Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1865-02-22

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given one man and thatlt reasonable in the cit
.ens to make any complaint Of wrongs sustained 1t
he hsnds OF the Executive and his min;ons hope
Ton will ALLOW me, (through your ps1er, 70 make
Known few facts, showing the actings and doings
'f the military authorities in Wilmington and its
vicinity, towards yenr fellow. citizens. ),
On the twenty. FIRST day OF December, 1854 three
soldiers, all armed with guns, came to my house /
ION Masonboro' Sound, in the county Of New Han
over, aboutssven miles from Wilmington, and about
twenty miles from Fort Fishery and told me they
bad orders to arrest al men, white and colored be-
tween creek . few hundred yards north Of my
house and Sugar kosf - Il
, asked them where they would take mei They
said before their Lieutenant at house on the read
to the Lieutenant. I asked him the canse Of my /
arresti In Al arrogant manner and tone, he told
me he knew the, cause, but was not. at liberty to
tell me. He asked the men who arrested me- if this
was the only man they hadtakens They said yes.
He then took from his pocket small book, appa- ]
rently memorandum book and read out the names, |
Fowler, Parsley, Quine::, Cassidy. Naming each
one, he asked if they had seen him. When he
called the names Of one those gentlemen, and asked
the question, one of the soldiers replied saw on the
piazza an old gentleman and said nothingto him:
The Lieutenant replied: why, fhave arrested this |
morning, . man eighty years old" l asked him |
what he proposed to do with me- He said, must
60 still further on the road to Capt Dean. Within
short time, and one of my negro slaves, and an
other negro, (whom found there also arrested,3
were made fellow prisoners and marched OFT in COM
pany, before soldier armed with gun to Captain
Dean. asked him the cause of my arrest. He
said he did not know but he understood that there
were one or two men in the neighborhood, who had
been suspected of seeking to communicate with the
enemy, aid be presumed they wished to take them,
and to getthem they concluded to take every body.
This be said, however, was all conjecture l asked
him who gave the order for my arrest He said,
the order Vas giren to him by Colonel Conally,
and that it came from headquarters: | asked him.
what was to be done With mel He said he should
send me to Wilmington, to appear before Colonel
jackson. Within short time, and Mr.. Martin.
dale, (who was also there under arrest) received
from him written order to appear forthwith in
Wilmington before Col. jackson. Mr.. Martndale
is an old man, sixty nine years of age. -
Just before we left, he said to us in very stern
andemphatic manner: 81 wish yon 10 understand
that if you return without written permission to do
30, from Col Jackson, that you will be shot,. That
is part of my order, and 1 shall certainly execute
it; always execute orders given to me as we'll
against the citizenssas the enemy" la company
mingt9n through gale of wind and. rain went to
Col. Jackson and handed to him the written order,
stating to him that in conformity with that order
1 appeared before him, having been arrested aud
sent by Capt Dean. The Colonel looked 1t The or.
der, and immediatel replied: '.Well,. sir, dis
charge you." He said nothing more, and was aboht
to leave me-. told him that not sufficient Tor
me that was not satisfied. I wished to know the
cause of my arrest, and who issued the order. He
said be did not know the cause of it. That he knew
nothing about it, until he was Informed that morn:
| ing that about forty men from Masonboro Sound
were there having been arrested and brought before
him thst he learned it then for the frat time.
| asked him who issued the order. He said that
Gen. Bragg issued the order and that Gen. Whit
ing was only carrying out the order of Gen Bragg.
called on Gen. Bragg and asked him it he had is-
sued the order. He said he had not issued it and
knew nothing about it. That he supposed Gen.
Whiting had issued it, and had better see him.
Gen. B. made very light of it, and said with con.
temptuoas smile, that he supposed it had not put
1 me to much Inconvenience. iold him, it had put
me to serious Inconvenience, to be taken out OF my
house, arrested and brought there as criminal,
througha gale of wind and rain. Besides that an
important principle involved-tho liberty OF the
| citizen. BE said this no time to talk about
liberty: chat there was no liberty except what the
military chose to give-that the military must do Is
they pieased-thst it time enough to talk about
liberty after we had whipped the Yankees. l told
him that differed in opinion from him. That in
! NV case, thought it must be tried That no mar
was more willing than 1 was to assist and sustain
the military, so Nng as they kept within 'he limits
Of their authority. He seemed scout the idea tina
there were any limits TO their authority, became ex
cited, and in 3 hceioring, dictatorial manner ant
tone, said ~ would burn your ho use down
would shoot yod down, if necessary for The defenc
Of the country" His manner and lone becoming
quite disagraeAble and provoking, thought it be.
to cut short the interview by telling him that ha
oay called to know if he had ordered my arrest
- he had not done so, was sorry that had inter
rupled him, and took my leave-biddng Elm goo
| morning. -
: Ihad never seen this gentleman. and was intro
dueed to him by q friend of mine, and gentlepa
holding cenfdential. relations towards him. and
may be inistAk IN, but from the hortintervew whc
had with him, have come to the conclusion tina
he is . mani of quarrelsone disposition, and of q
oyesbearing, tyrsnaicsl temper. .ltstrikes me tina
if there be found in this andsa man wicked enougI
. 6llibuster, disorgauizer and repudiator, who fe
!. the grsrf6cskiou Of his pnerile,- selfish, COZ
! temptble smtisioe, i. wag to e'slave his fello,
: citizens by deprivng them Of their rights and Hbe
.. ty, inthis man, Gen. Bragg, he can find most Va
l. Ieoud not see 4the relevancy between shootiu
me dowa, If neeessary to,defend fhe country, andau
UNNECESSARY, pnjustfable arrest, for which nj eau
j. could be assigned, and no could be Iound wi
ling to sdmit that no had issued the order. ca!le
twice during tbs afternoon, once in company vii
Col jackson, ct the headquarters at Gen. Within
, He could not be found: After getting my - pass
: from the Provost Marshal, and written permissic
:. from Col jackson to return to my house, withO
being shot for doing 20, | mounted my. old hors
J and in company with my old neighbor Martindal
I, took the road for home, both of Us. ignorant
tho cause Ut this outrage and degradation to wbie
We had been subjected, as when we went
On tho day Of my arrest and the night previou
about twenty-five or thirty free white citizens er
2 ployed by the State of North. Carolina Through
- Gove,nor.) to make salt, and about twenty ortwe
: ty.ive citizens residing in my peighborhood, we
i also arrested. Some Of them seventy and eigh
years Of age, were taken out OF their houses abb
y midnight in the cold and rain, and under gusrd
..s 10 mneaa Guarded b ~sot
= or thirty Soldiers armed win loaded muskets. Tn
were kept together by these soldiers in the stree
like herd Of cattle, and were not permitted 10 60