Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1863-03-19

s Tue prisoners exchanged and just ar
rived at New Orleans were 27O of the aa,
United States Infantry, who have hean h.,a
ever since the treachery of Twiggs in Teyas
lhey give exciting accounts of the ipdipn;t;es
TO which they have been subjected. They
We're alternately coaxed and abused 10 ind,,.
them to enlist into the rebel service, but ONLY
10 of them yielded to the pressure. A New
Orleans correspondent of the New York Times
reports some of their statements:
@They were finally, on parole, given the lib
erty of Bexar country They WIRE then sent
to camp Verde, where the men suffered an
sorts of privations. They were then removed
on the Indian frontier, where most of tn. men
got sick from the scurvy. DIR. Payne. confed-
crate surgeon, refused them medical attend
ance, and said if be had his way be would
shoot then. like dogs. On New Years day,
1862, they were drawn up in line and informed
by Captain Ashby, McCulloch,s regiment, that
if they held any conversation with the citizens
or the negroes, they would be hung like dogs
to certain trees which were pointed out in the
vicinity, and further, if they passed beyond
certain line of bushes which was pointed out,
they would be fred on by their guards. The
authorities finally becoming incensei at their
determination not to enlist in the rebel service,
they Were imprisoned at Fort Mason, and kept
under close guard. On the 2sth of June,
1862, they started again for San Antonio,
where they arrived in the latter part Of July.
On the march they We're pointed out tree,
. near town called Fredericksburg, upon which
seventy-fve Union men had been hung.
e Among the heroes of the confederate rule
in Texas, is a Captain Duff, who was al one
time soldier in the United States infantry,
but was for misconduct sentenced to receive
fifty lashes and be branded with the letter ID
on his back and dismissed from the service
This man has, and still is, disting -ishing him
self for his unheard-of cruelties to Union peo-
pie. AT Fredericksburg. after Gen. Hamil-
toms escape, he shot the Union men in pres
ence of their wives and children, and then gave
the latter up to the vilest abuse of his soldiers
He tied some of these unfortunate Union men
to trees and amused himself by shooting at
them with pistol, for mark. He burned
several houses and fired the German church
with his own hands. At Austin, these soldiers
found that the greatest excitement prevailed
against General Hamilton, and nothing so far
has saved his children from destruction except
lUtlT NDulu. w ueH OuI lltD pdSStu uic hOASrs
the little fellows ran out and clapped their
hands, and showed every sign of pleasure and
sympathy. The conscription Is carried on
throughout Texas with the greatest severity
a party of Germans in the southern part Of
Travis county. who resisted this oppression,
were eoolly massacred, as an evidence of what
might be the fate of others who resisted the
authorities Our men found that Northwes-
IL Inx-al aVd fbic fact
was impressed upon our soldiers whenever they
got an opportunity of speaking unobselved.-
The people hoped and prayed that the govern
ment -gould speedily do something to rescue
them from their more than Algerine bondage"
The following illustration Of rebel barbarity
Is taken from the Nashville Union of the Sd
.. Some thirty refugees reached this city On
SUNDAY from East Tennessee and Cherokee
county. North Carolina. They relate many
revolving cruelies practised by the rebel fiends
in that iearfully oppressed region, upon loyal
citizens. They state that two companies of
Cherokee Indians are acting as provost guard
in Knoxville. The savages act in most hor-
rid manner. The rebel cavalry scour the coun-
try in squads, one Indian accompanying each
party, in search of Union conscripts, who are
to flee the country. The rebel
provost marshal has offered the Indians FIVE
dollars for every Union man they kill. \
short time before the refugees fled they saw a
party Of Indians coming in with a string OF
fourteen ears, which they had cut from the
dead bodies of Union men, this being the mode
which they have adopted to cosnt their vic
Tins For each ear they receive five dollars
fran the rebel commander. What punish
ment will be severe enough for these brutes
Terrible viii be the vengeance which our ar
my will wreak for all these crimes"