi. While at his house, I learned\nthat a Unionist, Mr. N----, had been killed under circumstances of the\ngreatest cruelty. His sentiments had become known to the rebels. He was\narrested by their cavalry, and refusing to take the oath, they resolved to\nput him to death on the spot. He had a large family of small children,\nwho, together with his wife, begged that his life might be spared. He\nhimself had no favours to ask of the secessionists. Among his foes, the\nonly point of dispute was, as to the mode of his death. Some favoured\nshooting, some hanging; but the prevailing majority were in favour of\nscalding him to death. And there, in the presence of his weeping and\nhelpless family, these fiends in human form _deliberately heated water,\nwith which they scalded to death their chained and defenceless victim_.\nThus perished a patriot of whom the State was not worthy. The corpse was\nthen suspended from a tree, with a label on the breast, stating that\nwhoever cut him down and buried him, should suffer the same fate. My\ncompanions cut down the corpse by night, and buried it in the forest. May\nGod reward them!\n\nMy friend No. 3 thought that it would be best to travel in daylight. He\ncould follow by-paths, and avoid the rebel cavalry. We started about eight\no'clock on Friday morning, and met with no incident worth narrating until\nwe reached a mill; here we fell in with some six or seven rebel soldiers,\nwho had been out on sick furlough, and were returning. They scanned us\nclosely, and inquired whence we came, and whither bound. My friend\nspecified a neighbourhood from which he affirmed we came, and stated that\nwe were hunting stray oxen, asking whether they had seen a black ox and a\npied ox in their travels. They replied in the negative; and in turn asked\nhim who I was. He replied that I was his wife's brother, who had come from\nAlabama about three months ago. They said I looked like \"death on a pale\nhoss,\" and wished to know what was the matter with me--if I were\nconsumptive. My friend replied that I had had the chills for several\nmonths; and as there was no quinine in the country, it was impossible to\nstop them.\n\nDuring this inquisition, I was ready at any moment to put spur to my\nhorse, and run a race for life, had any attempt been made to arrest me, or\nif I had been recognised by any of the soldiers. We were, however,\npermitted to pass on, not without some suspicious glances. We at length\nreached a point ten miles from Rienzi. My guide now insisted on returning.\nIt would be morning ere he reached home, and if met by cavalry, he must\ninvent some plausible excuse for having a led horse. Nor did he dare\nreturn by the same route. Knowing the country, I permitted him to return.\nI then set out on foot, and at length reached the Federal pickets, three\nmiles from Rienzi, where a horse was furnished me; and about ten o'clock I\nreached the head-quarters of Colonel Misner in Rienzi. When I gazed upon\nthe star-spangled banner, beneath whose ample folds there was safety and\nprotection--when I saw around me the Union hosts--I shed tears of joy, and\nfrom the depths of my heart returned thanks to Almighty God, who had\ngiven me my life at my request, preserving me, amid dangers seen and\nunseen, till I now was safe amid hosts of friends.\n\nColonel Misner requested me to report all that would be of service to\nGeneral Rosecrans, which I did, he copying my report as I gave it. I\nreported, so far as I was informed, the probable number of troops in and\naround Tupelo, the topography of the country, the probable designs of the\nrebels, the number of troops sent to Richmond under Beauregard, &c. The\nColonel requested me to go with him to head-quarters in the morning; but\nat the hour specified I was sick, and my physician, Dr. Holley, of the\nThirty-sixth Illinois, thought it would not be advisable for me to go,\neven in an ambulance. My report, however, was carried up to General\nRosecrans.\n\nThrough proper treatment I recovered in a few days, so as to be able to go\ninto Jacinto, the nearest point in the Federal lines to my family. I\ncalled on General Jefferson C. Davis, who was in command of that post. The\nGeneral had heard of my arrest, and expressed gratification at my safe\nreturn. I informed him of my desire to get my family within the lines. The\nGeneral immediately proffered me all the cavalry at his command, and\nordered them to prepare for the expedition. I thankfully accepted his kind\noffer, but after reflection concluded to send a messenger first, with a\nletter to my wife; if he were not intercepted, I knew that she would come\nin as soon as possible. The order to the cavalry was countermanded until\nthis plan would be tried. The messenger was not intercepted, and on the\nnext day I had the pleasure of beholding my wife and child, whose faces, a\nshort time before, I had given up all hope of ever beholding on earth.\n\nWhile here, I called on my friend, Lieutenant Richard Malone, who resides\nin Jacinto. On inquiring at his house for him, he heard my voice, and ran\nout to the gate to meet me. Grasping my hand, he could not for some time\ncontrol his emotions so as to speak.\n\nMalone gave me his history since we had parted at the outer wall of the\nprison. He reached the corn-field at the point designated, and anxiously\nawaited my arrival until near daylight, when he was compelled to seek\nsafety in flight. We had agreed to meet in the corn-field at a place where\nthere was a garment suspended upon the fence. We think there must have\nbeen two garments suspended at different points, and hence our mistake. We\ncould not signal loud in consequence of the nearness of the pickets, and\ntherefore did not meet. Soon after daylight, Malone found himself in the\nmidst of a cavalry company which had encamped there during the night; they\nwere making preparations for departure, and the majority of them were\ngathering blackberries. Joining them, he passed as a citizen, and when he\nreached the rear of the company, he gathered some sticks in his arms, and\nstarted towards a small cabin at a short distance, as if it were his\nresidence. Before reaching it, he made a detour to the right, and passed\ninto the dense woods. On the next day, about ten o'clock, A. M., he\nreached an open champaign country, through which it would have been\ndangerous to travel. To the west, about three hundred yards distant, was a\ndense woods, which he hoped to reach without detection. While travelling\ndown a road for this purpose, four cavalrymen who were in pursuit dashed\ntowards him, and ordered him to return with them to Tupelo. Malone\nreplied, that as it was useless to resist, he must submit. He asked for\nsome water; they had none in their canteens, but went to a house in the\ndistance to obtain some. Malone was ordered to march before them, which he\nwas compelled to do, though famishing from hunger and thirst. On reaching\nthe house, they all went to the well and drew a bucket of water. There\nbeing no dipper, Malone remarked that he would go into the house and get\none. One of the guards followed, and stationed himself at the door with\nhis gun. Malone went into the house, and immediately passed out at the\nback door. The garden gate being open, he passed into the garden, when he\ncommenced running. Two women in the house noticed his running, and\nclapping their hands exclaimed, \"Your Yankee's gone! Your Yankee's gone!\"\nThe guards immediately followed, ordering him to halt, and firing at him\nwith their revolvers. Malone quickly reached a corn-field, and soon after\na swamp, whence he made good his escape, and after various vicissitudes\nreached his family in Jacinto, where I now found him.\n\nI returned to Rienzi with my family, resolved to leave for the North. My\nwife, before leaving her father's, learned, through a letter sent by a\nrebel officer to his wife, that all the guards who were on duty during the\nnight I escaped from prison, were placed under close arrest, and were\nstill in the dungeon at the time of his writing. There were eleven guards\non each relief, and three reliefs during the night; there were, therefore,\nthirty-three guards placed under arrest because of my escape.\n\nOn the night previous to our departure from Rienzi, we were honoured with\na serenade, through the politeness of General Granger, of the cavalry, and\nColonel Bryner, of the Forty-seventh Illinois Regiment. Being called on\nfor a speech, I thus responded:\n\n    GENTLEMEN--I return you sincere thanks for the honour intended myself\n    and family. In the language of the last tune played by your band, I\n    truly feel at \"home again,\" and it fills my soul with joy to meet my\n    friends once more. What a vast difference a few miles makes! Tupelo is\n    about forty miles south of Rienzi, on an air-line. There I was\n    regarded as a base ingrate, as a despicable traitor, as an enemy to\n    the country, chained as a felon, doomed to die, and before the\n    execution of the sentence, subjected to every species of insult and\n    contumely. Here I meet with the kindest expressions of sympathy from\n    officers of all ranks, from the subaltern to the general, and there is\n    not a private soldier who has heard my tale of woe, who does not\n    manifest a kindly sympathy.\n\n    I hope that you will soon pass south of Tupelo; but in your march to\n    the Gulf, may you fare better than I did in my journey to this place.\n    Green corn eaten raw, berries, and stagnant water, would soon cause\n    you to present the emaciated appearance that I do. On your route, call\n    upon the secession sympathizers, and compel them to furnish you with\n    better and more substantial food. My horse I left at Tupelo. He is a\n    valuable animal. The rebel General Hardee, in the true spirit of\n    secession, appropriated--that is, stole--him. However, I did not call\n    to demand him when I left. Being in haste, I did not choose to spare\n    the time, and leaving in the night, I did not wish to disturb the\n    slumbers of the Tupelonians. He is a bright bay. If you meet with him,\n    you may have him for nothing. I would much prefer that he serve the\n    Federal army.\n\n    If you take General Jordan prisoner, send me word, and I will furnish\n    you with the iron bands that he put on me, by which you may secure him\n    till he meets the just award of his crimes, which would be death, for\n    destroying the lives of so many Union men.\n\n    I hope that you may soon plant the stars and stripes on the shores of\n    the Gulf of Mexico, and play the \"Star-spangled Banner\" within\n    hearing of its vertiginous billows, after having conquered every foe\n    to the permanence of the glorious Union. I close with the sentiment of\n    the immortal Jackson, which I wish you to bear constantly in mind, in\n    your victorious progress--\"The Federal Union--it must and shall be\n    preserved!\" Relying upon the God of battles, rest assured that the\n    right cause will triumph, and that after having secured the great\n    object of your warfare, the preservation of the Union, your children\n    and your children's children will rise up and call you blessed,\n    rejoicing in the enjoyment of a free, united, and happy country.\n\n    Wishing you abundant success, I beg leave to retire.\n\nOn Saturday, the 2d of August, 1862, we left Rienzi, _en route_ for the\nNorth, in company with William H. Hubbard, Esq., and family, who were also\nrefugees. From the moment I reached the Federal lines I experienced\nnothing but kindness. I could not mention all who are deserving of thanks\nfrom myself and family. I am under special obligations to Generals Nelson,\nRosecrans, Granger, Davis, and Asboth; also to Colonel Bryner and\nLieutenant Colonel Thrush, of the Forty-seventh Illinois, and Surgeon\nLucas, of same regiment, and to Dr. Holley, of the Thirty-sixth Illinois\nVolunteers; to Josiah King, Esq., of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Dr.\nMcCook, of Steubenville, Ohio; also Mrs. Ann Wheelwright, of Newburyport,\nMassachusetts, whose kind letter will ever be remembered, and whose\n\"material aid\" entitles her to lasting gratitude; and to Rev. George\nPotts, D. D., of New York; and Mr. William E. Dubois, of Philadelphia;\nRev. Dr. Sprole, Newburgh, New York; Rev. N. Hewitt, D. D., Bridgeport,\nConnecticut; and Rev. F. N. Ewing, Chicago, Illinois; Rev. J. M. Krebs, D.\nD., New York; Rev. A. D. Smith, D. D., New York; and Rev. F. Reck\nHarbaugh, Philadelphia, and many others.\n\nBefore closing this chapter I would mention the following incident:\n\nOn Wednesday evening, November 19th, I addressed the citizens of\nPhiladelphia at the Sixth Presbyterian Church, (Rev. F. Reck Harbaugh's.)\nA report of this address found its way into the city papers. Two days\nafterwards, while in conversation with Mr. Martien, at his book-store, two\nsoldiers entered, one of whom approached, and thus addressed me:\n\n\"Do you know me, sir?\"\n\nI replied: \"Your face is familiar, but I do not remember your name. It is\nmy misfortune not to be able to remember proper names.\"\n\n\"I read the report of your address in the newspaper, and through the aid\nof my comrade, I have succeeded in finding you. We have met before, at\nTupelo.