American citizen., 1880-07-24
Communcated.l
How H lrIcock Shot His Prisoners

Editor Citizen:
There are incidents in the history
of all great men, some good, some
very unpleasant. both To friends
and..to toes Some of the best men
w-Ao ever lived, have had hours OF
passion, pride and prejudice, when
errors were committed of the most
prievous nature. Gen. Washington
played cards, lost at times, aud
seriously regretted the folly. JeH
erson had his hours of sktp;iciSln,
and for moment often forgot
the God who made him. Andrew
jackson had his hours of indlscre-
ton. So have all g.eai men-save
one exception. Gen. Winfield 5.
Hancock seems to have been from
his early manhood, yea, from his
youth upward, an exception TO this
rule, always cool, always dispaS-
sionate, i'll danger and out of dams
ger, brave and generous to IA fault
to women ever tender, To children
ever loving, To army otiice's ever
courteous. to common solulers ever
polite and kind
| During the late civil war, an III
cident occurred which has never
been given 10 Ire public.
One of the most prominent mer-
chants of onr little clty-Mr. IL. G.
hands me letter from his brother,
who is also II prominent merchant
in a neigbburing city. L give the
Incidents as the gentleman wrote
them Verbatim ct LiteratiM."
"There WAS a general rejoicing
here, over the nomination OF G-n
hancock. l had the pleasure quite
unexpectedly, during the war, of
seeing him. will tell You how it
happened.
At the battle of Petersburg, |
was ordered by my Colonel out Of
the redoubt, which was in msn-
ner surrounded by the Federa,s.
who held all but one little opening,
which made it dangerous even to
|try TO pass through, but, being
ordered to go in seal ch of the band,
II being the header thereby who
were at that time across The rail-
road, about a mile Distant went
to deliver the order for them To
bring water TO the many wounded
who were in the rrdOubt. While
there, and making arrangements to
get waier-up came one of Gen.
Hancock's aids, with IA company or
cavalry, and ordered us TO surren-
der, which command we OF course
obeyed, seeing the situation We
were i'm The officer next ordered
us to forward march until we reach
xd Gen. Hancock position Here
the officer presented us to the Gems
eral with these words, "General
Hancock, [ have the honor To pes
sent you with brass band" "Ah"
said the General, ''you will please
give US the tune called Yankee
Doodle now" One of our boys
answered the General very politely.
"Yankee Doodle Is played out"
WheTeupon the General remarked
IL will see If it is" "March these
men TO my quarters and don't let
them mix with the other prisoners,
have special guard placed over
them."
nOW uO ou VIC I'LL Oh
we were marched TO headquarters,
where in less than three hunrs, we
SAW our whole brigade under guard
marching within speaking distance
of US to the main barracks to await
transportation to prisOu. We had
made up our minds to await orders
and be shot. But about sun down
Gen. Hancock aud staff came rid
ing up, dismouuted, held a low con
versalion-whIch we were unable
TO hear, but supposing it to be a
death order. AT about dusk an
officer with guard approached the
guard on duty, and relieved them,
In a few minutes camp fires were
lighted, and soon alter, came three
men, who looked to me like the
Generals servants, AS we afier-
wards learned they were.) On
their arrival We found that each
bore a vessel of red wine, aud deiI-
cate food in great abundance, OF
which we paruoOk with hearty
good will. assure You that this
gave great reliet to both body aud
mind. We thought II this was the
kind of death we were going TO die
We wanted to di. every day.
I only refer to this as arOther
instance in which tn. General
showed good judgment and humans
ity, to the disobeilient. After our
feast we received marching orders !;
by morning We were placed on
board vessel, which transferred
US to ship, which landed Us safes
ly on Hart Island, where mach res |
prntance was going Oh. l will not |
only cast my vote Tor him, but use |
nay most ze ,loUs Influence for the
General who shoots his prisoners |
with wine aud biscuits"
Behold the conquered soldier,
worn out with hard fghing for his :
hungry, halt naked,
bare footed, our noble Confederate
boys, full of grit. full of Southern
careless aud fearless,
talking to their captor with head
up, like true men as they wpIe--
and could not be made to sing a
song repulsive to them.
.Thsy demanded the song but oh never.
That triumph the stranger shall kno
May this right hand be withered torerer.
Ere 1t string our high harp foTthe foe"
Watch Hancock. Look at the nO-
DIE chjeitain. Did he order for tire
n al.