]> <emph rend="bold">TUPELO:</emph> Electronic Edition. John Hill Aughey, 1828-1911 Funding from the Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition supported the electronic publication of this title. Text scanned (OCR) by Hope McCullough, Elizabeth Novak, Patricia Walker Images scanned by Carlene Hempel, Jill Kuhn, and Patricia Walker Text encoded by Jill Kuhn and Natalia Smith First edition, 1999 ca. 1.1M Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1999.

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 Call number 973.78 A91t (Wilson Annex, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) TupeloAughey, John H. ChicagoRhodes & McClure Publishing Co.1905

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 Library of Congress Subject Headings, 21st edition, 1998 French Italian Latin Spanish Aughey, John H. (John Hill), 1828-1911. Presbyterian Church -- Clergy -- Biography. Clergy -- Mississippi -- Biography. Presbyterian Church -- Clergy -- Southern States -- Religion $ x History -- 19th century. Prisoners of war -- Confederate States of America -- Biography. Tupelo (Miss.) -- History -- 19th century. Secession -- Southern States. Slaves -- United States -- Social conditions. United States -- Politics and government -- 1861-1865. United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Prisoners and prisons. United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives. 1999-02-11, Celine Noel and Wanda Gunther revised TEIHeader and created catalog record for the electronic edition. 1999-02-07, Natalia Smith, project manager, finished TEI-conformant encoding and final proofing. 1999-02-06, Jill Kuhn finished TEI/SGML encoding 1999-01-28, Beth Novak, Patricia Walker and Hope McCullough finished scanning (OCR) and proofing.

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John H. Aughey. From a photograph taken in the year 1898.[Frontispiece Image]

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 TUPELO BY REV. JOHN H. AUGHEY, A.M., AUTHOR OF “THE IRON FURNACE,” “THE GRAMMATICAL GUIDE,” “SPIRITUAL GEMS OF THE AGES,” ETC., AND CHAPLAIN UNITED STATES ARMY. CHICAGO: RHODES & McCLURE PUBLISHING CO. 1905 Entered according to act of Congress in the office of the Librarian of Congress A. D. 1888 BY REV. JOHN H. AUGHEY, A.M.

TO MRS. MARY J. AUGHEY, CHARITON, LUCAS CO., IOWA, DR. J. W. AND MRS. KATE A. FERGUSON, CONGRESS, WAYNE CO., OHIO, AND IN MEMORY OF DR. JOHN K. AUGHEY, WHO DIED AT SEATON, MERCER CO., ILLINOIS, MAY 19TH, 1886, DR. JOHN H. AND GERTRUDE E. STANTON, CHARITON, LUCAS CO., IOWA, MY BELOVED WIFE AND CHILDREN, AND TO MY GRANDCHILDREN, MARY A. FERGUSON AND SARAH McCALLA STANTON,

This volume is affectionately inscribed, by THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. SECESSION. Secession Speech by Col. Drane—Secessionists' Rejoicing at the Election of Lincoln—Address by Capt. Love Opposing Secession—His Line of Thought and Excellent Arguments—A Secessionist Speaks—Deals in Vituperation, Sophistry, and Cursing—Sermon—Words of Warning—Arguments Against Secession—Its Results Predicted—Charity Enjoined . . . . pp. 21 to 45 CHAPTER II. Vigilance Committee and Court Martial—The Unique Summons—Skull, and Crossbones—Coffin, Grave, Gallows, and Victim—The Trial and its Result—The Midnight Attack by the Vigilantes—Their Incontinent Flight—Mr. John Mecklin's Visit—His Advice—Removal to Attala County near Kosciusko—Dr. Smith's Attempt at Assassination—The South Arming for the War—Dr. Hughes' Visit—Murder of Rev. James Pelan—Return to Tishomingo County—Events by the Way—Battle in Good Springs Glen—Murder of Payson and Murchison by the Vigilantes—Miss Silverthorn's Letter—Summons to Attend Court—Martial Escape to Rienzi—Return to Paden's Mills—The Battle near Booneville—The Arrest by Hill's Cavalry— Examination by Col. Bradfute—Gen. Pfeiffer and Gen. Jordan Enter the Dungeon at Tupelo—Cruel Treatment of Prisoners—Murder of Poole and Harbaugh—Songs of Incarcerated Slaves. . . . . pp. 46 to 116 CHAPTER III. Visited by Col. Mark Lowry and Others—Miss Daisy Carson's Visit—Witherspoon's Escape—Pursued by Cavalry with Bloodhounds—Witherspoon and Denver Overtaken—Condemned to Death—Death of their Captors—Mrs. Witherspoon's Letter—Old Pilgarlic and his son Oscar—His Trial before Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard—Gen. Braxton Bragg Orders Prof. Yarbrough's Execution—He is Shot—Restored to Consciousness by his Friends—His final Escape—Death of the rebel Capt. Pender—Celebration of the Fourth of July in Prison—Escape of Aughey and Malone—Separate in the encampment—Set out Alone—Concealed in the Chaparral—The Booming Cannon and Passing Soldiers—Soldiers' Conversation about the Escaped Prisoners Overheard—Crosses an Affluent of the Tombigbee River—David Hough's Cabin—The Re-arrest—Running the Gauntlet amid Rebel Camps—Again at Gen. Jordan's Head-quarters—Examined and Shackled—Returned to Tupelo—Examined by the Rebel Generals—To be Shot in an Hour—Letter to My Wife—The Reprieve—Remanded to Prison—Reception by the Prisoners—Floor Spiked Down—Guards Increased . . . . . pp. 116 to 160 CHAPTER IV. Benjamin Clarke's Story—Pursuit by Cavalry with Bloodhounds—Capture of the Bear—Death of Snediker and Rucker at the Bagnio in Fulton—Death of Downs—Clarke's Wife and Children—Arrive at Paden's Mills—The Search of the House, Mills, and Negro Quarters—The Minorcans—Louis Las Cassas Lornette—Col. Fuellevert—His Interview with his Nephew Louis—The Rescue—Cavalry Battle at Paden's Mills—Interview with Col. Walter, the Judge Advocate—Charges Preferred—Bailie and Childress Shot—Second Visit of Col. H. W. Walter—Cruel Treatment by Col. Clare—French Officer's Visit—Personal Appearance of Gen. Bragg—Champe and Braxton—Murder of Chenault, Vedder, Bynum, and other Unionists—Hymns—Foreordination—Debate on, by Maple and Melvin—Hermon Bledsoe, The East Tennessee Unionist—The Greenville Convention—The Loyal Address—Bledsoe's Arrest—Escape From Death by Fire—His Travels, Re-arrest, and Incarceration in Tupelo—Escape of Bovard Willis—Pursuit by Cavalry With Hounds—Narrow Escape—Troyer Anderson's Remarkable Dream—Letter to My Wife—Obituary—The Prisoners' Petition to Abraham Lincoln and William H. Seward—Murder of Street and Maynard—Address to be made from the Gallows—Resolve to escape—Plan adopted—Proves successful—Under the Prison—Among the Guards—In the Forest—Meet a Negro—Perishing From Hunger and Thirst—Find Water—The Ethiopian Charley—The Unionist, Israel Nelson—Col. Barry—Col. Barry and his Son Volney Torn to Pieces by Blood-hounds—Traveling in a Circle . . . . . pp. 160 to 249 CHAPTER V. Pursued by Bloodhounds—Death Imminent—Ascent of the Oak—Death Imminent—The Hounds Baffled—Jingo Dick—Under the Juniper. The Singing Birds—Homeward I Plod My Weary Way—Perishing From Hunger and Thirst—The Presentiment—Find Water, Bright Sparkling Water—The Bear Hunt—Climb a Tree—The Conscripts—Rebel Encampments—In at the Death—Bloodhounds—Meet the Videttes—The Fierce Dog—Find Friends—Mr. and Mrs. Chism—The Storm—Mr. Sanford—The Night in the Barn—The Midnight Ride—Reach Mr. John Downing's—Meet Many Unionists—Death of Newsom—Daughter of Gen. Nathaniel Green—Meet Rebels—Thrilling Adventure and Escape—Halted by Guerrillas—Fired at and Guide Wounded—Reach the Union Lines at Rienzi—Kind Reception—Serenade—Speech—Hosts of Friends—Cols. Bryner and Thrush—Meet Malone—Wife and Child—Gen. Jefferson C. Davis—His Kindness—Gortney's Tragic Death . . . . . pp. 249 to 289 CHAPTER VI. Melvin Estill's Letter—The Escape from Saltillo—Pursuit by Cavalry with Blood-hounds—Jasper Cain, Laverty Grier, and John Graham—Overtaken—Tragic Fate of Four Unionists—Their Scalps Taken—Mrs. Cameron and Daughter Alverna—The Cavern—Fed by Slaves—Reach the Union Lines—Enlistment in Federal Service—Loyal Southern Women—Tampering with the Ballot Box— Wholesale Frauds—Views of Grady and Clarke—Extract from President Cleveland's Inaugural—Bill to Promote Election Frauds—Visit to the Legislature in Columbia— News and Courier Speaks—Peon Slavery—Public School System of South Carolina—When Inaugurated—Synod of Atlantic—Moderator Moses Aaron Hopkins—Bowling Green, Ky.—Interview with Col. Geo. M. Edgar—Believes in the Right of Secession—Political Deliverances of the Southern General Assembly—The Question of Reunion of Northern and Southern Presbyterian Churches—A Consummation to be Desired—Objections to Reunion—Causes of Delay—The Prospect of Reunion—Ecclesiastical Deliverance on Evolution—The “Open Letter”—Miscegenation—More Political Deliverances—Northern General Assembly on Decoration Day—Purity of the Ballot Box must be Preserved or the Nation will Perish—Probable Solution of the Difficulty . . . . .pp. 289 to 330 CHAPTER VII. Bill Arp (Col. Smith) in Atlanta Constitution—His Arrogant and Presumptuous Demand—Gen. Benjamin H. Grierson's Report in Regard to the Southern Unionists—Pollard, the Southern Historian, on Conscription—James Blackburn's Atrocious Letter—Persecutions of North Carolina Unionists—They Reach Philadelphia and are Hospitably Received—Col. Chandler's Report in Regard to Southern Prisons—Murder of Major Bradford—Gen. W. T. Sherman to Mayor of Atlanta, Ga.—Capt. Phillips' Statement in Regard to Unionists of North Alabama—Col. Fremantle's Views—Murder of Montgomery, a Texan Unionist—Duff's Regiment to Quell Counter Revolution of Unionists in Texas—Texas Unionist Confides His Sentiments.—Gen. Bankhead Magruder's Abhorrence of the Puritans—General Houston—Col. Chubb, who Hired a Colored Crew at Boston, and Coolly Sold them as Slaves at Galveston—Cruelty to the Captured Crew of the Harriet Lane—Minden, La.—Gen. Jo. Johnston Wounded Ten Times—Gen. Van Dorn Shot by Dr. Peters—Burning of Unionists at Franklin, Tenn.—The Confederacy Calling upon the Negro for Help—Preamble to Florida Ordinance of Secession—Address by Stephen A. Douglas—Murder of Unionists in Kentucky Valley, Ala.—Terrible and Swift Retribution—Gideon Brevoort—His Faithful Service—His Death—His Monument—Prof. Franklin Brevoort—At Tensas, Miss.—Isaac Simpson—Brevoort and Simpson Reach Cairo, Ill.—White League—Murder of Judge Chisholm and His Son and Heroic Daughter—Rev. James Pelan—Southern Hospitality—Rev. Mr. Bland, of Memphis Presbytery—Four Grave Elders—Comity among Physicians—A Laudable Custom coeval with the Medical Profession . . . . pp. 330 to 366 CHAPTER VIII. Is Deception ever Justifiable?—Gen. L. Q. C. Lamar's. Statement—Southern Heroines—Speech by Jefferson Davis at Holly Springs, Miss.—His Hatred of the North—Southern Slaves and Northern Mudsills—No Homogeneity between Cavaliers and Puritans—Pollard's Estimate of Jeff. Davis—Quotation from Pollard's Lost Cause—He Degrades Labor, Denies its Dignity, and Eulogizes and Attempts to Justify Human Slavery—Poor Whites of the South—Causes of Their Poverty—Atavism—Heredity—Degradation of Labor through Slavery—Lack of Educational and Religious Culture—Their Unfortunate Environment—Despised by the Slave-holding Oligarchy . . . . . pp. 366 to 383 CHAPTER IX. Rev. L. B. Gaston's Essay—Educational Facilities of North and South Compared—The Educational System of Prussia Commended—Prediction Concerning Prussia—Free School System of the North—Urges the South to Adopt a Free School System—Result of His Article—Servile Insurrections Dreaded—Judge Scroggs, of Holly Springs, Miss.—One Slave Murders Another—No Law to Punish the Homicide—The Murderer Whipped and Returned to His Master, Governor Matthews, of Salem—Tippah County, Miss. —Negro Testimony Not Valid—The Southern Barbecue—Sermon on the General Judgment—The Concourse, the Judge, the Witnesses, the Testimony, the Sentence—Dies Iræ—American Slavery as it now Stands Revealed to the World (from a Scottish Magazine)—The Death of Slavery (by William Cullen Bryant)—Sermon Preceding Memorial Day (by Rev. J. H. Aughey, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Farmington, Fulton County, Illinois)—Purity of the Ballot (Rev. T. C. Evans)—Memorial Day Poem—Poems: How Sleep the Brave?—Decoration Day—The Blue and the Gray—Answer to the Blue and the Gray—The Nation's Dead—Sleep, Comrades, Sleep—The Veteran's Request (by Bayard Taylor)—The Soldier's Reprieve. . . . . pp. 383 to 461 CHAPTER X. The United States in 1984—The English or American Language (from Grammatical Guide, by Rev. J. H. Aughey, Pastor of the West Union Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Marshall County, West Virginia, 1876-1881)—The Commercial Language of the World—Soon to be the Universal Language—Duty of Christian Ministers and People (by Miss Sarah Hosier, of Boston, Mass.)—The Burning of Columbia, S.C., in 1865—Lemuel Lorimer—Memorial Day Address (by Rev. W. F. Bartholomew, of Chariton, Iowa) —Memorial Sermon (by Rev. W. F. Slocum, of Wooster, Ohio)—Soldier's Letter—Purity of the Ballot—Rev. W. J. Day's Opinion—The Traitor's Doom—Rev. Dr. Allen's Facts for the Church—The Southern Unionist—The Ku-Klux: the Story of Capt. Boone—The Mustering—The Indiana Election Cases—Sermon by a Clerical Ignoramus —Dark Hours, by Horace Greeley—Battle of Corinth—Battle of Tupelo—Extract from Greeley's “American Conflict”—From a Soldier's Letter—The Glorious Fourth —Fraternal Relations—The Rum Traffic Doomed—John Wesley on Temperance—Unrestricted Immigration—Extract from Rev. E. D. McMaster, D.D.—The Christian Religion—The Octoroon—Massacre of Texan Unionists—The Purity of the Ballot—Prisoner's Hope—John Brown —Marching Through Georgia—Distinctive Principles—Creed of all Orthodox Churches—The Law of Revivals—What the Churches Believe in regard to Temperance—Sermon by Rev. J. H. Aughey—Rev. J. C. Hogan on the Liquor Seller—Murder of Frank Journell—Faith Illustrated—The Colored Philosopher—The Southern Presbyterian's Possible Dilemma—My Country—The Ship of State, by Longfellow—Is Another Civil War Imminent?—Reviews—Spiritual Gems of the Ages (by Rev. John H. Aughey, Pastor of the Churches of Congress, Chester, and Wayne, Wayne County, Ohio) . . . . pp. 462 to 606 PREFACE.