\"\n\nAt the mention of Tupelo, I immediately recognised in the speaker the man\nwho, after labouring with the others in sundering my chain, engaged the\nguard, who sat in the doorway, in conversation, while I watched an\nopportunity to disappear under the prison. Grasping him warmly by the\nhand, I said: \"I now recognise you. You are Mr. Howell Trogdon, of\nMissouri, late my fellow-prisoner in Tupelo. How and when did you succeed\nin leaving that prison?\"\n\n\"Being a Federal prisoner, I was removed from Tupelo to Mobile, and there\nparolled on the 26th of August last.\"\n\n\"When was I missed after my escape, and how did the officers act when they\nlearned that I was gone?\"\n\n\"You were missed at roll-call, the next morning, and in a short time, many\nofficers came into the prison. They were greatly enraged at this, your\nsecond flight. The prisoners were closely questioned as to their\ncomplicity in your escape, but they denied all knowledge of the matter.\nSoon all the prison-guards on duty during the night, thirty-three in\nnumber, were brought into the prison in chains. The cavalry was ordered\nout in search of you, and directed to shoot you down wherever found. The\nmode of your escape was not discovered, and the officers were of the\nopinion that you had bribed the guards. _From that time, the officers\nbecame more cruel than ever, and in two weeks, thirty-two of our\nfellow-prisoners were taken out and shot!_ We never learned whether you\nhad succeeded in escaping to the Union lines. We feared that you were\novertaken and shot, or that you perished in the swamps from hunger,\nthirst, and fatigue. I hope soon to see McHatten, Speer, De Grummond, and\nSoper, who are also parolled, and they will rejoice to learn that you\nstill live. During the night of your escape, we slept but little, through\nfear that _our chaplain_ might be shot by the guards, and I assure you\nmany fervent prayers ascended to Heaven for your safety.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nSOUTHERN CLASSES--CRUELTY TO SLAVES.\n\n    Sandhillers--Dirt-eating--Dipping--Their Mode of\n    Living--Patois--Rain-book--Wife-trade--Coming in to see the\n    Cars--Superstition--Marriage of Kinsfolks--Hardshell Sermon--Causes\n    which lead to the Degradation of this Class--Efforts to Reconcile the\n    Poor Whites to the Peculiar Institution--The Slaveholding Class--The\n    Middle Class--Northern Isms--Incident at a Methodist Minister's\n    House--Question asked a Candidate for Licensure--Reason of Southern\n    Hatred toward the North--Letter to Mr. Jackman--Barbarities and\n    Cruelties of Slavery--Mulattoes--Old Cole--Child Born at\n    Whipping-post--Advertisement of a Keeper of Bloodhounds--Getting Rid\n    of Free Blacks--The Doom of Slavery--Methodist Church South.\n\n\nThe sojourner in the Slave States is struck with the wretched and degraded\nappearance of a class of people called by the slaveholders, \"poor white\nfolks,\" and \"the tallow-faced gentry,\" from their pallid complexion. They\nlive in wretched hovels, dress slatternly, and are exceedingly filthy in\ntheir habits. Many of them are clay or dirt-eaters, which is said to cause\ntheir peculiar complexion. Their children, at a very early age, form this\nfilthy and disgusting habit; and mere infants may be found with their\nmouths filled with dirt. The mud with which they daub the interstices\nbetween the logs of their rude domicils, must be frequently renewed, as\nthe occupants pick it all out in a very short time, and eat it. This\npernicious practice induces disease. The complexion becomes pale, similar\nto that occasioned by chronic ague and fever.\n\nAkin to this is the practice of snuff-dipping, which is not confined\nexclusively to females of the poor white caste, though scarcely one in\nfifty of this class is exempt from the disgusting habit. The method is\nthis: The female snuff-dipper takes a short stick, and wetting it with her\nsaliva, dips it into her snuff-box, and then rubs the gathered dust all\nabout her mouth, and into the interstices of her teeth, where she allows\nit to remain until its strength has been fully absorbed. Others hold the\nstick thus loaded with snuff in the cheek, _a la quid_ of tobacco, and\nsuck it with a decided relish, while engaged in their ordinary\navocations; while others simply fill the mouth with the snuff, and\nimitate, to all intents and purposes, the chewing propensities of the men.\nIn the absence of snuff, tobacco in the plug or leaf is invariably\nresorted to as a substitute. Oriental betel-chewing, and the Japanese\nfashion of blacking the teeth of married ladies, are the height of\nelegance compared with snuff-dipping. The habit leads to a speedy decay of\nthe teeth, and to nervous disorders of every kind. Those who indulge in it\nbecome haggard at a very early age.\n\nThe _Petersburg_ (Va.) _Express_ estimates the number of women in that\nState as one hundred and twenty-five thousand, one hundred thousand of\nwhom are snuff-dippers. Every five of these will use a two-ounce paper of\nsnuff per day; that is, to the hundred thousand dippers, two thousand five\nhundred pounds a day, amounting, in one year, to the enormous quantity of\nnine hundred and twelve thousand pounds. This practice prevails generally,\nit says, among the poor whites, though some females of the higher classes\nare guilty of it.\n\nThe poor whites obtain their subsistence, as far as practicable, in the\nprimitive aboriginal mode, viz., by hunting and fishing. When these\nmethods fail to afford a supply, they cultivate a truck-patch, and some of\nthem raise a bale or two of cotton, with the proceeds of the sale of which\nthey buy whiskey, tobacco, and a few necessary articles. When all other\nmethods fail, they resort to stealing, to which many of them are addicted\nfrom choice, as well as from necessity. They are exceeding slovenly in\ntheir habits, cleanliness being a rare virtue. Indolence is a prevailing\nvice, and its lamentable effects are everywhere visible. They fully obey\nthe scriptural injunction, take no thought for the morrow. A present\nsupply, sufficient to satisfy nature's most urgent demands, being\nobtained, their care ceases, and they relapse into listless inactivity.\nThey herd together upon the poor sand-hills, the refuse land of the\ncountry, which the rich slaveholder will not purchase, for which reason,\nthey are sometimes called sand-hillers, and here they live, and their\nchildren, and their children's children, through successive generations,\nin the same deplorable condition of wretchedness and degradation.\n\nThey are exceedingly ignorant; not one adult in fifty can write; not one\nin twenty can read. They can scarcely be said to speak the English\nlanguage, using a patois which is scarcely intelligible. An old lady thus\nrelated an incident of which her daughter \"_Sal_\" was the heroine. \"My\ndarter Sal yisterday sot the lather to the damsel tree, and clim up, and\nknocked some of the nicest saftest damsels I ever seed in my born days.\" I\nonce called to make some inquiry about the road, at a small log tenement,\ninhabited by a sand-hiller and family. A sheet was hanging upon the wall,\ncontaining the portraits of the Presidents of the United States. I\nremarked to the lady of the house that those were, I believed, the\npictures of the Presidents.\n\n\"Yes!\" she replied; \"they is, and I've hearn tell of 'em a long time. They\nmust be gittin' mighty old, ef some of 'em aint dead. That top one,\" she\ncontinued, \"is Gineral Washington. I've hearn of him ever sence I was a\ngal. He must be gittin' up in years, ef he aint dead. Him and Gineral\nJackson fit the British and Tories at New Orleans, and whipped 'em, too.\"\n\nShe seemed to pride herself greatly on her historical knowledge.\n\nOne of these geniuses once informed me of a peculiar kind of book \"he'd\nhearn tell on,\" that the Yankees had. He had forgotten its name, but thus\ndescribed it: \"It told the day of the week the month come in on. It told\nwhen we was a gwine to have rain, and what kind of wether we was gwine to\nhave in gineral. May-be they call it a rain-book.\"\n\nI replied that I had heard of the book, and I believed that it was called\nan Almanac.\n\n\"You've said it now,\" remarked the man. \"It's a alminick, and I'd give\nhalf I's wuth to have one. I'd no when to take a umberell, and if I\nhaddent nary one, I'd no when I could go a huntin' without gittin' wet.\"\n\nTwo of these semi-savages had resolved to remove to the West, in hope of\nbettering their condition. One wished to remove to Arkansas, the other to\nTexas. The wife of the former wished to go to Texas, the latter to\nArkansas. The husbands were desirous of gratifying their spouses, but\ncould devise no plan that seemed likely to prove satisfactory, till one\nday when hunting, finding game scarce, they sat down upon a log, when the\nfollowing dialogue took place:\n\n\"Kit, I'm sort o' pestered about Dilsie. She swars to Rackensack she'll\ngo, and no whar else. I allers had a hankerin' arter Texas. Plague take\nRackensack, I say! Ef a man war thar, the ager and the airthquakes ed\nshake him out on it quicker en nothin'.\"\n\n\"When a woman's set on a gwine anywhar, they're a gwine. It's jest no use\nto talk. I've coaxed Minnie more'n a little to go long with me to\nArkansas, and the more I coax, the more she wont go.\"\n\n\"Well, Kit, 'sposen we swap women.\"\n\n\"Well, Sam, what trade'll ye gin?\"\n\n\"Oh! a gentleman's trade, of course!\"\n\n\"Shucks, Sam! 'sposen I had a young filly, and you a old mar, ye wouldn't\nax an even trade, would ye?\"\n\n\"No; it 'ud be too hard. I tell you what I'll do, Kit. Here's a shot-gun\nthat's wuth ten dollars, ef it's wuth a red. I'll give it and that ar\nb'ar-skin hangin' on the side of my shanty, to boot, and say it's a\ntrade.\"\n\n\"Nuff sed, ef the women's agreed.\"\n\nHome they went, and stated the case to the women, who, _after due\ndeliberation_, acceded to the proposition, having also made a satisfactory\narrangement about the children, and they all soon went on their way\nrejoicing to their respective destinations in that\n\n  \"American's haven of eternal rest,\n  Found a little farther West.\"\n\nOn the Sabbath after the completion of the Memphis and Charleston\nrailroad, a large number of the sand-hillers came to Iuka Springs, to\nwitness the passing of the cars. Arriving too early, they visited a church\nwhere divine service was progressing. Whilst the minister was in the midst\nof his sermon, the locomotive whistle sounded, when a stampede took place\nto the railroad. The exodus left the parson almost alone in his glory.\nThe passing train caused the most extravagant expressions and gestures of\nwonder and astonishment by these rude observers. It was an era in their\nlife.\n\nOnce while standing on the railroad-track, I observed a crowd of these\npeople coming to see the \"_elephant_.\" They came so near, that I overheard\ntheir conversation. One young lass, of sweet sixteen, with slattern dress\nand dishevelled hair, looking up the road, which was visible for a great\ndistance, thus expressed her astonishment at what she saw: \"O, dad! what a\nlong piece of iron!\" Soon the whistle sounded; this they had never heard\nbefore, and came to the conclusion that it was a dinner-horn. As soon as\nthe cars came in sight, they scattered like frightened sheep, some on one\nside of the road, and some on the other. Nor did they halt till they had\nplaced fifty yards at least between them and the track.\n\nSuperstition prevails amongst them to a fearful extent. Almost every hut\nhas a horse-shoe nailed above the door, or on the threshold, to keep out\nwitches. In sickness, charms and incantations are used to drive away\ndisease. Their physicians are chiefly what are termed faith-doctors, who\nare said to work miraculous cures. They are strong believers in luck. If a\nrabbit cross their path, they will turn round to change their luck. If, on\nsetting out on a journey, an owl hoot on the left hand, they will return\nand set out anew. If the new moon is seen through brush, or on the left\nhand, it is a bad omen. They will have trouble during the lunar month.\nWhen the whippoorwill is first heard in the spring, they turn head over\nheels thrice, to prevent back-ache during the year. Dreams are harbingers\nof joy or wo. To dream of snakes, is ominous. To dream of seeing a coffin,\nor conversing with the dead, is a sign of approaching dissolution, and\nmany have no doubt perished through terror, occasioned by such dreams.\nFortune-tellers are rife amongst them--those sages whose comprehensive\nview knows the past, the present, and the future. They seek unto familiar\nspirits, that peep and mutter, for the living to the dead.\n\nThey have many deformed, and blind, and deaf among them, in consequence of\nthe intermarriage of relatives. Cousins often marry, and occasionally they\nmarry within the degrees of consanguinity prohibited by the law of God.\nPerhaps this divine law forbids the marriage of cousins when it declares,\n\"Thou shalt not marry any that is near of kin.\" The sad effects on\nposterity, both mentally and physically, lead to the conviction that if\nthe law of God does not condemn it, physiological law does.