The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-02-10
CHAPTER Xxx.
corRr MARTIAL.


Why twelve only Of our number were
carried to Knoxville, where Confederate
court martial had convened, / have never
learned 1t may have been thought that
this number was large enough for ven
geance, or more probably it was intended
when they were disposed of to bring the
others also. Gen f. Kirby Smith COM
manded the department, and all the pro-
ceedings were under his authority. What
seemed to us very remarkable was that
single one of our number at n time was
brought before the court, and all the pro-
ceedings in his case were gone through
with before another was brought out.
Thus each trial was just the copy of the
one that went before, and, short as they
were, must soon have become very mo-
notonous TO the members Of the court.
We employed two eminent Union men OF
Knoxville as counsel-Judge o. u. Tenn
pie and Judge BaXter-but they were not
allowed to hear the plea of the judge adj
vocate, the prosecutor against us. Neither
had we that privilege, and cannot there
fore give the points that were most relied
on for our conviction. In fact, members
of the court visited us and said that we
would be acquitted Of the charge against
us, which was that of lurking about Con-
federate camps at Chattanooga, Dalton and
Marietta as spies, and only held as prison
ers of war. This inspired in us n strange
and, as the issue proved, an unwarranted
degree of hopefulness. Our own acknowl-
edgmeut of what we did, which we linked
with the statement that we had been de-
tailed from our commands without our
consent and with no knowledge of the
nature Of the expedition on which we were
sent, and the evidence of some of those
who had seen us on the train or aided in
our capture, constituted the. evidence in
the case. But we have reason to think
the whole result was predetermined,
although our attorneys were confident
that we could not be convicted OF being
! spies. The fact that we were not placed
/ In irons here for the first time during the
/ nearly two months of our Imprisonment
! tended to increase our hope.
! But another element Of far greater i'm
! portance than the mere machinery OF the
! trials entered now into the determination
I of our destiny. The trial of one of our
men--there was no apparent order in the
selection-was finished each day. The
next day another was taken. i have
never doubted that the eremy's intention
was to go through the whole list in the
same way, and we were not at all solicit
tous as TO who should come first or last.
But that did prove to be of tremendous
Importance; for q vigorous advance
OF the Federal armies upon both
Knoxville and Chattanooga caused
Gen. Smith to give up East Tennessee fol
lost, and TO dissolve the court and send us
all in hot haste to Atlanta, Ga. Seven
had then been tried. A delay of five days
in this advance would have finished the
whole Notwithstanding the writer-at
the rate they were proceeding. But the
whole twelve were sent away together,
having seen or heard nothing to show q
difference in the position of the five and
the seven, and arriving in atlanta just @
week after the execution Of Andrews. We
had heard Of that terrible event in Knox
vile; but, while our sorrow was deep and
poignant, our hopefulness either for the
seven who had been tried or the five
whose trial had been interrupted was not
diminished. for Confederates had always
been saying to US that his case was much
more aggravated than OURS.
In Atlanta we were placed in the upper
room OF large brick building, surround
ed by guards. The remainder of the
party who were with Andrews were
placed in another room of the same build
ing, which was the city jail. Two great
events of the most opposite character
upon which turned the fate of our band
are associated closely with this Jail. They
viii now be narrated.