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 Retaliation. 321

benefit of the doubt. He started off to deliver him as a suspect to the provost marshal at Gordonsville. If the motive had been cruelty, the man would not have been taken ten miles across a river for the purpose of shooting him. He would have been given a hasty burial in Fauquier. The prisoner tried several times to get away; Chan- cellor warned him that the next attempt would be his last. He tried again and was shot. Nobody will dispute the right of a guard to shoot a prisoner to prevent an escape. For what purpose are guns given to prison guards if not to shoot? When the man was killed they had crossed the Rappahannock river and were at least ten miles from the place from which they had started. This proves that the killing was not premeditated. Chancellor shot him running. His desperation in trying to escape confirmed the suspicion that he was a spy. He expected to be hung if he got to Gordonsville. If he had been a bonajide deserter he would not have risked his life to get back to Sheridan. Myers was not with Chancellor. No matter what corner of the earth he may be in, Powell is pursued by an avenging fury.

RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACT.

In 1869, when we were under military rule in Virginia, a letter ap- peared in the New York Sun, criticizing some of my actions as a soldier. The following is an extract from my reply:

' ' ' This outlaw hanged five stragglers at Berry ville. ' In September, 1864, General Custer captured and hanged seven of my men in the streets of Front Royal, Va. Immediately on hearing of this, hav- ing a lot of thirty prisoners on hand, I made them draw lots for seven to be hanged as a measure of retaliation to protect my men. These men were hanged on the Valley pike, along where Sheridan's troops traveled every day, as a warning of what they might expect if any more of my men were hanged. At the same time I wrote a letter to General Sheridan (which was published in the newspapers at the time, and can be found in the memoir of my command by Scott), avowing my responsibility for the act, and stating my reasons for it. Sheridan acknowledged the justness of the deed by ordering my men to be treated with the humanities of war. I have never been called in question for this act although I assumed all responsibility for it."

It will be observed in this letter I justify what I did and make no allusion to the instructions of General Lee or the Confederate Sec-