The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-04-02
vindicasion Of Major Bruce.

Mr.. EDITOR IL see IN late numO0
: your paper, an article purporting to hav
3 Lee Co., Iowa, in which he makes yer,
: bitter personal attack upon me. He eithe
. states what he knows to be false, or at leas
: what he does not know to he true. In
matter of this kind, one is just as bad q
T the other, and think he does both.
He manages his cards with some shrewd
ness; he suppresses truth as skil!fully y
. he constructs falshOOd and in the latter b,
shows himself an adebt.
. He says that one Furguson Of Co. e. o
. my regiment twas tied up for some real Of
imaginary breach Of discipline ola trivia
nature &C."
He is careful not to state what the breach
OF discipline was. The facts are these
i Furguson refused to obey the command o
his superior officers, the case was reported
to me. and ordered him under arrest
sist in the policing of the camp, which h(
not only neglected to do but positively re.
fused, and sought as well knew to raise
| an excitement amoug his comrades about
it. This is the breach..of discipline that Ea.
ton calls Of one trivial nature" call
it q grave ofense, and my judgement in
the matter is probably rs good as his. II
some late authoritative military work
by Eaton of Denmark which I have not
yet seen.
ordered F. tied up by the wrists, pun
ishlnent recognized in the army and re-
sorted to in cases of less stubborness than
this. All this, however, is aside from the
case. II did wrong in punishishing F..
would that justify nlutinous combination
to resist authority? There was an open
Court Martial, before which might have
been arraigned; but, instead Of that, the
men named by Mr.. Eaton, (Paulk and
Brockway, with others OF their Company,
E. seized their arms, and with bayonets
fixed, proceeded in body from their
quarters to where +. was tied, forced the
guard and released him. ! may state incl
dentally here, that so soon as was nOti-
fed of this by the Sergeant of the guard,
had T.. re-tied, and no man made motion
towards his release until his two hours
were up and l ordered him released. Mr.,
+. has refused no order since, nor any
other man Of my command. This severity
! deemed necessary, and it has proved sal
utary. had those men who released him
Immediately arrested. They were SUISSE
quentently tried by q court-mar,lal and
found guilty of the grave crime OF naMtimy.
They had counsel for their defense, and |
never heard any one here claim that they
did not have q fair trial. How does Eat0n's
statements. Of what he calls the "substan-
tial facts correspond with thisY I speak
from the record. What does he speak
from? am charged with attempting
the disgrace OF these men, being .'their
bitter enemy, and the witness against
them" was one Of the witnesses. but the
record will show that testified to no ma
terial fact that is not testified to by al least
two other witnesses. l, on my own mo-
ton, testified to Paulk's previous good
character as soldier, because ! wanted
him to have the full benefit Of il. Since
I ma saf ,,,l,
Brook ways drawn and addressed Pc
titiOn aud forwarded it through the COM
manding General, asking their pardon or
q Communication of their sentence. for rea-
SONS therein stated.
/ notice it is not claimed in the article
that the men are not guilty Of what they
were charged with, although the tone Of 4
is that the whole thing was ..instivated''
and carried through by me, while ID fact.
the men were innocent. This could not
have done If had wished Il, and Eaton
gives me credit for more power and infiu-
pnce than I make an pretensions to. He
rests his whole case upon the former good |
conduct Of two OF the four men convicted |
Of the mutiny. make no issue with him |
here, but confineimyself 70 what he saws Of
Paulk and Brockway's previous good con.
1uct, from personal knowledge. It is, how
aver, poor defense, for one charged with |
heft, for instance, to prove that he had |
been honest. That fact might |
make case for executive clemency, and |
hat is just the case that ! am trying 10
make III their behalf; and il any one will |
suggest to me bow more effectually topress
his point, shall be most happy to act up
N it. Again, Eaton thinks the Command.
ng General would relieve those men. s'ifl
he facts could reach him. In military
'ourts, the evidence il all in writing, and il
eceived by the Commanding General and
fSpevp t~t H.
'efore the sentence can he executed. and
ret this man, who has never seen an official
.aper In the case, venture to assert, fear
hat the General who reviewed and cps
proved the record, every word of which
vas made under the solemn sanction or an
ath, does not understand the facts. oh.
ny friend, you are wise beyond your
hee.'
oen. Hilligoss and Zmell, who were con-
,icted of the same crime. The secret of
hat silence IL this,-their cases are not az
God to excite the community against me.
hey have record in the big Stone House
t Fort Madison. ! did not know this at
he time. In fact, I did not know where
ny of the men were from, or what were I
rcise Of discipline, to enquire where the
nen are fr0m-whethef thew are rich or l
'oor, connected with influential families or
therwise. That il q politicians game. 70
which make NO pretensions. In point OIL
act, did not know for several days after.
Yards that part Of these men were from
he Penitentiary, and the rest Of them from
denmark. am sorry ~ any one can Be.
hat these young men should have fallen |
nto bad company, and under the influence
1 evil counsel committed the offence which {
hey did. But 20 il was, and I am too x
roud Of my command and too jealous or 1
p reputation, to allow . thing of this kind !
D pass without proper Investigation, which Z
'as had, and resulted a you already !
now. ! very much dislike 70 be drawn {
nto newspaper controversy. Probably {
efore this reaches you, another batch of
will be out, which l will be ex- !
ected to answer. will not promise to do =
D. should not probably have spoken IL
Ow, but by silence I feared I should not | !
1eet the expectations of INV friends who {
ave right to know the facts, some oil (
'hom have already requested my state I
lent. Lie
Hoping that you will give this the same Il
ublicity that you have given the attack
pom me, I have the honor to remain. yervl