The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-08-06
General Ayerili.

Until Hunter visited the mountains Of
Virginia the people there thought Averill
was an unfeeling man-that he was de-
structive as we'll as acquisitive. He GER
tainly knew how to appropriate provi
sions and horses. With reference to
the latter, he was wholesale. He had
taken all the horses on the farm of
widow lady, including the riding horse
of her daughter young lady as loyal
and brave as any of her sex in Virginia
could be. She applied at once TO him,
and demonstrated against his taking off
her favorite, which could be of no great
service to him and was so much priced
by her. The General, with an air Of
constrained polteness. replied, II am
sorry, Miss, to take your horse, but
my Instructions are imperative. | can
make no discrimination IN horses" He
was as good as his word and made none
People thought he was very bad man.
He helped himself petty freely to every
thing which fell in his way, and went a
little out of his way for what did not
In short, Averill was a terror to the
mountains The rumor that he was
making of raid" threw the whole
country he had traversed formerly into u
fsrment of apprehension and how to
escape, to hide, and spirit away, their
availabIes and their stock, became their
study night and day. They did think
Averill was troublesome, a very wick
ed, fellow But Hunter, at last, is sent
amongst them; and, by contrast with
him, Averiil, who had been such horror
TO them, becomes an amiable and kind
being They fed TO him, as a sort of
Guardian Angel, to shield them from the
destruction of the Genius of Desolation
Ayerill indeed, has some good parts
He could not look upon the cruelties and
diabolism OF Hunter unmoved. He plead.
ell and demonstrated. He Joined Crook
and Mulligan in begging that Governor
Letcher's house be spared. He seemed
to have succeeded in saving some of the
houses in the Sweet Spring Valley which
Hunter had threatened He no doubt
concurred with Mulligan in the opinion
that Hunter was '.fend" The peo-
pie Of the mountains are now rather his
admirers than otherwise BY the side
OF Hunter he is an Angel of Light and
when he visits the mountains again, he
will, we almost fear, be welcomed. He
might stand a good chance for Congress
most assuredly, if he would join the
Confederacy and set up for the Monroe
District. The Hon. Mr.. Staples would
find in him dangerous competitor.
The truth is, these Yankees have been
going from bad TO worse ever since the
war. The overbearing and brutal CON
duet Of one of their satraps of to-day,
is so completely outheroded by his sue
eessor tomorrow, that he will seem a
gentleman and christian by comparison.
And even Hunter, who has converted
Ayerill into very good, kind man, may,
in turn, be left in the shade by some yet
greater demon than himself, who may
follow him to execute the bloody and
fendish edicts of the beastly Wash
ington Government Nor are We
without consolation out of this
steady advance in the barbarity and
brutality of the Yankee invasion. 1t
only strengthens the resolution and force
OF our resistance, and it must end when
it reaches the eliminating point and its
utter fa'lnre is discovered by the nation
which has employed it as q means of our
sublugation, and who will have become
themselves Mortified at their enormity.
The sooner this point is reached the bet
ter.