The National tribune., 1908-10-01
A STUPID FORGERY.


In the most trying days of the war
there was particularly vicious Copper
head preacher-the Rev. Henry Clay
IDean-commonly known from his filthy
personal habits as DIRTY Shirt Dean.
He was the original of the Rev. Pc
troleum V. Nasty whom the genius of
70. r. Locke made famous as the type
of the drunken, cowardly, rancorous,
venomous Copperhead. Dean wrote a
long ago forgotten book, full of the
wickedest and falsest assaults upon all
supporters of the Union. In this and
characteristic of it was the following
! letter, purporting to have been found
| on the streets of Columbia after the
| passage of Sherman's army:
Camp near Camden, S. c., Feb. 26,
lS65.-My Dear Wife: have no time
for particulars. We have had glori-
Gus time in this State. Unrestricted
license to burn and plunder was the
order of the day. The chivalry have
| been stripped of most of their valua-
bles Gold watches, silver pitchers,
cups, spoons, forks, etc, are as common
in the camp as blackberries. The terms
of plunder are as, follows: Each COM
pdflN Is required u tAIlfDit the teSuils
of its operations at any given place
one-fifth and first choice falls to the
share of the Commander-in-Chief and
staff; one-fifth to the corps command
ers and staff; one-fifth to field officers
of regiments, and two-fifthS to the COM
pany.
Officers are not allowed to join these
expeditions without Disgusting them
selves as privateS. One of our corps
ppp ma nd hnrrnwad a SIlif of rOl1ph
clothes from one of my men and was
successful in this place. He got large
quantity of silver (among other things
an oid-time milk pitcher), and very
fine gold watch from Mrs. DeSaussure
at this place. DeSaussure was one of
the +. T. VS. of South Carolina, and
was made to fork over literally Officers
over the rank of Captain are not made
to put their plunder in the estimate for
general distribution. This is very un-
fair, and for that reason, in order to
protect themselves, subordinate officers
and privates keep back everything that
they can carry about their persons,
such as rings, earrings, breastpins, etc.,
of which, if 1 ever get home, I have
about quart. l am not joking have
at least quart of jewelry for you and
all the girls and some No. 7 diamond
rings and pins among them. Gen. Sher-
man has silver and gold enough to start
a bank. His share in gold watches
alone at Columbia was 275. But 1 said
1 could not go into particulars.
'.All the general officers and many
besides had valuables of every descrip-
ftion, down to the embroidered ladies'
pocket handkerchiefs. 1 have my share
of them, too. We took gold and silver
enough from the id rebels to have
redeemed their Internal currency twice
over This (the currency whenever
we came across it, we burned, as We
considered it utterly worthless.
81 wish all the jewelry this army has
could be carried to the old Bay State
1t would deck her out in glorious style;
but, alas. it will be scattered all over
the North and Middle States. The id
niggers, as general rule, prefer to stay
at home, particularly after they found
out that we only wanted the able-bodied
men (and, to tell you the truth, the
best and youngest looking women.
Sometimes we took off whole families
and plantations of niggers, by way of
repaying Secessionists. But the useless
part of them we soon manage to lose;
sometimes in crossing rivers, sometimes
in other ways.
81 shall write to you again from
Wilmington, Goldsboro or some other
place in North Carolina. The order to
march has arrived, and I must close
Aunt Charlotte. Take care of yourself
and the children. Don't show this letter
outside OF the family. Your affectionate
husband,
'aThos J. Myers, Lieutenant, etc"
Every sensible man can see in every
line of this that it is a stupid, malicious
Copperhead forgery. No Union soldier
could have written it, much less an
officer. Yet the Southern papers have
dug up Deans vile book, and are re-
publishing the letter as genuine. Even
- respectable a paper, as the Nashville
American. from which we expect much
better things gives the clumsy fabrica-
tion the dignity OF place in its col
umns.
Sometimes we are inclined to the be-
lief that the Southern papers are hope
less.