National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-08-30

drillmaSter ana sui scted to discipline,
the martial spirit, which scoms to be part
aud parcel of Anglo.Ssxon nature.
exhibited itself and they became as good
soldiers rs their comrades older IN SCR
vice. 1t cannot be denied, however, that
many of them took the first opportunity
of battle to light out for their homes or
to desert to the enemy. These deserters
were chiefly conscripts from the noun
famous sections of southwest Virginia,
northern Alabama, and North Carolina.
The attachment to the doctrine OF scccS.
sion and to the glory of the conledoracy
was, ms Uncle Romus says, 'pow'ful weak,
honey in those sections.
| recolect an affecting incident in this
connection. There was in company ID,
LIST Virginia battalion Of infantry Irish
battalionJ n oonscript named Radcliffe,
from southwest Virginia tTazewell
county, If / mistake not. This fellow
had been torn from his wife and regular
litter of small children by the conscrpt
officers. lie was of no earthly account US
a soldier and spent most of his time in
tho guard house.. He was utterly unedu-
Gated, and had about rs much idea Of his
duty to his state and government and to
society as mule. Perhaps not so much.
But he loved his wife and children, away
off in tho squalid hut on tho slope of the
Blue Ridge, Ho deserted once, and the
conscript officers brought him back.
lie deserted twice, and again with
his low cunning and knowledge
of woodcraft, he reached his home and
once again was brought back. On both
these occasions he was severely punished
At last he was set free from confinement.
He took advantage of the first dark night
to mako oil again, carrying his rifle and
M ,,,nnttfnn NNtth ID
woodcraft failed him. lie was halted by
a sentinel, and without reply ho fired
on him, wounding him seriously. Suffice
it to say, he was caught aud dsarmod by
n cavalry picket and brought back to the
battalion for recognition and punishment.
He owned up to everything when ar
rested. Now, at this time (carly part of
1868 the conscripts had been deserving
very freely. aud. as Radcliffe had been
conspicuous offender. IL was determined
to try him by general court-martial. Ho
was tried, and, as the evidence was plain,
he was condemned to death. The poor
devil, up to the time that he was brought
out in front of tho assembled battalion
and had his arms pinioned and the firing
squad Of his own former messmates
drawn up before him, and the plain
coffin placed beside the open grave,
and the sergeant stepped out to
bandago his eyes. did not seem to
realize that tho proceedings wero any
thing but a huge joke but when he did.
when his slow intellect took in tho full
meaning, he gave n cry that was heart
rending to those who were forced to DO
present. When he became quiet, and as
the chaplain after few whispered words
of consolation stepped back from him, he
showed the pluck off white man by
knccling straight up ON his coffin. The
next instant the officer of the squad
dropped handkerchief, n volley rat
tied. Radcliffe fell lifeless, and while his
wife was widow and his children
fatherless, Radcliffe was forever beyond
tho reach of persecution of conscript
officers. As this execution was the first
that had occurred for such deserters il
created some stir in the army, but it had
its effect, and thereafter deserters were
fewer, unless it was to tho federal
lines.
l have said that there was no opposi-
ton to the sweeping CONSUMPTION, but /
should have modified that statement.
In the mountains of southwest Virginia,
east Tennessee, and of North Carolina
there was a class who, if they had any
political Opinions ut all, were unionists
They we're tho same class who are tho
"moonshiners" of to-day. They were
restless of any sort of governmental in
reference with what they deemed their
privileges, and they hated a tax gatherer
and conscript officer with an equal and
reve ngeful hate. In North Carolina,
especially, did the conscript officers meet
with trouble, oftentimes resulting in
bloody conflicts. When the federal gun
boats took possession Of the Neuse and
Tar rivers, and threw an infantry force
into Newbcrn, they gave every encour-
agement to tho nalcontents These men
were not subjected to any sort of dis
cipline, nor to the supervision of any regu-
larly commissioned officer. They simply
''sloshed around" at their own sweet
will, and they became q terror to the
country bordering ON tho advanced union
lines, under the name of "Bufaloes." Did
space permit, l might give graphic &C.
count of the peculiar antics of these gen
try when Picketts and Hoke's divisions
were sent down in the fall of 1868 to drive
the federals away from Newbern and
create q diversion in that direction. They
were so numerous, and knew the swamps
and bayous of that God-forsaken country
80 we'll. that it was dangerous for man
to move outside Of the sentinel limo on
the march without risk of shot through
the head from an ambush.
recollect, too, that when Longstreet
was besieging Knoxville one Of his
brigades (Corses) was sent down to the
border line of East Tennessee, near Bris-
toll, to make n diversion if it became
necessary. Here tho union mountaineer
guerrlas were swarming, aud il was as
much as q mans life was worth to 20 u
half mile from camp among those grand
and magnificent primeval oak-crowned
hills and hollows. The people fled be-
fore us as q pestilence, even women and
children deserving their homes. Instead
of molesting we would have protected
them, but, poor things the guerrilla
warfare had been so inveterate in that
locality that they wore afraid to trust
even the regular troops Of the army.
In such sections asl have alluded to in
the last paragraphs tho conscript officers
met with resistance that was bloody and
determined, but when they did make q
haul by surrounding squad Of noun
taineers, after some drilling and disci-
pline, these captives made the best soldiers
in their companies whenfar removed from
their mOuptain surroundings, AS the
writer can personally vouch for, having
had dozen or more of them in the COM
pany he commanded.
Taking it all in all the conscript act WAS
the wisest measure that could havo been
adopted in tho earlier days of the war by
the confederate authorities. And without
1t 1t is almost certain that the contest
would have been ended within couple
| Of years at the outside. MURRAY.