The National tribune., 1885-03-12


were visited by an officer, whom we had seen
| frequently in Chattanooga, and who told MS
| that he was Judge Advocate of court-martlai
about TO convene, and notified Us TO prepare
! for trial. Neither this intelligence nor his
! manner in giving it was at all alarming. We
knew that we had been ordered TO KNOXVILLE
! for this very purpose, and were only anxious
to have the trial soon over that we might be
| formally declared prisoners of war, and thus
be placed in position 10 be exchanged. II an
| opportunity should occur. To this end we
asked the Judge-Advocate if we would all be
put on trial at once, and when he answered IN
the negative we urged the eXpediency and
Justice of that course assuring him that the
cases of all were precisely alike. But he re-
| fused with some curtness. We next asked that
| he would select one of our number To be tried,
! whose award might determine the position OF
! the whole party, and offering to sign paper
agreeing to this course. This he also refused,
with the declaration that the court knew its
own business, and that every one of US should
be tried on his merits. The only reason
| have ever been able to imagine for this course
is that the intentions towards lis were much
more serious than We had been allowed to con-
lecture and that it would have looked too
absurd to arraign SO large band of private
. soldiers from one brigade on the chare of being
| spies. We asked him for the charge on which
( the trial was 10 take place. and with some ap-
parent hesitation he gave 1.-THE same against
| all. 1t was charged. i'll substance that we
were enemies who were lurking i'll aud around
Confederate camps rs spies for the purpose OF
obtaining military information. Not one word
was said about selling the cars or anything that
we did or tried 10 do Wilson spoke out boldly,
and said, But you know are not spies. ana
| have yourself told us that we cannot be held
as such" Then. with what | cannot but con
slider as deep deception, he replied that their
| expectation now was to obtain negative
Oh,
ing us. He further advised us to employ coun-
| sci and put our cause in good shape, but not TO
make ourselves uneasy. The whole converse
ton left some apprehension upon our minds,
hut in the case of most of us the inherent hope
fitness Of youth soon banished it.
Oar plan of defense has been partly indicated
before. 1t was TO tell just who we were and
what we had done and to claim that we were
United States soldiers detailed on a military
expedition without our own consent or knoWl-
edge and simply obeying orders We were TO
deny in the strongest terms shat we had been
lurking about any camps. or that we had sought
| or obtained any military information. No
question was to be answered that would lead
! to the discovery of the engineer or tend to
! show that any one had volunteered for this
! service. As to evidence against Us. we knew
that our recorded confessions, made when we
| were first brought to Chattanooga, could be
used, and possibly the evidence of those who
thing about our lurking around Confederate
| camps. We had been within the guard-lIne
/ at Big Shanty but we were no more lurking
| there than body of cavalry who might charge
| into a camp. Indeed, we felt sure that the
! charge, in the form it bore, could not be sus-
tanned To make the greatest impression of
! candOr, our story was sketchei in brief, with
the approval of the whole number, and, at a
subsequent visit of the Judge-Advocate, handed
| TO him. He took Our signatures 10 II, and 1t
! was read on the trials as confession. 1t
saved our enemies some trouble in the matter
of witnesses, and put our case in what we
! judged the most favorable light.
| Baxter x Temple who had so kindly accom-
modated me with books, were willing TO act as
our counsel. They stipulated that as fast as
| tried, we should give them our notes for 500
each. They did not care for the money, and,
indeed, the prospect of obtaining it was not
very favorable But their own safety required
| that their help should appear TO be purely pro-
| feSsional. They assured me privately that
they were loyal to our Government and would
do us any favor they dared. They did pro-
mote our comfort by the secret gift of some
4 money.
The story of the trials may soon be told
| The charges and specifications of William
Campbell were first handed in. He was a citi-
! zen of Kentucky in reality. but claimed to be
| a member of Co. X, I'd Ohio, and we were care
/ full to indorse his statement. 1t was never sas
pected that he stood in any different relation
! from his comrades After the overthrow of
| the Confcderacy the writer obtained copies of
/ these charges and specifications, together with
many other papers from the rebel archives.
/ They are still on file at Washington. With the
/ exception Of the change of names and position
! in the army, the charges were precisely alike
! in all the cases.
"ChGrge.-violation of Section Cd of the 1olst
| Article of the Rules and Articles of War
SD, Igf- fll. D.
/ bell private, Co. X. I'd Ohio. L. 5. A. not owing
allegiance to the Confederate States of America,
and being in the service and Army OF the United
/ States, then and now at war with the Confederate
/ States of America, did aboRt the 9TH day of
/ April, 1862, leave the Army of the United States
then lying Shelbyviile, Tenn, and with n
company of about 20 other soldiers of the United
States Army all dressed in citizens clothes repair
/ to Chattanooga Tenn, entering covertly within
the lines of the Confederate forces at that post and
| did thus, about the llth day OF April. 1862,
Turk as a spy in and about the encampment of said
| forces, representing himself citizen of Ken
| lucky going to join the Southern army
! "Specifcdtion 2d.-And the said William Camp
bell private, Co. X, I'd Ohio, u. = A, thus dressed
| in citizens clothes and representing himself as
! citizen OF Kentucky going 10 join the Southern
thus covertly pass through the lines of the Coned
crate forces stationed at Chattanooga Dalton, and
| Camp Mcdonald, and did thus, on or about the
llth day of April, 1862 Turk spy in and about
the said encampnents of the Confederate forces at
/ the places stated aforesaid
All mention of the capture Of the train with
/ the terrible chase that followed, Is entirely
omitted from this paper. Could this be for
any other reason than that this sequel would
disprove the fact of lurking as a spy" on
which the whole charge is made to turn; and
make the whole expedition appear of distinct
i've military character? The whole charge Of
| lurking as spy" was constructive-not real.
No evidence could be adduced to show that any
one of us had fingered for a single hour at any
one of the three Confederate encampments
! IN Neither WAS there any evidence
that our false stories were told inside of any
encampment.
With charges which were simply recital of
| a small part Of our own admissions and some
! inference from them, the trials were very sim
pie and brief William Campbell was taken
out first the above paper read TO him, and he
responded, Not true so far as lurking i'll any
camp or being a spy is concerned" The plea
/ of . not guilty" was then entered for him, our
I own confession read one or two minor wit
nesses called, and he returned to prison. The
| next day another man was taken to the court
! and the same story rehearsed. Thus each day
one trial only took place, and no pleadings
were heard by the prisoner, either for or
/ The time occupied i'll each session Of the court
was not much more than an hour. The table
/ around which the court sat was covered with
/ bottles, newspapers, and novels, and the mem
/ bers occupied themselves during the proceed
ings in discussing these. All this was very
well if the object was, as they assured us,
merely to put formally on record our true char
| acter as prisoners of war; but it was most