deranged, said he would run her through with his bayonet. His threats were of no avail, for she instantly brought down the stick with all her force on his cowardly person. He proved his bravery by shooting her through the breast, killing her almost immediately, and then went off, rejoicing at having murdered a deranged woman, old enough to be his mother, leaving her body upon the ground, to be buried by her distressed son, when he might venture forth from his hiding-place. * ATTACK ON GENERAL J. B. RODGERS'S HOUSE. ON the night of the 20th of September, 1863, three guerrillas came to the house of General John B. Rodgers, in Van Buren county, Tennessee. Their names were French (raised in Warren county, son of Mason French), Lamb, and Hembree. They rushed into the house, and, with cocked pistols in their hands, demanded to know where General Rodgers was, for they had come, they said, to kill him that night. Mrs. Rodgers informed them that the general had been at home, but had remained there only four hours, and was then in Memphis. One of these abominable murderers swore that it was a lie; that the general was concealed about the premises, and they intended to have him. They then searched the house, destroying everything in their way, like madmen, and causing consternation and terror to the family. The youngest son of the general, named William, took the hint, and concluded it was time for him to leave. Willie is only about twelve years of age; but thinking * Colonel R. T. Crawford, of Tennessee. that the boy would be a man some day, and a Union man, one of them tried to shoot him. The child bounded out of the house, and fled in the darkness. One of the guerrillas followed in hot pursuit, still endeavoring to shoot him (a child twelve years of age). But little Willie knew the ground too well for the guerrilla. He made good his escape, and secreted himself in a clump of briars. His pursuer still pushed on, but finding his efforts vain, abandoned the chase as fruitless. As soon as the child found the way clear, he left his hiding-place and made for the woods, where he lay out in the wet and cold all night. The result was a serious cold. After these efforts, the bandits robbed the general's farm of the last horse and mule, and then betook themselves to Mr. Isaiah Hatson's, whom they shot three times, killing him almost instantly. Thence they went to the house of Mr. Hunter, whom calling out on the piazza, they shot and instantly killed. They also shot his son at the same time, all for being Union men.* MURDER OF OLD MR. WOOD. ON or about the 15th of January, 1862, Champ Furguson, for some reason greatly exasperated, came to Albany, Kentucky, cursing all the Unionists in the place. He swore that he would kill some d-m Lincolnite before he left that night, and a horse he must have, he said, as the one he was riding was not good enough. Mr. D. Kozier, a citizen of Clifton county, having ridden a very fine one to Albany that day, left it standing fast *S. C. Wilson, of Tennessee. ened in the road while he went into a friend's house to attend to some business. Champ seeing it, rode up and immediately appropriated it for his own use, at the same time asking to be shown the owner, as he wanted to put a ball through him, as a compensation, we suppose, for the horse. But Mr. Kozier, not wishing to receive such pay, and being unarmed, fled. Toward evening Champ left Albany, still swearing that he would kill some one that evening. On his way he passed the dwelling of Mr. Wood, who was standing in the door-way as the fiend came up; drawing his pistol, he told Mr. Wood that he had come to kill him. "No, you won't," said Mr. Wood, "for I have trotted you on my knee many a time when you was a baby; we have lived together since you were a child, and have always been good neighbors, and I never harmed you." "You are a d-d Lincolnite," cried Champ; "you ran off your mules, and besides you packed the d-d Union flag at Camp Dick Robinson" (Mr. Wood was a color bearer in the Union army, but being too old he left the army). "I will kill you anyhow;" suiting the action to the word, he fired, shooting the old man in the abdomen, who immediately fled into the house. Champ jumped from his horse, and followed the old man, still firing at him. Mr. Wood seeing this, seized a small hatchet, turned round, and struck Furguson a severe blow on the head, nearly stunning him, and would have killed him, had not one Philipot, who had come from Albany with Champ, interfered, threatening Mr. Wood with instant death if he struck another blow. The old man, seeing that he was deprived of the liberty of defending his life, ran up stairs. Mrs. Wood and her daughter, hearing the fracas, came to the rescue. Champ and his companion seeing them coming, ran out of the house, and mounting their horses they made off. Mr. Wood's wound was so severe that he died next day.* MURDER OF AN OLD MAN AND HIS THREE SONS. IN the latter part of September, 1863, a party of rebel .bandits were prowling about the State of North Carolina, committing all sorts of depredations upon the Union people of the State. It was hinted by some one of the rebel sympathizers, that an old man and his three sons (name forgotten), living in Wilks county, were Unionists, and that it would be an act of patriotism to put them out of the way. Upon hearing this, the fiends started for the old man's house. Rushing into it, they seized the father and his three sons, before they could offer any resistance. The old man asked his captors why they had arrested them? The reply was, "You are d-d Union traitors, and it is our business to see that such as you are put out of the way." They then hurried them off to the woods, a short distance from the house, and, without even the form of a trial, hung them to the trees bordering the woods in sight of their home. While this work of murder was going on, the fiends kept yelling like savages. After they were satisfied that life was extinct, they went off, leaving the bodies of the four unfortunate men hanging, to be buried by whomsoever it might concern.† * Dr. J. D. Hale, of Tennessee. MURDER OF PHILENEAS PLUMLEY. PHILENEAS PLUMLEY, living in Van Buren county, Tennessee, eight miles south of was inhumanly robbed, and then murdered, by a gang of Confederate soldiers in the early part of 1863. Mr. Plumley was ex-sheriff of Van Buren county, was an honest and respectable man, and had amassed a snug little fortune in property. He had just sold a large quantity of cotton, worth from six to eight thousand dollars, to Mr. Asa Faulkner. The rebels by some means learned this, and supposing he had received all the money, concluded to rob him. They went to his house, and not finding him there, they went to his father-in-law's, and arresting him, brought him back to his own house. They then demanded his money. He gave them,one thousand dollars, telling them that was all he had received for the cotton, and expected to get the balance in a few days. The disappointment so enraged the fiends that they drew out their pistols and fired, wounding him severely. Falling upon his knees, he begged them not to kill him. Dragging him into the yard, they finished their bloody work by firing five or six more balls into his body. Mr. Plumley was a quiet, inoffensive Union man, aged forty-five. He left a wife and seven little children (who all witnessed his murder) to mourn the loss of a good husband and father. Mr. Faulkner, hearing of the distressed condition of Mr. Plumley's family, went and paid Mrs. Plumley the balance due on the cotton.* 10* *General J. B. Rodgers. |