PERSONAL NARRATIVE--A DRAMATIC EPISODE
A short time before we left Shelbyville I was a participant in one of
the most solemn, and at the same time one of the most dramatic, scenes
of my whole life.
I was requested one day by General Polk to visit two men who were
sentenced to be shot within a few days for desertion. One of them
belonged to the Nineteenth Tennessee Regiment and the other to the
Eighth Tennessee. The former was a man forty-seven years of age, the
latter not more than twenty-three.
I cannot describe the feelings which oppressed me on my first visit in
compliance with the General's request. I urged upon both men, with all
the powers of my persuasion, an attention to the interests of their
souls. The younger man was, I believe, really in earnest in endeavouring
to prepare for death, but the other seemed to have no realizing sense of
his condition. I found that the younger man had a Cumberland
Presbyterian minister for a Chaplain for whom I sent and who would
minister to him.
I called upon Governor Harris and begged him to see the judges of the
Court and find if there was any possibility of having the men pardoned.
I never begged so hard for anything in my life as for the lives of these
men. I had a special sympathy for the older man, for he had deserted to
visit his wife and children. However, the day came for their execution.
The Cumberland Presbyterian Chaplain baptized the man belonging to his
regiment. I remained in town the night preceding the day appointed for
the execution, and from eight o'clock to nine, the Cumberland
Presbyterian Chaplain and myself engaged in prayer privately in behalf
of the condemned men.
At seven in the morning I gave them the most comfortable Sacrament of
Christ's Body and Blood. Both prisoners seemed deeply and profoundly
penitent and to be very much in earnest in preparing for death. The room
in which they were confined was a very mean and uncleanly one. Half the
window was boarded up, and the light struggled through the dirt that
begrimed the other half. But the Sacrament Itself and the thought that
the prisoners would so soon be in Eternity, made it all very solemn. The
prisoners made an effort to give themselves up to God, and seemed to
feel that this was the occasion for bidding farewell to earth and
earthly things. I pronounced the benediction, placing my hand upon the
head of each, and commending them to the mercy of God.
At eight o'clock, the older man, to whom I was to minister in his last
moments, was taken from his cell, ironed hand and feet. He was placed in
an ambulance, surrounded by a guard, and we started for the brigade of
Colonel Strahl, seven miles out of town. On reaching Strahl's
headquarters, the prisoner was placed in a room and closely guarded
until the hour fixed for his execution,--one o'clock,--should arrive. A
squad of twenty-four men was marched into the yard, and stacking arms,
was marched off in order that the guns might be loaded by an
officer,--one half with blank cartridges.
Leaving headquarter preceded by a wagon bearing the prisoner's coffin
and followed by the squad which was to do the execution, we arrived on
the ground precisely at one o'clock. The brigade was drawn up on three
sides of a square. Colonel Strahl and his staff; Captain Stanford; Major
Jack, General Polk's Adjutant; and Captain Spence of General Polk's
staff, rode forward with me. A grave had been dug. The coffin was placed
beside the grave, the prisoner was seated on it and I took my place by
his side. Captain Johnston, Colonel Strahl's Adjutant, advanced and read
the sentence of the Court and the approval of the General. The prisoner
was then informed that if he wished to make any remarks, he had now an
opportunity. He requested me to cut off a lock of his hair and preserve
it for his wife. He then stood up and said: "I am about to die. I hope I
am going to a better world. I trust that one and all of my companions
will take warning by my fate."
He seated himself on his coffin again and I began the Psalm: "Out of the
deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord," and after that the "Comfortable
words." We then knelt down together, and I said the Confession from the
Communion Office. Then I turned to the office for the Visitation of
Prisoners, and used the prayer beginning, "O Father of Mercies and God
of all Comfort," and so on down to the benediction, "Unto God's gracious
mercy and protection I commit you." I then shook hands with him and
said: "Be a man! It will soon be over!"
The firing squad was in position, the guns were cocked, the order had
been given to "take aim," when Major Jack rode forward and read "Special
Order, No. 132," the purport of which was that since the sentence of the
Court-martial and order for the execution of the prisoner, facts and
circumstances with regard to the history and character of the man had
come to the knowledge of the Lieutenant-General Commanding which in his
judgment palliated the offence of desertion of which the man had been
condemned and warranted a suspension of his execution. The sentence of
death was therefore annulled, and the man was pardoned and ordered to
report to his regiment for duty.
The poor fellow did not understand it at first, but when the truth burst
upon him, he exclaimed: "Thank God! thank God!" and the tears streamed
down his face. The whole scene was most impressive, and was calculated
to have a good effect upon all who were present. The other prisoner was
executed at high noon in another locality.