Year: 1862

tended 10 see tnen out II WI were lrOOpss


and never to run from them. intended
carrying out the arrangements made with


Benjamin. E
I The Brigadier General commanding at
Knoxville came to see me one day. The
! prisoners all rallied around TO hear what


was said. lie said: ''Brownlow, you
ought not to be here" Il think so, too,


said L. snow" saws he, s'cone along


with me and we will makeit all right
We will go up to Judge Humphrey, at
the Court House. and you can take the
oath of allegiance to the Southern Con-


federacy" l turned round to him. at this


insulting. proposition. ''Sir," said /, ',be-


fore / viii take the oath Of allegiance to


the Southern COnfederacy, to obtain my


freedom. will rot in Jail with disease, or


die of old age. Nay more-I deny that
you have government; deny that you


are authorized to administer the oath OF
allegiance tOyOur rotten mob Government


which no power on earth will ever recog-


nize. Before will do so, l will see the


entire Southern Confederacy in hell and
you and on the top Of it. Great cheer


ing. Sir" said he, ''that is id plain


talk" ''Yes stree" replied i. He tip


ped his hat, made bow, which return


ed and we parted. hope to meet him


again, and that will be when the Federal


army takes possession of Knoxville.


The Union sentiment of East Tennessee


has never given way, not particle. A
more loyal, devoted, untiring band Of


UnioniSts never lived on God s green earth


That little valley. forty miles wide and
about sixty miles long. of which Knox
Vile is the centre, is full Of such Union
men and women. When / came away.
the Jail of Knoxville was full of Union
men. was there in jail when they took
my companions out and hung them.
did not see them hung. because this was
done over the hill; but saw them go ous
with the black poplar eoifiiIs, and the sol
diers would turn round, and pointing to
Brownlow. would say, you viii swing
next" Ny reply was, Il am ready to be
hung. and all want is one hour under
the gallows. 10 give the pedigree Of these
men,


] expected 10 be hung and had made
up my mind to it. l was told that the
drum-head eOurt-martial lacked but one
vote of confirming my doom, and that
was the vote of n SeceSsionist No man
ever came so near being hung and was not
One of my companions, A. L. Hawn-ths
gallant Hawn, one of the most upright
men in Knoxville, with wife and two
small children-was sentenced to be hung
by this court martial, and he had but one
hours notice to prepare himself He
asked for minister of one of the churches
in Knoxville to be sent for, but the reply
of the jailer was, No id traitor in the
South has the right to be prayed for, and
God does not hear such prayers Poor
llawH was placed on the seatfold, and q
miserable drunken chaplain Of one Of ths
Southern regiments was sent taatte ndkiHf-


Just as they were &boat to lassfsch him
into eternity, the cllaplaiH said: This
poor unfortunate man desires to say that
he was led into committing the aets far-
which he is now to atone with his life, by
the Union men, and he is really an object
of pity"


Hawn rose, and in stentorian voice
replied, Il desire to say that every word
that man has said is false. am the iden-
teal man that put the torch to the tim
bers of that bridge, and am ready to
swing for it. Hang me as soon as you
cam" He said he would do it again if he
knew this was to be his fate for II.


No one can tell Of the suffsrings and
hardships that the Union men of East
Tennessee have had to undergo, nor hoU
man, innocent men, without hearing oR
trial, have been put to death Sounds Of
Cavalry are rowing aboOh the coAntry COM
mitting all manner of crimes, and shoot
ing down all suspected of treason to tbs
Southern Confederacy. 1t was only nec-
essary to have finger pointed to man
and some one was ready to shoot him
down. This was the case with poor Pierce
He had committed no act of treason, but
was supposed to sympathize with the
Union men. Walking across one of bis
fields one day, some one said there goes
traitor, when one of q squad of cavalry
fred, and he was struck with Minnie ball.


The jails in the South are literally full
of Union men, many of them taken from
East Tennessee. Never was a people 50.
broken down. The Government owes it
to the people if they never 90 anywhere
else, to take care of East Tennessee
We have stood firm.


There are no Union presses left in ths
South, and not Union editor but one.
and that is myself. They have all been
bought up. They offered me large sums
Of money, but my reply MAS, Thy money
perish with thee. will see yoU to the
deyil first


They took my paper, my press and my
type, and gave me notice that | should
not publish any more papers. took the
advice of my friends and family, and
stopped the WLig. 1t was the only time
in my life that ever gave in, for, Ike
Collins ram, always had head Of my
own. Laughter.


They took my building. which was six
ty feet long and two stories high, and
into an arsenal to repair tho
guns which Floyd stole from the United
States Government.


And this was not all An Alabama reg
iment came along one Sabbath day and
stole from me my only Niger, q young
man of whom | thought very much.
might have expected this from the North
ern army if ! had believed all that was
said of it, but ! did not expect that the
chivalry and flower Of the South would be
guilty of such an act. after all their boasting.


tell you to-day, upon the honor Of
nan that the Southern army and its hang
srS-on have stolen more negroes in Virgin
a, Tennessee and Kentucky during the
past six months, than the AbolitiOnists
have enticed or aided away III the last
forty wears, and to-day, so help me God,
0ne half of the soldiers of the South nev-
Pr owned slave or were ever related BY
-he ties of eonsanguinity with any one that
ever did Cheers. They are the of
;courings of the lowest order OF society,
he meanest set Of towards on the face Of
he earth. Look how they fed at Fishing
1reek, and everywhere else, whom the
Tnion army got after them. When they
itarted out they said lone SoutherneF
,ould whip five blue-belhed Yankees
md here let me relate an incident that
in Knoxville few weeks since,


A Union lady met on the sidewalk. one
lay Colonel Of a Regiment stationed st
Knoxville. and she said to him, ''Colonel.
low is it that | notice the NortherneEs
rave been getting the better of US at Fort
ienry, Fort Donelson and Fishing Greek.


thought one Southerner could whip I've
Yankees. 'Oh, replied the Colonel,
you see these troops were from Ohio. In
T1ar- fasa naSgan-