Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1863-01-08


was rain-w water. / was furnishe with no
towel, neither could any entreaty procure
ono for me. Neither could / enduco my
iailors to let mo have a camille during my
long tedious sick nights. No cntreaty
counld procure for inc the return OF the
medicine which had been taken from me
when was searched. Again and again
begged for the little bit Of opium to re.
lieyc my suffering, which had been taken
out of my pocket with my other medi.
cine, but all in vain.
: After ten days OF such treatment and
such suffering, late one night, the sergeant
Of the guard brought me some medicine,
: which, he Informed me, the Surgeon at
Fort Hamilton had sent me This Sur
) geon knew nothing about my case, hav-
ing never seen me- or been informed by
Inc Of my condition. With no light in
my cell, with no one to give even drink
of my rain water, you can well imagine
that would not take the Medicine !
did not know but that my jailorS design
; ed to poison me. Their previous treat
: ment justified such an opinion. | made
r up my mind that if died in Fort Lafay-
cite, | would die natural death, unless
= indeed Lincoln ordered me to be tried by
} a drum-head courtmartial and shot, which
t felt he had Just as much right to DO as
t he had to arrest and imprison me in the
manner he had done. Under such treat
ment, and by this time, you may well
E imagine that had got zig mail" on
t me and this, think, helped to save my
t life, for the truth is, had got to be too
mad to die, and no thanks to Lincoln,
. but under kind Providence | began to
get better from that time.
D You can well imagine that after such
A treatment, when my son was permitted
= to visit me, he found me "emaciated and
= careworn." The only wonder is that he
o found me alive.
b If anything could add to the cruelty
inflicted upon me during these long days
f and nights of my sickness and suffering,
l. it was the refusal Is the commandant to
&c allow me the use of Bible. Day after
+ day l begged the sergeant to procure one
0 for me. His constant answer, "the com
;, manding officer says you shant have
one" / begged him to remind the com.
s manding officer that we lived in a Chris.
c tian, and not heather land-that l was
0 an American citizen, and not a condemned
n felon. Still the answer was, "the COM
J, manding officer says you shant have one,
!, and you need not ask any more !" and it
G was not until after sixteen days Of such
It more than heathenish treatment, that Col
+ Burke, of Fort Hamilton, upon the i'm
portunity of my son, sent an order to the
= commandant officer Of Fort Lafayette, to
h let me have a Bible.
y 1t was upon the sixteenth day of my
d lonely imprisonment, that my son, upon
&c an order of the Secretary of War, was
! permitted to see me, not in my lonely
= cell, but in the commandant's room and
n presence. 1t was with much difficulty
IS that even at that time, l was able to walk
i from my cell to the commaniant's room
This was the first time during my impris,
o onment that had been able to obtain an
n interview with the commandant In his
| weekly inspection of the prisoners, he
g had carefully avoided my dungeon. N
Id kindly message Of inquiry as to my want
/ and condition ever reached me from him
be l seized upon this opportunity to let hin
r. know that / was human being, AMI as
Y such entitled to humane treatmeut-that
/, such thing as refusing a man Bible,
re was unknown in any civilized communi
c ty. His answer was, that he was not
permitted, under his orders, to let nc
m have one.
ID | had great reason to be thankful thai
is my sons visit gave me on opportunity
t. to see the commandant, for from tina
j. time, although kept in solitary confnc
nj ment, my condition was made more com
en Portable. \ better mattrass was put up
ID on my bed, occasionally a raw onion o
ID tomatoe was added to my dinner, an,
IS twice, believe, some picked bcets wer
sent in from the cook room.
ne Ny son was compelled to visit Wash
'n ington city and obtain from the Secretar
O. of War an order to that effect, before h
- could see me AS soon as he learne
Sc how | had been treated, he returned i'm
at mediatcly to Washington, and with tn
ip assistance ct n very kind friend, procure,
10 an order from Secretary Stanton for m,
er release from solitary confinement, ant
as that should have all the privileges &C
nc corded to the other prisoners.
l. Such, my friends, is a plain statemen
~ of the manner of my arrest, and tn
y treatment l received during the twenty
r two days of my solitary confinement.
a it affords any qualification to those Re
G. publicans who caused my arrest, they ar
t. welcome to it. Their time will com,
I'd some day. "1He end is not yet."
lS But why, let me inquire, was denie,
~ the use of Bible? had committed NJ
ut crime against either the laws of God, o
IS the laws of my country, for which | hat
d. been arrested. Had | been the vileS
,e criminal upon the face OF the globe, a
de vile even as those Abolitionists who ar
! endeavoring to induce the slaves of th
ne South to murder detencelss woman an
Us children, tho laws of both Christianit
ne and humanity would have demanded tina
or should be permitted to have Bible.
rt In my solitary confinement the solu
~ ~ tion Of this question puzzled me exceed
m ingly. Again and again asked mysel
70 70 the question, why am | not permitted
bo % have a Bible could come to only On
" conclusion The Bible, said to myself
. must teach doctrines which Abraham
bo LINCOLN and David Tod consider treason
ho m able, and hence they will not permit thei
~ b lot fhnV bA pnD