Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1863-04-18

| but eighteen years of age, he left his trade
and threw himself into the ranks of oui
armies, az volunteer and now, though
still suffering from the outrages committed
| upon his person in the South. he is on hi,
way to reioin his regiment, .s9mng to love
his country only the more for all that he has
endured in its defense
His subdued and modest manner, while
narrating the part he had borne in this cx
| petition, showed him to be wholly uncon
scious of having done anything more thar
! perform his simple duty as a soldier. Such
=. Spartan fortitude, and such fidelity to the
trusts of friendship and to the aspirations OF
patriotism, deserve an enduring record in
the archives of the Government. and will
find one, | am sure, in the hearts Of a loyal
people.
The twenty-five captivcs, when secured
were thrust into thcnegro Jail at Chattanooga
! They occupied a single room, half under
| ground, and but thirteen feet square SO that
there was not space for them all to lie down
| together, and Il part of them were in cOnse-
/ qucnce, obliged to sleep sitting and leaning
against the walls. The only entrance was
through trap door in the ceiling, that was
! raised twice a day TO let down their scanty
/ meals, which were lowered in bucket.
! They had no other light of ventilation
! than that which came through two small.
triplc-grated windows They were covered
! with swarmng vcrmin, and the heat was so
oppressive that they were often obliged to
/ strip themselves entirely of their CLOTHES to
bear it. Add to this, they were all hand
cutted, and, with trace chains secured by
padioCks around their necks, were fastened
to each other i'll companies OF twos and threcs
| Their food, which was dOed out to them
twice day, consisted Of little -four, wet
! with water and baked in the form OF bread
and spoiled picked beef
They had no opportunity of procuring
any supplies from the outside, nor had they
any means of doing 50 their pockets having
been rltlcd of their last cent by tie Conird-
crate authorities, prominent among whom
was an officer wearing the Rebel Uniform of
Major. No part of the money thus basely
taken was ever returned
During this imprisonment at ChattanooGa
the leader, Mr. Andrews, was tried and con-
demned ms spy, and was subsequently cX-
ccutcd at Atlanta, the 7th of June They
were strong and in perfect health when they
entered this negro Jail, but at the end Of
something more than three weeks. when
they were required to leave it, they were so
exhausted fro II the treatment to which they
had been subjected, AS scarcely to be able
TO walk, and several staggered from weak
ness as they passed through the streets to
the cars.
Finally, twelve of the number, including
the five who disposed, and Mr.. Mason of
Company X. twonty-first Regiment Ohio
Volunteers, who was prevented by illness
from giving his evidence, were transferred
to the prison OF Knoxville, Tenn. On ar
irving there, seven of them were arraigned
before cohrt-martial, charged with being
spics. The trial of course, was summary.
They were permitted to be present, but not
to hear either the argument OF their own
counsel or that OF the judge advocate.
Their counsel, however, afterwards visited
the prison and read to them the written de-
Tense which he made before the Court in
their behalf The substance of that paper
is thus stated Ivy one of the witnesses, Cor
poral Pittcngcr :-"lle (thc counscD CON
tended that our being dressed in citizens
clothes was nothing more than the ConIcde-
rate Government itself had authorized, and
was only what all the guerrilas in the ser.
vice OF the Coniederacy did on all occasions
when it would be an advantage to them to
do so; and he recited the instance of Gen.
Morgan having dressed his men in the uni
form Of our soldiers, and passed them off as
being from the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry
Regiment, and by that means succeeded in
reaching u railroad and destroying it.
This instance was mentioned to show
that our being in citizens clothes did not
take from us the protection awarded to pri-
soncrS of war. The plea went on further to
state that We had told the subject of the
expedition; that it was a purely military
one for the destruction of communication,
and, as such, lawful according to the rules of
war"
This just and unanswerable presentation Of
the case appears to have produced its apprO-
prdtc impression. Several members OF the
court-martial afterwards called on the pri-
soners and assured them that, from the
evidence against them, they could not be
condemned as spies; that they had come
for a certain known object, and not having
fingered about or visited any of their camps
obtaining or seeking information, they could
not he convicted. Soon thereafter all the
prisoners were removed to Atlanta, Georgia,
and they left Knoxville under the belief that
their comrades. who had been tried, either
had been or would be acquitted
In the meantime, however the views en-
tertained and expressed to them by the
members of the Court were overcome, it
may be safely assumed, under the prompt
ingS of the remOrseess despotism at Rich
mond On the 18th of June, after their
arrival at Atlanta, where they rejOined the
comrades from whom they had been sepa-
rated at Chattanooga their prison door was
opened, and the death sentence of the seven
who had been tried at Knoxville was read
to them. No time for. preparation was al
lowed them.
They were told to bid their friends fare
we'll 'and to be quick about it," They were
at once tied and carried out to execution
Among the seven was Private Samuel Rob
inson. Company G, Thirty-third Ohio Vol
unteers, who was too i'll TO walk. He was,
however, pinioned like the rest, and, in this
condition, was dragged from the floor on
which he was lying to the scalold. In an
hour or more the cavalry escort, which had
accompanied them, was seen returning with
the cart, but the cart was empty-the TRACE
dy had been consunmated
On that evening and the following morn
ing the prisoners learned from the Provost
Marshal and guard that their comrades had
died, as all true soldiers of the republic,
should die, in the presence of its enemies
Among the revolving incidents which they
mentioned in connection with this cowardly
butchery, was the fall of two of the victims
from the breaking OF the ropes, after they
had been for some time suspended. On