from Pennsylvania; and the same officer denounced the act as one of cold-blooded murder, and declared he would never again serve under Forrest. This murdered man was not a soldier, and, indeed, the occurrence took place before the United States Government determined to arm negroes. Of the truth of this there is not a shadow of doubt, and it can be established any day by living witnesses. D. L. STANLEY, Your obedient servant, Major-General. UNIONISTS OF ARKANSAS. THE persecutions of the Unionists of Arkansas are nearly if not quite equal to those practised upon the Unionists of East Tennessee. The rebels, after driving all the Union men out of the country or hanging them, fell upon the innocent women and children, torturing them in every way that fiends could devise; they even went so far as to steal the provisions from them, and after burning their houses, and laying waste their lands, compelled them to leave the State without means, barefooted and half clad. The following is a letter from General Fisk, asking the steamboat-men and others to aid one of these poor refugees in reaching her friends :- HEADQUARTERS, DISTRICT OF S. E. MISSOURI, Pilot Knob, October 19th, 1864. To Railroad Agents, Steamboat-men, and others whom it may concern. The bearer of this note, Mrs. Maria Sharkley, has been robbed of all her possessions, and driven from her home in Arkansas. She is especially commended to the sympathy of charitable people, as one upon whom kindness and Christian benevolence would not be wasted, and any favor conferred, will truly be worthily bestowed, as well as thankfully appreciated. She is a refugee from the terrors of the murderous rebels who invest the northern portion of her native State, and is of the most devoted loyalty. W. T. CLARK, C. B. FISK, Brigadier-General Com'g. Lieutenant and A. D. C. MURDER OF TWO UNIONISTS IN ARKANSAS. IN the month of October, 1863, two Union citizens, named Joseph Birchfield and Joseph Pound, of Arkansas, were brutally murdered by a party of Confederate soldiers, belonging to Marmaduke's command, in the following manner :— Stealing upon their victims while they were at home, they arrested them and took them a short distance, at the same time ordering their families to follow; in the mean time telling their prisoners that it was their intention to murder them, and they must prepare themselves for death, as they had but little time to live. The families of the doomed men pleaded and begged for the lives of their husbands and fathers, but to no avail. The villains had come to murder, and nothing but blood would satisfy them. The fiends then actually made the families of the two unfortunate men stand up and look on as they proceeded to murder their innocent friends and kept them there until they had finished the job, when they sought new fields for crime; and left the distressed and weeping families to bury their murdered husbands and fathers. The same cruelties were practised upon numerous other Union families in the immediate neighborhood, and their crimes were that they loved the old Government and its flag better than they did the Confederacy. These actions were committed by Confederate soldiers, and sanctioned by their commanders.* BARBARITY OF JOHN LETCHER. THE following is a letter from the arch-traitor, John Letcher, Governor of Virginia, to a Unionist named Fitzgerald, who was arrested upon suspicion, and confined in one of the loathsome dens, called prisons, in Richmond. The letter will fully show how corrupted and dead to all sense of justice and humanity the minds of the leaders of the rebellion are; they think death is none too good for a man who is even suspected of being a Union man. We give the letter, and leave our readers to judge for themselves: EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, RICHMOND, VA., Mr. William Fitzgerald-Sir: I was aware before the receipt of your letter yesterday, that you were still in prison, and I can assure you that it shall be no fault of mine if you do not remain so during your natural life. When I promised to intercede in your behalf, I believed * Mr. Ward, of Arkansas. your assurance that the suspicions against you were without foundation; but on calling on General Winder, I found that it had been reported to him by a gentleman of undoubted loyalty and veracity, that you have been for years an enemy and vilifier of Southern institutions. In 1856, you voted for the Abolitionist, Fremont, for President. Ever since the war, you have maintained a sullen silence in regard to its merits. Your son, who, in common with other young men, was called to the defence of his country, has escaped to the enemy, probably by your advice. This is evidence enough to satisfy me that you are a traitor to your country; and I regret that it is not sufficient to justify me in demanding you from the military authorities, to be tried and executed. for treason. Yours, &c., JOHN LETCHER. CAPTURE OF THE STEAMER LEVIATHAN. ON the 23d of September, 1863, the United States Steamer Leviathan, was seized at South West Pass in the Mississippi river, by a band of rebel pirates, who stole on board by means of row-boats, and overpowered the crew before they could get their arms to defend themselves. Then having put all on shore but eight men, they raised steam and immediately put to sea; the eight men were in the mean time heavily ironed and put below. As soon as these facts were made known to the United States authorities, the United States Steamer De Soto was sent in pursuit; she came up with the eight men in a small boat, who stated that after they had been at sea some time, the rebels put them in this small boat, without oars, sail, or any food; beside, the wind was blowing a fearful gale at the time, and had not the De Soto providentially crossed their path when she did, they would certainly have all gone to the bottom, or starved to death, as they were at the mercy of the waves. This intended murder was committed by the high-toned chivalry of New Orleans.* MURDER OF MAJOR WILEMAN. ON or about the 5th of October, 1863, a party of rebel soldiers went to the house of Major Wileman, which was in Pendleton county, Kentucky. Major Wileman belonged to the Eighth Regiment, Kentucky Volunteers, and was a gallant and brave officer, and was wounded in the battle of Chickamauga. He had just returned home to recruit his health, when the rebels, like thieves, silently stole up to his house, and surrounding it, so that all chance of escape was cut off, they rushed in upon their unsuspecting and defenceless victim, and took him out, and then commenced stripping him of his clothing, telling him that they had come to kill him, and were now getting ready to do it. The major protested against such barbarity, and told them, that they should treat him as a prisoner of war, because he was an officer in the United States Army. They cursed him for a d―d tory, and told him they never took prisoners. They then proceeded to tie him to a tree, and when this was done, they deliberately shot him. We have since learned, that four or five of his murderers have been captured, and it is to be hoped that they will meet their just reward.† *Colonel William McNair. |