Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1871-01-26
Relief for MRS. Harmon Of Greene
County Tennessee.

massachusetts, MIR. WILSON asks unanl-
nous consent, on behalf of the Senator
from Tennessee. [Mr. BRowNLow,1 that
a bill of a local character may be taken
up, that he may make some remarks upon
it. IL there objection to this proposition
The Chair hears none.
MALINDA HARMON.
The Senate, as in Committee of the
Whole, proceeded to consider the bill (H.
r. No. 2252) for the relief of Malinda
Harmon, widow of Jacob Harmon, deceas-
ed, of Greene county, Tennessee.
/ MIR. BROwNLow. Mr.. President, the
case of the widow Harmon, of Greene
county, East Tennessee, now before the
Senate. is without a parallel in the develop
ments of the late rebellion. When the
facts are understood-and I will state
them bricfy-Senators will agree with me
that Mrs. Harmon's is one of the first
claims which should have been met by this
| Government on the termination of the war.
In the fall of 1861 General Mcclellan,
then commander-in-chief of our armies,
with others in authority, stipulated with
certain prominent Union men. then re-
| luRcCc v Ldc lcuuccSCC III X UOhs
for the burning of all the railroad bridges
between the Virginia. line and Chattan-
ooga, a distance of two hundred and forty
miles. Accordingly. on the night Of the
9th of November, 1861, precisely at mid
night, these bridges were all fired. On
its part the Government pledged itself to
follow the burning of the bridges by the
immediate occupation of the country, thus
protecting its agents in this work with the
forces then in Kentucky, on the Tennessee
border, under command of General George
H.. Thomas.
The Government failed to carry out its
pledge. AS a consequence, the jails and
prisons all along the line of railroad were
filed with Union men charged with bridge
burning. Jacob Harmon, an honest and
industrious German, and one of his sons,
residing in the vicinity where the Lick
Creek bridge was burned, were thrown in
to prison, and soon after hanged at Knox
vile. While in prison he executed a
mortgage to one John Baxter. of a law
firm, upon his farm and home-a valuable
little farm, said to be worth So. 0O0-with
a view to his defense before a drum-head
court-martial. The trial before the court
martial was a mockery. The counsel
we're refused the facilities for defending
the prisoners.
Judah p. Benjamin, the rebel secretary
of war, and former Senator from Louisiana,
publicly issued and printed an order. which
| give in his own words, namely:
s|That all those implicated in burning
the bridges should be tried by drum-head
court-martial, and, if found guilty, pub
licly hanged in the vicinity ofthe burned
bridges; and that their bodies should be
left hanging for several days as a warning
to the Union men of East Tennessee"
Among those executed were Jacob Har-
mon and his son, while another son was
thrown into prison and kept there until
he died. Flr -
Since the close of the war the lawyer
referred to his foreclosed the mortgage and
sold the farm to pay for his service as a
lawyer, of no benefit to his clients, while
he secured a Shylock's fee; and the result
is that this poor widow. who's husband and
two sons died for the Union cause.
and whose home has been fraudulently
takeu from her as a consequence of the
loyalty of her protectors, is o destitute
and suffering for the necessaries of life.
1t is to enable her to reclaim her home
that this bill provides, and since without
hesitation the House has passed this bill.
| doubt not the Senate will do the same
TThe Chief Clerk read the above re-
marks at the request of MIR. BROwNLOw,
in consequence of his physical condition
disabling him from addressing the SEN
ate.l
The VICE PRESIDENT. Th bill is be-
fore the Senate as in Committee of the
Whole, and open to amendment. 1t will
be reported in full.
The Chief Clerk read the bill. The pre-
amble ~recites that in the fall of 1861 it was
decided by the Secretary of War to cause
to be destroyed all the railroad bridges
i'm East Tennessee between Chattanooga
and Bristol, and accordingly men were
sent there to enlist parties to perform the
work; that one Captain David Fry did re-
cruit and enlist as a portion of the force
Jacob Harmon and his two Ons; that he,
Fry, administered the oath to them, and
there being no Bible at hand he caused
them to place their hands on the Union
flag while he solemnly administered the
path to be ever faithful tand true to the
Union: that he then ordered then to dis
troy the bridge across Lick creek, and
the trestle-wOrk, near one mile in length,
i'm Greene county. East Tennessee; that
they soon picked their opportunity, and
under the eye of captain Fry put fire to
the bridge and trestle-work, and destroy
ed them; that Harmon and w sons were
arrested, placed in a rebel prison, were
tried by a rebel court-mar tIal. convicted,
and Harmon and one son hung till dead,
near the town of Knoxville, East Tennes-
see, on the 18th of December, 1861, 1.-THE
other son, having contracted disease while
in prison, died } that Harmon employed
counsel to defend himself and sons. for
which he executed his notes to his attor-
neys for the sum of $4,000, and give them
as security a lien or mortgage upon his
real estate ; that on the 9th of July. 1868,
a decree of sale of the land was ordered,
for the sum of $4,193 so, which, if no
relief is given, will leave the widow with
five children and but little means left
whereby to make a support that it is evil
dent Harmon and sons lost their lives in
the service of the Government, and now
in the name OF justice, honor, and human
ity the Congress of the United Suites is in
duty bound to relieve the widow and her
children from this debt of oppression. they
never having received one cent for the
services rendered by her husband. The
bill therefore directs the Secretary of the
Treasury to pay to Malinda Harmon, the
widow of Jacob Harmon, deceased. of