Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-06-03

and privileges of other citizens. As West
Pointer and an officer Of the United States
army before the war, you know that to tie
malefactor up by the thumbs was common
mode of punishment in the army, and Candy
failed in his duty if he made distinction be-
tween criminals on account Of race or color
in melting out the pains and penalties required
by good order and military discipline.
While as matter of form and duty, as de-
the verdict of military court inficting just
and necessary punishment upon criminals
violating the laws it was his duty to enforce,
he was above being his own executioner.
The management Of the details he left to
man of brutal instincts, like yourself.
Now, General Hill, while you were falsely
accusing General Candy Of brutality, l pro.
pose to enlighten the public as to your military
record. While in command in North Caro-
lima, during the late war, twenty six white
men were tried on the charge of being loyal
to the United States. No other offense was
alleged against them. They were put on trial
late in the afternoon, and by the verdict of
m.head conrt martial, acting under your
orders, all hung until dead before breakfast
the next morning, without benefit Of clergy.
Are you not beautiful specimen to assail
Candy on the score of brutality? can think
of nothing as supremely ridiculous, unless it
would be for you and your friend, Captain
Jack to write a treatise on civilization for
distribution among the Ku-K lux of North Car
DINA. Indeed, if did not know that you
were in North Carolina, should infer from
the brutality of your assault on Candy,
Thomas, and others, that ysu were in the
lava beds when it was written, and that the
article was the joint production of yourself
and Captain Jack.
Your assumption that the death of the noble
George II. Thomas by apoplexy and the sud-
den deaths of Lincoln and other loyal men,
are q retribution Of the Almighty for the side
they took in the late war, could be inspired
only by the malignancy born of disappointed
ambition, and the spirit which possessed the
devil the founder of Secession Democracy,
of a preference to ruling in hell to serving in
heaven.
am happy in the belief that many thous-
ands of the honest masses in Tennessee,
North Carolina, and elsewhere, who were
misled and coerced into rebellion by just such
men as you, General Hill, now repudiate your
leadership and loathe your teachings.
II were disposed to initiate you, could
give long list of men in civil and military
life supporting the rebellion who have come
to sudden, and, in many cases, dishonorable
deaths, but prefer not to do so,
~" I>Jo'SS WV NY pa oiS 90 PunASh-
ment of God, because, as you say, cast my
lot with the Abolitionists." l recognize the
hand of God in my case, but regard Him a.
interfering in my behalf. Probably not one
man in a thousand would survive the expos
ure and hardships to which was subjected
while driven by rebel cavalry into the noun
tains and incarated in rebel prison in mid
: winter. While l am now in improving
health, with clear conscience, nearly all the
men who were instrumental in my imprison
ment, and who insulted me while in prison
are dead. Most of them died with delirun
t,tnsens, or in some other unnatural way.
would not parade their names before the
world, as you would for, when God lays his
hand on man l take mine off, and mention
the fact in defending myself from your attack.
/ have noticed that you and others, who
have assaulted Candy and Thomas since their
death, never insinuated a charge rejecting
upon their personal characters while they were
living. To make accusations against man
after his death which you dared not make
while he was living would indicate to unprej-
udiced minds that you are falsiiers or
towards.
As to myself,-I shall go on in the even
tenor Of my way, and at the expiration of my
term in the Senate two years hence, expect
to revive the Knoxville Wing for the especial
benefit of men of your stamp. am, &C.,
w. G. BRowNLow.
Knoxville, Tenn, May 26, 1873.