The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-06-16
SAINT PAUL. FRIDAY, JUNE l6, 1865.

and, with a good deal of unnecessary swagger-
ing and bluster, took me up on that which, as
knew right well all the while, was the real
head and front of the offending" In my let
ter to Mr.. Goodwin, already mentioned, had
tions of last May near Bermuda Hundred. It
was for this that you wanted to pinch and
wiring me. And, when gave you true &C
count of the matter, this, instead Of appeasing
your wrath, only seemed to kiLdle it the more;
perhaps because it placed the responsibility Of
the publication on those whom you could not
reach. And here found you thoroughly in
well be in earnest without playing the old
bruiser. Yonr motive, my general, was re-
venge, too palpably so to admit of any question;
indeed, think you hardly cared to disguise it.
And your passion made you unwise, or at least
unshrewd; its effect being, I should think, to
dsedge your wrists and dismantle your judg-
ment. At times you waxed pretty decidedly
tempestuous, especially when Gen. Gilmore
was your theme; repeatedly denouncing him
as damned scoundrel :" and "a HARLAN.
guage which, had you been perfectly cool,
doubt even whether You would wish he was to
have considered exactly becoming an officer
and gentleman" At one stage of the dia-
logue, when you were trying to make me say
something untrue of Gen. Gilmore, my answer
not being such as you wanted. you exclaimed
"That's lie, sir! damned lie |" which, though
polite enough coming from you, did not strike
me as In perfectly good taste. The interview
ended (for all such exploits of manhood must
have an end) in your placing me in arrest and
in close confinement.
had been in your bull-pen four or FIVE days
when Col. Serrell came to me and said he had
been having long talk with you about me-
That you disclaimed all hard feelings towards
had M wish IN iniuro mo. dosirod t~ coyo
me from court martial That you thought /
had better write out for you a statement of
my case, covering the main points which had
come up in our interview, as this might open
the way for settlement without trial.
The Colonel therefore advised-whetherf from
you or from himself l cannot say-that my
best way was to leone out" in my statement,
his woyds-in regard to Gen. Gilmore. This
was indeed rather pregnant hint that
you were imputing to me some mysterious
knowledge about Gen. Gilmore, which must
needs foul my breast with guilt; and that here
was capital chance to cleanse my breast by
emptying the foulness into your ears. had
only TO make you my father confessor, and
whisper myself out of your clutches BY whis-
pering another man in. Wasn't it lovely
do you mean. Colonel" said l, "that Gen.
Butler wants me to lie against Gilmore?"
20, no." was his reply, "he only wants you
to tell the truth"
but, Colonel, what you say looks very
much as though his plan was to wiring out of
me such truth as he chooses to impute to me:
And so, in old times, when the engines of tor.
ture were used, it was claimed to be done in
order to make the victims tell the truth.
As to the bearing of my statement thus made
in respect of Gen. Gilmore, you are aware Of
what it was, sir2 You tried to roast out of me
q elimination of that officer. I gave you
what do you think, sir ?-I gave you a vindica-
tion of him. Bless you, my General did
not mean it; never once thought of such q
thing. only meant to tell the simple truth.
were made against me- and was held there to
die, inch by inch, in your bullpen; as. but for
the Intervention of friends in New York and
elsewhere, doubtless should have been held
till this time. provided had lived go long.
Meanwhile, Col. Serrell wrote me several
notes, showing lively interest in my behalf,
inquiring whether any progress had been made
in my case, and saying yOu had promised to
take it up and dispose of it. ! know not
whether you were sincere in those promises,
but know that they were not kept and that
the only effect of them was, to press home upon
me that experience of hope deferred which
maketh the heart sick. And think it hardly
worth the while to speak of sincerity when any
act of yours is in question for, as you have
shown yourself to me, there is no truth in you,
sir, nor any thing to build o trust upon. Prob
ably did not at the time rightly divine the
purpose OF those friendly notes am now of
the opinion that they were meant as feelers, In
order to ascertain whether l was yet ready to
give up those wicked secrets which you i'm.
puted to me. At this time, remained in your
old bull-pen, where the number of prisoners
had been gradually reduced to few, and those
pretty decent men. But an order now came
fo~ mr., tn hr,ll
six miles distant. In this act of removal,
was obliged, lame and feeble and faint as I
was, to foot it all the way, the officer in COM
maRd utterly refusing to let me ride. though
there was room in the wagon for half dozen
men, and alleging that his orders would not al.
low it. Your old bull-pen was, in all conscience,
bad enough, but the new one proved, as an
ticipated, far worse, the inclosure being much
smaller, and crowded with men of the worst
description; the ground, there being 60
level that it was impossible to keep my quar-
ters from being flooded whenever there was
any considerable fall of rain. Therewithal, it
was an unclean stable, the beasts having lately
been taken out to make room fer us men; such
q place in fact. as, al that season, no good far
mer would think of keeping bis cattle in.
True, it was within stones throw of your
quarters; and so is q mans pig.pen commonly
within stones throw of his house. 1t was
inhuman in you, sir, to keep anything wearing
the human form in that nasty hole. Vile and
stupid as many of them WERE pitied, with all
my heart pitied, the poor creatures there hud.
died together, wading and wallowing in the
mud and filth from which they could not es-
cape. Physically, most of them were in a
worse plight than myself, though probably
none of them fe.t it as 1 did. there icing no
personal malice or vindictiyeness, and there.
fore no sense OF it. in their case. Besides, the
others were, for the most part, confined only
for short time, few of them staying more
than week; whereas 1 was kept from week
to week. and even from month to month. l
remember but two or three who were held
through the whole period of my confinement; !;
and these were young nlen, healthy, gorous,
and more or less Injured to similar hardships
and exposures; ali of which was not true in
my case, and you, sir knew it was not
At length, on the 9th of November, you be-
ing then in New York, all the prisoners but
myself were taken out of the loathsome in.
closure and removed to Bermuda Hundred. II