Year: 1862

= y
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. l was there in Jail when they took
my companions out aud hung them. !
did not see them hung, because this was
done over the hill but I saw them go
out, with the black poplar collins. and
the soldiers would turn round, and point
ing to Brownlow, would say, "You will
swing next" My reply was, Il am
ready to be hung, and all I want is one
hour under the ea|ows, to give she ped
igree of these men


| expected to be hung, and had made
up my mind to it was told that the
drum-hcad courtmartial lacked but orc
vote of confirming my doom, and that
was the vote of sccessionist. No man
ever came so near being hung and was
not. One of my companions, n c. lIawn
the gallant Hawu, one Of the most
moral and upright men in Knoxville,
with wife and two small children. was
sentenced to be hung by this court mar-
tial, and he had but ono hours notice to
prepare himself He asked for minis.
ter of one of the churches Of Knoxville
to be sent for, but the reply of the i~iler
was, "No ID traiter in the South has
the right to ho prayed for, and God does
not hear such prayers Poor lIawn was
placed on the scaitold. and a miserable
drunken chaplain of one of the South
ern regiments was sent to attend him.


just as they were about to launch
Hawn into eternity, the chaplain said -
"This poor, unfortunate man desires to
say tha. he was led into committing the
act for which he is now to atone with his,
life. by the MON men, and lie is really
an object Of pity


Ilawn rose, and in a stentorian voice
replied, 81 dessrc to say that every word
that man has said is fale am the idcn-
tical man that put the torch to the tim
bers of that bridge, and | am ready to
swing for it. Hang me az soon as you
can" lie said he would do it again if
he knew this was to be his fate for it.


No one can tell Of the suffering and
hardships that the Union men Of last
Tennessee have had to undergo, nor how
many innocent men. without hearing or
trial, have been put to death. Squads
of cavalry are rowing about the country
committing all manner of crimes, aud
shooting down all suspected of treason to
the Southern Confcderacy. 1t was only
necessary to have finger pointed to a
man, and some one was ready to shoot
him down. This was the case with poor
Pierce. He had committed 10 act Of
treason, but was supposed to symrathlze
with the Union men. Walking across
one of his fields one day, some one said,
"There goes a traitor, when one of a
squad of cavalry fired, and he was struck
with mimic ball.


The jais in the south are literally full
Of Union men, many Of them taken from
East Tennessee. Never was people SO
broken down. The Government owes it
to the people, if they never 90 anywhere
else, to take care of East Tennessee.
They have stood firm.


There are TO Union presses left in the
South, and not a Union editor but one,
and that is myself. They haze all been
bought up They offered me large
sums of money, but my reply was. "Thy
money perish with thee. | will see yo,
to the devil 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 snd
stopped the Wig. 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
sixty feet long and two stories high, and
transformed it into an arsenal to repair
tho guns which Floyd stole from the
United States Government.


And this was not all. An Alatamha
regiment came along one Sabbath day
and stole from me my only nigger, a
young man of whom | thought very
much | might have expected this from
the Northern 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 Boosting.


| tell you to day, upon the honor of
man, that the Southern army and its
hangers on have stolen more negroes IN
Y Nirrlnia. Tennessee and Kentucky dur
inc the past six months, than the Aho-
litionists have enticed or aided away in
the last forty years, and to day, so help
me God, onehalf tho soldiers in the
South never owned slave or were ever
related by the ties of cVnsanguInlty with
any one that ever did. Cheers. They
are the ofscourings Of the lowest order
of society. the meanest set of towards on
the face Of the earth. Look how they
fed at Fishing Creek, and everywhere
else when the Union army got after hem.
When they started out they said zone
Southerncr could whip FIVE blue bellied
Yankees, - and here let me relate an in
cident that happened in Knoxville a few
weeks since:


\ Union lady met on the sidewalk,
one day, Colonel of rec clmrnt stationed
at Knoxville, and she SAID to him, "Col-
onel, how is it that notice the North
erners have been getting the better OF
us at Fort Henry, Fort DoneIson, and
Fishing Creek? thought one Southern,
cr could whip FIVE Yankees. con, re-
nled the Colonel, "you see these troops
were from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
They arc the descendants of kentuck,
ians and Tcnnessecans, who removed
from these States and across the OHIO
years ago. They are of our own stocks
and are as good fighters as our own sol