St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1863-01-22
as naked Is when they were born, sad
whipped till they were bloody from tho

At: work picking corn id November, for ~
fusing to go into JEFF: Davis' army: 9th:
Eers they hung on trees Others they;
turned opt, Of their homes ); parties visitea
[every Union county and burned doxu;
hou,es and barns, only giving women and.
'Echildren ti.1e to escape And yet, + tstl'
1you, We have experienced all tbs and;
more in East Tennessee; and yet, in thst'
large portion Of the State, there. are fi,o;
to one Union men, And. let mo :say 70:
these clergymen that neither strife nor
prosecutions, nor principalities nor powsrs,
nor things present nor things to come
have been able to separate the: Unionisti.
OF East Tennessee from the love Of God
and the Constitution. ....-.
! On the memorable 9Th Of December Last.
after having robbed our citizens; Ill over
East Tennessee let me astonish you When,
tell you that they took 400, ,0O0 fat hozs;
IRON us; slaughtered and salted them down
and are now. living upon the: NEST, and:
when ,that9is exhausted, God Almieht1:
knows: what they will do! I undet,ta.d:
that, with the meat they stole from: d,
they have: hardly enough TO- live on, and;
they tie a strip Of fat to 4: split stick. and,
swallow it, draw it up aud pass it round
and, ladies, you know they could not, eot
much; good Of the meat 10 that war;
Laughter: After they bad dosc ali THU,
they appointed military guard to. seize
our arms our guns, pistols and. dirks:
and you can readily imagine how tho
Union men Of East Tennessee. numbering
1--WE to one,s were overwhelmed BY an army.
Of 10000 imported soldien; and, you
know, in that condition., without, arms,
they were powerless. But, after they had
failed to subdue US, they then threw NJ
into prison, aud the jails we're full to over
flowing :. .s<.s., .,..- .-,....
g &s aSase5 asst9& ssp1e pR1esee@ses az s.ns
and said.: ''Mr. Brownlow, you are, a pris-
oner." He took me to the Jail in Knox
ville, where I had lived for many, years.
When he opened that door to me I, saw.
there the faces Of one hundred. and fifty.
Union men, and as God: is my Judge, we,
had neither tables nor chairs, block, oranI
other article of furniture, and had hardly
room to stand up. Many Of us were sick
some Of US sick unto death-and I help
ed lay out some myself; on the cold floor
of the prison. There we're two old Rap
tist ministers who had prayed for the Pres
ident of the United States, and that. wa
the: only charge the rebels brought against
them: l found Methodist ministers. Pres
byterian ministers, lawyers, mechanics. and
planters. They surrounded me. gentle
men, aud they rushed to me. Said then
"Brownlow, l am sorry they have sent yon
here; this is hard place to ive." Said
I, "Gentlemen, dry up your tears; you;
are hot degraded BY this imprisonment; ;
you are not here for committing any,
crime, for murder, stealing or counter
feiting"
"What are you here forl will tell
you, you are here for defending the best
government God ever vouchsafed to man.
am here for the same cause, and here I
will lie till die of old age, or rot With
disease before will acknowledge their
bogus Confederacy."
The rebel General, Carroll, few days
aftervard came into the Jail elegantly
dressed in his uniform He shook hands
with me and asked me how did. l told
him livery we'll that We hadn't enough
to eat, and nc place to sleep except on The
bare floor, but I had no complaint to
make" "Well," said he, "Brownlov,
this is no place for you" "Oh," said l,
II know that" "Now," said he, "this u
all d--d nonsense. i am here to ask you
to 60 to the court house (where judge
Humphreys was holding the confederate
court) and take the oath Of allegisnoe
Now come along, and get out Of this id
place, and l may promise you that your
property and your family shall be safe"
"Sir," said I, "your Judge has no author.
ity to administer such an oath. Sir, you
have no govcrnment-you have organized
nothing but big Southern mob; aud,
before I will take an oath Of allegiance to
your internal bogus government r VIII 80
your oonfederacy in the internal regions
and you aad l on top of it forever and ev.
er." Applause.] "Well," said be, 'sthat
is id plain talk" "Yes, sit,' = s.idI,
.'that's the way. 70 talk in these rsvold.
tionary times, 90 We shall be understood"
They had been in the habit Of volddni-
teering from the prison bns,, ,when, ! 1T
there ! soon put stop to that. f. little
private talk with the boys put them ont of
Volunteering. '@,'@'. go
They had drum-head court rnartisi, 70
try ;us: None Of Us were ever betors Il,
either BY attourney. Or By friend, qrin III.
aon: Wenevor knew of our trisl tin they
brought our coa5ns to the door,, Ono
morning agreat, coarse' coffin, painted
blaok, il : cart, drove up before ths door.
We looked out at the window, through
the iron, eratss, wondering xht II. eouid
be ior' Whom the omosr dsms ID, btarS~