Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/327

 Retaliation. :;i:

Brewster, commissary of subsistence of General Custer's command, was among the parties captured. The name of one of the men hanged was ascertained to be George L. Prouty. He was a member of company L, 5th Michigan cavalry [From which Sheridan pub- lished Alger as a deserter].

O. EDWARDS,

Colonel, &c. This is the endorsement on Edwards' letter:

(Endorsement.)

These men have been hanged in retaliation for an equal number of Colonel Mosby's men hung by order of General Custer at Front Royal.

Measure for measure.

SAVED A DRUMMER BOY.

The drawing of lots took place in Fauquierat Rectortown. I was present with the battalion, but had the prisoners taken off some dis- tance, as I could not witness the painful scene. All felt its necessity, but every heart was touched with its pathos. A few minutes after the drawing was over, my sergeant-major, Guy Broadwater, informed me that a drummer boy had drawn a lot to be hung. I ordered him to have another drawing for one to take the place of the drummer boy. It was done. Two months afterward I was again in Rich- mond, wounded. Judge Ould, the Confederate commissioner, in- vited me to go with him down James river on the boat that was taking several hundred prisoners for exchange. The drummer boy was among them. When I stepped on deck he recognized, ran up and embraced me. Two years ago I saw in the papers that he had come on to the unveiling of the Grant monument in New York, ex- pecting to meet me there. It had been announced that I had accepted an invitation to attend.

At the date of my letter to Sheridan, I did not know that any of the condemned men had escaped. I was really glad to hear it, for it increased the moral effect of the act. They could relate in Sheri- dan's camps the experience they had with Mosby's men. I did not execute any substitutes in their place; my object had been accom- plished. If I had been animated by vindictive feelings, I would have let my men shoot or hang their prisoners quietly until they were satisfied, and then, like Torbert, Merritt and Custer, say noth-