The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-05-28

! to see an infantryman from the main
camp coming to the cavalry bivouac with
dispatches. His cap bore the characters,
"142nd-Vols "
There was a rift In the cloud at once
Fortunately two of our guard were
strong willed and humane and ready to
favor us with kindly offices. They fed US
| and took our last messages for friends and
directions for our Identification, and from
them learned that the One Hundred and
Forty second regiment was all in the camp
five miles distant. l asked to be conducted
there, but the acquaintance which claim
ed was so slight that the commander de-
INJURED and declared 1t was simply anoth-
er trick to gain time. Our kind advocates
then took it up and offered to investigate
the case, and soon Joseph Pennington was
brought to our prison glen. Pennington,
too, shook his head. When he last saw me,
the pallor caused by pain and the blight of
wound and fever were upon me. My re-
counting that affair with the hucksters in
Baltimore shook him little, but one of
the guard who was jealous for our destruc-
ton broke the force of it's influence most
skillfully. He said: ooh, this fellow may
be only q Baltimore secesh who was hang
ing around that time. Come to think,
have seen him sneaking around the depots
and wharfs In Baltimore and Alexandria,
spying out the movements of our troops"
Settled prejudices are hard to uproot. Pen
nington quit the scene, and we were told
to get ready. Some prayed, some cried. |
paced the ground like Gagged tiger. There |
was not a guilty one in the party-that is, |
guilty of the crime charged or anything |
like it, although there were some night |
riders in the crowd-some of Mosby's ran |
gers. l could see "innocent" written upon |
every pallid countenance, and emotions |
stirred by my own grief and my sympathy |
for my fellows, MS l thought of this useless |
and cruel execution, moved me beyond con-
troll. 1 burst into n tornado Of vehement |
appeals aimed at any who would listen. |
Some ears were open. / pleaded against |
the shedding Of innocent blood, pictured !
the calamity to be visited on so many
homes, foretold the narrowing thoughts to |
arise some day in the minds of our beloved |
friends when they should learn the story
of our vain and shameful deaths, and at |
last came to the point of fastening upon |
the would be perpetrators "a lifelong re-
morse
My eloquence-for who could not be fired |
with logic at such n crisisy-commanded at
tention and several of the guard withdrew
from the sound of 1t. The leader stood |
near gloomy and cold. All this time my |
Bible in its close wrapper had remained In |
my hand, pressed instinctively to my |
heart, and as II last argument turned to |
1t to try If could not move those obdurate |
hearts by reading from Gods own word.
As turned the covers nervously the blue |
Enclosure fell OUT and pregnant thought |
THAT stamp and Pennington'-rushed |
to my mind. Here is proofl' / cried.
"Let me see Joseph Pennington againp |
The hour was up, but respite was allow
ed and Pennington came sullenly back. |
My game was desperate showed him
that fragment stamp and told the whole |
story without a break. He scanned me,
still skeptical, but had put In wedge |
Doubt had arisen. After hasty consul
tation the execution was deferred until
daylight and my own was then to be sub
ject to approval Of council from the main
camp. or course was hero among the
doomed men. About midnight word came
that Lee had surrendered his army. The
startling tidings Instantly disarmed the
passionate prejudices of the fratricidal
strife. The stern judgments and fatal YER
diets OF martial courts were of forever, and
every man of us went free, filled with
gratitude words failed to express
The little faded fragment of stamp Is
now mounted oil blue silk, framed, and
hangs over my cabinet. l prize 1t as the
choicest of my collection Of relics Of the
war.