\n\nThese sand-hillers do not (when no serious preventive occurs) fail to\nattend the elections, where the highest bidder obtains their vote.\nSometimes their vote will command cash, and sometimes only whiskey. It is\nsad to witness the elective franchise, that highest and most glorious\nbadge of a freeman, thus prostituted.\n\nThe proverb holds good--Like people, like priest. Their ministers are\nignorant, ranting fanatics. They despise literature, and every Sabbath\nfulminate censures upon an educated ministry. The following is a specimen\nof their preaching. Mr. V---- is a Hard-shell Baptist, or, as they term\nthemselves, \"Primitive Baptists.\" Entering the pulpit on a warm morning in\nJuly, he will take off his coat and vest, roll up his sleeves, and then\nbegin:\n\n    MY BRETHERING AND SISTERN--I air a ignorant man, follered the plough\n    all my life, and never rubbed agin nary college. As I said afore, I'm\n    ignorant, and I thank God for it. (Brother Jones responds, \"Passon,\n    yer ort to be very thankful, fur yer very ignorant.\") Well, I'm agin\n    all high larnt fellers what preaches grammar and Greek fur a thousand\n    dollars a year. They preaches fur the money, and they gits it, and\n    that's all they'll git. They've got so high larnt they contradicts\n    Scripter, what plainly tells us that the sun rises and sets. They seys\n    it don't, but that the yerth whirls round, like clay to the seal. What\n    ud cum of the water in the wells ef it did. Wodent it all spill out,\n    and leave 'em dry, and whar ed we be? I may say to them, as the\n    sarpent said unto David, much learning hath made thee mad.\n\n    When I preaches, I never takes a tex till I goes inter the pulpit;\n    then I preaches a plain sarment, what even women can understand. I\n    never premedertates, but what is given to me in that same hour, that I\n    sez. Now I'm a gwine ter open the Bible, and the first verse I sees,\n    I'm a gwine to take it for a tex. (Suiting the action to the word, he\n    opened the Bible, and commenced reading and spelling together.) Man is\n    f-e-a-r-f-u-l-l-y--fearfully--and\n    w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l-l-y--wonderfully--m-a-d-e--mad.--\"Man is fearfully\n    and wonderfully made.\" (Pronounced _mad_.) Well, it's a quar tex, but\n    I said I's a gwine to preach from it, and I'm a gwine to do it. In the\n    fust place, I'll divide my sarment into three heads. Fust and\n    foremost, I show you that a man will git mad. 2d. That sometimes he'll\n    git fearfully mad; and thirdly and lastly, when thar's lots of things\n    to vex and pester him, he'll git fearfully and wonderfully mad. And in\n    the application I'll show you that good men sometimes gits mad, for\n    the Posle David hisself, who rote the tex, got mad, and called all men\n    liars, and cussed his enemies, wishen' 'em to go down quick into hell;\n    and Noah, he got tite, and cussed his nigger boy Ham, just like some\n    drunken masters now cusses their niggers. But Noah and David repented;\n    and all on us what gits mad must repent, or the devil'll git us.\n\nThus he ranted, to the great edification of his hearers, who regard him as\na perfect Boanerges, to which title his stentorian voice would truly\nentitle him. This exordium will serve as a specimen of the \"sarment,\" as\nit continued in the same strain to the end of the peroration.\n\nWhere there is no vision, the people perish. Such blind leaders of the\nblind are liable, with their infatuated followers, to fall into a ditch\nworse than Bunyan's Slough of Despond. This minister had undoubtedly run\nwhen he was not sent, though he \"had hearn a call; a audible voice had,\nwhile he was a shucken corn, said unto him, Preach.\" Though God does not\nneed men's learning, yet he has as little use for their ignorance.\nLearning is the handmaid of religion, but must not be substituted in its\nstead.\n\nThe causes which induce this \"wilderness of mind\" are patent to all who\nmake even a cursory examination. There is a tendency in the poor to ape\nthe manners of the rich. Those having slaves to labour in their stead,\ntoil not physically; hence labour falls into disrepute, and the poorer\nclasses, having no slaves to work for them, and not choosing to submit to\nthe degradation of labour, incur all the evils resulting from idleness and\npoverty. Ignorance and vice of every kind soon ensue, and a general apathy\nprevails, which destroys in a great measure all mental and physical\nvigour.\n\nThe slaveholders buy up all the fertile lands to be cultivated by their\nslaves; hence the poor are crowded out, and if they remain in the vicinity\nof the place of their nativity, they must occupy the poor tracts whose\nsterility does not excite the cupidity of their rich neighbours. The\nslaveholders' motto is, \"Let us buy more negroes to raise more cotton, to\nbuy more negroes, and so on _ad infinitum_.\" To raise more cotton they\nmust also buy more land. Small farmers are induced to sell out to them,\nand move further west. For this reason, the white population of the\nfertile sections of the older slave States is constantly on the decrease,\nwhile the slave population is as constantly increasing. Thus the\nslaveholder often acquires many square miles of land, and hundreds of\nhuman chattels. He is, as it were, set alone in the earth. Priding himself\nupon his wealth, he will not send his princely sons to the same school\nwith the poor white trash; he either sends them to some distant college or\nseminary, or employs a private teacher exclusively for his children. The\npoor whites in the neighbourhood, even should they desire to educate their\nchildren, have no means to pay for their tuition. Compelled to live on\npoor or worn-out lands, honest toil considered degrading, and forced to\nsubmit to many inconveniences and disabilities (all the offices of honour\nand profit being monopolized by the slaveholders,) through the workings of\nthe \"peculiar institution,\" they find it utterly impossible to educate\ntheir offspring, even in the rudiments of their mother tongue. As the\npower of slavery increases, their condition waxes worse and worse.\n\nThe slaveocracy becomes more exacting. Laws are passed by the legislature\ncompelling non-slaveholders to patrol the country nightly, to prevent\ninsurrections by the negroes. They denounce the law, but coercion is\nresorted to, and the poor whites are forced to obey. When their masters\ncall for them, they must leave their labour, by day or by night, patrol\nthe country, follow the bloodhounds, arrest the fugitive slave, and do all\nother dirty work which their tyrants demand. If they refuse to obey, they\nare denounced as abolitionists, and are in danger of death at the hands of\nJudge Lynch, the mildest punishment they can hope for being a coat of tar\nand feathers.\n\nThe house-negroes feel themselves several degrees above the poor whites,\nas they, from their opportunities for observation amongst the higher\nclasses, are possessed of greater information and less rusticity than this\nless favoured class. The poor whites have no love for the institution of\nslavery. They regard it as the instrument of inflicting upon them many\nwrongs, and depriving them of many rights. They dare not express their\nsentiments to the slaveholders, who hold them completely under their\npower. A. G. Brown, United States Senator from Mississippi, to reconcile\nthe poor whites to the peculiar institution, used the following arguments\nin a speech at Iuka Springs, Mississippi. He stated, that if the slaves\nwere liberated, and suffered to remain in the country, the rich would have\nmoney to enable them to go to some other clime, and that the poor whites\nwould be compelled to remain amongst the negroes, who would steal their\nproperty, and destroy their lives; and if slavery were abolished, and the\nnegroes removed and colonized, the rich would take the poor whites for\nslaves, in their stead, and reduce them to the condition of the Irish and\nDutch in the North, whose condition he represented to be one of cruel\nbondage. These statements had some effect upon his auditors, who\nbelieved, from sad experience, that the rich could oppress the poor as\nthey chose, and might, in the contingency specified, reduce them to\nslavery. Labour is considered so degrading, that any argument, based upon\nmaking labour compulsory on their part, has its weight. Even the beggar\ndespises work. A sturdy beggar asked alms at a house at which I was\nlodging. As he appeared to be a man of great physical strength, he was\nadvised to go to work, and thus provide for his wants. \"Work!\" said he, in\ndisgust; \"niggers do the work in this country\"--and retired highly\ninsulted.\n\nThis people form a distinct class, distinguished by as many\ncharacteristics from the middle and higher classes of Southern society, as\nthe Jews are from the nations amongst whom they sojourn. The causes which\nbrought about their reduction to their present state of semi-barbarism,\nmust be removed, ere they can rise to the condition whence they have\nfallen. They must rise upon the ruins of slavery. When the peculiar\ninstitution is abolished, then, and not till then, will their disabilities\nbe removed, and they be in reality what they are nominally--freemen.\n\nSlaveholders and their families form a distinct class, characterized by\nidleness, vanity, licentiousness, profanity, dissipation, and tyranny.\nThere are glorious exceptions, it is true, but those are the\ndistinguishing traits of the class. The middle class is the virtuous class\nof the South. They are industrious, frugal, hospitable, simple in their\nhabits, plain and unostentatious in their manners. Some of this class are\nsmall slaveholders, but the great majority own none. The gross vices of\nthe higher class are not found among them. They labour regardless of the\nsneers of their aristocratic neighbours. Senator Hammond, of South\nCarolina, may call them mudsills; they regard it not, but pursue the even\ntenor of their way. The slow, unmoving finger of scorn may be pointed at\nthem by the sons of pride, yet they refuse to eat the bread of idleness,\nand labour with their _own hands_, that they may provide things honest in\nthe sight of all men. Equidistant from poverty and riches, they enjoy the\ngolden mean, and immunity from the temptations incident to the extremes of\nabject poverty and great riches.\n\nIn the slave States all those born north of the \"nigger line,\" are\ndenominated Yankees. This is applied as a term of reproach. When a\nsoutherner is angry with a man of northern nativity, he does not fail to\nstigmatize him as a Yankee. The slaveholders manifest considerable\nantipathy against the Yankees, which has been increasing during the last\nten years. In 1858, the Legislature of Mississippi passed resolutions\nrecommending non-intercourse with the \"Abolition States,\" and requesting\nthe people not to patronize natives of those States residing amongst them,\nand especially to discountenance Yankee ministers and teachers. In the\neducational notice of Memphis Synodical College, at La Grange, Tennessee,\nit is expressly stated that the Faculty are of southern birth and\neducation. The principals of the Female Seminaries at Corinth and Iuka,\nMississippi, give notice that no Yankee teachers will be employed in those\ninstitutions. While on a visit at the house of a Methodist clergyman,\nquite a number of ministers, returning from Conference, called to tarry\nfor the night. During the evening, one of them, learning that I was\n\"_Yankee born_,\" thus interrogated me: \"Why is it, sir, that all kinds of\ndelusions originate in the North, such as Millerism, Mormonism,\nSpirit-rappings, and Abolitionism?\" To which I replied: \"The North\noriginates everything. All the text-books used in southern schools, all\nthe books on law, physic, and divinity, are written and published north of\nMason & Dixon's line. The South does not even print Bibles. The magnetic\ntelegraph, the locomotive, Lucifer matches, and even the cotton-gin, are\nall northern inventions. The South, sir, has not sense enough to invent a\ndecent humbug. These humbugs once originated, the South is always well\nrepresented by believers in them. I have known more men to go from this\ncounty (Shelby county, Tennessee) to the Mormons, than I have known to go\nfrom the whole State of Ohio.\"\n\nWhen I had thus spoken, my inquisitor was nonplussed, and the laugh went\nagainst him.\n\nWhen a candidate before the Presbytery of Chickasaw, in Mississippi, for\nlicensure, one of the members of Presbytery, learning that I was a\n\"Yankee,\" asked me the following questions, and received the following\nanswers:\n\n\"Mr. Aughey, when will the day of judgment take place?\"\n\n\"The Millerites have stated that the 30th of June next will be the\njudgment-day. As for myself, I have had no revelation on the subject, and\nexpect none.\"\n\n\"Do you believe that any one can call the spirits?\"\n\n\"I do, sir.\"\n\n\"What! believe that the spirits can be called?\"\n\n\"I do, sir.\"\n\n\"I will vote, then, against your licensure, if you have fallen into this\nheresy of the land of your nativity.\"\n\nAnother then said:\n\n\"Brother Aughey, please explain yourself. I know you do not believe in\nspirit-rapping.