Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 21.djvu/339

 The Execution of Dr. David M;,.t,,,, HV;,//,/.

and family occupied the house where the Citizens' Bank now stands, opposite the Atlantic Hotel. It was here he lived when Sanborn and his negro troops swept down the northern sidewalk of Main street. It was here, on the nth day of July, 1862, he celebrated his wedding day, and from thence he went to the store of Foster & Moore, where the active duties of life and his professional career closed forever.

After being remanded to jail, the Federal authorities proceeded to organize a court martial for his trial. It assembled in the custom- house, and for eight days the Doctor, with clanking chains around his wrists and ankles, was carried to the place of trial and compelled to walk up and down the stone steps in the sight of his sympathizing friends. On one occasion as he hobbled out into the porch, some thirty or forty of his acquaintances happened to be standing on the opposite side of the street, when, on seeing him, they simultaneously raised their hats and bowed to him. He immediately raised his fet- tered hands, lifted his hat, and bowed his head in grateful recognition of their cordial salutation.

While in prison he addressed the following note to his beloved wife:

"I am to be tried by a military commission to-day or to-morrow. I suppose the verdict will be the same as that of the provost marshal, made before he had examined the first witness. Should it be so, let us, while we hope and pray for the best, try to prepare for the worst. To this end I shall pray continually. I wish also to avail myself of the benefits of baptism and the communion. I regret very much having so long deferred this, but you know my feelings and views on the subject. My dear wife, all things must have an end, so to our happiness. Oh! how blest we have been! Blest in mutual love and admiration; blest in congeniality of tastes and sentiments; blest in a store of early memories and associations; blest, oh! how blest, in our dear ones; blest in friends, blest in the confidence and respect of all; blest in health, blest in the means of support, blest in the prospect before us. It was too bright to last, and I have always felt it would terminate by some accident to myself."

In several of his letters he expresses the most affectionate regard for and confidence in his wife and the warmest love for his children.

His wife and friends seem to have exhausted every resource to save him. On one occasion, as reported in the Old Dominion newspaper, when Mrs. Wright visited General Foster at Old Point, she carried