The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1865-04-05

r.
then he'll burn your damned old house."
There are hundreds Of these mounted
men with the column, and they 60 every
where. Some of them are loaded down
with silverware, gold coin, and other val.
uables. I hazard nothing in saying that
three-ffths in value Of the personal prop.
erty Of the counties we have passed
through is in Sherman's army to-day
The yield Of horses and wagons has not
besn SO large ason Tie Georgia campaign.
MORE HORRORS.
In tho Army oe the Potomac there is o
stokade of logs, twenty feet high, and
sharpened at the tops, and known as the
"Bull Pen" in which captured deserters
are confined before execution. In it are
about sixty wretched men, awaiting their
ts'c. Henry Clay Trumbull, Chaplain Of
be Connecticut 10th, thus writes Of these
shocking scenes: Executions fer deser.
tion are common nowadays in the ar
mics of the Potomac and James. As
many as sixty of the captured runaways
have been confined at one time in the
PROVOST Marshal's prison camp of sin
gle division. The "Bull Pen," as this
inclosqre is universally called, is a collec-
tion Of tents surrounded by close stock.
ade of pine logs twenty feet high, guard.
ed on all sides. Just at the right of its
ENTRANCE, outside Of its walls, ia SIN all
log cabin used as the condemned cell. -
The mau who enters that goes out on "
to execution. Sad stories of remorse nd
agony the walls of that low, dark, glool ny
cabin pogld tell. Soon as convenie ut
after dcserter is arrested on his way to
tbe enemy Or the rear and charges pre-
forrsd against him, he is tried before q
general court martial. H
The saddegt case is the latest. A boy
not yet sixteen, born aud brought up in
be upper part Of New York city, wns
met 10 the streets by a hellish broke r,
and enticed away to Connecticut to l,e
sold ss substitute. He was far from b e.
ing . bright boy, seemingly not full wit.
ted, but his childish ways were touchin s.
y attractive. He said-and probably
with truth that uni the broker led hi N
Of he nc7cr had passed night away from
his parents. Like tired homesick school
boy determined TO play truant, he star,e d
to rpn home. Being arrested, he again,
slipped of but vas once more caught, as
he exercised no shrawdness in his fight
Being tried and sentenced to death, he
was put ip the condemned cell in the
evening to be shot the following morning.
His boyish grief when told he was to die
was heartrondins. With unaffected nat
aralness he sobbed out his lament over
his own hard lot, 70, the dear ones at
home. one, so young, to go outside the
breastvorks, andz-nnd gee the coffin an /
grave there, and then be short! I don't
want to be killed Won't the General
pardon me2' On being assured that his
execution was certainty, he urged the
chaplain not to let his friends know how
he died, "for they'd feel so bad about it, ("
he said. ~ suppose it would kill my ia.
ther," for some reason his father seemed
closer to his heart than his mother), II
suppose it would kill 'em all. They'd be
thinking of It nights Don't tell 'em
about it," Once convinced that it was
TOO late to obtan reprieve-no official
short of the department commander hav.
ing the power 70 grant it, and there be,
ing no time to obtain it from him, and
having cried bis cry .out-be quoted like
a weary child, and listened to all the chap.
lain could say to aid in preparing him
for the eternal future. Kneelina oa the
soaked, swampy ground, under the drip
ping root of that gloomy cabin, in the
dark and stormy night, he folded his fel
tered hands, and meekly said his lttl,
evening prayer, and committed himself
in seeming confidence to His Heavenly
Fathers care. He could not read, bu
he had been taugh, in one of the blessed
mission schools Of New York, and seemed
to bavc a simple, child.like faith in God
Probably he bad not been addicted to vi
cious habits. Ho sald, when asked abou
the way he spent bis evenings, that h
"always worked in the factory laytimcs
and when evening came he was tired anc
went to bed early His father and mo
ther prayed with him, and taught him t,
do right. "If your life should be spared.
asked the chaplain, "would you love Coo
and try to serve him - "Why, yes" h,
answered, al always did love Him." a
though, in his child,like trust, he had n,
cause Of enmity with the Father to whom
he had been drawn in grateful confidence
After his first hard cry, the thought Q
death did not seem to occupy him, q.
was too much Of a child to fully realize Il
Just before he went out to be shot b.
turned to the chaplain and asked, as il
boyish curiosity, "If / die to day vii
my soul gorishs to heaven to.dayT Ar
riving> at the Geld Of execution he wal
not at pll disturbed by the terrific prepa
rations. He walked to the open grav,
and hooking inquirinely into it without !
shudder, and then no turned to gaze al
the firing party, as though he saw only
kind hearted comrades there, He kneel
cd agaia to pray, as calmly as II he wert
to lie down in his own little crib at home
Just as his arms were being bound bird
few BY, and he twisted his head around
10 follov with his gaze tho bird in itl
flight as though he should like to chase
IL; then he looked back again at the
bright puskeis with soft steady eye as be-
fore. "Let me kneel on the ground and
rest on the ooiip," he said as they fixed
him In position. uNo. kneel nm Tho oof