New Berne N.C.

Aug 20^th 1864

 

Dear Father:

                        Yours of the 11^th inst is received. One letter which I wrote you must have been lost or burned by the Rebel Raiders. I wrote to Sallie a day or two since. It is very hot here, and even the exertion of writing a letter is a very uncomfortable one. I heard from Frank by last mail. Well and hard at work. I'm glad you went to Commencement and took Mother with you. General Harland has just got a report of proceedings at his Triennial, which he was unable to attend. You are very kind to wish I could enjoy the fruits of your garden, and as I sat at the dinner-table the day your letter came, I wished you could have been there too. In the fruit line—beside the corn and beans, and tomatoes—we had peaches, pears, figs, muskmelons, watermelons & whortleberries, all, but the last, fruit of our garden. So you see we have almost all the common necessaries of life. The figs on this place are particularly nice. They don't taste like those Mr Asa Fitch turns out of his hot houses, but are fresh & finely flavored. And we have bushels of them.

 

            Last Saturday morning at daylight a soldier was shot for desertion, and the next (Sabbath) morning six more were executed. Some of the cases were very / aggravated ones, and as there has never been an execution in this state before, it is hoped the example will prove a salutary one. Six graves were dug in the middle of an open plain just outside the works, and the Regiments to which the prisoners belonged formed so as to make three sides of a square, the open side being where the graves were dug. The procession then marched up from town, consisting of the firing party, of 60 men, a guard of one company, 12 men carrying the six coffins, and the prisoners—the whole under charge of the Provost Marshal. As they approached the place of death the band began playing a dirge which was most painfully solemn. The prisoners were marched around the inside of the square / and then put astride of their coffins which had previously been put, each by the grave dug for its reception. The placing of the firing party in front of the prisoners, the reading of the charges and sentences and other indispensable preliminaries took a long time, and the sight of those poor fellows sitting there, waiting for death was sad in the extreme. But when everything was apparently ready and everyone present was congratulating himself that the final act would soon take place, the new Chaplain of the 15^th Conn (a classmate of mine) who had accompanied the prisoners as their adviser & consoler, took off his hat, and made a prayer of exactly 15 minutes in length, by the watch of an officer standing near me, in which he gave a history of this wicked Rebellion, prayed for our missionaries in / foreign lands—in fact made a regularly-prepared speech. I have never seen, or heard or read of anything half so inappropriate and revolting. All things must have an end, and at length Mr Doolittle resumed his hat. Then the victims were blindfolded. There they sat erect with chests thrown forward, that death might be instant, and expecting that each moment would bring the fatal word—Fire! But usage requires that the handcuffs shall be removed before death, and that had to be done now. Imagine the mental anguish of those men with their eyes bandaged—not knowing the cause of this long delay. Some of the irons came off hard. One had to be pulled by main force / over the hand, by the culprit himself. This took about ten minutes. At last—it seemed to me the last would never come—the commands "Ready—Aim"—were given, and some of the executioners, wrought up to the highest pitch of nervous excitement by the suspense, did not wait for the word Fire, but discharged their pieces at the command Aim. This set the rest going, and the discharge sounded more like the popping out of corn than the volley of well-trained soldiers. The result was that but three of the doomed men were killed outright. The contortions and struggles of one of the wounded was frightful to behold. The reserves were ordered up, and the remaining three dispatched. The bodies were laid on the coffins, the band played a dirge and the troops passed / by in slow time to look upon the Majesty of the Law, and thence to their camps. Thus ended an Execution. It was painful to witness—almost disgusting to write about. How then shall I regard the conduct of a lady (?) wife of the Major of one of our Regts, who was present on horseback, stood, or rather sat, within speaking distance of the condemned men, saw them shot, and then fell in behind the troops as they marched around, and passed within five feet of those bloody, mangled corpses? She has heretofore passed for a respectable woman down here, but the disgust among the officers is very apparent now at her unwomanly behavior—

 

            Well. I have made out a long letter without knowing it. I hope you will all write soon. Give much love to all at home, and believe me

Your aff son                Charlie.

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