Nevada County picayune., 1886-06-23
HIS LITTLE SISTER.
BY AN EN-CoSFEDERkrE.

I
 of the Confederate government may be found a document dated about September. 8, iSGi. wherein Jos. Wilson was sentenced to bo shot, and on tho back of which IS the en. dorseinent, "Approyed-Jefierson Davis, President"
 | You sec, my command vas then i'll Virginia, and it was war times ofa certainty. We C,nfederates were hard pushed on all sides, hay ing little to eat and less to wear, and it did seem as if a fight had to to De matter of daily occurrence. Some of us were philosophers enough to endare what VIC could not cure, but the young men, 'spe- cially the chaps who had been con. scripted, were terribly onsasy.- They were ready to give 1t up a. a lost cause aud start for home. We'll, this feeling, coupled with starvation rations, ragged uniforms and daily fighting, sent d good ma ny of our boys over to the Union lines as deserters, and this brings about my story.
 One of the conscripts In my com. pany was aboy of l7, named Joe Wilson. All of us fsllsrs of thirty or thercabouts felt like x father to him. Aside from his youth he was poor and pale, with. mo march or fight in him. Bless you! but the idea of little Joey Wilson helping to breast back Yankee line Of battle would have set us all in s roar. He orter been at home with .iis mn, and none of Il. felt any thing but pity for him.
 Che night, after tho assertion had gone on and become 90 nnnor- ous that the big officers hnd to take notice of them, tray was sot, and To! our poor, lseile Joe fell into it. Ycs, sir, nsbbod ''in the act of deserting 10 tho enc mj," and maybe you know what that signifies, especially when that enemy isn't canaon.shoi away. It ras surprise to us that tho lad had plucked up courage 'nutto make a break, bat l gus.s he was desperately sick of WAT, and hoped in some manner to get back to his sOmo.
 ! It was determined to make sn example of little Joey, and l guess lit wasn't over ten days before he WAS convicted, the sentence ap- provcd st Richmond and an order read tl,at he was to be shot at a certain hour.
 l suppose it was all quite prop CT and according to army regulA' tiOns, but 1t must have gone hard with tho men on that court martial to convict him. Had he been gull .y of murder 1 could not have aided to bring in verdict against him.
 Nobody seemed ,o know or care whether or not he had relativOs and so our surprise was great to learn, on the day before he was to be shot, that sister had arrived in camps, to plead for little Joe's life.
 It was too late. She had been denied by the President, and, of course nobody in the field had any authority to stop the execution She was in camp all day long, and most of us got to see her.
 If was to tell you that she was the brightest, chippiest, smartest gal of19I ever saw, l would only be telling you the truth. SLe was exactly like Joe in looks, 'ccpt 2 few points handsomer, and shc had his size and walks and ways. I'll tell you, comrades, when l saw that gal, I believe her name was Nell, breaking down under the bad news and realizing her helpless, ness, Pd havo been willing to let lem shoot me in Joe's stead! 'Deed I would, though l say it so long after. l jist wanted to lay my hand on her curly head and say:
 "There, there, poor child--don't cry any more, Pun all alone in the world and nobody will miss me, and I am going to take Joe's place."
 However, that couldn't be done. Joseph Wilson was the deserter, and he must be shot to death as the penalty.
 While the big officers couldn't