The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-01-22
Tho Murder Of a Confederate Soldier
by Gen. W ilde.

The Norfolk (virgnia) correspondent of the
New York Times gives fnlI aceoun. Of the hang
Ing In North Carolina Of private Bright, 63d 0eor-
sia cavalry, by Gen. Wilde, upon the charge ol
being "bushwhacker." The murder was one o.
the most deliberate and fendIsh that has been CON-
mitted during the war The letter says:
Two hundred men, under command Of Captain
Frye, were sent n point near the mouth Of the
Pasquotank, with orders To scOur the country 10
Cuuituck Sound. The long train of wagons to
accompany the main column was ordered to he In
readiness by day isht the ext morning, and lastly
court martial was convened tn Try the prisoners
10 onr possession, now numbe ing about twenty
VI these eight were found guilty of various offences
anu ordered to be taken 10 NOrfsIk, two were re
tained a. hostages, the guerilla was sentenced 10
death and the rest were ordered to be discharged.
The following morning the pickets were called in,
and the column moved, and In the midst of a
drenchng rain the place was evacuated, having
been held six days.
About noon, the sun coming out, a halt was or
dered. The General and his staff ode forward to
small unfinished building. designated for post
! once, standing upon knoll at cross road. Suf,
hcient boards and la,hs were knocked off to at
iord an unobstructed view of the proce, dinss
from two sides, when one Of the officers, pfodu-
cling cord, tied a hangman's knot at one end of
IL, and: standing upon the fead of an e;pty elder
barrel, made til" other fast of the iOiss over
head. Att.r considerable experimenting the bar
rel was made to serve ior both the scaffod aud the
drop, being ingeniously balanced upon one Of the
door timbers, aud held in place by wedge which
could he instantly removed From this to one of
the windows board was laid, and thence another
70 the ground outside, forming an inclined plane -
Meanwhile most of the officers had ridden forward
ahd ued their horses To the fence Of an adjacent
'afin mouse, whose Inmates had closed all the win
dow blinds. and crowd of c0lOred d soldiers encir
ciing the building, watching in silence those omi
nous proceedings. Lieutenant Colonel Shnri,ff
of The Fifth United States. was appointed sp:r,uai
ADVISER tb the criminal, and went back with sard
10 Dring him to the place of execution. When in
formed that he had bat a few minutes to ltya ard
was connseed TO improve this time in making his
peace with God, he dropped upon hts knees in the
road and prayed: go, merciful Father, look down
upon me-" These words alone he repeated a b,ra-
dred times, until the acting Chaplain stopped him.
ne then rose to his feet walked up the inclined
board with firm step, ut this point of the bayonets
ot the co'orad guard, advanced quickly to
the head of The cider barrel, and stood under
tiic h0ose. Thi, being placed around his ueck,
Col. Shu!tliF Invoked the throne of Grace In he
nall OF the guilty wretch. AS the word s'A,peu',
dropped lrotn his lips, the Ge .efa. who had taken
charge OF the drop, pulled the wsdg.-,ie barrel
tipped. the guerilla dropped. He was man of
aoaat thifiy, cough, stout fellow was dressed in
omttcrnut homeso' n, AMI looked the very ideal o,
guerrilla. He di'd of str,aguation, his heart not
ceasing to heat for tsenty minutes. Then a slip
OF paper was pinned " his back, on which tb..
General had previously written: ssThis guerilla
hanged BY order of b.igadier-General Wild
Daniel Bright, ai Pa.quota.k county.v And -.
body was lett hanging there, warning to all PASS
ing bushWhackers.