A celebrated author thus writes: “Posterity is under no obligations to a man who is not a parent, who has never planted a tree, built a house, nor written a book.” Having fulfilled all these requisites to insure the remembrance of posterity, it remains to be seen whether the author's name shall escape oblivion.

It may be that a few years will obliterate the name affixed to this Preface from the memory of man. This thought is the cause of no concern. I shall have accomplished my purpose if I can in some degree be humbly instrumental in serving my country and my generation, by promoting the well-being of my fellowmen, and advancing the declarative glory of Almighty God.

This work was written while suffering intensely from maladies induced by the rigors of the Iron Furnace of Secession, whose seven-fold heat is reserved for the loyal citizens of the South. Let this fact be a palliation for whatever imperfections the reader may meet in its perusal.

There are many loyal men in the southern states, who to avoid martyrdom, conceal their opinions. They are to be pitied—not severely censured. All those southern ministers and professors of religion who were eminent for piety, opposed secession till the states passed the secession ordinance. They then advocated reconstruction as long as it comported with their safety. They then, in the face of danger and death, became scent—not acquiescent, by any means—and they now “bide their time,” in prayerful trust that God will, in His own good time, subvert rebellion, and overthrow anarchy, by a restoration of the supremacy of constitutional law. By these, and their name is legion, my book will be warmly approved. My fellow-prisoners in the dungeon at Tupelo, who may have survived its horrors, and my fellow-sufferers in the Union cause throughout the South, will read in my narrative a transcript of their own sufferings. The loyal citizens of the whole country will be interested in learning the views of one who has been conversant with the rise and progress of secession, from its incipiency to its culmination in rebellion and treason. It will also doubtless be of general interest to learn something of the workings of the “peculiar institution,” and the various phases which it assumes different sections of the slave states.

Compelled to leave Dixie in haste, I had no time to collect materials for my work. I was therefore under the necessity of writing without those aids which would have secured greater accuracy. I have done the best that I could have under the circumstances; and any errors that may have crept into my statements of facts, or reports of addresses, will be cheerfully rectified as soon as ascertained.

That I might not compromise the safety of my Union friends who rendered me assistance, and who are still within the rebel lines, I was compelled to omit their names, and for the same reason to describe rather indefinitely some localities, especially the portions of Ittawamba, Chickasaw, Pontotoc, Tippah, and Tishomingo counties, through which I traveled while escaping to the federal lines. This I hope to be able to correct in future editions.

Narratives require a liberal use of the first personal pronoun, which I would have gladly avoided, had it been possible without tedious circumlocution, as its frequent repetition has the appearance of egotism.

I return sincere thanks to my fellow-prisoners who imperiled their own lives to save mine, and also to those Mississippi Unionists who so generously aided a panting fugitive on his way from chains and death to life and liberty.

May the Triune God bless our country, and preserve its integrity!

JOHN HILL AUGHEY. Female Seminary, Steubenville, Ohio.

Above is the preface to The Iron Furnace. Since writing The Iron Furnace I have learned many things not known by me at the time that volume was written. I was not in fit condition physically Or mentally at the time to write anything as it should be written. It was uncertain whether I should survive the maladies induced by the rigors of my imprisonment. Dr. France, of Harlem Springs, O., whose patient I was, could not give me assurance of ultimate recovery. This volume is a fuller and more complete narrative of my own personal sufferings as a southern Unionist, both prior to and during my imprisonment and marvelous escapes from arrest, till I reached the Federal lines, as well as an account of the terrible cruelties to which my compatriots in the dungeon at Tupelo were subjected as a punishment of their patriotism. Although imperfect, The Iron Furnace, of which “Tupelo” is an enlarged and completed sequel, has received many encomiums from distinguished men whose approval is the source of laudable pride. Some of them will be hereinafter recorded by the author.

Mountain Top, Luzerne Co., Pa., May 8, 1888. [By REV. W. P. BREED, D.D., Philadelphia, Pa.]

We commend The Iron Furnace to all. The author's personal narrative is one of the most thrilling and touching ever written. The arrest, the imprisonment, the escape, the re-arrest, the ironing under the uplifted sword, the re-incarceration, the filthy dungeon, the loathsome food, the second escape, the pursuit by cavalry and blood-hounds, the famishing from thirst and hunger, and the final exodus from the iron furnace and reception under the good old flag form such a story that we envy not the heart of him who can read it without deep emotion. Mr. Aughey resided eleven years in the South, and his views in regard to the rise and progress of the secession movement till it culminated in treason and rebellion cannot fail to interest all.

 [By HORACE GREELEY, Editor of the New York Tribune.]

Mr. Aughey was arrested as a traitor to the treason whereto he had never actively nor passively adhered and which he therefore could not betray. He was heavily manacled and thrust into a crowded, filthy prison, whence his companions were taken out day by day to be shot and their bodies thrown naked into a ditch, as a punishment of their patriotism. Mr. Aughey as a more influential Unionist was reserved for conspicuous hanging, but escaped before the fulfillment of that amiable intention. Traveling in the opposite direction from that in which he would naturally be sought, wearing on his ankles the heavy iron fetters which he had not been enabled to remove, he was obliged to evade the blood-hounds which are usually kept for the hunting of slaves, but are now employed for the tracking of white Unionists, taking care to leave none of his garments in prison, as from them the scent might be taken, traveling by night, and then very painfully because of the galling circlet of his ankles, living mainly on green corn eaten raw, since to raise a smoke would have been to advertise his presence to bitter and unrelenting foes, he finally evaded the rebel pickets and found refuge under the protecting folds of the flag of freedom.

 [By REV. W. J. McCORD, Wassaic, New York.]

Much good will come from the circulation of Mr. Aughey's book, and I could wish that it might be read by everyone in our whole land.

 [By HON. J. T. HEADLEY.]

I have read Mr. Aughey's book, The Iron Furnace, with intense interest, and find in it only another proof of how little the loud mouthed patriots of the North know what true fidelity to the Government means. It seems to me that somehow in the providence of God this war in its progress or termination must give the suffering Unionists of the South that lofty position relatively which they so richly deserve.

 [By HON. B. F. WADE, Washington, D. C.]

I have read Mr. Aughey's book, entitled, “The Iron Furnace.” It shows what it costs to be a Unionist in the South, and strongly illustrates the condition of southern society. I hope it will receive, as it deserves, a wide circulation.

 [By COL. BRYNER, of the 47th Illinois Infantry, Peoria, Ill.]

Mr. Aughey's book, “The Iron Furnace,” proves the truth of the adage, that truth is stranger than fiction. His escape was one of the most remarkable on record. Heavily ironed, closely guarded in the midst of the great rebel army of more than one hundred thousand men, the day set apart for his execution but three days' distant, it required the almost miraculous interposition of Divine Providence to give success to his plans for escape, to guide him through a hostile country swarming with foes eager in their search, stimulated by the incentive of a large reward and aided by the keen-scented blood-hound, till he had passed over a space of more than two hundred miles by the route he was compelled to travel, which intervened between his prison in Tupelo and the Union outpost of Rienzi. We have seen the manacles he wore; we have looked upon the scars caused by the galling circlet of his ankles, the heavy iron fetters. We have read his thrilling record on the site of its occurrence—in the very building in which for years the author presided over the destinies of the Rienzi Female College. If you wish to read a true novel, a thrilling romance, a volume which will arouse and keep in trembling suspense all the faculties of your soul, send at once for “The Iron Furnace.”

 [By REV. ALFRED NEVIN, D.D. Philadelphia, Pa.]

“The Iron Furnace” not a misnomer. Many have inquired in regard to “The Iron Furnace,” whence the name? Would not the Fiery Furnace have been more appropriate? In reply we would refer all inquirers to Deut. iv. 20; Jer. xi. 3-4; 1st Kings viii. 51; from which it will be observed that “The Iron Furnace” is a most appropriate and significant title for the interesting work which bears it. More than three thousand copies of “The Iron Furnace” were ordered in advance of its publication, and many additional thousands have since been sold. It will always be important as a history of the times by one whose opportunity for observation was excellent. He gives an inside view. It is embellished with a beautiful steel portrait of the author and engravings.