\"\n\n\"I do not, sir, though I believe, as I stated, that any one may call the\nspirits; but I do not believe that they will come in answer to the call.\"\n\nA lady once remarked to me that she did not believe that a northern man\nwould ever become fully reconciled to the institution of slavery, and that\nhis influence and sentiments, whatever might be his profession of\nattachment to the peculiar institution, would be against it. The cause of\nthe general opposition to northern men is their opposition to slavery.\nTheir testimony is against its abominations and barbarities, and hence the\nwish to impair the credibility of the witnesses.\n\nAn illustration of the working of the institution may be found in the\nfollowing letter:\n\n    KOSCIUSKO, ATTALA COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI,\n    December 25, 1861.\n\n    MR. WILLIAM JACKMAN:\n\n    DEAR SIR--Your last kind and truly welcome letter came to hand in due\n    course of mail. I owe you an apology for delaying an answer so long.\n    My apparent neglect was occasioned by no want of respect for you; but\n    in consequence of the disturbed state of the country, and difficulty\n    of communication with the North, I feared my reply would never reach\n    you. Now, however, by directing \"_via_ Norfolk and flag of truce,\"\n    letters are sent across the lines to the North. In your letter you\n    desired me, from this stand-point, to give you my observations of the\n    workings of the peculiar institution, and an expression of my views as\n    to its consistency with the eternal principles of rectitude and\n    justice. In reply, I will give you a plain narrative of facts.\n\n    On my advent to the South, I was at first struck with the fact that\n    the busy hum of labour had in some measure ceased. What labour I did\n    observe progressing, was done with little skill, and mainly by\n    negroes. I called upon the Rev. Dr. R. J. Breckinridge, to whom I had\n    a letter of introduction, who treated me with the greatest kindness,\n    inviting me to make his house my home when I visited that section of\n    country. On leaving his house, he gave me some directions as to the\n    road I must travel to reach a certain point. \"You will pass,\" said he,\n    \"a blacksmith's shop, where a one-eyed man is at work--my property.\"\n    The phrase, \"my property,\" I had never before heard applied to a human\n    being, and though I had never been taught to regard the relation of\n    master and slave as a sinful relation, yet it grated harshly upon my\n    ears to hear a human being, a tradesman, called a chattel; but it\n    grated much more harshly, a week after this, to hear the groans of two\n    such chattels, as they underwent a severe flagellation, while chained\n    to the whipping-post, because they had, by half an hour, overstayed\n    their time with their families on an adjoining plantation.\n\n    The next peculiar abomination of the peculiar institution which I\n    observed, was the licentiousness engendered by it. Mr. D. T----, of\n    Madison county, Kentucky, had a white family of children, and a black,\n    or rather mulatto family. As his white daughters married, he gave each\n    a mulatto half-sister, as a waiting-girl, or body-servant. Mr.\n    K.----, of Winchester, Kentucky, had a mulatto daughter, and he was\n    also the father of her child, thus re-enacting Lot's sin. Dr. C----,\n    of Tishomingo county, Mississippi, has a negro concubine, and a white\n    servant to wait on her. Mr. B.----, of Marshall county, Mississippi,\n    lived with his white wife till he had grandchildren, some of whom came\n    to school to me, when he repudiated his white wife, and attached\n    himself to a very homely old African, who superintends his household,\n    and rules his other slaves with rigour. Mr. S----, of Tishomingo\n    county, Mississippi, has a negro concubine, and a large family of\n    mulatto children. He once brought this woman to church in Rienzi, to\n    the great indignation of the white ladies, who removed to a\n    respectable distance from her.\n\n    I preached recently to a large congregation of slaves, the third of\n    whom were as white as myself. Some of them had red hair and blue eyes.\n    If there are any marked characteristics of their masters' families,\n    the mulatto slaves are possessed of these characteristics. I refer to\n    physical peculiarities, such as large mouths, humped shoulders, and\n    peculiar expressions of countenance. I asked a gentleman how it\n    happened that some of his slaves had red hair. He replied that he had\n    a red-headed overseer for several years.\n\n    I never knew a pious overseer--never! There may be many, but I never\n    saw one. Overseers, as a class, are worse than slaveholders\n    themselves. They are cruel, brutal, licentious, dissipated, and\n    profane. They always carry a loaded whip, a revolver, and a\n    Bowie-knife. These men have the control of women, whom they often whip\n    to death. Mr. P----, who resided near Holly Springs, had a negro woman\n    whipped to death while I was at his house during a session of\n    Presbytery. Mr. C----, of Waterford, Mississippi, had a woman whipped\n    to death by his overseer. But such cruel scourgings are of daily\n    occurrence. Colonel H----, a member of my church, told me yesterday\n    that he ordered a boy, who he supposed was _feigning_ sickness, to the\n    whipping-post, but that he had not advanced ten steps toward it, when\n    he fell dead!--and the servant was free from his master. During our\n    conversation, a girl passed. \"There is a girl,\" said he, \"who does not\n    look very white in the face, owing to exposure; but when I strip her\n    to whip her, I find that she has a skin as fair as my wife.\" Mrs.\n    F---- recently whipped a boy to death within half a mile of my\n    residence. A jury of inquest returned a verdict that he came to his\n    death by cruelty; but nothing more was done. Mrs. M---- and her\n    daughter, of Holly Springs, abused a girl repeatedly. She showed her\n    bruises to some of my acquaintances, and they believed them fatal. She\n    soon after died. Mr. S----, a member of my church, has several maimed\n    negroes from abuse on the part of the overseer.\n\n    I am residing on the banks of the Yock-a-nookany, which means\n    \"meandering,\" when translated from the Indian tongue. In this vicinity\n    there are large plantations, cultivated by hundreds of negroes. The\n    white population is sparse. Every night the negroes are brought to a\n    judgment-seat. The overseer presides. If they have not laboured to\n    suit him, or if their task is unfulfilled, they are chained to a post,\n    and severely whipped. The victims are invariably stripped; to what\n    extent, is at the option of the overseer. In Louisiana, women,\n    preparatory to whipping, are often stripped to a state of perfect\n    nudity. Old Mr. C----, of Waterford, Mississippi, punished his negroes\n    _by slitting the soles of their feet with his Bowie-knife_! One man he\n    put into a cotton-press, and turned the screw till life was extinct.\n    He stated that he only intended to alarm the man, but carried the joke\n    too far. I have heard women thus plead, in piteous accents, when\n    chained to the whipping-post, and stripped: \"O, my God, master! don't\n    whip me! I was sick! indeed I was sick! I had a chill, and the fever\n    is on me now! I haven't tasted a morsel to-day! You know I works when\n    I is well! O for God's sake don't whip a poor sick nigger! My poor\n    chile's sick too! Missis thinks it's a dyin'! O master, for the love\n    of God, don't cut a poor distressed woman wid your whip! I'll try to\n    do better, ef you'll only let me off this once!\" These piteous\n    plaints only rouse the ire of their cruel task-masters, who sometimes\n    knock them down in the midst of their pleadings. I have known an\n    instance of a woman giving birth to a child at the whipping-post. The\n    fright and pain brought on premature labour.\n\n    One beautiful Sabbath morning I stood on the levee at Baton Rouge,\n    Louisiana, and counted twenty-seven sugar-houses in full blast. I\n    found that the negroes were compelled to labour eighteen hours per\n    day, and were not permitted to rest on the Sabbath during the rolling\n    season. The negroes on most plantations have a truck-patch, which they\n    cultivate on the Sabbath. I have pointed out the sin of thus labouring\n    on the Sabbath, but they plead necessity; their children, they state,\n    must suffer from hunger if they did not cultivate their truck-patch,\n    and their masters would not give them time on any other day.\n\n    Negroes, by law, are prohibited from learning to read. This law was\n    not strictly enforced in Tennessee and some other States till within\n    a few years past. I had charge of a Sabbath-school for the instruction\n    of blacks in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1853. This school was put down by\n    the strong arm of the law in a short time after my connection with it\n    ceased. In Mississippi, a man who taught slaves to read or write would\n    be sent to the penitentiary instanter. The popular plea for this\n    wickedness is, that if they were taught to read, they would read\n    abolition documents; and if they were taught to write, they would\n    write themselves passes, and pass northward to Canada.\n\n    Such advertisements as the following often greet the eye.\n\n    \"_Kansas War._--The undersind taks this method of makkin it noan that\n    he has got a pack of the best nigger hounds in the South. My hounds is\n    well trand, and I has had much experience a huntin niggers, having\n    follered it for the last fiften year. I will go anywhar that I'm sent\n    for, and will ketch niggers at the follerin raits.\n\n    \"My raits fur ketchin runaway niggers $10 per hed, ef they's found in\n    the beat whar thar master lives; $15 if they's found in the county,\n    and $50 if they's tuck out on the county.\n\n    \"N. B.--Pay is due when the nigger is tuck. Planters ort to send fur\n    me as soon as thar niggers runs away, while thar trak is fresh.\"\n\n    Every night the woods resound with the deep-mouthed baying of the\n    bloodhounds. The slaves are said by some to love their masters; but it\n    requires the terrors of bloodhounds and the fugitive slave law to keep\n    them in bondage. You in the North are compelled to act the part of the\n    bloodhounds here, and catch the fugitives for the planters of the\n    South. Free negroes are sold into bondage for the most trivial\n    offences. Slaveholders declare that the presence of free persons of\n    colour exerts a pernicious influence upon their slaves, rendering them\n    discontented with their condition, and inspiring a desire for freedom.\n    They therefore are very desirous of getting rid of these persons,\n    either by banishing them from the State or enslaving them. The\n    legislature of Mississippi has passed a law for their expulsion, and\n    other States have followed in the wake. The Governor of Missouri has\n    vetoed the law for the expulsion of free persons of colour, passed by\n    the legislature of that State because of its unconstitutionality.\n\n    Were I to recount all the abominations of the peculiar institution,\n    and the wrongs inflicted upon the African race, that have come under\n    my observation, they would fill a large volume. Slavery is guilty of\n    six abominations; yea, seven may justly be charged upon it. It is said\n    that the negro is lazy, and will not work except by compulsion. I have\n    known negroes who have purchased their freedom by the payment of a\n    large sum, and afterward made not only a good living, but a fortune\n    beside. It is said Judge W---- of South Carolina gave his servants the\n    use of his plantation, upon condition that they would support his\n    family; and that in three years he was compelled to take the\n    management himself, as they did not make a comfortable living for\n    themselves and the Judge's family. In reply, it might be said that the\n    negroes had not a fair trial, as no one had any property he could call\n    his own, and they were thrown into a sort of Fourierite society,\n    having all things in common. In this state of things, while some would\n    work, others would be idle. White men do not succeed in such\n    communities, and for this reason it was no fair test of the industrial\n    energies of Judge W----'s slaves.\n\n    The question is often asked, is slavery sinful in itself? My\n    observation has been extensive, embracing eight slave States, and I\n    have never yet seen any example of slavery that I did not deem sinful.