Year: 1865

think itssg1orv furnished, and that its
power is soon to become n mere tradi-
ton of the past.


For all these results, Mr.. Davis, and
for the three hundred thousand lives
already sacrificed on both sides in the
war, some pouring out their blood OH
the battlefield, and othefsf fever-strick
en-, wasting away to depth in over
crowded hospitals, you and the fellow
miscreants who have been your asso-
clates IN this conspiracy are responsible.
OF you and them IL may with truth be
sold, that if all the innocent blood which
you lave spilled could be collected in
one pool, the whole government of your
Conlederacy might swim in 1t! u sax


am aware that this is not the lam
guage in which the prevailing etiquette
of our army is in the habit of consider
ing your conspiracy. 1t has come to
pass, through what instrumentalities
you are best able to decidej that the
greatest and worst crime ever attempted
nestinst the huniaR family has been
treated in certain gus frters. us though it
We're a mere error ofEjudgment on the
part of some gifted friends; Il thing to
be regretted of course, as causing moro
or less disturbance to the relations of
amity and esteem heretofore existing
between those charged with the repres-
sion of such eCcentricities and the ec-
centric actors; in fact as a slight politi-
cal miscalculation or pecudilto, rather
than ms an outrage involving the desc
lntion of q continent, and demanding
the promptest and seVerest retribution
without the power of human law.


For myself have never been able to
take this view of the matter. During
lifetime of active service, have seen
the seeds of this conspiracy planted i'll
the rank soil Of slavery, and the UPas
growth watered by just such trinklings
of courtesy alike false to justice, ex-
pediency and our eternal future. Had
we at an earlier day commenced to Gull
things by their right names, and to
look at the hideous features of slavery
with our ordinary common eyesight
and common sense, instead of through
the rose-colored glasses of supposed po-
htical expediency, there would be three
hundred thousand more men alive to-
day on American soil, and our country
would never for moment have forfeit
ed her proud position rs the highest ex-
emplar of the blessings-mornl, intel
lectual and material-to be derived
from free form of government.


Whether your intention of hanging
me and those of my staff, and other
officers who were engaged in organic
ing the First South Carolina volunteers,
in case we are taken prisoners in bat
tie, will DO likely to benefit your cause
or not, is a matter mainly for your own
consideration. For us, our profession
makes the sacrifice of life contingency
ever present and always to be accepted;
and although such form of death as
your order proposes, is not that to the
contemplation of which soldiers have
trained themselves, I feel well assured,
both for myself and those included in
my sentence, that we could die in no
manner more damaging to your abom-
Unable rebellion and the abominable
institution which is its origin.


The South has.already tried one hang
ing experiment, but not with Il success,
one would think, to encourage its repe-
tition. John Brown, who was we'll
known to mo in in Kansas, aud who
viii be known in appreciative history
centurie 1ieh viii only tecHl1
entered Virginia with seventeen men
and an idea. The terror caused by tie
presence of this idea, and the dauntless
courage which prompted the assertion
of his faith against all odds, 1 need not
now recall. The history is too familiar
and too painful. "Old Ossawatomie'
was caught and hung; his seventeen
men were killed, captured or dispersed,
and several of them shared his fate.
Portions of his skin were tanned, am
told, and circulated as relics dear to
the barburity of the sl1veholding heart.
But more than a million of armed white
men, Mr.. Davis, arc to-day marching
South, in practical acknowledgment
they regard the hanging of three years
ago as the murder of martyr; and MS
they march to battle which has the
emancipation of all slaves as one of
the most glorious results, his name is
on their lips; to the music of of his
memory their marching feet keep time;
and as they sling knapsacks, each one
becomes aware that he is an armed
apostle of the faith preached by him


Who has gone to be soldier


In the army of the Lord!


/ am content, if such be the will of
Providence, to ascend the sCnfTold made
sacred by the blood of this martyr; and
/ rejoice ut every prospect of making
our struggle more earnest and ineNora-
bic on both sides; for the sharper the
conflict the sooner ended; the more
vigorous and remorselesS the strife, the
less blood must be shed in iteventually. il


In conclusion, let me assure you, that
rejoice with my whole heart that your
order in my case, and that of my Off
GERS, if unrevoked, will unite our hands
for the future; and that we shall be
able to treat rebellion as it deserves,
and give to the felony of treason a
felon's death.


Very obediently, yours,


DAVID HUNTER, Mai. Gen.