 [REV. T. L. CUYLER, D.D., Brooklyn, L. I.]

A much needed work.

 [By REV. W. M. ENGLES, D.D., Philadelphia. Pa.]

It tells a true and startling story of southern slavery and secession by a ministerial brother who is highly esteemed by those who know him, and whose veracity may be relied on with entire confidence. It is a thrilling narrative of what the writer saw and suffered, and contains a spirited and speaking likeness of the author.

 Rev. John H. Aughey,. Commander of Post No. 145, Department of Illinois, G. A. R., Farmington, Fulton County, Ill.;

DEAR COMRADE—Your comrades of the above named Post most earnestly request you to publish a new edition of your war history, which we have read with intense interest.

ENOS KELSEY, S. V. Com. E. A. Custer, Adjutant. [By GEN. U. S. GRANT.]

Mr. Aughey—I have read your book with interest. I feel much compassion for you and the great number of southern loyalists who have suffered such terrible things at the hands of their disloyal fellow citizens. I thank you for the present of your book.

 [By GEN. JOHN. A. LOGAN.]

Mr. Aughey—I thank you for your book, “The Iron Furnace.” I have only had time to glance through it. I know that I shall be greatly interested in reading it. The loyalists of the South deserve much credit for their adherence to the Union amid surrounding foes, an environment fraught with continuous peril.

Truly your friend, J. A. LOGAN.

I have many other testimonials, but the above will suffice. Verbum sat sapienti.

JOHN H. AUGHEY. Chariton, Iowa.

John H. Aughey. From a photograph taken in the year 1860.

 CHAPTER I. SECESSION.

At the breaking out of the present rebellion, I was engaged in the work of an Evangelist in the counties of Choctaw and Attala in Central Mississippi. My congregations were large, and my duties onerous. Being constantly employed in ministerial labors, I had no time to intermeddle with politics, leaving all such questions to statesmen, giving the complex issues of the day only sufficient attention to enable me to vote intelligently. Thus was I engaged when the great political campaign of 1860 commenced—a campaign conducted with greater virulence and asperity than any I have ever witnessed. During my casual detention at a store, Colonel Drane arrived according to appointment, to address the people of Choctaw. He was a member of one of my congregations, and as he had long been a leading statesman in Mississippi, having for many years presided over the state senate, I expected to hear a speech of marked ability, unfolding the true issues before the people, with all the dignity, suavity, and earnestness of a gentleman and patriot; but I found his whole speech to be a tirade of abuse of the North, commingled with the bold avowal of treasonable sentiments. The Colonel thus addressed the people:

“MY FELLOW-CITIZENS—I appear before you to urge anew resistance against the encroachments and aggressions of the Yankees. If the Black Republicans carry their ticket, and Old Abe is elected, our right to carry our slaves into the territories will be denied us; and who dare say that he would be a base, craven submissionist, when our God-given and constitutional right to carry slavery into the common domain is wickedly taken from the South. The Yankees cheated us out of Kansas by their infernal Emigrant Aid Societies. They cheated us out of California, which our blood and treasure purchased, for the South sent ten men to one that was sent by the North to the Mexican war, and thus we have no foothold on the Pacific coast; and even now we pay five dollars for the support of the general Government where the North pays one. We help to pay bounties to the Yankee fishermen in New England; indeed we are always paying, paying, paying, and yet the North is always crying, give, give, give. The South has made the North rich, and what thanks do we receive? Our rights are trampled on, our slaves are spirited by thousands over their underground railroad to Canada, our citizens are insulted while traveling in the North, and their servants are tampered with, and by false representations, and often by mob violence, forced from them. Douglas, knowing the power of Emigrant Aid Societies, proposes squatter sovereignty, with the positive certainty that the scum of Europe and the mudsills of Yankeedom can be shipped in, in numbers sufficient to control the destiny of the embryo state. Since the admission of Texas in 1845, there has not been a single foot of slave territory secured to the South, while the North has added to their list the extensive states of California, Minnesota, and Oregon, and Kansas is as good as theirs; while, if Lincoln is elected, the Wilmot proviso will be extended over all the common territories, debarring the South forever from her right to share the public domain.

“The hypocrites of the North tell us that slave-holding is sinful. Well, suppose it is. Upon us and our children let the guilt of this sin rest; we are willing to bear it, and it is none of their business. We are a more moral people than they are. Who originated Mormonism, Millerism, Spirit-rappings, Abolitionism, Free-lovism, and all other abominable isms which curse the world. The reply is, the North. Their puritanical fanaticism and hypocrisy is patent to all. Talk to us of the sin of slavery, when the only difference between us is that our slaves are black and theirs white. They treat their white slaves, the Irish and Dutch, in a cruel manner, giving them during health just enough to purchase coarse clothing, and when they become sick they are turned off to starve, as they do by hundreds every year. A female servant in the North must have a testimonial of good character before she will be employed; those with whom she is laboring will not give her this so long as they desire her services; she therefore cannot leave them, whatever may be her treatment, so that she is as much compelled to remain with her employer as the slave with his master.

“Their servants hate them; our's love us. My niggers would fight for me and my family. They have been treated well, and they know it. And I don't treat my slaves any better than my neighbors. If ever there comes a war between the North and the South, let us do as Abraham did—arm our trained servants and go forth with them to battle. They hate the Yankees as intensely as we do, and nothing could please our slaves better than to fight them. Ah, the perfidious Yankees. I cordially hate a Yankee. We have all suffered much at their hands; they will not keep faith with us. Have they complied with the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law? The thousands and ten of thousands of slaves aided in their escape to Canada is a sufficient answer. We have lost millions and are losing millions every year, by the operation of the underground railroad. How deep the perfidy of a people, thus to violate every article of compromise we have made with them! The Yankees are an inferior race, descended from the old Puritan stock, who enacted the Blue Laws. They are desirous of compelling us to submit to laws more iniquitous than ever were the Blue Laws. I have traveled in the North, and have seen the depth of their depravity. Now, my fellow-citizens, what shall we do to resist Northern aggression? Why simply this: If Lincoln or Douglas is elected (as to the Bell-Everett ticket, it stands no sort of chance), let us secede. This remedy will be effectual. I am in favor of no more compromises. Let us have Breckenridge, or immediate, complete, and eternal separation.”

The speaker then retired amid the cheers of his audience.

Soon after this there came a day of rejoicing to many in Mississippi. The booming of cannon, the joyous greeting, the soul-stirring music, indicated that no ordinary intelligence had been received. The lightnings had brought the tidings that Abraham Lincoln was President-elect of the United States, and the South was wild with excitement. Those who had been long desirous of a pretext for secession now boldly advocated their sentiments, and joyfully hailed the election of Mr. Lincoln as affording that pretext. The conservative men were filled with gloom. They regarded the election of Mr. Lincoln by the majority of the people of the United States in a constitutional way as affording no cause for secession. Secession they regarded as fraught with all the evils of Pandora's box, and that war, famine, pestilence, and moral and physical desolation would follow in its train. A call was made by Governor Pettus for a convention to assemble early in January, at Jackson, to determine what course Mississippi should pursue, whether her policy should be submission or secession.

Candidates, Union and Secession, were nominated for the convention in every county. The speeches of two whom I heard will serve as a specimen of the arguments used pro and con. Captain Love, of Choctaw, thus addressed the people:

“MY FELLOW CITIZENS—I appear before you to advocate the Union—the union of the states under whose favoring auspices we have long prospered. No nation so great, so prosperous, so happy, or so much respected by earth's thousand kingdoms as the Great Republic, by which name the United States is known from the rivers to the ends of the earth. Our flag, the star-spangled banner, is respected on every sea, and affords protection to the citizens of every state, whether amid the pyramids of Egypt, the jungles of Asia, or the mighty cities of Europe. Our Republican Constitution, framed by the wisdom of our Revolutionary fathers, is as free from imperfection as any document drawn up by uninspired men. God presided over the councils of that convention which framed our glorious Constitution. They asked wisdom from on high, and their prayers were answered. Free speech, a free press, and freedom to worship God as our conscience dictates, under our own vine and fig tree, none daring to molest or make us afraid, are some of the blessings which our Constitution guarantees; and these prerogatives which we enjoy are features which bless and distinguish us from the other nations of the earth. Freedom of speech is unknown amongst them; among them a censorship of the press and a national church are established.

“Our country by its physical features seems fitted for but one nation. What ceaseless troubles would be caused by having the source of our rivers in one country and the mouth in another. There are no natural boundaries to divide us into separate nations. We are all descended from the same common parentage, we all speak the same language, and we have really no conflicting interests, the statements of our opponents to the contrary notwithstanding. Our opponents advocate separate state secession. Would not Mississippi cut a sorry figure among the nations of the earth? With no harbor, she would be dependent on a foreign nation for an outlet. Custom-house duties would be ruinous, and the republic of Mississippi would find herself compelled to return to the Union. Mississippi, you remember, repudiated a large foreign debt some years ago; if she became an independent nation, her creditors would influence their government to demand payment, which could not be refused by the weak, defenseless, navyless, armyless, moneyless, repudiating republic of Mississippi. To pay this debt, with the accumulated interest, would ruin the new republic, and bankruptcy would stare us in the face.

“It is true, Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States. My plan is to wait till Mr. Lincoln does something unconstitutional. Then let the South unanimously seek redress in a constitutional manner. The conservatives of the North will join us. If no redress is made, let us present our ultimatum. If this, too, is rejected, I for one will not advocate submission; and by the co-operation of all the slave states, we will, in the event of the perpetration of wrong, and a refusal to redress our grievances, be much abler to secure our rights, or to defend them at the cannon's mouth and the point of the bayonet. The Supreme Court favors the South. In the Dred Scott case the Supreme Court decided that the negro was not a citizen, and that the slave was a chattel as we regard him. The majority of Congress on joint ballot is still with the South. Although we have something to fear from the views of the President elect and the Chicago platform, let us wait till some overt act, trespassing upon our rights, is committed and all redress denied; then, and not till then, will I advocate extreme measures.

“Let our opponents remember that secession and civil war are synonymous. Who ever heard of a government breaking to pieces without an arduous struggle for its preservation? I admit the right of revolution when a people's rights cannot otherwise be maintained, but deny the right of secession. We are told that it is a reserved right. The constitution declares that all rights not specified in it are reserved to the people of the respective states; but who ever heard of the right of total destruction of the government being a reserved right in any constitution? The fallacy is evident at a glance. Nine millions of people can afford to wait for some overt act. Let us not follow the precipitate course which the ultra politicians indicate. Let W. L. Yancey urge his treasonable policy of firing the Southern heart and precipitating a revolution, but let us follow no such wicked advice. Let us follow the things which make for peace.

