American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-03-18
Gen. Pillows Petition.

To tie Editor Of he Nee York Tribune:
SIR send You herewith n copy
of my petition to Congress, and
statement of the facts which forced
me to become bankrupt, that you
nav see the reward melted out to
the patriot soldier. From these
you will see that l am 'bctween the
upper and the neither milistonP,'
and that by the running of the mill
I will soon be ground into dust,
whence / am. All my long 7and
eventful life, l have stood up with
stout heart, and manfully COM
batted the trials and tried to meet
the duties and responsibilities Of
life. How l have met them, the
country knows. 1 trust l will be
pardoned for saying l SO loved the
National GOvernment-tO whose
service | had devoted the prime of
my lite-that 1 would l had fallen
in the service and died while 1 was
honored with its confidence and its
commission. Standing, as 1 now
do, between its aggressive acts aud
displeasure, aud the neglect and in
gratitude OF the people I subse-
uuently took up arms to defend, l
am without hope for the future. To
be homeless, with family without
shelter, with gaunt poverty staring
me in the face. at my advanced age,
presents prospect so gloomy, that
my heart gives way, and the con-
viction is forced upon me that
have lived too long. l am induced
to address this letter to your great
journal by seeing in 1t the kind and
sy sympathetic notice of my bankrupt
cy. Very respectfully, your obedi
ent servant, GID. j. PILLOW.
MEMPHIS, Tenn, Feb. "A, 1876.
The petition asks for compensa-
ton for 235 mules taken from Gen
Pillows plantations in Arkansas
by the Union forces during the war
and concludes as follows:
"Your petitioner was not will
ing bellige rent in the late unhappy
civil war. He would have raised
his arms against his natural father
as willingly as he took up arm:
against the governm ent which hon
, ored him, and which he had served
/, so long and SO faithfully. After ar
absence of nearly three years, ht
, returned home, disabled by wound!
!, received in the service, and wa:
; rendered by the Surgeon General o
. the army certificate of permanen
: disability, which entitled him to
: pension during his life. This h'
: declined receiving being then ricl,
: he did not want pension. He Ii
= now far advanced in life, and wa
. reduced to poverty by the events o
the late civil war. He is the only
:, Major General of the regular army
who served i'll the Mexican wary ht
still survives While lie is. wei
aware that the government cOult
, not undertake to pay for all mules
. taken by its army during the war
= yet it can afford to pay for thu
= mules taken from the cotton field
J of all the Major Generals who serv
!, ed faithfully in any foreign war
More especially where those mule
, have been kept in body and no
! judiciaily condemned until peace
, was restored and the offender wal
granted full pardon.
!, cit the natural father could for
: give his prodigal son, and kill thu
, tatted calf upon the return of thu
son from his debauches. cannot
paternal government, i'll pardonIns
the offending soldier, restore to hin
that which is his by natural right
Though, by the harsh laws of war
the rights were forfeited, can thu
government afford TO be unjust tt
the eli soldier, the prime of who's
lite was spent in it's service, ant
! the strength of whose body wal
broken by its enemyF Does thu
, government pardon the offender
when it enforces heavy part o
tue penalty of the offense A sens'
of national gratitude and wis
public policy induce all govern
!, ments to pension the disabled sol
dier and the wives of those who sac
8 rilice their lives in their service. l.
!, it consistent with this policy, t.
take from the oldest living office
of its regular army, who was disa
, bled in its foreign war, his only
means of living, as a punishment
Tor one unwilling act OF dlSODedl
,, ence to the national authority Il
that soldier not punished enough
by the loss Of an estate of more thar
two million dollars 2
"Late English papers safe thai
John Fitzgerald, soldier Of the
English brigade of light horse
which conferred upon itself and
upon the English arms immortal
glory, By its charge up Balallla, be-
fore Sebastopol, has been allowed
by the neglect of his government
: ito die of starvation. Will a like
reproaeh he allowed to rest on the
great American Republic?"
AFTER a while people will begin