The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-11-21

Tennessee River, and send him TO
Johnson's Island or South. [fSee
orders below
j. T. BOYLE, Brig. Gen.
Dispatches 1, 2 and 3 were turned
over to me when assumed command
in August, 1862, as the orders which
should govern my military conduct
Dispatch No. 4 will show my author
ity for making the money levy ia
Union County, which has baen the
occasion of much abuse by my opp
neuts. The manner In which the
levy was made and appropriate will
be shown in its proper place. To
appear in next issuel It has been
publicly charged that my conduct in
requiring the City Council of Hen
derson to take the oath of loyalty and
give bonds was tyrannical aud uu-
authorized. Under Dispatch No. 5
[ had full authority to arrest ind send
them off to Camp Morton. The seees-
sionists Of Uniontown are very bitter
in regard to my treatment of that
place. The only interference with
their business pursuits was to close
the stores for few weeks,
to prevent contraband trade,
when under Dispatch No. 8, was
advised to burn 1t dol0n, as it was re-
psatedly occupied by armed rebels,
and used to FIRE upon boats" Sc
we're attacks are made upon me and
reflections upon my integrity because
I required guerrillas, who were forced
to surrender themselves when closely
pursued or at the approach of Winter,
to turn over TO the Government their
horses and arms, or their money value,
if they had sold or concealed them /;
when by Dispatch No. 10. my other
instructions. and the whole spirit of
the orders, their property, liberty, and
even their lives were placed In my
hands. [ have been charged with a
violation of the laws of the State and
with wanton cruelty and tyranny in ar
rest of rebel county officers, secession
candidates, or those who did not favor
a vigorous prosecution of the war. l
refer to dispatches Nos. 5 and IA, and
the notes attached to them for full
justification of my entire action in
these matters.
I claim that in all my military or
civil acts I never exceeded the letter
and spirit of my orders, and in almost
all cases came short of executing them
to their full extent and rigor Re.
peated discretionary powers were
given me by General BOYLE, and
whenever l failed to execute his or
ders to the letter, it was uniformly on
the side of leniency and mercy.
HOPKINS COUNTY LEVY.
One of the leading acts of my ad.
ministration of affairs in Western
Kentucky was the ordering and en-
forcement of money levy upon the
secession citizens of Hopkins County
to reimburse Union mon for losses
sustained by guerilla depredations
At the time it was quietly submitted
to, but since the close of thu
war my action ia the matte
has been very bitterly denounced
by the secessionists, and | an
informed that direct charges ar,
preferred against me, for the man
ner in which the leyies we're appro
priated. l will not now enter into
any extended defense of the justic,
or policy of the order. Nothing
which | could say would convinc,
secessionists in sympathy that it wa
right; and at the time it was unan
imously endorsed by all loyal men
and is now by the great mass of thu
friends of the Government during TIA
war. who are conversant with tn
facts.
In November, 1862, when Hopkins
Webster. and the adjoining couptie
were overrun with guerrillas, and tn
great body of the Union men driver
from their homes, l projected an ex
petition into that region, and wa
successful in scattering and driving
out all the armed bands. and render
ing it comparatively safe for Unior
men to return to their homes. It wa
the third time within as many month
that it had been necessary to visi
that section with troops in force. Th'
guerrillas were sustained, encouraged
| fed and concealed by the citizens
while they committed all kinds
of lawless depredations upol
the Union men, driving then
from their homes and plunderint
their houses, stores, shops and farms
Upon the urgent Petition of thu
leading loyalists of the County o
Hopkins. L determined to hold the
secession citizens pecuniarily respon-
sible for the damages sustained, and
therefore ordered the levy to be
made.
Upon my return to Henderson, or
the 18th day of November, before the
levy was half enforced, and before 1
cent of the money had been dis
bursed, [ reported to General j. T
BOYLE, my immediate commander
tThe following Instructions were also re.
ceived from Brigade Headqu arters:
HEADQUARTERS BRIGADE
RUssELLvILLE, June I'D, 1868. {
Col. John w. Foster, ConIn1onding FoSt Hon
ferson, KY: