racy," a prominent rebel journal, under date of the 15th of April, and which is appended to, and adopted as, a part of Mr. Pettinger's deposition. The editor says: "The mind and heart sink back, appalled at the bare contemplation of the awful consequences which would have followed the success of this one act. We doubt if the victory of Manassas or Corinth were worth as much to us as the frustration of this grand coup d'état." It is not by any means certain that the annihilation of Beauregard's whole army at Corinth would be so fatal a blow to us as would have been the burning of these bridges at that time by these men."

So soon as those men, comprising the expedition, had left the cars and dispersed themselves in the woods, the population of the country around turned out in their pursuit, employing for their purpose the dogs which are trained to hunt down the fugitive slaves of the South. The whole twenty-two were captured. Among them was Private Jacob Parrott, of Co. K, Thirty-third Regiment Ohio Volunteers. When arrested he was, without any trial, taken possession of by a military officer and four soldiers, who stripped him, bent him over a stone, and, while two pistols were held over his head, a lieutenant in rebel uniform inflicted, with a rawhide, upward of a hundred lashes on his bare back. This was done in the presence of an infuriated crowd, who clamored for his blood, and actually brought a rope with which to hang him. The object of this prolonged scourging was to force this young man to confess to them the object of the expedition, and the names of his comrades, especially that of the engineer who ran the train. Their purpose was, no doubt, not only to take the life of the latter, if identified, but to do so with every circumstance of humiliation and torture which they could devise. Three

times, in the progress of this horrible flogging, it was suspended, and Mr. Parrott was asked if he would not confess; but steadily and firmly to the last he refused all disclosure, and it was not till his tormentors were weary of their brutal work, that the task of subduing their victim was abandoned as hopeless. This youth is an orphan, without father or mother, and without any of the advantages of education. Soon after the Rebellion broke out, though but eighteen years of age, he left his trade, and threw himself into the ranks of our armies as a volunteer, and now, though still suffering from the outrages committed on his person in the South, he is on his way to rejoin his regiment, seeming to love his country only the more for all that he had endured in its defence. His subdued and modest manner, while narrating the part he had borne in this expedition, showed him to be wholly unconscious of having done anything more than perform his simple duty as a soldier. Such Spartan fortitude, and such fidelity to the trusts of friendship, deserve an enduring record in the archives of the Government, and will find one, I am sure, in the hearts of a loyal people.

The twenty-two captives, when secured, were thrust into the negro jail of Chattanooga. They occupied a single room, half under ground, and but thirteen feet square, so that there was not space enough for all of them to lie down together, and part of them were in consequence obliged to sleep sitting and leaning against the walls. The only entrance was through a trap-door, in the ceiling, that was raised twice a day to let down their scanty meals, which were lowered in a bucket. They had no other light or ventilation than that which came through two small grated windows. They were covered with swarming vermin; and the heat was so oppressive

that they were often obliged to strip themselves entirely of their clothes to bear it. Add to this, they were allhandcuffed, and with trace-chains, secured by padlocks around their necks, were fastened to each other in companies of twos and threes. Their food, which was doled out to them twice a day, consisted of a little flour, wet with water, and baked in the form of bread, and spoiled pickled beef. They had no opportunity of procuring any supplies from the outside, nor had they any means of doing so, their pockets having been rifled of their last cent by the Confederate authorities, prominent among whom was an officer wearing the rebel uniform of a major. No part of the money, thus basely taken, was ever returned.

During their imprisonment at Chattanooga, their leader, Mr. Adams, was tried and condemned as a spy, and was subsequently executed at Atlanta on the 7th of June. They were strong, and in perfect health when they entered this negro jail, but at the end of something more than three weeks, when they were required to leave it, they were so exhausted, from the treatment to which. they had been subjected, as scarcely to be able to walk; and several staggered from weakness as they passed through the street to the cars.

Finally, twelve of the number, including the five who have deposed, and Mr. Mason, of Company K, Twentyfirst Ohio Volunteers, who was prevented from illness giving his evidence, were transferred to the prison of Knoxville, Tennessee. On arriving there, seven of them were arraigned before a court-martial, charged with being spies. Their trial, of course, was summary. They were permitted to be present, but not, to hear either the argument of their own counsel, or that of the judge advocate. Their counsel, however, afterwards visited the

prison, and read to them the written defence, which he made before the court in their behalf. The substance of that paper is thus stated by one of the witnesses, Corporal Pittinger. He, the counsel, contended, being dressed in citizens' clothes, was nothing more than what the Confederate Government itself had authorized, and only what all the guerrillas in the service of the Confederacy did, on all occasions, when it would be of advantage to them to do so; and he recited the instance of General Morgan having dressed his men in the uniform of our soldiers, and passed them off as being from the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, and by that means succeeded in reaching a railroad and destroying it. This instance was mentioned to show that our being in citizens' clothes did not take from us the protection. awarded to prisoners of war. The plea went on further to state that we had told the object of our expedition; that it was purely a military one for the destruction of communications, and as such lawful according to the rules of war. This just and unanswerable presentation of the case appears to have produced its appropriate impression. Several members of the court-martial afterwards called on the prisoners, and assured them that from the evidence against them they could not be condemned as spies; that they had come for a certain known object, and not having lingered about, or visited any of their camps, obtaining or seeking information, they could not be convicted. Soon thereafter all the prisoners were removed to Atlanta, Georgia, and they left Knoxville under a belief that their comrades who had been tried either had been or would be acquitted. In the mean time, however, the views entertained and expressed to them by the members of the court were overcome, it may be safely assumed, under the prompting of the re

morseless despotism at Richmond. On the 18th of June, after their arrival at Atlanta, where they joined their comrades, from whom they had been separated at Chattanooga, their prison-door was opened, and the death sentence of the seven, who had been tried at Knoxville, was read to them. No time for preparation was allowed them. They were told "to bid their friends farewell, and to be quick about it." They were at once tied and carried out to execution. Among the seven was Private Samuel Robinson, Company G, Thirty-third Ohio Volunteers, who was too ill to walk. He was however pinioned, like the rest, and in this condition was dragged from the floor on which he was lying, to the scaffold. In an hour or more the cavalry escort, which had accompanied them, were seen returning with the cart, but the cart was empty. The tragedy had been consummated.

On that evening and the following morning, the prisoners learned from the Provost Marshal and guard that their comrades had died, as all true soldiers of the Republic should die in the presence of its enemies. Among the revolting incidents which they mentioned, in connection with this cowardly butchery, was the fall of two victims from the breaking of the ropes, after they had been some time suspended. On their being restored to consciousness, they begged for an hour in which to pray and prepare for death; but this was refused them. The ropes were readjusted, and the execution at once procéeded.

Among those who thus perished was Private Alfred Wilson, Company C, Twenty-First Ohio Volunteers. He was a mechanic from Cincinnati, who, in the exercise of his trade, had travelled much through the States, north and south, and who had a greatness of soul which sympathized with our struggle for national life, and was in