Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1863-04-24

Y The Yicksburg Wig Of the 22d say
that young Mays, of the 61st Tennessee regi
ment. who was recently sentenced to be shot
has received a reprieve for twenty days. Tb,
following is a letter written tho day previous tt
the time appointed for his execution, which wa.
on the l7th inst. BE IS said to be qniie youth
and if the facts Of his case are As stated BY him
Of which we have no doubt, and if military Law
wss not inexorable, we should feel inclined u
interposs a word in his behalf, and make an ap
peal for clemeney;
Ny VERY DEAR MOTHER: It is with sac
heart and depressed spirits, by the dim and ray.
less light Of closely grated window thet I at
tempt to pen yOu the last epistle you viii ever
! receive from me, your unfortInaleand misguided
son. I am, dear parent, inc rcersted in loathe-
some prison, faE from home 4 loved ones; for-
seken By all my comrades, save one, who was
least known to me, but has proved faithful
and true in my hours Of deepest gloom and
SORROW. I am charged with desertiou, con
demned and sentenced to die and before an
other sun shall rise and set your once loved
boy, TO whom you sang lullaby songs in the days
OF his pratling innocence, viii have mingled
his blood with the dust in expiation OF a high
crime. And before your aged and bsdimmed
eyes shall fall upon these imDeTfeclly written
lines, the form you have so much loved and so
often aud fondly csressed, will have ignomini.
ously passed from the walks of men to the cold
damp gravei AMI the once gentle spirit will
have gone TO the mysterious future I fear,
deEr mother, that this fatal error Of mine viii
bring you sorrowiug to the grave; but baseech
you, be not troubled about ne, for I can give
you the assurance ef one who speaks in view
of the solemnties Of death and the realities Of
the great future, that I am prepared for the
awful crisis-the melancholy event I will not
say that ] am fsultless or blameless, or that the
punishment is uujust, or the penalty too severe,
but | do feel consciously innocent of any de-
sign to i9jHrs the government by sny treasona-
bic disciosures to the enemy. I have always
had sn aversion to the spiliug of blood, and
desired only to avoid the conflict But yet, o
dear mother, those feelings might have been
overcome had have been left unbiased in the
exercise Of my own judgment; though young
and inexperienced, l might and would have
been faitbiul soldier in the cause of freedom
to-day, but the speeches of johnson and Nelson
moulded my prej1dices against separation snd
10 favor of the old Union; and the ten thousand [
rUm0Ts circulated by the Union msn of Fest
Tennessee, which now believe to be false, fed
aud pampered my prejudiecs until they have
in this high crims; and while my
false teachers snd dsceivers arc IS free IS the
bird of passage in the enjoyment of life and I
liberty, l. an innocent and inexperienced boy, /
am confined to await the hour when I shall /
sacrifice my life to atone for their sins. Dear /
mother, I cannot censure the officers who tried, /
convicted aud sentenced me to deats; I was
guilty as charged; nor viii feel unkind to mp /
sxeentioners, who, in few hours, viii send the /
missiles of desth to the now throbbing bosom Of |
your poor boy. Bat to my false teachers, two /
Of whose names ara above written, viii chsrge /
ny death, and the blood Of your once innocent |
but now condemned boy viii bo upon their /
hands snd viii cry to heaven for Vengeance.
n d MAYS