Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/159

Rh tlemen—they did not do me half as much damage as the Union troops did when they were camped on me, and if it were not for the name of the thing, I would say I very greatly prefer to have the rebels rather than our Union troops quartered on my premises." When the Confederate army entered Pennsylvania in 1863, General Lee issued an order in which he said: "The commanding general considers that no greater disgrace could befall the army and, through it, our whole people, than the perpetration of the barbarous outrages on the innocent and defenseless, and the wanton destruction of private property, that have marked the course of the enemy in our country. Such proceedings not only disgrace the perpetrators and all connected with them, but are subversive of the discipline and efficiency of the army and destructive of the ends of our present movements. It must be remembered that we make war only upon armed men, and that we cannot take vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered without lowering ourselves in the eyes of all those whose abhorrence has been excited by the atrocities of our enemy, without offending against Him to whom vengeance belongeth and without whose favor and support our efforts must all be in vain. The commanding general, therefore, earnestly exhorts the troops to abstain with the most scrupulous care from unnecessary or wanton injury to private property, and he enjoins upon all officers to arrest and bring to summary punishment all who shall in any way offend against the orders on this subject."

If this order had only been 'intended for effect, the army to be allowed to plunder at pleasure, then there would have been nothing further done or said on the subject, and our officers would have simply winked at, if they had not encouraged, depredations. But there is abundant proof that General Lee and his subordinates did everything in their power to carry out the orders and that, consequently, there were far fewer depredations by