The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-09

together in the state with other NAL
contents. and produce great trouble,
defy the laws etc" Governor Vance
at once issued a stirring proclamation
against desertion. in which he referred
to the vile wretch who skulked and
General Hill truly said Vance's proc
lamations were stirring. In his one OF
May 18th he laid: Woe unto you. de-
serters. when peace being mad and
Independence secured these brave
comrades whom you have deserted in
the hour of their trial shall return. hon
ored and triumphant. to their homes
You who hide your guilty faces by day
and prowl o like outlaws by night.
robbing the wife and mother of your
noble defenders Of their little means.
do you think you can ever escape 4
just and damning vengeance when the
hour of reckoning comes? And you
who shelter. conceal and feed these
miserable d~epredators and stimulate
them to their Internal deeds. think you
that you Will be spared? Nay; rest
assured observing and never falling
eyes have marked you every one. The
wrath of the heroic husbands when
they return from the field Of battle will
make you regret, in the bitterness OF
your coWardly terror, that you were
ever born. Before the honest faces Of
these veteran soldiers you will not have
courage to raise your eyes from the
earth. If permitted to live in the state
at all you will be infamous. You will
be hustled from the polls. kicked in the
streets, an Onest jury will not believe
you on oath and honest men every
where will shun you as a pestilence, for
he who lacks courage and patriotism
can have no other good quality or re-
deeming virtue"
The governor wrote President Davi
q long letter, enclosing a Opy Of the
proclamation, saying that after the
fight between persons who resisted ar
rest as conscripts and the militia, the
COnScripts were arrested, applied for
habeas corpus and Chief Justice Pear
son discharged them on the ground
that as there was no express enactment
the governor had no authority to ar
rest deserters and conscripts, that right
pertaining absolutely to the cOnfeder-
ate authorities. Vance had previously
asked the Legislature to give him the
authority, but the latter body declined
to pass such a law or a law making 1t
penal to harbor and conceal them, the
legislature saying it was the business
of congress to provide for the execution
of it's own laws. Vance then applied
to congress and that body declined to
take action. So great was the number
of desertions that Vance took the bit
in his teeth and put the militia at work
again, he tells Davis, guarding the
roads and ferries and arresting and re-
turning deserters. He suggested that
| Mr.. Davis, who had an absolute right
| to call out the militia and to arrest de-
s%erters, endorse the steps taken. Vance
said not one desertion in 100 was due
| to disloyalty and declared h chief
| causes were LIST, that the cOnscripts
has never been given furlOughS as
promised; 2nd refusal to allow con-
scripts to enter regiments Of their
choice. Large numbers of them were
made so angry by the latter refusal
that they actually made threats to de-
sert before they left camp and general
ly made good their threats. These are
Nance's own words.
& i s. 3 =
May 18th Flag officer w. F. Lynch
wrote from Wilmington that one iron
clad the North Carolina" building
there, had her armament on board and
| was so nearly complete that he cOnsid-
cred the water approaches to Will
mingtOn secure. His next anxiety was
to get railway iron to be rolled into
| plates for use in sheathing the ram
"Albemarle," building on the Roam
Oke river"
=
From Camp Gregg, Va, May 18th,
General Pender sent the governor the
| sword of Brigadier General Hayes, q.
| S. A, captured at charlottesville by
| Lieutenant Ireland, of the Thirteenth
North Carolina regiment. This sword
was presented by Iredell to Pender
and the latter sent it to Vanve, "to be
! placed among the trophies Of the war
at our capitol" Fender says: ITO give
you some idea of the desperate gal
lantry shown by my brigade it lost
| about $50 out of the little more than
twice that number. Of these 100 were
| killed, the others wounded" Vance
thanked Pender and expressed regret
that so few officers had sent in cap
tured trophies to be deposited in the
capitol.
The governor asked the secretary Of
, war to investigate "statements made
on reliable authority that Colonel L NJ.
Allen and Captain c.. n. Gambler, of the
Sixty-fourth North Carolina, were in
Madison county guilty of the crime Of
Selling citizens not liable to conscrip-
ton and receiving large sums of one
to release them, with many similar
acts of oppression and c~orruption.'
May 18th a letter to the secretary Of
war said: 4 requested an examination
into the murder by Lieutenant Colonel
J. A. Keith, Sixty-fourth North Caro-
lima, of some unarmed prisoners and
little boys. I have heard by rumor
only, that he was brought before a
court-martial and honorabIy acquitted
by producing an order for his conduct
from General Davis, commanding in
east Tennessee. I have also been off,
cially notified of his resignation. I
Idesire a copy Of the court-martial pro-
ceedings. Murder is a crime against
| the common law in this state and Keith
is now subject to that law
Norfolk and Western Showing for May.