The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1882-06-29
'ASTLE THUNDER.

pcrience how our brave men had suffered From
Libby We went to
CASTLE THUNDER.
This was much smaller building than the
other, but it lacked nothing in gloom anl hol'-
ror. it. original u>c had been that Of Il slave
pen. Runaway slaves when caught Were thrown
i'll here to await the orders of their owners.
Slaves from the surrounding plantations who
We're to BE- >oIu in the Richmond market for the
Southern cotton fields. Were placed here While
awaiting their SAFE. They would usually be
brought To town on Saturday and remain in the
pen over the Sabbath, while their Christian
owners would worship God in SOME Of the TIP
town ari>torratic churches, where il the midst
of all that was beautiful ana luNurjant they
would worship God ana calculate upon the auc-
ton sale of the slaves to be held on the morrow
often wonder how God reconcilcd the prayers
of the masters and their Slaves. The PRAYERS Of
the two classes on such Sabbatbs would be
offered under different circumstance, and sur
roundngS. one class was white. cultured. ari>-
tocratic, and wealthy. The olhcr was composed
Of black. ignorant, and degraded Slaves. The
music and words Of cloqucncc rlyi>hcd the ears
of the listener The prayers of the others were
interrupted by groanS of suffering. the outh~ Of
wicked oyersccr>, tho clanlling Of chains and
the >hrick> Of some Slave mother Il, She thought
Of her little children from whom >h, had been
torn. and unto whom She would never be re-
stored. With humanity, suppose the -ympa-
ALI hp ;+l,
God believe That il was With thr' latter; and
imagine that God'> spirit did come down upon
the hearts of those poor ignorant believers. and
blessed them IN such Il degree that they Were
able to bear the abuse heapcd uppn them by
their cruel owners And in this pen, 50 mean
and miserable that 4 Northern farmer would
not place his animals within it. Whrr, the plant
er~ Were pleased to continc their human cattle,
the same men took equal delight i'll imprSoning
the soldiers Of the Union WHO frl into their
hands.
There under the shadow Of the Confederate
Capitol, We're those three prisons, which JrtlrI-
son Davis, Generals Ice, Long~trcrt, johnson,
Gordon and others daily passed by, knowing Of
the terrible condition in which uur men were
placed. And to their shame it is NOT recorded
in history that one OF them ever tried to release
them from their terrible fate II Has been Gus
tomary since the war closed 10 throw all the
blame for the abuse Of our >ol,prS upon the
>thUi,tii.tv officers who had them in charge
And our Go. crnment did actually hang one or
two of this class. But the fault was not with
them alone They We're but the tools If their
nt6 =
their helpless victims was but an expression Of
the Government they served and whose in
>tructions inspired them in their hellish work.
Some would have Us believe that General Lee
was noble hearted man we'll as a brilliant
soldier; that his only fault was in loving his
native Virginia more than he did the old Union.
But while | would not speak unkindly Of the
dead, can never forget that for the last year
of the war he was dictator in the Confpdrr-
acy. His word was law. And | wish for his
own reputation. as we'll as for the sake of our
imprisoned heroes, that when he could not feed
and care for his prisoners he had released Them
on parole and sent them to their homes; for to
him much as any other man must be charged
the death of those martyrs to the Union cause.
stand nthc Judgment he must bear that rcspon-
sibility.
FORT DARLING.
We followed down the bank of the James
river and visited the line of rebel dcfenscs
When we saw them we no longer wondered
that our gunboats We're unable to effect Il pas
sage of the river when the attempt was made
the previous summer. The banks of the river
i'll some places arose hundreds of feet above the
water, and upon the almost perpendicular sides
of these banks the most Skilful Confederate en-
ginecrs had constructed their forttcatiOnS.
Huge cannon were 50 placed that they fired al
most directly downward, and could thus place
their shells upon any part Of our gunboats they
desired, while 1t was impossible for our boats,
IN the marrow channel, to elevate their guns
enough to throw their shells within the fort.
AS we inspected these wonderful lines of forti-
fication we could but hope that if their build
ers ever again engaged in war it would be in
defense of the Republic that had given them
their skilful training.
Saturday, May 9th, we marched through
Richmond. 1t was quite an occasion for us.
After having fought three years it was some
satisfaction. at the close of the war, to march
i'll review through the streets of the city for
whose possession we had fought so long and
suffered so many defeats. Notwithstanding the
ravages and desolaton of war, Richmond was
beautiful city. The lower part of the town was
i'll ruins, and the thin columns of smoke arising
from the masses of brick and crumblng granite
served to remind the people of the last act of