The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-10-06
rur vrRDER or D4rlD cREIGH.

| Who was executed, by the orders Of Gen
q raj Hunter, near BroWnsburg, is one OF
the darkest and most horrible of the
tragedies of this war The more We re
fleet upon it the more does it assume the
plain. unmistakeablo features Of cold
blooded deliberate, demoniac murder,
for which, if Justice has not left the
earth, the perpetrators will yet be visited
with the retribution such crime de-
serves. Mr.. Creigh was an old man, the
son of an Irish gentleman, who settled
in Western Virginia, and, by life of
great probity and energy, became one Of
our most prosperous landholders, and,
by his moral worth and excellent char
acter commanded the respect of the
whole community Mr.. Creigh had a
large family, who walked in the footsteps
of their father, and were not only men
of superior intelligence, but remarkable
for their exemplary and blameless con-
duct. One of these gentlemen, Er. Thomas
Creigh, is well known to many of our
Richmond people, having long repre-
scented his district in the State Senate :;
and purer gentleman and more manly
spirit never beat in human bosom. The
late David Creigh was an older brother
of the Senator, an Elder in the church
of DIR. McIlhany, the venerable pastor of
the Presbyterian church in Lewisburg,
respected by all who knew him for the
piety and virtues of his character, and
remarkably domestic in his habits, find,
ing his chief happiness in the society of
his affectionate and devoted family
We dare say, if anybody had gone
over Virginia, and been asked to Sc
lect man whose unobtrusive habits,
whose avoidance of political agitations,
and whose religious character would have
thrown a shield over him in the widest
pci:s;ea$ commissions, David Creigh
c3sst,l not have been overlooked Yet
this sas the very man singled out for the
most horrid injustice which any man
in Virginia has suffered in this war. We
do not except the dismal case of the be-
loved DIR. Wright, of Norfolk, David
Creigh, in his secluded mountain home.
was sought out in his own house-that
house which ought to have been his cas-
tle-and there assaulted by rullian Fed
eral soldier, who plundered his property,
insulted that family which was dearer to
the old mans heart than all his worldly
possessions, and finally attempted to take
his life, deliberately firing upon him. Is
there any court of law under the canopy
OF Heaven which would not Justify David
Creigh ili killing an assailant under such
circumstances -? There was strength
enough left in his aged arm to Stay the
ruilian Who was seeking the disgrace of
his family and his own blood. A year
elapsed before the fact became known to
The Federal generals and, on the late
Hunter raid, they seized David Creigh for
lhls defence of his children and himself
ragged him from his beloved home and,
It distance of hundred miles from that
lome, hung him to tree like dog. The
I'D man died, as he had lived, showing
10 fear, full of love as he had ever been
# his dear ones at home, and with the
anne pious trust and reverence in God
hat had made his gray head a crown of
,lory. We are familiar with the region
where this browning wickedness of the
Federal generals in Virginia was perpe-
rated we know its plain, moral, church |
,oing people, and we can imagine the
and horror with which they
ooked upon such scene-upon an aged,
Generated Elder Of their own faith hung
Ike a murderer in the midst of popu-
alton, who, though remote from his resi-
lence, were of the same race and the
anne religion. We speak of this event
nth all the calmness we can command
nut none of the innumerable atrocities
# this war have affected us more pro-
oundly; none have demonstrated more
learly the profound malignity and re-
of our enemies; none have
iven better ground for belief that
len become sometimes so wicked that
hey are given over by God, even before
lcy die, to the actual and literal posses
ion Of devils. Shall such crimes as this
Q perpetrated with impunity?. Are we
have more such victims? The case of
'avid Creigh is not the last, unless, by
ur future action, we convince our adver-
ary that our long talk of retribution is
o idle threat. No earthly motive but
ar will ever compel them to assume
yen the semblance Of humanity, and
lat motive can only be put in operation
y steady and systematic retaliation.
We have no means Of knowing what