New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-01-28

Time By Fernando G. Cortland. With an in
PRODUCTION by Benjamin F Trueoood, IL ne ~,
Riverside Press. Cambridge.
This book IL not pleasant reading. Few mar
ratives Of martyrdom can be made merely pleas
ant. But the chapter OF war history mere re-
lated Is that has hitherto escaped attention.
1t was well known that the Ouakers. both North
and South opposed to slavery ana mat
the meetings long before the times Of the aboii-
ton movement, required all Friends TO aVoid
holding slaves. The share of prominent FRIENDS
like Levi Coffin in rescuing individual slaves
before the Civil War has been dwelt upon In
many books But Il was not known how much
suffering Friends in the South underwent IN war
time because Of their refusal TO pear arms OF
to do anything that would add the strehs'h
Of a single fighting man to the army. lh'S
book casts light that subject. 1t SHOWS tha'
the Quakers at the South remained loyal 10
the Union; that votes were cast py theW Ill
favor of secession, and that their influence In
North Carolina prevented the passage OF a law
requiring every citizen over sixteen years to re-
nounce aleciance to the United States Their
unden,cnstrative manners could not disarm the
resentment of the excitable people who sur
rounded them.
The present narrative exonerates the Confed-
crate Government for the most part from re-
sponsbty for the TEXTURES to which FRIENDS
were subjected. At the outbreak OF the war. IN
duential Quakero bestirred themselves to secure
their position men devoted to peace In
North Carol na where they were comparatively
numerous, not only they, but a majority OF
the other people Of the State were opposed to
secession. In Randolph County. where the Quak-
ers were strong popular election resulted IN
forty-hve votes for secession and $50 against
IT, But the uneasy slaveholding minority, by
off he n
South Carolina and Virginia, finally forced the
Governor to declare secession fact. the EFFORTS
of the Friends to prevent this disaster aroused
the bitter hostility Of the slavtholding element,
and the bill! requiring the remuneration or ale
glance to the United States was aimed at theih'
The defeat Of this bill was really worse ca
lamity for the Quakers than Its passage would
have been II they had defed 1t they would nave
been expelled from the State within thirty days.
AS 1t was many Of tfem went away OF their
own accord though every effort was made 10
prevent their escape. and some were brought
back as prisoners.
Those who remained at their homes were soon
beset with difficulties. The Confederate Congress
passed a law exempting Friends and Dunkards
from service as soldiers upon the payment OF
$780, There was trouble also. In the North upon
this point, and Friends were only exempted
from the draft on payment OF $500 into Iuhu
for the relief Of the sick and wounded But the
law at the North. when 1t was once oDtaiheu'
served It's purpose. At the South 1t was more
or less delusion. In the first place. there was
no guarantee that the exemption money would
be used for a non- warlike purpose, and on this
point many Quaker consciences were sensitive
Moreover. as many found by painful experience
the payment Of the money did not secure ex-
emption Men who had complied with the law
tvto Onfa6
when they refused to carry a musket or to put
on a uniform were "bucked down." hung up by
the thumbs whipped like slaves. and tortured
IN almost every other way that the ingenuity OF
some overbearing officer could suggest. Often
they were saved by the compassion of private
soldiers. who felt the bitterness Of war more
keenly than their commanders.
The most remarkable that OF Isaiah
Macon. who after being subjected to punishments
Of various kinds was finally placed In the front
at the battle Of Winchester ito stop bullets" as
the officers remarked. for men who were willing
70 fight "Hemmed in BY the soldiers OF the regi-
ment he could not escape II he would His COM
rades were falling all around him from the
leaden hail poured into their ranks by the North
ern soldiers. He moved about as best he could.
and others fell In the places which he had Just
left But he stopped nc bullets. When the
Rebels left the field. Macon. having no enemies
70 run away from. stood his ground and was
taken prisoner. But the scenes which he had
witnessed. added to his own anxieties. caused his
death a few days later. He had shown how
ever that a man might be a hero on battle
aeld without fighting The other heroes are
numerous In this book 1t Quaker for
example who discovered and used so benefcently
that cavern In Tennessee which figures in j. T.
Trowbrdge's famous romance Of "Cudjo's Cave"
Everywhere throughout the South where there
were Quakers the story was the samoa story OF
suffering endured valiantly. whether in camp or
in prison or on the battlefield; and the author
offers their example and the enormous loss OF
life in the armies both sides during the con-
fict as an argument in favor Of arbitration.