I am now unequivocally for confiscation, subjugation, extermination, hell and damnation. Yours respectfully, W. C. GRIER. OUTRAGES ON THE PEOPLE IN THE MOUNTAIN DISTRICTS OF KENTUCKY. ́ON the 12th of May, 1863, Colonel Gilbert started out with a detachment of the Forty-fourth Ohio Regiment, on an extensive reconnoissance from London, Kentucky, to ascertain the strength and situation of the numerous bands of guerrillas who were then prowling about that section of the country. He found them very numerous. They fled at the approach of the Forty-fourth, which followed in hot pursuit, but were unable to overtake them. His forces searched the country from London to Barboursville; thence to Cumberland Ford, and along the Cumberland River from Williamsburg, south to Big Creek Gap. Detachments of Colonel Gilbert's men drove the rebel bands up Poor Fork to Yellow Creek, and also into the mountain wilds from Winchester up to the forks of Goose Creek. Colonel Gilbert's command cleared that portion of the country. The guerrillas seemed to have no taste for fighting, and fled in disorder whenever the Union soldiers approached them. In the chase four or five were killed, and some sixteen taken prisoners. Colonel Gilbert's command sustained no loss. The people were found to be very loyal. It was ascertained that the rebels were in the practice of inflicting all sorts of tortures to compel the women and children to tell them where they had hidden their corn, &c. They forced the men into their ranks, divested the women and children-of all their clothing, even taking their shoes from off their feet. Major Moore found near Red River two men, divested of everything but their pantaloons, and almost starved. Lieutenant Shaw and others saw similar instances of barbarous treatment. These Unionists were first reduced to want by Morgan and his men, and afterwards pillaged by the rebel hordes who were driven out by Colonel Gilbert, until starvation or flight seemed to be the only alternative left them. DEPREDATIONS IN KENTUCKY BY HUMPHREY MARSHALL'S AND CLUKE'S MEN. GRAY HAWK, Jackson County, Ky., 'Dear Sir: This leaves me lower in spirits than I have been since I have had a family. Some ten days ago, Cluke, with some five hundred men, came in through Proctor, in Owsley county, taking all the horses they could lay hands on. They came to my house, took a mule from me, and destroyed all the corn I bad; pastured on my wheat, and committed other depredations. On Tuesday, the 7th of this month, Humphrey Marshall's men, with the guerrilla band from Breathitt county, commenced coming into our county by Proctor, taking horses, cattle, and everything they could get hold of. They came on to Booneville; burned the jail; destroyed the records in the clerk's office; cut up the books and scattered them through the streets; came to my house, took every horse and mule I had, numbering thirteen. Among those aiding this work were Jack May, Jerry South's son, Wm. P. Lacey, James Hurd, and Robert Allen. They pursued my two oldest sons up the branch stream from my house, shooting at them until their ammunition was nearly expended. Lacy then charged upon my oldest son with his musket in hand, cursing him, and swearing he would hang him. My son drew his pistol, shot Lacy through the arm, and into his canteen. Lacy threw up his hand and halloed "Don't." My son fired again, hit Lacy under the ear, and dropped him from his horse, dead. The boys then, the musketballs still flying around them, ran down a steep cliff, which the horses of the marauders could not descend, and made their escape into the woods. The rebels, setting fire to my buildings, burned up everything I had, leaving my wife and children with nothing but the clothes they had on. My wife got down on her knees to them, and offered them one thousand dollars in cash if they would not burn the dwelling. They would not hear her. She then tried to get the things out of the house, but they kept her off with their muskets. Some few things, which she did get out, were taken from her, consisting principally of thirty-three bed-blankets. The balance all went to the flames. I was in Jackson county at the time, and am still here. My wife is in a school-house below where my house stood, with my three youngest children. My two boys are hid in the mountains, with nothing to eat, wear, or sleep on, except what the neighbors fürnish them. My wife is also dependent on the charity of the neighbors. Neither of us can get to see the other, as the rebels are still passing. Mine, I understand, was the seventeenth house they have burned on the route up as far as my place. I understand they have burned Clark's saltworks. How true this is,.I do not know. The damage reported to have been done so far up as my house is certainly true. My son came to me last night, and gave me all the particulars. I have begged and plead hard with the authorities below for help. One thing you know, and that is, the people here generally are so poor that they cannot get away, and if they could, how are they to subsist? These counties that are suffering so much are the most loyal portion of the state. Clay, Owesley, and Jackson, which have furnished on an average five hundred volunteers to the country, not one of whom is near enough to come to the rescue of their friends; they are all at Vicksburg, Murfreesboro, and other points out of the State. I have not seen my wife for some three weeks, and don't know what to do. We have no meat or grain to live on here, and no horses or mules to take us away; no means to buy with. All my papers, notes, accounts, deeds, and everything I had, are burned up, and I have not clothing even for a change. I am going to try to get through to my family to-night, if I can, and will in a few days decide what we will do. A number of families must starve, if not soon rescued. Yours, truly, ABIJAH GILBERT. MURDER OF JAMES MCCULLUM. ON the 13th of February, 1863, a party of Confederate soldiers were sent with orders to conscript Mr. James McCullum, an honest, industrious, hard-working Union man, residing in Greene county, Tennessee. When they arrived in sight of his house he was engaged in feeding cattle. Seeing their approach, and knowing their purpose, he thought to evade them, and ran towards the barn. One of the party, without hailing or stopping him, which could easily have been done, brutally shot him through the neck, killing him instantly. His three little children, who were standing near, seeing their father had been murdered, ran to their mother, who was in the house, and told her. She ran out, shrieking, and wringing her hands in anguish. Approaching the monsters, who were sitting on the fence laughing at her agony, she asked them why they had killed her husband? They answered, "Because he was a d-d Tory !"* ATRO ATROCITIES OF CHAMP FURGUSON. THE annals of no civilized, nor even savage warfare, could furnish, perhaps, a parallel to the crimes and barbarities of Champ Furguson. He boasted of having killed fourteen men; and there is no question of the truth of his assertion. Having by some means managed to get command of a party of ruffians in their raids upon the Union citizens of Tennessee, which were very frequent, he and his gang captured John Williams, William Delk, John Crabtree, and a negro man, at Mrs. Alexander Hough's, in Fentress county. Tying them together, they drove them to the house of William Piles, on Wolf Run. On the way, the murderers gratified their savage propensities by cutting splinters of wood and thrusting them into the unfortunate men's flesh, and cutting them off * From Colonel Crawford, one of the Vice-Presidents of the State Convention held in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1863. |