\n    If slavery is not sinful in itself, I must have always seen it out of\n    itself. I have observed its workings during eleven years, amongst a\n    professedly Christian people, and cannot do otherwise than pronounce\n    it an unmitigated curse. It is a curse to the white man, it is a curse\n    to the black man. That God will curse it, and blot it out of existence\n    ere long, is my firm conviction. The elements of its abolition exist;\n    God speed the time when they will be fully developed, and this mother\n    of abominations driven from the land of the free! The development of\n    the eternal principles of justice and rectitude will abolish this\n    hoary monster of fraud and oppression. Slavery subverts all the rights\n    of man. It divests him of citizenship, of liberty, of the pursuit of\n    happiness, of his children, of his wife, of his property, of\n    intellectual culture, reserving to him only the rights of the horse\n    and ass, and reducing him to the same chattel condition with them. Not\n    a single right does the State law grant him above that of the\n    mule--no, not one. The chastity of the slave has no legal protection.\n    The Methodist Church South is expunging from the discipline everything\n    inimical to the peculiar institution, whilst I observe that the Church\n    North is adding to her testimony and deliverances against the sin of\n    slaveholding. The Church South refused to abide by the rules of the\n    Church, and hence the guilt of the schism lies with her, and you are\n    henceforth free from any guilt in conniving at the sin which the\n    founder of your church, the illustrious Wesley, regarded as the \"sum\n    of all villany.\"\n\n    Remember me kindly to Mrs. Jackman and family. Hoping to hear from\n    you soon, I beg leave to subscribe myself,\n\n        Yours fraternally,\n        JOHN H. AUGHEY.\n\n    To Mr. William Jackman,\n    Amsterdam, Jefferson Co., Ohio.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nNOTORIOUS REBELS.--UNION OFFICERS.\n\n    Colonel Jefferson Davis--His Speech at Holly Springs, Mississippi--His\n    Opposition to Yankee Teachers and Ministers--A bid for the\n    Presidency--His Ambition--Burr, Arnold, Davis--General\n    Beauregard--Headquarters at Rienzi--Colonel Elliott's\n    Raid--Beauregard's Consternation--Personal description--His\n    illness--Popularity waning--Rev. Dr. Palmer of New Orleans--His\n    influence--The Cincinnati Letter--His Personal Appearance--His\n    Denunciations of General Butler--His Radicalism--Rev. Dr. Waddell of\n    La Grange, Tennessee--His Prejudices against the North--President of\n    Memphis Synodical College--His Talents prostituted--Union\n    Officers--General Nelson--General Sherman.\n\n\nCOLONEL JEFFERSON DAVIS.\n\nIn 1856 I heard Colonel Jefferson Davis deliver an address at Holly\nSprings, Mississippi. The Colonel is about a medium height, of slender\nframe, his nose aquiline, his hair dark, his manners polite. He is no\norator. His speech was principally a tirade of abuse against the North,\nbitterly inveighing against the emigrant aid societies which had\nwell-nigh put Kansas upon the list of free States. He advised the people\nto employ no more Yankee teachers. He had been educated in the North, and\nhe regarded it as the greatest misfortune of his life. Soon after Colonel\nDavis visited New England, where he eulogized that section in an\nextravagant manner. He was pleased with everything he saw; even \"Noah\nWebster's Yankee spelling-book\" received a share of the Colonel's fulsome\nflattery. On his return to the South, \"a change came o'er the spirit of\nhis dream,\" and his bile and bitterness against Yankee-land returned in\nall its pristine vigour. The Colonel was making a bid for the Presidency;\nbut New England was not so easily gulled; his flimsy professions of\nfriendship were too transparent to hide the hate which lay beneath, and\nhis aspirations were doomed to disappointment.\n\nThough Colonel Davis is often called Mississippi's pet, yet he is not\nregarded as a truthful man, and his reports and messages are received\nwith considerable abatement by \"the chivalry.\" His ambition knows no\nbounds. He would rather \"reign in hell than serve in heaven.\"\n\nHad Jefferson Davis been elected President of the United States, he would\nhave been among the last instead of the first to favour secession. Had he\nbeen slain on the bloody fields of Mexico, his memory would have been\ncherished. History will assign him a place among the infamous. Burr,\nArnold, and Davis will be names for ever execrated by true patriots. The\ntwo former died a natural death, though the united voice of their\ncountrymen would have approved of their execution on the gallows. The fate\nof the latter lies still in the womb of futurity, though his loyal\ncountrymen, without a dissenting voice, declare that he deserves a felon's\ndoom. An announcement of his death would suffuse no patriot's eye with\ntears. What loyalist would weep while he read the news-item--the arch\ntraitor Jeff. Davis is dead.\n\n\nGENERAL G. T. BEAUREGARD.\n\nI met General Beauregard under very peculiar circumstances. I had gone to\nRienzi for the purpose of escaping to the Federal lines for protection\nfrom the rigorous and sweeping conscript law. When I arrived, I found the\nrebels evacuating Corinth, and their sick and wounded passing down the\nMobile and Ohio railroad to the hospitals below. General Beauregard had\njust arrived in Rienzi, and had his headquarters at the house of Mr.\nSutherland. A rumour had spread through Rienzi that General Beauregard had\nordered the women and children to leave the town. Many of them, believing\nthat the order had been issued, were hastening into the country. In order\nto confirm or refute the statement, I called upon General Beauregard, and\nasked him whether he had issued such an order. He replied, \"I have issued\nno such order, sir.\" Just at that moment a courier arrived with the\ninformation that the Yankees had attacked the advance of their retreating\narmy at Boonville, that they had destroyed the depot, and taken many\nprisoners. The General told the courier that he must be mistaken; that it\nwas impossible for the Yankees to pass around his army. While he was yet\nspeaking a citizen arrived from Boonville, confirming the statement of the\ncourier. Beauregard was still incredulous, replying that they must have\nmistaken the Confederates for the Yankees. In a few minutes the explosion\nof shells shook the building. The General then thought that it might be\ntrue that the Yankees had passed around the army; but on hearing the\nshells, he stated that General Green (of Missouri) was driving them away\nwith his cannon. The truth was soon ascertained by the arrival of several\ncouriers. Col. Elliott, of the Federal army, had made a raid upon\nBoonville, had fired the depot, and destroyed a large train of cars filled\nwith ammunition. The explosions of the shells which we heard was\noccasioned by the fire reaching the ears in which these shells were\nstored. The Colonel also destroyed the railroad to such an extent that it\nrequired several days to repair the track.\n\nGeneral Beauregard is below the medium height, and has a decidedly French\nexpression of countenance. His hair is quite gray, though a glance at his\nface will convince the observer that it is prematurely so. The General is\nregarded as taciturn. His countenance is careworn and haggard. During the\nwinter of 1861-2, he was attacked with bronchitis and typhoid pneumonia,\nand came near dying; and had not, at my interview, by any means recovered\nhis pristine health and vigour. His prestige as an able commander is\nrapidly waning. For some time his military talents were considered of the\nfirst order; now a third-rate position is assigned him. He is still\nregarded as a first-class engineer. When General Sterling Price arrived at\nCorinth, General Beauregard conducted him around all the fortifications,\nexplaining their nature and unfolding their strength; but no word of\napproval could he elicit from the Missouri General. At length he ventured\nto ask what he thought of their capacity for resisting an attack. General\nPrice replied, \"They may prove effective in resisting an attack. These are\nthe second fortifications I ever saw; the first I captured.\" He had\nreference to Colonel Mulligan's, at Lexington, Missouri. Sumter and\nManassas gave Beauregard fame. Since the latter battle his star has\ndeclined steadily; and if the Federal generals prove themselves competent,\nit will soon go out in total darkness, and the world's verdict will be, it\nwas a misfortune that Beauregard lived.\n\n\nREV. DR. B. M. PALMER.\n\nDr. Palmer has done more than any non-combatant in the South to promote\nthe rebellion. He was accessory both before and after the fact. His\nsermons are nearly all abusive of the North. The mudsills of Yankeedom and\nthe scum of Europe are phrases of frequent use in his public addresses,\nand they are meant to include all living north of what is more familiarly\nthan elegantly termed in the South the \"nigger line,\" although the North\nis the land of his parental nativity.\n\nA few years ago, Dr. Palmer wrote to a friend in Cincinnati respecting a\nvacant church, in which he gave as one reason, among others, for desiring\nto come North, that he wished to remove his family from the baleful\ninfluences of slavery. That letter still exists, and ought to be\npublished.\n\nDr. Palmer's personal appearance is by no means prepossessing. He is small\nof stature, of very dark complexion, dish-faced. His nose is said to have\nbeen broken when a child; at all events, it is a deformity. He is fluent\nin speech, has a vivid imagination, and has a great influence over a\npromiscuous congregation.\n\nAfter the reduction of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, and the capture of\nNew Orleans, Dr. Palmer came to Corinth, where he preached to the rebel\narmy. His text was invariably General Butler's \"women-of-the-town order,\"\nwhich we fully believe he intentionally misconstrued. The conservation and\nextension of slavery is a matter which lies near the Doctor's heart. He\nurged secession for the purpose of extending and perpetuating for ever\nthe peculiar institution. His views, however, must have undergone a\nradical change since the writing of the Cincinnati letter, as he then\nregarded slavery with little favour. Love of public favour may have much\nto do with his recently expressed views, for no true Christian and patriot\ncan wish to perpetuate and extend an institution founded on the total\nsubversion of the rights of man.\n\n\nREV. DR. JOHN N. WADDELL.\n\nDr. Waddell is a man of considerable talent, but his prejudices are very\nstrong against the North. He cordially hates a Yankee, and his poor\ndistressed wife, who was a native of New England, was compelled to return\nto her home, where she mourns in virtual widowhood her unfortunate\nconnection with a man who detests her land and people. Dr. Waddell's\nsermons are very abusive. The North is the theme of animadversion in all\nthe published sermons and addresses I have seen from his prolific pen. He\nhas prostituted his fine talents, and his writings are full of cursing\nand bitterness. As President of La Grange College, Tennessee, he might\nwield a great influence for good--an influence which would tend to calm\nthe storm aroused by demagogues, rather than increase its power. His\nmemory will rot, for the evil which he has done will live after him.\n\n\nMAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM NELSON.\n\nI met General Nelson frequently at his head-quarters at Iuka Springs,\nMississippi. Though the General was quite brusque in his manners, yet he\nalways treated me with kindness and marked attention. Once while seated at\nthe table with him, several guests being present, the following colloquy\nensued.\n\n\"Parson Aughey, I suppose you are well versed in the Scriptures, and in\norder to test your knowledge, permit me to ask a question, which doubtless\nyou are able to answer.\"\n\n\"Certainly, General, you have permission to ask the question you propose.\nI am not so sure, however, about my ability to answer it.\"\n\n\"The question I desire to propose is this--How many preceded Noah in\nleaving the ark?\"\n\n\"I am unable to answer, sir.\"\n\n\"That is strange, as the Bible so plainly and explicitly informs us. We\nare told that Noah went _forth_ out of the ark; therefore _three_ must\nhave preceded him.\"\n\nThe General's wit \"set the table in a roar.\" As soon as the mirth had\nsubsided, I addressed the General:\n\n\"It is my turn to ask a question. Do you know, sir, where the witch of\nEndor lived?\"\n\n\"I did know, but really I have forgotten.\"\n\n\"Well, sir, she lived at Endor.\"\n\nThe laugh was now against him, but he joined in it heartily himself.\n\nKnowing that General Nelson had visited every quarter of the globe, I\nasked him whether he had ever seen any of the modern Greeks.\n\n\"I never saw any of the ancient Greeks,\" was his curt reply.\n\nGeneral Nelson was regarded as a brave and skilful officer. He has done\ngood service in his country's cause. At Shiloh his promptness and\nefficiency contributed greatly to retrieve the disaster which befell\nGeneral Grant on the first day of the battle. His rencontre with General\nDavis, which resulted in his own death, is greatly to be regretted, though\nhis own ungovernable temper and inexcusable conduct caused his tragic end.\n\nI once visited his headquarters late in the afternoon. On my arrival, he\ninformed me that I would confer a great favour upon him by guiding a\ncompany of cavalry on an expedition to the south-eastern part of the\ncounty, to which I consented. I rode in front with the officer in command.