The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-02-25
ASTORT OF TIE LOST CiTsE.
The Last Military Execution in Che
Confederate AFmy.
As WITNESSED BY AN EX-CONFEDER-

-NA-ANltA tatAAt Al
! As WITNESSED By AE EX-CONFEDER
ATE.
The long and wavering lines Of Lee
had, at last, yielded. Richmond haC
succumbed TO inevitable fate, and the
fortune of war. The conference al
/ AppOmattOX had taken place.
The Army of Northern Virginia
with its deeds of herOiSm and valOr,
had passed into history but there
were other armies and other detach-
mentS that were still trying to uphold
( the ill-fated banner of the doomed
I COnfederacy.
! Among them was GutneF's Brigade
of Kentucky Cavalry, which, at the
time of the surrender at AppOmattOx
/ was trying, by forced marches, to
/ reach FitZhugh Lees command.
| RumOrs of the downfall of the Con-
federacy had reached the command,
but not through a reliable source. In
/ the meantime many bravea and gallant
men, who had met and defied death
in thousand forms for what they be-
lieve to be a sacred cause, had become
almost mutinOus, and desertiOnS were
so numerous that the commander was
compelled either to punish the guilty
or disband the staff, the commander
| determined to punish those who at
! tempted to desert, and Immediately
! gave orders to that effect.
On Saturday night, April %, while
we were encamped upon the heights
of the AlleghenieS, two brothers by
the name of May, Kentuckians, who
had passed threeyears battling for the
Banner of Right" attempted to de-
sert and return to their homes.
They failed in the attempt, and be-
ing arrested in the very act, were ta-
ken to brigade headquarters, court
martialed, and sentenced to be eXecu-
ted at s o'clock in the morning.
Saddle up" was the order at seven
O'Clock the following morning, and
before the mountain tops were clad in
the soft golden light of the rising sun,
we were mounted, formed, and march
ed forward halfa mile, on to a plateau
of few acres in extent, and formed
into hollow square, fronting inward,
and the right open.
Various rumOrs were afiOat as to
what was going to transpire. Some
thought we We're to receive our long
loOked-fOr pay. Others, that we were
to be disbanded; and few that we
were to be surrendered.
But alas no one save a few regi-
mental commanders, knew of the hOr-
rid scene we were drawn up to wit
ness; for few minutes after being
formed, a squad of dismOunted cav
airy emerged from a cluster of timber
near by, marching into the centre of
the square, escOrting the two prison.
eTs.
The brigade commander and his
staff, being dismounted, marched to
where the prisoners were, and the
order, "Attention, brigade :" being
given by the Adjutant, the death sem
tence of the two brothers was read,
and preparations at once made to exc
cute them.
Immediately after the order was
read, eight files more of dismOunted
cavalry, with unloaded carbines,
marched into the square, under the
charge of a Lieutenant, and were
brought up in front of the first squad,
facing the prisoners. Their arms
were grounded, and the Lieutenant
proceeded to load them, which he did
all, save one.
In the meantime the brothers were
preparing to meet their inevitable
fate.
An officer, n personal friend of the
condemned, had been permitted to
dismOunt and talk with them for the
last time; and by him they sent low
ing and dying messages to their par
ents far away in their Kentucky
homes.
The squad in front now stood with
their pieces at shoulder arms" The
squad in the rear at "Order arms" in
case the first platoon failed to do the
work, they were to finish it.
Every soldier of the command was
now to witness the death of two of
their comrades. Many wished to dis
mount, that they might not be COM
PEELED to view the dreadful scene. But
law is ineXOrable, and all
were compelled to witness it.
The prisoners stood before their exc
cutiOners with an arm of each BAN
daged tOgether-brOthers in blood,
brothers in arms and now soon to be
brothers in death. Not n muscle
not a cheek blanched, and
each one throwing the arm that was
around the other, embra-
ced each other for the last time. At
this critical moment, Il perfect hum
of voices could be heard along the
line, and many outbursts of denunci-
alton could be heard, and an eBlelte
seemed to be inevitable, but these out
bursts of diSapprObatiOn were silenced
in an instant by the order of the Lieu
tenant commanding the squad, who
gave the command, "Make readyu-
''Take aimu-"Fire ~ At the crash
of the rifles the fetters that bound the
condemned together burst asunder,
and, throwing up their arms, they
reeled and fell to the earth, pierced
by balls. Immediately the brigade
was ordered into column, and march
ed by the remains rs they lay covered
with gore.
Apparently but few of the soldiers
expected that this horrible massacre |
would take place, for they supposed !
the commander would respite them |.
even after the guns were loaded. But /
no. To-day, upon those far-away
sleep the sleep that knows no |
those brave and gallant boys,
who never committed n crime, only
the one they paid their lives for and, |
that was q crime at sunrise
on the fatal day, at sunset the sword
had decreed otherwise, for we had re-
ceived orders that General Lee had
all the armies of Virginia,
Thus ended the last execution under
the government of the "LOst Cause"