Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-04-23
THE RADICAL MARTYR.

AkHHI IN, TIE AADISAL MAXI II n
Notwithstanding it is asserted with
confidence, and the facts as they appear
in the Georgia papers are clearly con-
frmatory that the man Ashburn re-
Gently murdered in Georgia by a number
of men in masks, met his fate at the
hands Of personal enemies in the ranks
Of his own party, a prodigious effort is
being made to fire the Northern heart
by charging it as an assassination by
Rebels, and the work Of the mysterious
Ku~Klux The pictorial sheets contain
flaming cuts Of the scene, and the Radi~
cal press teens with laudations Of the
truth, constancy, and heroism of the de-
funct loyalist "Y. S" Of the Cincinnati
Gazette, has recently furnished an elab-
crate statement in regard to the man, of
which the following is an extract, de-
seriptiye of his exploits in and about
this region during the war
During the year 1860, he (Ashburn) en-
deavored, as much as one private citizen
could, 10 dissuade his neighbors from
their fatal folly Of secession; but find
ing that neither arguments nor entrea-
ties would avail, he shook the dust from his
shoes when the first note Of open rebellion
was sounded, and leit the State Continu-
ally seeking some active employment in the
Union army, he was made Assistant Provost
Marshal Of Nashville hen it first fell into
Union hands.
When Rosecrans took command Of the
Army of the Cumberland, aud By his genius
began to call back victory to its standards,
be gave Ashburn an honorary position
upon his staff. / have a distinct recollec-
iioa Of seeing two somewhat old and gray
headed men upon the battlefield of Stone
River, late in the evening of the I'd Of
January, 1868, both of them dressed in
citizens clothes, each upon different part
Of the field, both engaged at one moment
in exhorting our soldiers to crush the enc
my at another in giving aid to some poor
wounded patriot who had fallen upon the
field. One Of these two was Col. james
Mullins, Of Tennessee, now a member of
the National Congress; the other was the
subject Of the present sketch.
In the capacity Of a staff officer Ashburn
accompanied the Army of the Cumberland,
and participated in It's campaigns until
after the battle Of Mission Ridge He then
went TO Washington City, and receiving
employment in the Navy Department,
made several trips from Washington to
different portions of the Southern coast.
Now this man who being dead, we care
to say nothing unnecessarily harsh about,
was very well, and not very favorably
known in this city from 1852 to 1865.
What official positions he held we are I'M.
able to say, but if there were any war.
like functions thrust upon him they were,
as his eulogist says, honorary" We
suppose 'Y. s means that a staff officer
Of General fighting such battles as
Rosecrans did at Murfreesboro who, in
stead Of being in immediate attendance
on his commander, is found in that bomb
proof part of the field where "Y s.
could witness his daring exhortations TO
other men ITO crush the enemy" is an
Honorary" one. Doubtless, his death
by whomsoeyer dealt was due to the
exhibition Of the violent and oyerbearing
temper which be SO frequently manifested
during his soiourn in this city.