\nWhen we had reached a point beyond the pickets, my companion informed me\nthat we would meet no more Federals; if we met any soldiers while outward\nbound, we might take it for granted that they were rebels. After riding\nabout an hour longer, we encountered a company of cavalry, and were\nordered to halt by the officer in command. My companion, stating that they\nmust be rebels, rode up and gave the countersign. I felt somewhat uneasy\nat the head of that company at this time, not knowing the moment that\nbullets would be whistling around us. They proved however to be Federals,\nreturning from an extended scouting expedition. I conducted our company to\nthe house of a Union man, whom we aroused from his bed; and learning that\nwe were Federals, he took my place, and I returned to General Nelson. The\nGeneral now desired me to go as a spy, to obtain information as to the\nnumber of troops stationed at Norman's Bridge, which spanned Big Bear\nCreek. I replied that I had ridden sixty miles without sleep, but that I\nwould send two Union men of my acquaintance in my stead. This was\nsatisfactory, and my Union friends returned with accurate information as\nto the number of rebel troops stationed at the bridge, and the best points\nof attack. The attack was made on the next day after receiving the\ninformation, and the rebels were surprised and totally defeated; but few\nescaped death or capture.\n\n\nGENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.\n\nOn the day that General Sherman reached Rienzi, I supped with him at the\nhouse of a friend. At table the following dialogue took place between us.\n\n\"Are you the person from whom Sherman's battery took its name?\"\n\n\"I am, sir.\"\n\n\"Many gentlemen in this county,\" said I, \"and among them my father-in-law,\nhave pipes made of the fragments of the gun-carriages of Sherman's\nbattery, which was captured at Manassas by the Confederates.\"\n\n\"Sherman's battery was not captured at Manassas,\" replied the General.\n\n\"The honour of capturing Sherman's battery is generally accorded to the\nsecond regiment of Mississippi volunteers, which went from this county and\nthe adjoining county of Tippah, though several regiments claim it, and\nmany of my friends declare that they have seen Sherman's battery since its\ncapture.\"\n\n\"I assure you, sir, Sherman's battery was not captured--so far from this,\nit came out of the battle of Manassas Plains with two pieces captured from\nthe enemy, having itself lost none.\"\n\nAt this moment Colonel Fry, who killed Zollikoffer, rode up for orders.\nWhile receiving them, the horses attached to a battery halted in front of\nus. \"There,\" said the General, \"is every piece of Sherman's battery. I\nought to know that battery, and I assure you there is not a gun missing.\"\n\nThe pipes, canes, and trinkets supposed to be made of the wood of\nSherman's battery, if collected, would form a vast pile; and were you to\ninform the owners of those relics that they were spurious, you would be\npolitely informed that you might \"tell that tale to the marines,\" as their\nsons and their neighbours' sons were the honoured captors of that battery;\na fact, concerning the truth of which they entertained not even the shadow\nof a doubt.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nCONDITION OF THE SOUTH.\n\n    Cause of the Rebellion--Prevalence of Union Sentiment in the\n    South--Why not Developed--Stevenson's Views--Why Incorrect--Cavalry\n    Raids upon Union Citizens--How the Rebels employ Slaves--Slaves\n    Whipped and sent out of the Federal Lines--Resisting the Conscript\n    Law--Kansas Jayhawkers--Guarding Rebel Property--Perfidy of\n    Secessionists--Plea for Emancipation--The South Exhausted--Failure of\n    Crops--Southern Merchants Ruined--Bragg Prohibits the Manufacture and\n    Vending of Intoxicating Liquors--Its Salutary Effect.\n\n\nThe following is the substance of addresses delivered by me on October 22d\nand 25th, 1862, at Cooper's Institute, New York, and before the Synod of\nNew York and New Jersey, at its session in Brooklyn.\n\n    I will confine myself to rendering answers to various questions which\n    have been asked me since my escape to the North. I have viewed the\n    rebellion from a southern stand-point; have been conversant with its\n    whole history; have been behind the curtains, and have learned the\n    motives which impel its instigators in their treasonable designs\n    against the Government.\n\n    Slavery I believe to have been the sole cause of the rebellion. It is\n    true that the slaveholders of the South were becoming strongly\n    anti-republican. Rule or ruin was their determination, and they would\n    not have listened to any compromise measure after the election of Mr.\n    Lincoln; but this feeling, this opposition to republicanism, and lust\n    of power, is the offspring of slavery. In 1856 I heard Jeff. Davis\n    declare that the people of the North and the South were not\n    homogeneous, and that therefore he advocated secession. The reason he\n    assigned for this want of homogeneousness was found in the fact that\n    the South held slaves; the North did not.\n\n    Men accustomed to exercise arbitrary power over their fellow-men, will\n    not cease their encroachments upon the rights of all with whom they\n    are associated, politically or otherwise, and a temporary suspension\n    of the control of the government is regarded by them as a _casus\n    belli_. Slavery may therefore be justly regarded as the parent of\n    secession. Whilst this cause exists, the South will be the hot-bed of\n    treason. Slavery has produced its legitimate fruit, and treason is its\n    name. With slavery intact, no compromise, if accepted by the South,\n    would prevent another outbreak in a few years.\n\n    The question has been asked, is there any Union sentiment in the\n    South? I reply that there is a strong Union sentiment, even in\n    Mississippi. This sentiment is not found amongst the slaveholders,\n    for, as a class, they are firmly united in their hostility to the\n    Government. The middle and lower classes are not only opposed to\n    secession, but also to slavery itself. Eleven years' association with\n    the southern people has enabled me to form a correct opinion, and to\n    know whereof I affirm. I make this statement without fear of\n    successful contradiction, that the majority of the white inhabitants\n    of the South are Union-loving men. The slaveholders have long ruled\n    both the blacks and the whites in the South. When the rebellion was\n    determined upon, the slaveholders had the organized force to compel\n    acquiescence upon the part of those who favoured the Union, yet wished\n    to remain neutral. Their drafts and conscriptions swept them into the\n    army, and when once there, they must obey their officers upon pain of\n    death. To desert and join the Union army, was to abandon their homes\n    and families, and all their youthful associations. Yet many have done\n    it, and are now doing good service in their country's cause.\n\n    The rebels punished with death any who declared himself in favour of\n    the Union. In my presence at Tupelo, they were taken out daily and\n    shot for the expression of sentiments adverse to the rebellion. If the\n    Union troops at any time occupied a place, and the people expressed\n    any favourable sentiments to their cause, upon the evacuation of that\n    position, those who sided with the Union troops were cruelly treated.\n    All these causes, and many others which I might mention, have\n    prevented the full development of the true sentiments of the people. I\n    could name many localities within the rebel lines where the great\n    majority of the people bitterly denounce the Southern Confederacy and\n    all connected with it. I could name many individuals who have declared\n    to me that they would prefer death to a dishonourable compliance with\n    the conscript law. I could name localities within the rebel lines\n    where armed resistance to the conscript law has been made; but the\n    safety of those loyal citizens forbids it.\n\n    I know that there are some who assert that there is no Union feeling\n    in the South; but they are mistaken. The author of \"Thirteen Months in\n    the Rebel Army\" found but little. His situation was not favourable for\n    its discovery. He informs us in his work, that after he had been\n    compelled to _volunteer_, he regarded his oath (an oath much more\n    honoured in the breach than in the observance,) of such force that he\n    sought to obtain information, rather than to desert. He passed from\n    one post of preferment to another, till at length he was on duty under\n    the eye of Breckinridge himself, who complimented him upon his\n    alacrity in bearing dispatches; and this was truly great, as he rode\n    at one time sixty miles in seven hours, and at another, fourteen\n    miles in less than fifty minutes. He also exhibited a guarded zeal for\n    the secession cause. Who would have gone to an officer who was\n    apparently aiding and abetting the rebellion, ably and assiduously, to\n    communicate his Union sentiments? Any who would thus betray themselves\n    could not be sure that they would not be shot in twenty-four hours.\n    Had Mr. Stevenson been with me in Tupelo, and looked upon those\n    seventy or eighty prisoners who were incarcerated for their adherence\n    to the Union--had he witnessed the daily execution of some of them who\n    preferred death to _volunteering_ to defend a cause which they did not\n    hesitate to denounce at the peril of their lives--had he been with me\n    while in the midst of a host of Union citizens of Mississippi, who at\n    the noon of night had assembled in the deep glens and on the high\n    hills, for the purpose of devising means to resist the hated conscript\n    law--he would have come to a far different conclusion. I have seen the\n    cavalry go out to arrest Union men. I was at a Mr. William Herron's,\n    in South Carroll, Carrol county, Tennessee, and while there, several\n    companies of cavalry came up from Jackson to destroy the loyal\n    citizens of that vicinity, and they did destroy some of them and much\n    property. They passed within two hundred yards of fortifications\n    hastily thrown up to resist them, and would have been fired on had\n    they come within range. Before completing their mission, a messenger\n    came to inform them that Fort Henry was beleagured. They hastened to\n    the fort just in time to take part in the action. After the surrender\n    of the fort, they retreated to Fort Donelson, and were all captured at\n    the reduction of that fort, to the great joy of those Union citizens\n    whom they had driven from their homes, and whose property they had\n    destroyed.\n\n    The slaves add greatly to the strength of the rebellion. Slave labour\n    is extensively employed in the military department. They are the\n    sappers and miners, the cooks, the teamsters, the artisans; and there\n    are instances where they are forced to shoulder the musket and go into\n    the ranks. I have seen and conversed with slave soldiers who have\n    fought in every battle from Manassas to Shiloh.\n\n    Many strong secession counties send more soldiers to the rebel army\n    than there are voters in those counties. The slaves who remain at\n    home, labour to raise provisions for the sustenance of the families of\n    the soldiers, and a surplus for the army; hence every white man is\n    available for service in the field. Were this slave labour diverted to\n    some other channel, the result would follow, that a great proportion\n    of the rebel soldiers would be forced to return home to care for their\n    families, or those families must perish. In order to divert this\n    labour, it would be only necessary to encourage the negroes to leave\n    their masters. Wherever the Federal army has advanced in the\n    southwest, the slaves have crowded into their lines by hundreds, and\n    only desisted upon learning, much to their regret, that they would not\n    be received, many of them being tied up and whipped, and then sent\n    southward beyond the limits of the Federal army. Some who had\n    travelled seventy miles upon the underground railroad, to reach the\n    Union army, being asked by their fellow-servants upon their return,\n    how they liked the Yankees, replied that \"General Nelson sort o'\n    hinted that he didn't want us.\" Upon being urged to be more explicit,\n    and to state more fully what was the nature of the hint which led them\n    to infer that General Nelson did not want them, their spokesman\n    replied: \"Well, if we must tell, we must. General Nelson tied us up\n    and gave us fifty apiece, and sent us off, sw'arin' he'd guv us a\n    hundred ef we didn't go right straight back home to our masters. He\n    said this wa'n't no war got up to set the niggers free.\"\n\n    The Kansas Jayhawkers liberate all the slaves with whom they come in\n    contact. I passed four regiments of their cavalry last August, on\n    their way to Rienzi, Mississippi. They had about two thousand slaves\n    with them, of every age and sex. Those slaves groomed their horses,\n    drove their wagons, cooked their victuals, and made themselves useful\n    in a variety of ways, leaving every white man free to go into the\n    battle when the hour of contest arrived.\n\n    Slavery is a strong prop to the rebellion. Four millions of labourers\n    are able to furnish supplies for eight millions. Subtract that vast\n    resource from the rebellion, add it to the support of the Government,\n    and its stunning effect would be speedily demonstrated in the complete\n    paralysis of the Southern Confederacy. In order to supply the loss of\n    the slaves, half the soldiers in the army must return, or famine would\n    sweep both the army and the families of the soldiers from the face of\n    the earth. One cause of the long continuance of the war is, that the\n    Union army has endeavoured to conciliate the South, rather than crush\n    the rebellion. They have guarded the property of the rebels; they have\n    returned promptly their fugitive slaves; they have put down servile\n    insurrection with an iron hand, and in every possible way have shown\n    clemency instead of severity. But their kindness has been abused,\n    their clemency regarded as evidence of imbecility, and the humane\n    policy of the Government totally misconstrued. Captain John Rainey, of\n    Cambridge, Ohio, while on duty at Corinth, Mississippi, received an\n    application from a notorious secessionist for a guard to protect his\n    premises, which was obtained for him from the colonel, three soldiers\n    being detached for that purpose, who proceeded to the station assigned\n    them. About four o'clock in the afternoon they saw the owner of the\n    premises they were guarding, mount his horse and ride off. Supposing\n    him to be going on some ordinary errand, they took no further notice\n    of it. About nine o'clock, one of the guard who had strayed into the\n    orchard, some three hundred yards from the house, heard an unusual\n    sound, as of cavalry approaching. Concealing himself, he saw, by the\n    bright moonlight, this secessionist ride up with seven or eight rebel\n    cavalrymen, who, seizing his two companions, rode off with them as\n    prisoners. The ingrate who committed this base and perfidious act then\n    went into his house and retired to rest. As speedily as possible the\n    third picket returned to his company, and informed them of the\n    occurrence. Fired with indignation, twenty men volunteered to visit\n    summary punishment upon the perpetrator of this villany. Hastening to\n    his house, they aroused him from his slumbers, and in a few minutes\n    suspended him by the neck between the heavens and the earth. On their\n    return they reported to their companions what they had done, and,\n    through fear of punishment, took every precaution to prevent the act\n    reaching the colonel's ears. It was reported to the colonel, however,\n    whose reply to his informant was, \"Served him right!\" This policy of\n    guarding rebel property by Union troops must be abandoned, or the war\n    will never terminate. The Union army has been attacked by the rebels\n    when large numbers of the soldiers were absent as guards to protect\n    the plantations and all the interests of secessionists. Such gingerly\n    warfare must end, or the days of the Republic are numbered. Carrying\n    the war into the enemy's country has thus far proved a mere farce. The\n    retreating rebels destroyed tenfold more property than the pursuing\n    Federals. I would not counsel cruelty. I would not advise the\n    unnecessary destruction of life or property, for all wanton\n    destruction tends to weaken rather than to strengthen the cause of\n    those who perpetrate it. Vandalism is everywhere reprehensible. The\n    proper policy I believe to be this: Let the Union army be supplied\n    with provisions, so far as practicable, from the territory occupied.\n    Let the slaves find protection and employment on their arrival within\n    the Union lines. Despise not their valuable services. Let it be\n    proclaimed that for every Union citizen of the South who is slain for\n    his adherence to the old flag, a rebel prisoner shall be executed, and\n    that the confiscated property of Union men shall be restored, at the\n    cost of rebel sympathizers in the vicinity. Let these necessary\n    measures be carried out, and no well-informed person can doubt that\n    the war will cease before the end of six months. With slavery, the\n    rebels are powerful; without it, they are powerless. With slavery,\n    every white man between the ages of eighteen and sixty is available as\n    a soldier, and vast supplies are procured by servile labour. Abolish\n    slavery, and the army would be immediately reduced one-half, and\n    supplies would be diminished to a destructive extent. Slaves armed\n    and drilled would make effective soldiers. With a perfect knowledge of\n    the country, with an intense desire to liberate themselves and their\n    brethren from bondage, with an ardent hatred of their cruel masters\n    and overseers, (and the majority of them are cruel,) they would render\n    a willing and powerful aid in crushing the great rebellion. After the\n    war is ended, give them as much land as their necessities require,\n    either in New Mexico or Arizona, and they will furnish more sugar,\n    rice, and cotton, than were extorted from them by compulsory labour in\n    the house of bondage.\n\n    The desire for freedom on the part of the slaves is universal. It is,\n    according to my observation and full belief, a rule without exception.\n    These aspirations are constantly increasing as the rigours of slavery\n    are increased, and the slaves are as well prepared for freedom as they\n    would be a hundred years hence. The _Iron Furnace_ of slavery does not\n    tend to the elevation of its victims. There are better methods of\n    elevating a race than by enslaving it. The moral elevation of the\n    slave is no part of the reason why he is held in bondage; but the\n    convenience and profit of the master is the sole end and aim of the\n    peculiar institution. All attempts on the part of the slaves to obtain\n    their liberty are resisted by the slaveholders, by the infliction of\n    appalling and barbarous cruelties. Thirty-two negroes were executed at\n    Natchez, Mississippi, recently, because they expressed a determination\n    \"to go to Lincoln.\" Six were hanged in Hoxubee county, and one burned\n    in the streets of Macon. The southern papers state that Hon. Mr. Orr,\n    of South Carolina, attempted to drive his slaves into the interior, to\n    prevent their escaping to the Yankees, and upon their refusal to go,\n    he ordered them to be driven at the point of the bayonet, and in the\n    execution of the order, fifty of them were slain. There are instances\n    in which the slave is greatly attached to his master's family, but his\n    love of liberty is greater than that attachment. It often transcends\n    his love for his own family, which he abandons for its sake, risking\n    his life on the underground railroad, and enduring the rigours of a\n    Canadian winter, that he may enjoy his inalienable rights.\n\n    The southwest is already nearly exhausted. The troops which first went\n    into the service were well supplied with clothing, provisions, and\n    money; but the conscripts were poorly clad, and received their wages\n    in Confederate bonds, which have so depreciated, that ten dollars in\n    gold will purchase one hundred dollars of the bonds. Great suffering\n    is the consequence, and desertions are of daily occurrence. While I\n    was in prison at Tupelo, eighty-seven of the Arkansas infantry\n    deserted in a body. One hundred cavalry were sent to arrest them, but\n    they defeated the cavalry in a fair fight, and went on their way\n    rejoicing. Tennesseeans and Kentuckians could not be trusted on picket\n    duty, their proclivity for desertion being notorious. They suffered no\n    opportunity to escape them, and often went off in squads. Many of them\n    being forced into the service, did not consider their involuntary oath\n    binding.\n\n    The wheat crop of 1862, in the southwest, was almost totally destroyed\n    by the rust, and the corn crop by the drought. Salt could not be\n    obtained at any cost, and every marketable commodity had reached a\n    fabulous price. Southern merchants feel that they are ruined. At the\n    commencement of the war they had made large purchases in the North,\n    mainly on credit. The rebel Congress passed a law that all who were\n    indebted to the North must pay two-thirds of the amount of their\n    indebtedness to the Southern Confederacy. This the merchants did. They\n    then sold their goods, taking cotton and Confederate money in pay. The\n    cotton was destroyed by order of Beauregard, and the Confederate scrip\n    is worthless, and the Federal generals are enforcing the payment of\n    Northern claims. This fourfold loss will beggar every southern\n    merchant subjected to it.\n\n    At the commencement of the war, strong drink was abundant, and it was\n    freely used by the soldiers. Drunkenness was fearfully prevalent. This\n    vice increased to such a degree that the army was rapidly becoming\n    demoralized. A large amount of grain was wasted in the manufacture of\n    liquor. At this juncture the rebel government wisely prohibited the\n    manufacture and sale of all that would intoxicate. Soon the wisdom of\n    this measure was apparent. For a time this contraband article was\n    smuggled in, yet it was only in limited quantities, and at the present\n    time a drunken soldier is a _rara avis_ in the army. At the first\n    promulgation of the law, a cunning countryman perforated a large\n    number of eggs, withdrew the contents, filled the shells with whiskey,\n    closed them up, and carrying them to the camp at Rienzi, sold them at\n    an exorbitant price. Others resorted to filling coffee-pots with\n    whisky, stopping up the bottom of the spout, filling it with\n    buttermilk, and if asked by the guards what they had for sale, would\n    pour out some of the milk in the spout, and by this deception gain an\n    entrance to the camp, and supply the soldiers with liquor. But all\n    these tricks were discovered, and since the manufacture, as well as\n    the sale, was prohibited, the supply on hand became exhausted, and\n    drunkenness ceased.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nBATTLES OF LEESBURG, BELMONT, AND SHILOH.\n\n    Rebel Cruelty to Prisoners--The Fratricide--Grant Defeated--Saved by\n    Gunboats--Buell's Advance--Railroad Disaster--The South\n    Despondent--General Rosecrans--Secession will become Odious even in\n    the South--Poem.\n\n\nBATTLE OF LEESBURG.\n\nThe battle of Leesburg was fought on the 21st of October, 1861. The\nsouthern accounts of this battle were so contradictory, that I will not\ngive the various versions. One statement, however, all concur in--that\nwhen the Federal troops retreated to the river, after being overpowered by\nsuperior numbers, and had thrown down their arms, calling for quarter, no\nmercy was shown them. Hundreds were bayoneted, or forced into the river\nand drowned. The rebels clubbed their guns, and dashed out the brains of\nmany while kneeling at their feet and imploring mercy. I saw one ruffian\nwho boasted that he had bayoneted seven Yankee prisoners captured on that\noccasion.\n\n\nBATTLE OF BELMONT.\n\nThe battle of Belmont was fought on the 7th of November, 1861. I have\nheard repeatedly from southern officers their version of the events which\noccurred on that occasion. General McClernand, for the purpose of breaking\nup the rebel camp at Belmont, attacked it in force at an early hour, and\ncompletely routed the enemy, pursuing them to a considerable distance.\nReturning, he destroyed completely the camp, but delaying too long, large\nreinforcements were thrown over the river from Columbus, and the Federals\nwere compelled to retreat precipitately to their boats, not, however, till\nthey had fully accomplished the object of their mission. A scene occurred\non this field which exhibits one of the saddest phases of this internecine\nstrife. The incident was related to me by Mr. Tomlin, a lawyer of Jackson,\nTennessee, not unknown even in the North, who was personally acquainted\nwith the actors. Colonel Rogers, of an Illinois regiment, led his command\ninto action early in the contest. A Tennessee regiment opposed him with\nfierceness for some time. At length they began to waver and exhibit\nsymptoms of disorder. At this moment their colonel, who had been unhorsed,\nmounted a stump, and by an energetic and fervid address, rallied his men.\nAgain they began to falter, and again his burning words restored order.