“We are often told that the North will not return fugitive slaves. Will secession remedy this grievance? Will secession give us any more slave territory? No free government ever makes a treaty for the rendition of fugitive slaves—thus recognizing the rights of the citizens of a foreign nation to a species of property which it denies to its own citizens. Even little Mexico will not do it. Mexico and Canada return no fugitives. In the event of secession the United States would return no fugitives, and our peculiar institution would, along our vast border, become very insecure; we would hold our slaves by a very slight tenure. Instead of extending the great Southern institution it would be contracting daily. Our slaves would be held to service at their own option throughout the whole border, and our gulf states would soon become border states; and the great insecurity of this species of property would work, before twenty years, the extinction of slavery, and, in consequence, the ruin of the South. Are we prepared for such a result? Are we prepared for civil war? Are we prepared for all the evils attendant upon a fratricidal contest—for bloodshed, famine, and political and moral desolation? I reply, we are not; therefore let us look before we leap, and avoiding the heresy of secession— “ ‘Rather bear the ills we have,Than fly to others that we know not of.’ ”

A secession speaker was introduced, and thus addressed the people:

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN—Fellow citizens, I am a secessionist out and out; voted for Jeff Davis for Governor in 1850, when the same issue was before the people; and I have always felt a grudge against the free state of Tishomingo for giving H. S. Foote, the Union candidate, a majority so great as to elect him, and thus retain the state in this accursed Union ten years longer. Who would be a craven-hearted, cowardly, villainous submissionist? Lincoln, the abominable, white-livered abolitionist, is President-elect of the United States; shall he be permitted to take his seat on Southern soil? No, never! I will volunteer as one of thirty thousand to butcher the villain if ever he sets foot on slave territory. Secession or submission! What patriot would hesitate for a moment which to choose? No true son of Mississippi would brook the idea of submission to the rule of the baboon, Abe Lincoln—a fifth-rate lawyer, a broken-down hack of a politician, a fanatic, an abolitionist. I, for one, would prefer an hour of virtuous liberty to a whole eternity of bondage under Northern, Yankee, wooden-nutmeg rule. The halter is the only argument that should be used against the submissionists, and I predict that it will soon, very soon, be in force.

“We have glorious news from Tallahatchie. Seven tory-submissionists were hanged there in one day, and the so-called Union candidates, having the wholesome dread of hemp before their eyes, are not canvassing the county; therefore the heretical dogma of submission, under any circumstances, disgraces not their county. Compromise! let us have no such word in our vocabulary. Compromise with the Yankees, after the election of Lincoln, is treason against the South; and still its syren voice is listened to by the demagogue submissionists. We should never have made any compromise, for in every case we surrendered rights for the sake of peace. No concession of the scared Yankees will now prevent secession. They now understand that the South is in earnest, and in their alarm they are proposing to yield us much; but the die is cast, the Rubicon is crossed, and our determination shall ever be, no union with the flat-headed nigger-stealing, fanatical Yankees.

“We are now threatened with internecine war. The Yankees are an inferior race; they are cowardly in the extreme. They are descended from the Puritan stock, who never bore rule in any nation. We, the descendants of the Cavaliers, are the Patricians, they the Plebeians. The Cavaliers have always been the rulers, the Puritans have ruled. The dastardly Yankees will never fight us; but if they, in their presumption and audacity, venture to attack us, let the war come—I repeat it—let it come! The conflagration of their burning cities, the desolation of their country, and the slaughter of their inhabitants, will strike the nations of the earth dumb with astonishment, and serve as a warning to future ages, that the slaveholding Cavaliers of the sunny South are terrible in their vengeance. I am in favor of immediate, independent, and eternal separation from the vile Union which has so long oppressed us. After separation, I am in favor of non-intercourse with the United States so long as time endures. We will raise the tariff, to the point of prohibition, on all Yankee manufactures, including wooden-nutmegs, wooden clocks, quack nostrums, etc. We will drive back to their own inhospitable clime every Yankee who dares to pollute our shores with his cloven feet. Go he must, and if necessary, with the blood-hounds on his track. The scum of Europe and mudsills of Yankeedom shall never be permitted to advance a step south of 36° 30'. South of that latitude is ours—westward to the Pacific. With my heart of hearts I hate a Yankee, and I will make my children swear eternal hatred to the whole Yankee race. A mongrel breed—Irish, Dutch, Puritans, Jews, free niggers, etc.—they scarce deserve the notice of the descendants of the Huguenots, the old Castilians, and the Cavaliers. Cursed be the day when the South consented to this iniquitous league—the Federal Union— which has long dimmed her nascent glory.

“In battle, one southron is equivalent to ten northern hirelings; but I regard it a waste of time to speak of Yankees—they deserve not our attention. It matters not to us what they think of secession, and we would not trespass upon your time and patience, were it not for the tame, tory submissionists with which our country is cursed. A fearful retribution is in waiting for the whole crew, if the war which they predict, should come. Were they then to advocate the same views, I would not give a fourpence for their lives. We would hang them quicker than old Heath would hang a tory. Our Revolutionary fathers set us a good example in their dealings with the tories. They sent them to the shades infernal from the branches of the nearest tree. The North has sent teachers and preachers amongst us, who have insidiously infused the leaven of Abolitionism into the minds of their students and parishioners; and this submissionist policy is a lower development of the doctrine of Wendell Phillips, Gerritt Smith, Horace Greeley, and others of that ilk. We have a genial clime, a soil of uncommon fertility. We have free institutions, freedom for the white man, bondage for the black man, as nature and nature's God designed. We have fair women and brave men. The lines have truly fallen to us in pleasant places. We have indeed a goodly heritage. The only evil we can complain of is our bondage to the Yankees through the Federal Union. Let us burst these shackles from our limbs, and we will be free indeed.

“Let all who desire complete and eternal emancipation from Yankee thraldom, come to the polls on the — day of December, prepared not to vote the cowardly submissionist ticket, but to vote the secession ticket; and their children, and their children's children, will owe them a debt of gratitude which they can never repay. The day of our separation and vindication of states' rights, will be the happiest day of our lives. Yankee domination will have ceased forever, and the haughty southron will spurn them from all association, both governmental and social. So mote it be!”

This address was received with great eclat.

On the next Sabbath after this meeting, I preached in the Poplar Creek Presbyterian church, in Choctaw, now Montgomery county, from Romans xiii. 1: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be, are ordained of God.”

Previous to the sermon a prayer was offered, of which the following is the conclusion:

“Almighty God—we would present our country, the United States of America, before thee. When our political horizon is overcast with clouds and darkness, when the strong-hearted are becoming fearful for the permanence of our free institutions, and the prosperity, yea, the very existence of our great Republic, we pray thee, O God, when flesh and heart fail, when no human arm is able to save us from the fearful vortex of disunion and revolution, that thou wouldst interpose and save us. We confess our national sins, for we have, as a nation, sinned grievously. We have been highly favored, we have been greatly prospered, and have taken our place amongst the leading powers of the earth. A gospel-enlightened nation, our sins are therefore more heinous in thy sight. They are sins of deep ingratitude and presumption. We confess that drunkenness has abounded amongst all classes of our citizens. Rulers and ruled have been alike guilty; and because of its wide spreading prevalence, and because our legislators have enacted no sufficient laws for its suppression, it is a national sin. Profanity abounds amongst us; Sabbath-breaking is rife; and we have elevated unworthy men to high positions of honor and trust. We are not, as a people, free from the crime of tyranny and oppression. For these great and aggravated offences, we pray thee to give us repentance and godly sorrow, and then, O God, avert the threatened and imminent judgments which impend over our beloved country. Teach our senators wisdom. Grant them that wisdom which is able to make them wise unto salvation; and grant also that wisdom which is profitable to direct, so that they may steer the ship of state safely through the troubled waters which seem ready to engulf it on every side. Lord, hear us, and answer in mercy, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen and Amen!”

The following is a synopsis of my sermon:

Israel had been greatly favored as a nation. No weapon formed against them prospered, so long as they loved and served the Lord their God. They were blessed in their basket and their store. They were set on high above all the nations of the earth. * * * * When all Israel assembled, ostensibly to make Rehoboam king, they were ripe for rebellion. Jeroboam and other wicked men had fomented and cherished the spark of treason, till, on this occasion, it broke out into the flame of open rebellion. The severity of Solomon's rule was the pretext, but it was only a pretext, for during his reign the nation prospered, grew rich and powerful. Jeroboam wished a disruption of the kingdom, that he might bear rule; and although God permitted it as a punishment of Israel's idolatry, yet he frowned upon the wicked men who were instrumental in bringing this great evil upon his chosen people.

“The loyal division took the name of Judah, though composed of the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. The revolted ten tribes took the name of their leading tribe, Ephraim. Ephraim continued to wax weaker and weaker. Filled with envy against Judah, they often warred against the loyal kingdom, until they themselves were greatly reduced. At last, after various vicissitudes, the ten tribes were carried away, and scattered and lost. We often hear of the lost ten tribes. What became of them is a mystery. Their secession ended in their being blotted out of existence or lost amidst the heathen. God alone knows what did become of them. They resisted the powers that be—the ordinance of God—and received to themselves damnation and annihilation.

“As God dealt with Israel, so will he deal with us. If we are exalted by righteousness, we will prosper; if we, as the ten tribes, resist the ordinance of God,

“NO, NEVER! I WILL VOLUNTEER AS ONE OF THIRTY THOUSAND TO BUTCHERTHE VILLIAN IF EVER HE SETS FOOT ON SLAVE TERRITORY.” Page 30

we will perish. At this time many are advocating the course of the ten tribes. Secession is a word of frequent occurrence. It is openly advocated by many. Nullification and rebellion, secession and treason, are convertible terms, and no good citizen will mention them with approval. Secession is resisting the powers that be, and therefore it is a violation of God's command. Where do we obtain the right of secession? Clearly not from the word of God, which enjoins obedience to all that are in authority, to whom we must be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience's sake.

“There is no provision made in the Constitution of the United States for secession. The wisest statesmen, who made politics their study, regarded secession as a political heresy, dangerous in its tendencies, and destructive of all government in its practical application. Mississippi, purchased from France with United States gold, fostered by the nurturing care, and made prosperous by the wise administration of the general government, proposes to secede. Her political status would then be anomalous. Would her territory revert to France? Does she propose to refund the purchase money? Would she become a territory under the jurisdiction of the United States Congress?

“Henry Clay, the great statesman, Daniel Webster, the expounder of the constitution, General Jackson, George Washington, and a mighty host, whose names would fill a volume, regarded secession as treason. One of our smallest states, which swarmed with tories in the Revolution, whose descendants still live, invented the doctrine of nullification, the first treasonable step, which soon culminated in the advocacy of secession. Why should we secede, and thus destroy the best, the freest, and most prosperous government on the face of the earth, the government which our patriot fathers fought and bled to secure? What has Mississippi lost by the Union? I have resided seven years in this state, and have an extensive personal acquaintance, and yet I know not a single individual who has lost a slave through northern influence. I have, it is true, known of some ten slaves who have run away, and have not been found. They may have been aided in their escape to Canada by northern and southern citizens, for there are many in the South who have given aid and comfort to the fugitive; but the probability is that they perished in the swamps, or were destroyed by the blood-hounds.

“The complaint is made that the North regards slavery as a moral, social, and political evil, and that many of them denounce, in no measured terms, both slavery and slaveholders. To be thus denounced is regarded as a great grievance. Secession would not remedy this evil. In order to cure it effectually, we must seize and gag all who thus denounce our peculiar institution. We must also muzzle their press. As this is impracticable, it would be well to come to this conclusion: If we are verily guilty of the evils charged upon us, let us set about rectifying those evils; if not, the denunciations of slanderers should not affect us so deeply. If our northern brethren are honest in their convictions of the sin of slavery, as no doubt many of them are, let us listen to their arguments without the dire hostility so frequently manifested. They take the position that slavery is opposed to the inalienable rights of the human race; that it originated in piracy and robbery; that manifold cruelties and barbarities are inflicted upon the defenseless slaves; that they are debarred from intellectual culture by state laws, which send to the penitentiary those who are guilty of instructing them; that they are put upon the block and sold, parent and child, husband and wife being separated, so that they never again see each other's face in the flesh; that the law of chastity cannot be observed, as there are no laws punishing rape on the person of a female slave; that when they escape from the threatened cat-o'nine-tails, or overseer's whip, they are hunted down by blood-hounds and bloodier men; that often they are half starved and half clad, and are furnished with mere hovels to live in; that they are often murdered by cruel overseers, who whip them to death, or overtask them until disease is induced which results in death; that masters practically ignore the marriage relation among slaves, inasmuch as they frequently separate husband and wife, by sale or removal; that they discourage the formation of that relation, preferring that the offspring of their female slaves should be illegitimate, from the mistaken notion that it would be more numerous. They charge, also, that slavery induces in the masters, pride, arrogance, tyranny, laziness, profligacy, and every form of vice.

“The South takes the position that if slavery is sinful, the North is not responsible for that sin; that it is a state institution, and that to interfere with slavery in the states in any way, even by censure, is a violation of the rights of the states. The language of our politicians is, upon us and our children rest the evil! We are willing to take the responsibility, and to risk the penalty! You will find evil and misery enough in the North to excite your philanthropy and employ your beneficence. You have purchased our cotton; you have used our sugar; you have eaten our rice; you have smoked and chewed our tobacco —all of which are the products of slave labor. You have grown rich by traffic in these articles; you have monopolized the carrying trade and borne our slave-produced products to your shores. Your northern ships, manned by northern men, brought from Africa the greater part of the slaves which came to our continent, and they are still smuggling them in. When, finding slavery unprofitable, the northern states passed laws for gradual emancipation, but few obtained their freedom, the majority of them being shipped South and sold, so that but few, comparatively, were manumitted. If the slave trade and slavery are great sins, the North is particeps criminis, and has been from the beginning.

“These bitter accusations are hurled back and forth through the newspapers, and in Congress crimination and recrimination occur every day of the session. Instead of endeavoring to calm the troubled waters, politicians are striving to render them turbid and boisterous. Sectional bitterness and animosity prevail to a fearful extent, but secession is not the proper remedy. To cure one evil by perpetrating a greater renders a double cure necessary. In order to cure a disease, the cause should be known, that we may treat it intelligently and apply a proper remedy. Having observed, during the last eleven years, that sectional strife and bitterness were increasing with fearful rapidity, I have endeavored to stem the torrent, so far as it was possible for individual effort to do so. I deem it the imperative duty of all patriots, of all Christians, to throw oil upon the troubled waters, and thus save the ship of-state from wreck among the vertiginous billows.

“Most of our politicians are demagogues. They care not for the people, so that they accomplish their own selfish and ambitious schemes. Give them power, give them money, and they are satisfied. Deprive them of these, and they are ready to sacrifice the best interests of the nation to secure them. They excite sectional animosity and party strife, and are willing to kindle the flames of civil war to accomplish their unhallowed purposes. They tell us that there is a conflict of interest between the free and slave states, and endeavor to precipitate a revolution, that they may be leaders and obtain positions of trust and profit in the new government which they hope to establish. The people would be dupes indeed to abet these wicked demagogues in their nefarious designs. Let us not break God's command, by resisting the ordinance of God—the powers that be. I am not discussing the right of revolution, which I deem a sacred right. When human rights are invaded, when life is endangered, when liberty is taken away, when we are not left free to pursue our own happiness in our own chosen way—so far as we do not trespass upon the rights of others—we have a right, and it becomes our imperative duty to resist to the bitter end the tyranny which would deprive us and our children of our inalienable rights. Our lives are secure; we have freedom to worship God. Our liberty is sacred; we may pursue happiness to our hearts' content. We do not even charge upon the general Government that it has infringed these rights. Whose life has been endangered, or who has lost his liberty by the action of the Government? If that man lives, in all this fair domain of ours, he has a right to complain. But neither you nor I have ever heard of or seen the individual who has thus suffered. We have therefore clearly no right of revolution.

“Treason is no light offence. God, who rules the nations, and who has established governments, will punish severely those who attempt to overthrow them. Damnation is stated to be the punishment which those who resist the powers that be, will suffer. Who wishes to endure it? I hope none of my charge will incur this penalty by the perpetration of treason. You yourselves can bear me witness that I have not heretofore introduced political issues into the pulpit, but at this time I could not acquit my conscience were I not to warn you against the great sin some of you, I fear, are ready to commit.

“Were I to discuss the policy of a high or low tariff, or descant upon the various merits attached to one or another form of banking, I should be justly obnoxious to censure. Politics and religion, however, are not always separate. When the political issue is made, shall we, or shall we not, grant license to sell intoxicating liquors as a beverage? the minister's duty is plain; he must urge his people to use their influence against granting any such license. The minister must enforce every moral and religious obligation, and point out the path of truth and duty, even though the principles he advocates are by statesmen introduced into the arena of political strife, and made issues by the great parties of the day. I see the sword coming, and would be derelict in duty not to give you faithful warning. I must reveal the whole counsel of God. I have a message from God unto you, which I must deliver, whether you will hear, or whether you will forbear. If the sword come, and you perish, I shall then be guiltless of your blood. As to the great question at issue, my honest conviction is (and I think I have the Spirit of God,) that you should with your whole heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, oppose secession. You should talk against it, you should write against it, you should vote against it, and, if need be, you should fight against it.

“I have now declared what I believe to be your high duty in this emergency. Do not destroy the government which has so long protected you, and which has never in a single instance oppressed you. Pull not down the fair fabric which our patriot fathers reared at vast expense of blood and treasure. Do not, like the blind Samson, pull down the pillars of our glorious edifice, and cause death, desolation, and ruin. Perish the hand that would thus destroy the source of all our political prosperity and happiness. Let the parricide who attempts it receive the just retribution which a loyal people demand, even his execution on a gallows high as Haman's. Let us also set about rectifying the causes which threaten the overthrow of our government. As we are proud, let us pray for the grace of humility. As a state, and as individuals, we too lightly regard its most solemn obligations; let us, therefore, pray for the grace of repentance and godly sorrow, and hereafter in this respect sin no more. As many transgressions have been committed by us, let the time past of our lives suffice us to have wrought the will of the flesh, and now let us break off our sins by righteousness, and our transgressions by turning unto the Lord, and he will avert his threatened judgments, and save us from dissolution, anarchy, and desolation.

“If our souls are filled with hatred against the people of any section of our common country, let us ask from the Great Giver the grace of charity, which suffereth long and is kind, which envieth not which vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, and which never faileth; then shall we be in a suitable frame for an amicable adjustment of every difficulty; oil will soon be thrown upon the troubled waters, and peace, harmony, and prosperity would ever attend us; and our children, and our children's children will rejoice in the possession of a beneficent and stable government, securing to them all the natural and inalienable rights of man.”

 CHAPTER II. VIGILANCE COMMITTEE AND COURT-MARTIAL.

Soon after this sermon was preached, the election was held. Approaching the polls, I asked for a Union ticket, and was informed that none had been printed, and that it would be advisable to vote the secession ticket. I thought otherwise, and going to a desk, wrote out a Union ticket, and voted it amidst the frowns, murmers, and threats of the judges and bystanders, and, as the result proved, I had the honor of depositing the only vote in favor of the Union which was polled in that precinct. I knew of many who were in favor of the Union, who were intimidated by threats, and by the odium attending it, from voting at all. A majority of the secession candidates were elected. The convention assembled, and on the 9th of January, 1861, Mississippi had the unenviable reputation of being the first to follow her twin sister, South Carolina, into the maelstrom of secession and treason. Being the only states in which the slaves were more numerous than the whites, it became them to lead the van in the slave-holders' rebellion. Before the 4th of March, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had followed in the wake, and were engulfed in the whirlpool of secession.

It was now dangerous to utter a word in favor of the Union. Many suspected of Union sentiments were lynched. An old gentleman in Winston county was arrested for an act committed twenty years before, which was construed as a proof of his abolition proclivities. The old gentleman had several daughters, and his mother-in-law had given him a negro girl. Observing that his daughters were becoming lazy, and were imposing all the labor upon the slave, he sent her back to the donor, with a statement of the cause for returning her. This was now the ground of his arrest, but escaping from their clutches, a precipitate flight alone saved his life.

Self-constituted vigilance committees sprang up all over the country, and a reign of terror began; all who had been Union men, and who had not given in their adhesion to the new order of things by some public proclamation, were supposed to be disaffected. The so-called Confederate States, the new power, organized for the avowed purpose of extending and perpetuating African slavery, was now in full blast. These soi-disant vigilance committees professed to carry out the will of Jeff. Davis. All who were considered disaffected were regarded as being tinctured with abolitionism. My opposition to the disruption of the Union being notorious, I was summoned to appear before one of these august tribunals to answer the charge of being an abolitionist and a Unionist. My wife was very much alarmed, knowing that were I found guilty of the charge, there was no hope for mercy.

On the evening before the session of the vigilance committee, I walked out in the gloaming for meditation and prayer. When a short distance from my residence, I encountered an old colored man who belonged to a planter named Major F. M. Henderson. The old man, who was known as Uncle Simon Peter, embraced every opportunity of hearing me preach. He approached me with his hat under his arm, and in a very deferential manner. Said he, “Master, I is in great trouble.”

“What troubles you, Uncle Peter?”

“Master, I brings a note to you, and I'se 'feared it bodes no good to you. Master and Gus Mecklin and some more folks what I didn't know fixed it up las' night, and de way dey talked dey's ready to 'sassinate you.”

“Give me the note, Uncle Peter.”

“Here it am.”

The paper was unique. A skull and cross-bones illuminated one corner, a coffin and newly-made grave were rudely drawn in another corner, a gallows was conspicuous, a victim whose hands were bound behind his back and a cap drawn over his face, stood upon the trap ready for execution. In bold letters was written, “Such be the doom of all traitors.” Within was the following citation:

“Parson John H. Aughey, your treasonable proclivities are known. You have been reported to us as one of the disaffected whose presence is a standing menace to the perpetuity and prosperity of our newly-organized government—the Confederate States of America. Your name heads the proscribed list. You are ordered to appear on to-morrow afternoon at 2 o'clock before our vigilance committee, in W. H. Simpson's carriage shop, to answer to the charges of treason and abolitionism.

“BY ORDER OF THE VIGILANTES. “K. K. K. & K. G. C.”

Flight was now impossible, and I deemed it the safest plan to appear before the committee. I found it to consist of twelve persons, five of whom I knew, viz., Rev. John Locke, Armstrong, Cartledge, Simpson, and Wilbanks. Parson Locke, the chief speaker, or rather the inquisitor-general, was a Methodist minister, though he had fallen into disrepute among his brethren, and was engaged in a tedious strife with the church which he left in Holmes county. The parson was a real Nimrod. He boasted that in five months he had killed forty-eight raccoons, two hundred squirrels, and ten deer; he had followed the blood-hounds, and assisted in the capture of twelve runaway negroes. W. H. Simpson was a ruling elder in my church. Wilbanks was a clever sort of old gentleman, who had little to say in the matter. Armstrong was a monocular Hardshell-Baptist. Cartledge was an illiterate, conceited individual. The rest were a motley crew, not one of whom, I feel confident, knew a letter in the alphabet. The committee assembled in an old carriage shop. Parson Locke acted as chairman, and conducted the trial, as follows:

“Parson Aughey, you have been reported to us as holding abolition sentiments, and as being disloyal to the Confederate States.”

“Who reported me, and where are your witnesses?”

“Any one has a right to report, and it is optional whether he confronts the accused or not. The proceedings of vigilance committees are somewhat informal.”

“Proceed, then, with the trial, in your own way.”

“We propose to ask you a few questions, and in your answers you may defend yourself, or admit your guilt. In the first place, did you ever say that you did not believe that God ordained the institution of slavery?”

“I believe that God did not ordain the institution of slavery.”

“Did not God command the Israelites to buy slaves from the Canaanitish nations, and to hold them as their property for ever?”

“The Canaanites had filled their cup of iniquity to overflowing, and God commanded the Israelites to exterminate them; this, in violation of God's command, they failed to do. God afterwards permitted the Hebrews to reduce them to a state of servitude; but the punishment visited upon those seven wicked nations by the command of God, does not justify war or the slave trade.”

“Did you say that you were opposed to the slavery which existed in the time of Christ?”

“I did, because the system of slavery prevailing in Christ's day was cruel in the extreme; it conferred the power of life and death upon the master, and was attended with innumerable evils. The slave had the same complexion as his master; and by changing his servile garb for the citizen dress, he could not be recognized as a slave. You yourself profess to be opposed to white slavery.”

“Did you state that you believed Paul, when sent Onesimus back to Philemon, had no idea that he would be regarded as a slave, and treated as such after his return?”

“I did. My proof is in Philemon, verses 15 and 16, where the apostle asks that Onesimus be received not as a servant, but as a brother beloved?”

“Did you tell Mr. Creath that you knew some negroes who were better, in every respect, than some white men?”

“I said that I knew some negroes who were better classical scholars than any white men I had as yet met in Choctaw county, and that I had known some who were pre-eminent for virtue and holiness. As to natural rights, I made no comparison; nor did I say anything about superiority or inferiority of race. I also stated my belief in the unity of the races.”

“Have you any abolition works in your library, and a poem in your scrap-book, entitled ‘The Fugitive Slave,’ with this couplet as a refrain, ‘The hounds are baying on my track;Christian, will you send me back?’ ”

“I have not Mrs. Stowe's nor Helper's work; they are contraband in this region, and I could not get them if I wished. I have many works in my library containing sentiments adverse to the institution of slavery. All the works in common use amongst us, on law, physic, and divinity, all the text-books in our schools—in a word, all the works on every subject read and studied by us, were, almost without exception, written by men opposed to the peculiar institution. I am not alone in this matter.”

“Parson, I saw Cowper's works in your library, and Cowper says: ‘I would not have a slave to fan me when I sleep,And tremble when I wake, for all the wealthThat sinews bought and sold have ever earned.’ ”

“You have Wesley's writings, and Wesley says that ‘Human slavery is the sum of all villainy.’ You have a work which has this couplet: ‘Two deep, dark stains, mar all our country's bliss:Foul slavery one, and one, loathed drunkenness.’ You have the work of an English writer of high repute, who says, ‘Forty years ago, some in England doubted whether slavery were a sin, and regarded adultery as a venial offence; but behold the progress of truth! Who now doubts that he who enslaves his fellow-man is guilty of a fearful crime, and that he who violates the seventh commandment is a great sinner in the sight of God?’ ”

“You are known to be an adept in phonography, and you are reported to be correspondent of an abolition phonographic journal.”

I ENCOUNTERED AN OLD COLORED MAN. Page 48

THEY LIVED IN A CAVE ON THE BANKS OF THAT STREAM. Page 57

“I understand the science of phonography, and I am a correspondant of a phonographic journal, but the journal eschews politics.”

Another member of the committee then interrogated me.

“Parson Aughey, what is funnyography?”

“Phonography, sir, is a system of writing by means of a philosophic alphabet, composed of the simplest geometrical signs, in which one mark is used to represent one and invariably the same sound.”

“Kin you talk funnyography? and where does them folks live what talks it?”

“Yes, sir, I converse fluently in phonography, and those who speak the language live in Columbia.”

“In the Deestrict?”

“No, sir, in the poetical Columbia.”

I was next interrogated by another member of the committee.

“Parson Aughey, is phonography a abolition fixin'?”

“No, sir; phonography, abstractly considered, has no political complexion; it may be used to promote either side of any question, sacred or profane, mental, moral, physical, or political.”

“Well, you ought to write and talk plain English, what common folks can understand, or we'll have to say of you, what Agrippa said of Paul, ‘Much learning hath made thee mad.’ Suppose you was to preach in phonography, who'd understand it?—who'd know what was piped or harped? I'll bet high some Yankee invented it to spread his abolition notions underhandedly. I, for one, would be in favor of makin' the parson promise to write and talk no more in phonography. I'll bet phonography is agin slavery, tho' I never hearn tell of it before. I'm agin all secret societies. I'm agin the Odd-fellers, Free-masons, Sons of Temperance, Good Templars, and phonography. I want to know what's writ and what's talked. You can't throw dust in my eyes. Phonography, from what I've found out about it to-day, is agin the Confederate States, and we ought to be agin it.”

Parson Locke then resumed:

“I must stop this digression. Parson Aughey, are you in favor of the South?”

“I am in favor of the South, and have always endeavored to promote the best interests of the South. However, I never deemed it for the best interests of the South to secede. I talked against secession, and voted against secession, because I thought that the best interests of the South would be put in jeopardy by the secession of the Southern States. I was honest in my convictions and acted accordingly. Could the sacrifice of my life have stayed the swelling tide of secession, it would gladly have been made.”

“It is said that you have never prayed for the Southern Confederacy.”

“I have prayed for the whole world, though it is true that I have never named the Confederate States in prayer.”

“Where and by whom were you educated?”

“In my childhood I attended the free schools in New York state and also in Steubenville, O. I was a student of Grove Academy, in Steubenville, O., 1844-5. Rev. J. W. Scott, D.D., was the principal. I was a student of Richmond College, Richmond, Jefferson Co., Ohio, three years. Rev. J. R. W. Sloane, D.D., was the president. Prior to this I studied classics two years with Rev. John Knox, of Springfield, Jefferson Co., O. I am an alumnus of Franklin College, New Athens, Harrison Co., O., was graduated during the presidency of Rev. A. D. Clark, D.D.”

“Did you ever attend Oberlin College, O.?” said the presiding officer.

“I never had that honor, sir.”

“What were the views of your educators on the slavery question?”

“They all believed that human slavery was a moral, social, and political evil—a cancer on the body politic, to be eradicated as soon as possible by mild means, or by heroic treatment as the exigencies of the case might demand, in order to the preservation of the national life. Since I came South I have taught in Winchester, Ky., Baton Rouge, La., Memphis, Tenn., Holly Springs and Rienzi, Miss., and have been acting pastor of the churches of Waterford and Spring Creek, in the Presbytery of Chickasaw, near Holly Springs, Miss.; and of Bethany Church in North Mississippi Presbytery.”

“Are you a Mason or Odd Fellow?” said Parson Locke.

“I object to that question,” said Mr. Armstrong, who belonged to a church that refused to fellowship any members of secret societies.

“I will not press the question,” said the parson. “You may retire.”

As I wended my way home I saw a large concourse in front of the shop, in the garb or rather guise of hunters. They had guns upon their shoulders and pistols in their belts. I recognized the majority of them as Unionists who had come, doubtless, to see that no harm befell me. There were a few virulent secessionists in the post-office, who, as I passed through it to the street, looked fiercely at me, and with horrid blasphemy gave their views as to what fate should befall traitors, tories, submissionists, and unionists. These remarks were intended for my ears.

After I had retired, Parson Locke said: “Mr. Cartledge, what is your opinion? Is Parson Aughey guilty or not guilty of the crimes charged against him in the indictment?”

“Guilty, sir, guilty. I node that afore I come here to-day. I node it after I hearn him preach that sermon agin secession, an' when I seed him rite out an' vote the Union ticket I dident need no more evidence of his a being guilty of all that is charged agin him, an' more too. Put me down in favor of hangin'.”

“Very well said, Mr. Cartledge. An honest, unequivocal, straightforward expression of your convictions. General Bolivar, let us hear from you.”

Bolivar was a foundling. The gentleman at whose gate the babe was abandoned gave him to the colored women to raise. He was a great admirer of the South American patriot and liberator, General Simon Bolivar, so he named the waif, Simon Bolivar. The gentleman lived in Boyle Co., Ky., on Rock Creek, near Danville. Bolivar, when grown, married a poor white girl, and they lived in a cave on the banks of that stream. He joined his fortunes to a class of poverty-stricken people who were known as rock angels, from their habitation amid the clefts of the rocks. They procured a precarious livelihood by hunting and fishing, often eking out their meagre supply of life's necessaries by predatory excursions to the sheep-folds and hen-roosts of the neighboring gentry. Bolivar came to Mississippi in the employ of a man who brought a drove of mules for sale, and liking the climate he returned and brought his family.

Bolivar, when addressed, started suddenly as from an apparent revery, and ejecting a quantity of ambier from his filthy mouth, replied: “I agrees with my neighbor Cartledge. Better men nor him hez been hung in this county lately, an' it has done good. I can't see no reason why he shouldent hang, an' that's the way I votes.”

“Major Wilbanks, how do you vote in regard to the guilt or innocence of the prisoner?”

“You wish my candid opinion?”

“Yes, we do.”

“Well, then, I will give it for what it is worth. I am in favor of a free country, a free press, free speech—free men, a free ballot and fair count.”

“You might have added free niggers and completed your free catalogue,” said Parson Locke. “Bro. Simpson, please give us your opinion and advice.”

“Parson, I am halting between two opinions. I do not approve the views of my pastor, but he has never committed any overt act of treason. We can afford to wait for that. It may be possible should the sentiments of those who have spoken prevail—that civil war would be inaugurated in our midst. The assembled crowd in front of this building is ominous of evil. I have looked out upon them, and I know that many of the men out there have been far more outspoken in the expression of opinions adverse to the Southern Confederacy than him whom we have had before us to-day, and they are armed to the teeth.”

Parson Locke turned pale, and said if Bro. Simpson thought there was any immediate danger of exciting a riot, he would adjourn the session till some time in the near future, when, it was hoped, the excitement would have subsided.

Mr. John Mecklin arose and said, “I am but a spectator, but I would advise you to adjourn at once. Many of our best people think this to be an unwarranted and illegal proceeding. Civil law is still in force, and even if it were superseded by military law that fact would not justify the arbitrary course of this committee, who have acted without any proper or competent authority, civil or military. This man is not under your jurisdiction, and you may have to answer for this day's proceedings.”

Parson Locke, who was an arrant coward, replied that he could not fully agree with the last two speakers, but in the interests of peace and harmony he would adjourn this meeting to a time in the near future, when it would be convened at the call of the president.

The committee then hastily adjourned. Parson Locke made his exit by a door in the rear of the building, and, making a circuit through the woods, reached his home without observation.

The crowd was informed that an adjournment had taken place, and that no formal verdict had been rendered. In a short time the crowd had dispersed. Some of the more violent secessionists were greatly exasperated when they learned that the vigilance committee had not rendered a verdict of guilty and ordered my execution. They determined to take the matter into their own hands. I was speedily advised of their threats. My friends provided me with arms, and I resolved to defend myself to the best of my ability. One evening I had gone over to a neighbor's, Mr. Pickens Mecklin's. It was the dark of the moon. As I returned, at a late hour, I heard the trampling of steeds. I concealed myself as they approached me. When they had come quite near, the men dismounted and tied their horses to trees. One said, “Do you think he's at home?” Another, “Well, boys, the tory parson's got to sup with Pluto to-night.” Another said, “All I'm afeard of is that some of us will have to sup with him in Pluto's dominions. He's got fight in him, an' no mistake.”

I had heard enough. I hastened home. My wife had retired. I quickly armed myself, after barricading the doors. After awhile there came a knock. No notice was taken of it. Soon a voice said, “Halloo!” Within the house all was silent as the grave. I had cocked both barrels of a gun heavily loaded with buckshot. I sat on a chair and aimed at the door, resolved to shoot the first that entered, should they succeed in breaking in the door. Soon there was a noisy demonstration. At length two of the men volunteered to go to the rear of the building, to the woodpile, and get a log to use as a battering-ram to break down the door. In their hot haste they ran against a clothes-line. I had eked the line with a piece of telegraph wire that some one in Vaiden had given me a short time before. Both of these men, John Cook and a Mr. Tower, were prostrated by the recoil, and quite severely injured. Cook was rendered unconscious, and Tower howled like a beaten hound. Several ran to their assistance. At this juncture two volleys of firearms were heard in quick succession. My would-be assassins ran and cried and fled.

A Mr. Denman had just finished digging a well for me. The structure at the surface, to guard against the danger of falling into the well, had not been completed. Some of the fugitives fell into the well, descending with the bucket. How they succeeded in getting out, I know not. Dr. Le Grand told me of one man, who was his patient, who died of the injuries received on that eventful night. How I had been so opportunely delivered was a mystery I could not fathom. My little daughter said to her mother in the lull of the storm, “Ma, may I pray those verses you taught me?” Upon receiving permission, she arose in bed, knelt upon the pillow, and folding her little hands, said: “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and he delivereth them. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth them and delivereth them out of all their troubles. They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Deliver us, O our God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel men. Oh, God! be not far from us. Oh, God! make haste for our help. For Christ our Redeemer's sake. Amen.” Then she lay down, and was soon lost in innocent and unconscious slumber.

In an hour after the flight of these midnight marauders I heard a knock, which I recognized as a preconcerted signal of recognition among Unionists. I went to the back door, whence the knock sounded, and signaled a reply. A low voice then uttered in a distinct tone the sentence, “Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable.” I opened the door, half a dozen friends entered. They and others, who remained on duty, had been guarding my house unknown to me. They remained an hour, uttering words of comfort, and gave me the assurance of all the assistance I should need, though at the peril of their lives. After parting salutations, I opened the door, and my friends disappeared in the darkness. We named this the battle of Wyandotte, the name of my home. Probably the first blood of the war was shed in this recontre.

“War is dread when battle shock and fierce affray Perpetuate a tyrant's name; But guarding freedom's holy fane, Confided to her valiant keeping, The sword from scabbard leaping Flashes a heavenly light.”

In the afternoon of the next day Elder John Mecklin and his estimable wife came to visit us, bringing their young son Reemer with them. Mr. Mecklin advised us to say nothing about this attempt upon my life, as reticence in war time was a virtue. The perpetrators of the dastardly attack would conceal their participation in it, even though some of their number should die of their wounds. Excitement must be allayed as much as possible. He feared that this assault would be followed by others, till they had accomplished their nefarious purpose. He said that my public position and avowed sentiments, and the fact that I was of northern birth and education, had concentrated upon me the malice of all those of secession proclivities, but he assured me that my friends would defend me at the risk of their lives. I advised him of my intentions of removing into Attala county, near Nazareth church, which was also in my field of labor. He approved this course, since the excitement here ran very high, but affirmed that there was no place within the seceded states very safe for one whose Unionism was of so pronounced a type.

At this time there was a man named Dr. Smith who resided in Canton, Mississippi. He frequently visited friends in Choctaw county. He was a violent secessionist. Having learned of the failure of the attempt upon my life, he resolved to take charge of the matter himself, and execute summary vengeance upon one who had too long been suffered to live.

I had the charge of three churches—Poplar Creek and French Camp, in Choctaw county, and Nazareth, in Attala county. French Camp was twelve miles from my home, and Nazareth twenty-eight miles distant. Dr. Smith determined to come to French Camp on the Sabbath I preached in that church and kill me there. He ordered his fast trotter, Bucephalus, to be attached to the buggy, and preparing his pistols, he started in hot haste to effect his murderous purpose. He reached French Camp about one o'clock P.M. He learned that after the service I had gone to dine with Major Garrard. This was a mistake; I dined with Col. Hemphill. Dr. Smith dined with Dr. John Hemphill. He made known to Dr. Hemphill the object of his visit. The doctor tried in vain to dissuade him from his purpose. He now determined to follow me to my home and murder me there. He called at Col. Hemphill's and learned that I had dined with the colonel, and had left en route for my home an hour before. I called at Esquire Pilcher's to see his daughter, Miss Belle, who was quite ill of malarial fever. After administering to her spiritual need, I pursued my journey homeward. Dr. Smith had just passed, driving Jehu-like (furiously). I followed rapidly, as a storm seemed imminent. I heard the vehicle in advance and tried to overtake it, as I desired company on this lonely road, but my horse was no match for the doctor's swift steed, so I providentially failed to overtake him.

About three miles from my home Dr. Smith left the main road for one that led to a Methodist chapel. He drove up to the chapel, descended from his buggy and ordered a colored boy to hold his horse. He approached a group of men, and noticing one who was quite well dressed and had a ministerial look and bearing, addressed him thus:

“Are you, sir, a messenger of the Lord of Hosts?”

The gentleman smiled and made no reply. The doctor then presented a pistol and fired. The ball passed through the lungs of his victim. Reason had left her throne. The doctor was a raving maniac. The congregation rushed out of the chapel, took the doctor into custody, and resolved to administer summary vengeance according to the code of Judge Lynch. While they were waiting for a halter for which they had sent, Dr. Smith's brother and other friends arrived. They rescued him with difficulty from the infuriated crowd, conveyed him to his home in Canton, an alienist pronounced him hopelessly insane, and he soon after became an inmate of the insane asylum at Jackson. Deacon Ludlow (pro. kokely), the doctor's victim, lingered for months on the border of the spirit land. The latest information I had indicated a fatal termination. Thus in the providence of God I was once more delivered from the wrath of man.

A rumor found its way into the papers that I had been fatally shot by Dr. Smith, of Canton. A friend residing in Carthage, Leake county, sent me a paper containing this notice:

“Rev. John H. Aughey, a Presbyterian minister, who has been doing evangelistic work in Attala and Choctaw counties, was fatally shot last week by Dr. Smith, of Canton. The doctor was a monomaniac. He believed himself to be commissioned by heaven to exterminate all who were not friendly to the Confederate States of America. He had been informed that Mr. Aughey had expressed disloyal sentiments, and was a leader of the disaffected. He left home with the avowed intention of killing him on sight. The doctor's brother, learning the nature of his mission, followed, but was unable to overtake him till he had committed the fatal deed. The particulars we have not learned. Mr. Aughey had the reputation of being an able minister, and very faithful in the discharge of his ministerial duties. That he was one of the disaffected is true. The extent of his opposition we have not learned. In times of great excitement rash acts are committed which are not warranted or required for the public safety. We regret Mr. Aughey's tragic end, and if justifiable we regret the necessity that required it. He leaves a widow and one child. Requiescat in pace.”

Commodore Spiva, a planter and leading member of my church in Attala county, offered myself and family a home as members of his family upon condision that I would superintend the studies of his son and daughter. They had entered upon a course of private study supplementary to the finished education they had received at the college and seminary. We were now domiciled in his spacious mansion on the banks of the meandering Yockanookany. We enjoyed comparative quiet for a time. My students were very much enamored of belles-lettres, and we took delightful rambles in the higher walks of literature. We enjoyed a continuous feast of reason and flow of soul. In my absence my wife became my vicegerent, and their rapid advance was not retarded.

The battle of Manassas had been fought and the boastful spirit of the secessionists was almost unendurable. The whole confederacy did nothing but brag of what had been done and what would be done if the Yankees persisted in their futile attempts to subjugate the South. The South was arming for the war. Joyfully and with alacrity the young chivalric sons of the slave-holding aristocracy responded to the call for volunteers. The young ladies presented company and regimental flags of costly material, deftly embroidered by their own fair fingers with rare and significant designs, to every regiment as it left for the theater of war. Upon their departure to the seat of war, they were given an ovation, barbecues were held, grandiloquent orations were pronounced, in which the superiority of the South over the North in valor, military skill, and chivalric spirit was announced in terms that admitted no contrary opinion. They were assured that when they returned victorious—of which result there was not the least shadow of doubt—and had secured the independence of a glorious slave-holding confederacy, they would be honored living, and when dead their memory would be embalmed in the hearts of a grateful posterity and remembered with veneration, even until the last moment of recorded time. Sax-horn bands discoursed delicious music. “The Bonnie Blue Flag that Boasts a Single Star,” “Maryland, my Maryland,” and pre-eminently, “Dixie,” were played and sung by band and orchestra and choir. The South had donned her holiday attire, and wine-cup, dance, and song ruled the hour.

“Oh! that the Yankees would come,” cried they, “we would welcome them with bloody hands to hospitable graves. One of our companies is equivalent to a regiment of Yankees, and a southern regiment more than a match for ten thousand northern mudsills.”

One evening Commodore Spiva met me as I walked museful in a grove. He joined me in a walk, and shortly drew me to a seat beneath a fig tree and thus began:

“Are you aware that your life is in danger?”

“Whence the danger?”

“There are men in our neighborhood that would have made the attempt to assassinate you ere this, but they know you are under my protection. I fear that as you travel about in the discharge of your pastoral duty they may waylay and murder you.”

“I am prepared, if attacked, to defend myself.”

“Your pistols would avail nothing at long range against men armed with rifles.”

“Well, what would you advise?”

“Dr. Hughes will call upon you to-morrow and inform you of the decision arrived at at an informal meeting attended by the leading members and supporters of Nazareth Church.”

On the next day Dr. Hughes called to inform me that if I wished to live long on the earth I must declare my adhesion unequivocally to the government of our nation, the sovereign state of Mississippi, and also my good-will toward the subordinate Confederate States of America, and my approval of their constitutions.

INSTANTLY THEY ALL THREE FIRED UPON THEIR WOUNDED AND DEFENCELESS VICTIM. Page 70

“Declare my adhesion unequivocally to the government of our nation, the sovereign state of Mississippi, and also my good-will toward the subordinate Confederate States of America, and my approval of their constitutions? Doctor, is there any virtue in such a political creed to promote long life?”

“Yes, we all think so, and we believe the time has come when we cannot longer tolerate any sentiments in conflict with the views of the dominant class in our country. We like you as a man and as a minister, but we deprecate your treasonable opinions, and we cannot much longer, if we would, save you from the vengeance of the soldiers and the vigilantes. I will call to-morrow for your decision.”

On the morrow he called, and I told him that I had decided to return to Tishomingo county. He expressed his approval. I removed my household goods to Goodman, a town on the Mississippi Central R. R., ordering their shipment to Iuka. I conveyed my wife and child by private conveyance. We spent one night in Macon, Noxubee Co. Rev. James Pelan had been called to the pastorate of the Presbyterian church of Macon. He was a Unionist. A committee was appointed by the citizens to examine his library. Many of his books were condemned by this committee as containing abolition sentiments. Rev. James Pelan was a man of excellent spirit—a ripe scholar and a worthy christian gentleman. His life was being embittered by his political enemies. Every sermon was misconstrued and tortured into teaching something contrary to the interests of the sovereign state of Mississippi and the Confederate States of America. Threats of lynching were freely made. The Unionists often conveyed secret information of plots against the life of this good man. Often his foes endeavored to impair his reputation by slander and calumny, but these as often recoiled upon their fabricators. Wearied of such a life of turmoil, he resigned his charge and removed to the country, but the malice of his enemies pursued him to his rural retreat. One evening, when walking on the lawn near his home, concealed assassins fired upon him, wounding him severely. For a long time he lingered between life and death, but a naturally strong constitution, together with good nursing, triumphed, and he began to convalesce. But his enemies were on the alert, and ascertaining that he was likely to recover, three devils incarnate came armed to his house. Mr. Pelan was sitting in a chair eating some delicacy that his wife had prepared for him. These demons in human form asked Mrs. Pelan if they could have supper. She replied, “Certainly, I will order my servants to prepare supper for you.’ She left the room to give the order. These men then arose and one of them said, “All the supper we want is to kill you, you infernal Unionist and abolitionist.” Instantly they all three fired upon their wounded and defenseless victim. Mrs. Pelan, hearing the report, rushed in and caught her husband in her arms. In ten minutes he was a corpse. Before losing consciousness the dying martyr said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” He also said, “Farewell, dear wife, I die, but the government still lives and will eventually subvert rebellion, for God is just.” His last utterance was, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Rev. James Pelan was of English birth and parentage. His brother, Rev. Wm. Pelan, was pastor of the Presbyterian church in Connorsville, Ind., for twenty years, now of Wells, Faribault Co., Minn.

Thus died one of my co-presbyters and dear friends. When our presbytery—the presbytery of Tombeckbee— convened at Aberdeen, we lodged and roomed together at the female seminary, of which Rev. R. S. Gladney was principal. Rev. R. S. Gladney was a violent secessionist. He had just written a poetical defense of slavery, and was woefully vexed that the blockade had prevented his publishers, the Lippen of Philadelphia, from sending him the books. A young licentiate named Gallaudet was ordained at this session of presbytery to the full work of the gospel ministry. Mr. Gladney rebuked him quite severely in open presbytery because he had given a negative answer to the question, “Will slavery exist during the millennium?” Mr. Gladney affirmed that it would exist during the millennium, and would also exist in a modified form in heaven. The necessity of the marriage relation would terminate with earth, but he thought the southern people would require slaves in heaven in order to promote their highest happiness.

Rev. Gallaudet became pastor of the Presbyterian church in Aberdeen. Being a Unionist, the secessionists bitterly opposed him. At length to save his life he was compelled to abandon his field of labor. He made good his escape to the North. But poor Pelan was not so fortunate. The villain most prominent in his murder was killed in battle just three days after his diabolical crime. The righteous retribution of Divine Providence was not long delayed. Near this Judge Chisholm and his lovely daughter were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan.

We spent one night in Okolona, lodging at a hotel. A friend whom I had long known lived here. His name was Col. Carothers. He was a strong secessionist. He met me just as I had given my horse and buggy into the care of the proprietor of the hotel. He advised me to register under an assumed name, as the vigilantes had my name on their list of proscribed persons, and if recognized my fate would be sealed. He said: “On the morrow a regiment will leave for the seat of war in Virginia, and if your presence should become known they will surely take your life. Colin McIvor was hanged last Monday as a Unionist, although I and several others exerted our utmost influence to save his life. But it was without avail. We pleaded, but in vain, for a respite of two hours that he might make his will and bid his family farewell.”

I demurred and declared that I was not ashamed of my name, that I had not done anything to disgrace it. He assured me that I must take his advice or pay the penalty of my temerity with my life. I walked up to the register and made this record: “George Bushrod Washington, wife, and daughter, Mt. Vernon, Va.” After supper we entered the ladies parlor. Mrs. Des Lande, a lady boarder at the hotel, called our child to her, took her into her lap and said: “What is your name, my dear?”

“Anna Kate Aughey,” she lisped.

“Where do you live?”

“Near Kosciusko, Attala Co., Mississippi.”

“Where are you traveling?”

“To grandpa's, Mr. Alexander Paden's, at Iuka. But I think my pa is going to 'scape Norf from the bad people that tried to kill him. I heard him tell ma so. I ask God every day to take care of my dear pa, and ma does too. We are good people and love God; what do they want to shoot my poor pa for?”

The ladies present gave each other significant glances. Soon after Col. Carothers called me out. Said he: “You should not have registered by a name so renowned. It has attracted the attention of all the loungers at the hotel, and your little daughter, Major Linden informs me, has betrayed your secret.

You should have registered your nom de guerre as John Smith, of Pontotoc, or some obscure town. Now do you and family retire to your room at once. I will arrange for your safety with Major Linden. He will order an early breakfast, and you can start by daylight or a little before. Drive rapidly to avoid pursuit, if it should be made, and it would be well to start southward and make a circuit as a blind.”

We took his advice, and left ere the shades of night had lifted from the magnolia-embowered streets of Okolona. We started in a southern direction, made a circuit of several squares, and left the town via the northern suburbs. My good horse, Bellerophon, assumed a gait that led us to fear no pursuers.

“They will have swift steeds that follow with any prospect of success,” said my wife.

Our horse slackened not his speed for several hours, and our babe slept sweetly and calmly. While the guests were at breakfast that morning in Okolona the chief of the vigilantes called to ascertain the antecedents and business in their city of the traveler who had registered as George Bushrod Washington. He learned, to his surprise and regret, that he had left at an early hour. The landlord disclaimed all knowledge of him or of his destination. At a meeting of the vigilantes that morning this matter was brought to their attention, but no definite action was taken for lack of testimony, except that this telegram was sent to Tupelo, “Look sharp for a suspicious character traveling in a buggy with a lady and child. He travels incognito, or rather, under the assumed name of George Bushrod Washington. If he visits Tupelo, arrest him and send us word. He evaded us by leaving in the night. All charges will be paid out of our secret service fund.” Similar messages were sent southward to the vigilantes in Columbus, Lowndes county, and Meridian, Lauderdale county.

Upon reaching Marietta, Prentiss county, we met Misses Bettie Greene and Josephine Young, my former pupils at the Rienzi Female College. At their urgent solicitation, we spent the night with their parents. These families were Unionists. They informed us that Messrs. Wroten and Nowlin, Unionists, had been abducted by the vigilantes a month ago, and had not been heard of since. They were either languishing in prison, or had been murdered. Their families were in great distress because of their ominous absence. We reached the residence of Mr. Alexander Paden, my wife's father, the next afternoon, at four o'clock, without further incident of interest, except that when we reached Mackey's creek we met Major Stephen Davenport and Dr. Orton Choate, two virulent seccessionists, who hurrahed for Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy. They asked me how that suited me. I replied, “I am in favor of the Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of the laws.” They produced a flask of liquor and drank confusion and death to all Yankees, tories, traitors, submissionists, renegades and abolitionists, North and South. Saying, “We will see you later,” they rode off, brandishing their sword-canes and singing “Dixie” in maudlin tones.

Upon our arrival in Tishomingo county I found that the great heart of the county still beat true to the music of the Union. At the last election they were permitted to hold the Union delegates received 1,400 majority. Union sentiments could be expressed with entire safety in many localities. Corinth, Iuka, and Rienzi had been from the commencement of the war camps of instruction for the training of Confederate soldiers. These three towns in the county being thus occupied, Unionists found it necessary, in their vicinity, to be more cautious, as the cavalry made frequent raids throughout the county, arresting and maltreating those suspected of disaffection. Corinth is a very important strategical point, situated in a semi-mountainous country, a branch of the Appalachian range which diverges from the Allegheny mountains and forms the mountains and gold-bearing regions of Georgia and Alabama. Here, also, is the junction of the Memphis and Charleston with the Mobile and Ohio railroads, which form the means of communication between the Atlantic and Gulf seaboards. After the reduction of Forts Henry and Donelson, and the surrender of Nashville, the Confederates made the Memphis and Charleston railroad the base of their operations, their armies extending from Memphis to Chattanooga. Soon, however, they were all concentrated at Corinth, in Tishomingo county.

Tishomingo and Iuka were two Indian chieftains. The town of Iuka was named for one and Tishomingo Co. for the other. After the battle of Shiloh, which was fought on the 6th and 7th of April, 1862, the Federal army advanced to Farmington, four miles north of Corinth, while the Confederates occupied Corinth, their rear extending to Rienzi, twelve miles south on the Mobile& Ohio railroad. Thus there were two vast armies encamped in Tishomingo Co. Being within the Confederate lines, I, in common with many other loyalists, found it difficult to evade the rigorously enforced conscript law. Believing that in a multitude of counselors there is wisdom, we held secret meetings in order to devise the best methods for evading the law. We met at midnight's weird and solemn hour. Often our wives, sisters, and daughters met with us. Our meeting place was some ravine or secluded glen, or by some mountain mere, as far as possible from the from the haunts of the secessionists. All were armed; even the ladies carried concealed revolvers which they knew well how to use. We had countersigns so as to recognize friends and discern enemies. Taisez vous was the countersign known by loyalists from the Ohio river to the Gulf of Mexico. The recognition of it was Oui, Oui (pronounced we, we). It was never discovered by the disloyal during the war. The nefarious crime of treason we were resolved not to commit. Our counsels were somewhat divided. We did not coincide in opinion upon the question whether we should tend the militia musters. Some advocating as matter of policy the propriety of attending them; others, myself among the number, opposing it for conscience's sake, and for the purpose of avoiding every appearance of evil. Many who would not muster nor be enrolled as conscripts resolved to escape to the Federal lines, and making the attempt in squads, under skillful guides who could course it from point to point through the densest forests, with the unerring instinct of the panther or catamount or aborigines, at length reached the Union army, enlisted under the old flag, and have since done good service as patriot warriors.

The vigilantes became very troublesome. They arrested and murdered Unionists wherever they could be found. Few loyalists dared sleep at home, but seeking out some jungle or copse they improvised a rude arbor or den in which they spent the night, and to which they betook themselves when an alarm was given by their families or friends. Late one evening I saw the beacon fires burning. Mt. Sinai was all ablaze, the flames ascending high. The moon was obscured by dark dismal clouds. Mt. Nebo was lurid. The lambent flames from Pisgah had enveloped a stately pine—long since dead—standing on the lofty summit far above all other trees. Hermon and Horeb were dark as Erebus. Unless these two were illuminated it was but a call to an ordinary meeting. We gave these peaks those names to designate them so that by the fires kindled upon them they might serve as danger signals or call together in solemn assemblage the scattered Unionists. At 10 o'clock P.M. Horeb and Hermon blazed out from their lofty summits. The fierce and spiral flames recalled the pictures of Etna and Vesuvius in the geographies of my school days, where the mighty waves of glittering fire, through some internal convulsion, shot from their craters far upward into the midnight sky. These indicated a special call, either some impending danger was to be guarded against or some Unionist had been wounded or slain. I was just returning from a visit to Josselyn, Amos, Petrie, Aaron, and Morrow, who were in hiding and were awaiting the return of the guides who had gone with a squad to the Federal lines. As soon as I ascertained that Hermon and Horeb were blazing I returned to the lair of these hidden ones, and when from the summit of a hill they had seen the signal fires blazing, they at once started to the place of rendezvous. I did the same after I had secreted my horse in the stable of a friend.

THE MIDNIGHT MEETING, AND BATTLE IN GOOD SPRINGS GLEN.

Dark hills frowned on every side; the waters of a crystal spring bubbled up and in mournful cadence murmured a sad refrain, then swiftly glided away adown the glen; the midnight moon gazed wistfully down from the zenith; fitful clouds and the overarching branches of the lofty forest trees, stately monarchs of the woods, obscured her light. I reached the place of rendezvous just at the noon of night. Quietly approaching from all possible points, human forms appeared, gliding noiselessly into the narrow arena around the spring. The numbers increasing, this place was tacitly surrendered to the women, the men retreating to the hillsides adjacent. John Beck received in a whisper from each the countersign, “The Union Forever.” He reported ninety-four present, sixty-five men and twenty-nine ladies. I was the presiding officer, supported by two vice presidents, Henry Spence and Byron Hall.

Washington Gortney arose and said: “Mr. President—We are here assembled to determine what is the best method of evading the conscript law and keeping out of the rebel army. I favor enlisting in the Federal army. We will then be far more efficient in defending our government from subversion by traitors—James Reece, who is seated by yonder linden tree, and I have proved our faith by our works. We are soldiers in the Federal army. We fought at Shiloh and are with the army at Farmington assisting in the siege of Corinth, and soon we hope to capture that stronghold and bring deliverance to the persecuted Unionists in North Mississippi. If you stay here you will be forced into the rebel army, or you will be shot or hung, as too many of our loyal fellow citizens have been. There are already three hundred from this county in the Federal army, and four hundred from Franklin, the county contiguous to this in North Alabama. Leave your families; it will be only for a short time. Corinth will fall and before the Fourth of July this county, and probably the whole state, will be delivered from rebel domination. I will make this motion: Be it resolved, that we believe it to be conducive to the best interests of ourselves personally, and the Union cause, to which we will ever adhere, for all of suitable military age to e