Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-04-02


crate Prisoner.
! remember one scene while at ST. Louis
which aroused the demon within me. The
shore was lined with fair women and brave
men, who had come 10 show their respect
to the cause which they loved, by a recOg-
milton of those who were martyrs to the
same faith. They came TO pay their silent
worship TO the genius Of Revolution, whose
pathway, though il led through carnage,
the end thereof was liberty.
Amid the vast throng ! observed ayoung
gentleman and young lady, around whose
hearts love seemed 10 have thrown his
witchery, and i Immediately concluded
that they were man and wife, who had
Just launched their bark on the waveless
sea of matrimonial life. The gentleman
was man Of fine pesOnnel-tall, graceful
and commanding and withal, the bearing
Of a soldier. His companion was a lady
apparently "just upon the eve Of woman
hood She was dressed in elegant taste,
and from her lofty bearing, it was
evident that she belonged TO the FIRST class
Of society. l remember that on one Of her
cheeks nature had placed peculiar signet,
perhaps to prevent her liege lord worship
ping her as the idol of the beautiful.
observed that she often waved her handker-
chief at the prisoners. Her husband and
self soon started off to recross the river, she
leaning lovingly on his arm. She Occa-
sionally waved her kerchief, and when
they had gotten some hundred yards from
the boat, her husband carelessly drew his
handkerchief from his pocket and put it TO
his mouth, and in taking il down he gave
il a wave. This aroused the Indignation
of the Federal officers commanding us.
Here was an opportunity 10 show their au-
thority; here a chance to play the Nero on
a small scale.
BY command Of 1t. Col. Force, Of the
Goth Ohio regiment, he was arrested.
When they laid their hands on him,
though a score of bayonets we're glittering
around him, he resisted till overpowered
by numbers. His wife plead for his life
and his release, but her touching appeals
were in vain. lie was ruthlessly torn from
her embrace and forced within the guard
lines and an extra guard placed around
him. After he had seated himself on a
box amid the guards, his lovely wife still
gazed upon him. Not a shudder seemed
10 pass over her, not tear dimmed her
eye-she seemed the impersonation Of fe-
male heroism. Two thoughts were strug-
Cling in her bosom. Two loves were con-
tending for the mastery-love for her hus-
band, and love for the oppressed South.
The conflict was terrible, but patriotism
prevailed, and she exclaimed, in thrilling
accents" M husband die and rot ia
prison, bat neUer, no Reuer, take the oath"
This noble response called forth a deaien-
ing shout from a thousand prisoners. II
was worthy Of a Spartan wife, and must
have made the Federal officers feel how
utterly contemplate was their tyranny.
Yet free speech is the boast of this land.
Uow the glory Of the republic of Washing
ION has departed = where is that freedom OF
speech OF press about which the North is 80
blatant? Lost among the surging waves Of
a remorseless fanaticism. Freedom must
be given 10 the negro, but the tongue Of the
white man must be still or be is pointed to
the bastile. When l reached St. Louis
expected that military domination had
crushed out all Southern sympathy; but
far from IT, The fame has been suppressed
bat the embers are glowing with a burning
heat. The crater has been sealed over,
but the volcano is burning brightly beneath,
and will, in due time, burst forth with such
food of lava as will make the despots OF
the hour tremble for their thrones.
With the exception of the Dutch, ST.
Louis is as loyal to the South as Nashville
The ark Of Southern independence is
guarded as vigilantly by the ladies Of ST
Louis as ever the Jews guarded the Ark
Of the Covenant.
The heart of woman has in all ages been
the asylum Of liberty. When the spirit OF
liberty has been driven from the heart Of
man, woman has ever embalmed it in her
heart and made il one of the Lares and
Penates Of her household gods. Thus will
il be in this great revolution. If our
struggling nation should ever become the
conquered province0f military despotism,
the fair women of the South will eushrine
in their souls the vital spark of freedom,
and teach their children that
Its liberty alone that gives the flower
OF heeting life its taste and perfume
We we're very anxious 10 be paroled in
ST. Louis, feeling assured that we would
find a host Of congenial spirits. This hope
threw a radiance across our pathway. We
had painted in our minds, a prison house,
full Of stygian horrors, where only light
was the feeble ray, peering through the
iron CRATES and whose sepulchral echoes,
sounding through the dim aisles would
mark our hopes one anticipation with an
eternal no m0re--acucr more. But the
benevolent government in whose hands We
we're, thought it not prudent TO parole ne
in st. Louis. Their object was to PUNISH
rs for fighting against what they conceived
20 be the "best government the world ever
savv - Dna effsnar RON, ROD svhau speak K
ing Of the impropriety Of giving us the
parole of the city, shat We would be hon
ored guests of the city, and would be feted
aud battered 10y the citizens instead of be-
ing prisoners"