\nColonel Rogers believing that the safety of himself and regiment depended\nupon the death of the Tennessee colonel, drew a pistol from his holsters,\nrode up and deliberately shot him through the brain. The Tennesseeans\nseeing their colonel fall, fled precipitately. On the return of the\nIllinois troops, Colonel Rogers, impelled by curiosity, dismounted, and\nscanning the features of the colonel whom his own hand had slain,\nrecognised his own brother. As the tide of battle had rolled past for the\nmoment, he ordered the corpse to be conveyed to a transport, on which it\nwas brought to Cairo, and thence borne to the stricken parents, who\nmourned over and buried the remains of their brave but erring child, who\nhad met his fate at his brother's unconsciously fratricidal hand.\n\n\nBATTLE OF SHILOH.\n\nOn April 6th, 1862, the sun rose clear; not a cloud was discernible in the\nsky; it was truly a lovely Sabbath, even for a southern clime. Early in\nthe morning I took a walk with my little daughter, a child four years of\nage, in whose prattle I was taking great interest. We had gone about one\nhundred yards when my child exclaimed, \"Pa, we must go back! it's going to\nrain; don't you hear the thunder?\" The sharp and stunning reports I soon\nrecognised to be the sound of cannon on the field of battle. The\ncannonading continued incessantly during the day. The whole country became\nintensely excited, and many citizens hastened to the battlefield, the\nmajority bent upon plunder. On Monday the battle still raged with\nincreasing fury. On Sabbath, General Grant had been completely surprised,\nand would have lost his whole army but for the gunboats in the river.\nThese gunboats shelled the pursuing rebels, checking their advance, and\nsaving the discomfitted Federals. Buell arrived with his division on\nSabbath night, and on Monday the rebels were driven at every point during\nthe whole day, with great loss. When I heard the rebel officers state that\nthe gunboats lying in the Tennessee river had checked their pursuit, and\nhad committed great havoc amongst their troops, at the distance of nearly\nthree miles, I supposed that the rebel army had continued the pursuit till\nthey came in sight of the gunners on the boats, who then threw their\nshells into their advancing columns, and my mistake was not corrected till\nI saw the scene of action. A plateau extended from the river, where the\ngunboats lay, to the hills, a distance of about one-quarter of a mile. The\nhills rose to a considerable height, and were covered with a large growth,\nand on their frowning summits the lofty trees seemed to intercept the\npassing clouds. Grant's discomfitted and shattered army had taken refuge\non the plateau. Some had even thrown themselves into the river, and swam\nacross. Such was the position of affairs when the gunners threw their\nshells over those lofty hills, and beyond them a distance of two miles,\ninto the midst of the rebels, checking their advance, and destroying them\nby scores. Couriers constantly passed to and fro to give information of\nthe position of the enemy. All night long their shelling continued,\ncausing Beauregard to change his camp thrice. Thus,\n\n    \"Bombs bursting in air,\n  Gave proof through the night\n    That our flag was still there.\"\n\nOn Monday morning Buell's division advanced, and the tide was turned. The\nrebels were driven from every position, and their loss was fearful; and\nhad pursuit been continued to Corinth, their whole army must have been\nannihilated. General A. S. Johnson fell about three o'clock on the\nSabbath. The tibial artery had been severed--a wound not necessarily\nfatal; but he remained in the saddle till he fainted from loss of blood,\nand when borne from his horse by Governor Harris and others, survived but\ntwenty minutes. On Sabbath night Beauregard occupied, for a time, an old\nPresbyterian church--a rude log edifice. The church was named Shiloh;\nhence both Beauregard and General Grant, in their dispatches, named the\nengagement the battle of Shiloh. I was in Rienzi as the wounded passed\ndown on the cars to the various hospitals below. They passed continually\nfor a month. On the 18th of April I went down to Macon, in Noxubee county.\nA large number of wounded were on the train. A lady from the Female\nSeminary in Aberdeen had been placed under my care. When we reached a\npoint six miles from Crawfordsville, I noticed a young man looking out in\nan excited manner, and immediately after he jumped out and rolled down an\nembankment. I was much surprised at his conduct, but soon the crashing of\nthe cars explained the cause. The train had been thrown from the track,\nand was rushing down an embankment. Jumping from the cars now became\ngeneral. My lady friend arose, declaring that she also would leap from the\ncar. I caught and held her till the danger was over, and thus prevented\nperhaps serious injury to her person, as all who jumped from the train\nwere more or less injured. On extricating ourselves from the debris of the\ncars, an appalling sight met our view. The sick, wounded, dying, and dead,\nwere scattered promiscuously in every direction. Their groans and piercing\nshrieks were heart-rending. The heavy fragments of the broken cars were\nthrown upon their mangled limbs, and in many instances this disaster\ncompleted what Shiloh had commenced. As we came down, I passed through the\ntrain amongst the wounded. Some had lost an arm, several an upper lip, as\nmany an under lip. Through the body of one six balls had passed. They were\nwounded in the feet, the hands, the head, and the body; and some who had\nnot been touched by ball or bullet were paralyzed by their proximity to\nthe exploding shells. Truly every battle is with confused noise and\ngarments rolled in blood. I remained some time at the destroyed train,\naiding in extricating those buried beneath the ruins. The extent of the\ndamage and destruction of life, I never accurately learned. It must,\nhowever, have been great. The catastrophe was occasioned by a stick of\nwood falling from the tender before the wheels of the adjacent car, which,\nbeing thrown from the track, precipitated the whole train down the\nembankment.\n\nFor weeks after the battle of Shiloh, little was done by Federals or\nConfederates. The rebels firmly believed that Corinth could not be taken.\nIts evacuation discouraged the people exceedingly. Nothing but disasters\nhad befallen them since the year commenced. Zollikoffer had been slain,\nand Crittenden defeated, at Fishing Creek. Roanoke Island had been\ncaptured. Forts Henry, Donelson, Pulaski, St. Philip, and Jackson had been\nreduced. Island \"No. 10\" was taken, and New Orleans had fallen. The bloody\nfield of Shiloh had proved disastrous; and now, even Corinth, the boasted\nGibraltar of rebeldom, fortified by the \"best engineer on the continent,\"\nand defended by the whole army of the southwest, had been evacuated. What,\nunder these circumstances, could resist the progress of Halleck to the\nGulf? Many saw the cause of these disasters in the fact that the rebel\ngenerals had made their attacks upon the Union troops upon the Sabbath;\nand all history confirms the truth that the army attacking on the Sabbath\nis almost invariably defeated. Universal gloom and an all-pervading spirit\nof despondency, brooded over the whole southern people. Had the rebel army\nbeen crushed at Corinth, or had Beauregard been vigorously pursued, and\nforced to fight or surrender, the war in the southwest would have been\nterminated. General Rosecrans informed me that they could have crushed the\nrebels at Corinth, and on my asking him why it was not done, he replied:\n\"It would have been done at the cost of many lives on both sides, and it\nis not our desire to sacrifice life unnecessarily. Let Beauregard go down\nto the swamps of Mississippi; he can do us no injury. It is not probable\nthat he will ever return to Corinth to attack us, and they must starve out\nin a section which never produced enough to sustain its own population.\"\nBut Beauregard did not remain long in the swamps of Mississippi. He took\nthe flower of his army and hastened on to Richmond, to reinforce General\nLee, who immediately gave battle to McClellan, and drove him from the\nPeninsula. Halleck should never have suffered McClellan to be compelled to\nfight both Lee's forces and Beauregard's, whilst his own army was merely\nprotecting rebel property and consuming rations. I think General\nRosecrans, had he been in chief command, would not have thus acted; and\nhis statement to me was a mere apology for the conduct of his superior,\nfor his policy has ever been vigorous, and the rebels dread him more than\nany living man. The lamented Lyon also inspired a similar wholesome dread.\nI saw much of General Rosecrans. He is a genial, pleasant gentleman. He\nseems desirous of accomplishing his end by the use of mild means; but if\nthese will not effect the object, the reverse policy is resorted to. The\nrebels dread, yet respect him. He will do much to oblige a friend. I\ndesired at one time to go with my family beyond the Federal lines. General\nRosecrans went in person to General Pope to obtain a pass; but Pope's\norders were that no passes should be issued for a specified time. General\nRosecrans then asked and obtained permission to send one of his aids with\nus, who conducted us beyond the pickets, a distance of five miles. This\nact, the General remarked, was in consideration of the kindness I had\nshown himself and staff while in Rienzi. The Federal generals committed a\ngreat mistake in desiring to overrun the country without destroying the\nrebel armies. A physician who drives a disease from one limb only to\nappear in a more aggravated form in another, accomplishes nothing. And\nwhen a general permits a hostile army to change its location as a\nstrategic movement, he has accomplished nothing, except giving aid and\ncomfort to the enemy. The rebels estimated their forces at the battle of\nShiloh at eighty thousand. Though considerable accessions had been\nreceived, yet in consequence of sickness and desertion, their number was\nabout the same at the evacuation of Corinth. They lost about eleven\nthousand, slain, wounded, and prisoners, in the battle.\n\nWar has a tendency to engender great bitterness of feeling between the\nbelligerents. The secessionists hate the northern people, but not with the\nintensity of hatred which they exercise toward the Union-loving citizens\nof the South. In South Carolina, in the days of nullification, the\nnullifiers and Union men were very bitter in their hostility against each\nother. After the suppression of nullification by General Jackson, the\ncause being removed, the enmity ceased, and in a short time, the odium\nattached to nullification became so great, that few would admit that they\nhad been nullifiers. Let the supremacy of the law and the Constitution be\nenforced, and a few years hence, few, even in the South, will be found\nwilling to admit that they were secessionists. The descendants of the\nTories carefully conceal their genealogy; the descendants of the\nsecessionists will do the same. Slavery and secession will perish\ntogether; and the classes of the South who have been fearfully injured by\nboth these heresies, will be fully compensated for their present distress\nby the vast blessings which will accrue to themselves and posterity by the\nabolition of an institution which has degraded labour, oppressed the poor\nwhite man, opposed progress, retarded the development of the country's\nresources, taken away the key of knowledge, caused every species of vice\nto flourish, impoverished the people, enriched a favoured class at the\nexpense of the masses, caused woes unnumbered to a whole race--in short,\nhas been the prolific parent of fraud, oppression, lust, tyranny, murder,\nand every other crime in the dark catalogue.\n\n  \"We are living, we are dwelling\n    In a grand and awful time;\n  In an age, on ages telling,\n    To be living is sublime!\n\n  Hark! the waking up of nations,\n    Gog and Magog to the fray;\n  Hark! what soundeth--is creation\n    Groaning for its latter day?\n\n  Will ye play, then? will ye dally\n    With your music and your wine?\n  Up! it is Jehovah's rally!\n    God's own arm hath need of thine.\n\n  Hark! the onset! will ye fold your\n    Faith-clad arms in lazy lock;\n  Up! oh, up! thou drowsy soldier,\n    Worlds are charging to the shock!\n\n  Worlds are charging; heaven beholding;\n    Thou hast but an hour to fight;\n  Now the blazoned cross unfolding,\n    _On!_ right onward _for the right_.\n\n  _On!_ let all the soul within you,\n    For the truth's sake go abroad;\n  Strike! let every nerve and sinew\n    Tell on ages,--tell for God!\"\n\n\n\n\nSEE TO YOUR INTEREST!!\n\nAMSTERDAM, _Jefferson co._, Ohio, _January 1, 1863_.\n\nThe undersigned tenders his thanks to his customers for their liberal\npatronage in the past, and respectfully solicits its continuance.\n\nHe has recently made considerable additions to his stock of\n\nDRY GOODS AND GROCERIES,\n\nand he will endeavour to make it the interest of the citizens of Amsterdam\nand vicinity to deal with him; nor will he permit his competitors to\nsurpass him in the cheapness and quality of his goods.\n\nThe _highest price_ will be paid for PRODUCE OF EVERY KIND, and _Cash_\nwill not be refused in payment for goods.\n\nA word to the wise is sufficient.\n\nDAVID AUGHEY.","title":"The Iron Furnace; or, Slavery and Secession","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":51648}