I am far from being insensible to injustice. I feel that I am wronged deeply, grievously. I, who never intentionally wronged man or brute, feel myself the helpless victim of the most cruel and wanton wrongs. Against them whatever of spirit there is in me, so far from being humbled or overwhelmed by such treatment, only rises with new energies in protest. Unable, as I am in this cell, to do anything else, I can, at least, and do, therefore, here enter my protest against such gross injustice and inhumanity. I was walking my room when Lieut. W. brought me two letters, saying one contained news from my brother. With great anxiety, I read them. One from Dr. Willis, of Savannah, of the 6th, stated that he had received a letter from Linton, of 29th June, saying all were well, but that he had heard nothing from me. The other, from Joe Myers, Augusta, 28th June, reports all well, rains plentiful, crops good; he has written me three letters; Dr. Paterson got the one I wrote him, and took two out of the office for Linton from me. Both letters did me a great deal of good, but somehow before I was aware of it, tears were dropping on the pages. Geary brought papers. In the New York Times is an interesting article in the form of a circular from G. W. L. Bickley, President of the Order of the Golden Circle.* It is dated from this Fort, 28th June, 1865. He is a prisoner here; and, bad as my condition is, his seems to have been greatly worse. In weighing this difference, his physical ability to stand more than I can must be taken into account. I could not have stood what he has. I should have died. The other evening, I men * According to the circular, it comprised men, of all sections and creeds, opposed to cruelty in warfare, and radicalism Northern or Southern; Bickley had been kept in close confinement from July, 1863, and carried from prison to prison as his friends would discover his whereabouts and seek to secure his release or trial. tioned that on returning from my walk I saw persons whom I took to be Confederate prisoners going, under guard, with buckets for water; and that one of them bowed to me. I inquired next day of Lieut. W. who they were. He said one was a Captain Hunter of the Navy, and the other Dr. Bickley of the Golden Circle. Bickley's circular is an able paper. Men are not to be judged by appearances. Little idea had I that either of the bucket-bearers was master of such thoughts as are found in this circular. 6 P. M.I ventured out. My main object was to let my room have an airing while I got one myself. I did not feel able to walk. We ascended to the music arbour; there I rested; a sprinkle of rain kept us under the shed until I thought it best to return. Lieut. W. brought to my notice what purports to be an extract from my speech, in the Georgia Secession Convention. He said he had been requested to ask me if it was genuine. It is the same as that in the John M. Botts letter, which I have mentioned. I told him it was not correct; when or how it ever got started, I did not know. He said there was lately published another extract, purporting to be from a speech of mine in Congress, in 1859, about which there is some question, and he should like to know if that was genuine. Upon our return he went and got it. This "extract" is utterly false and was probably fabricated to prejudice the public against me. Lieut. W. expressed himself as highly gratified at hearing what I said about it. The "extract" represents me as indulging in a tirade of abuse of the North generally. The heading introduces it as a specimen of what Mr. Giddings used to call "plantation manners." *Joshua Giddings anti-slavery leader and author. I am far from being insensible to injustice. I feel that I am wronged deeply, grievously. I, who never intentionally wronged man or brute, feel myself the helpless victim of the most cruel and wanton wrongs. Against them whatever of spirit there is in me, so far from being humbled or overwhelmed by such treatment, only rises with new energies in protest. Unable, as I am in this cell, to do anything else, I can, at least, and do, therefore, here enter my protest against such gross injustice and inhumanity. I was walking my room when Lieut. W. brought me two letters, saying one contained news from my brother. With great anxiety, I read them. One from Dr. Willis, of Savannah, of the 6th, stated that he had received a letter from Linton, of 29th June, saying all were well, but that he had heard nothing from me. The other, from Joe Myers, Augusta, 28th June, reports all well, rains plentiful, crops good; he has written me three letters; Dr. Paterson got the one I wrote him, and took two out of the office for Linton from me. Both letters did me a great deal of good, but somehow before I was aware of it, tears were dropping on the pages. Geary brought papers. In the New York Times is an interesting article in the form of a circular from G. W. L. Bickley, President of the Order of the Golden Circle.* It is dated from this Fort, 28th June, 1865. He is a prisoner here; and, bad as my condition is, his seems to have been greatly worse. In weighing this difference, his physical ability to stand more than I can must be taken into account. I could not have stood what he has. I should have died. The other evening, I men * According to the circular, it comprised men, of all sections and creeds, opposed to cruelty in warfare, and radicalism Northern or Southern; Bickley had been kept in close confinement from July, 1863, and carried from prison to prison as his friends would discover his whereabouts and seek to secure his release or trial. tioned that on returning from my walk I saw persons whom I took to be Confederate prisoners going, under guard, with buckets for water; and that one of them bowed to me. I inquired next day of Lieut. W. who they were. He said one was a Captain Hunter of the Navy, and the other Dr. Bickley of the Golden Circle. Bickley's circular is an able paper. Men are not to be judged by appearances. Little idea had I that either of the bucket-bearers was master of such thoughts as are found in this circular. 6 P. M. I ventured out. My main object was to let my room have an airing while I got one myself. I did not feel able to walk. We ascended to the music arbour; there I rested; a sprinkle of rain kept us under the shed until I thought it best to return. Lieut. W. brought to my notice what purports to be an extract from my speech, in the Georgia Secession Convention. He said he had been requested to ask me if it was genuine. It is the same as that in the John M. Botts letter, which I have mentioned. I told him it was not correct; when or how it ever got started, I did not know. He said there was lately published another extract, purporting to be from a speech of mine in Congress, in 1859, about which there is some question, and he should like to know if that was genuine. Upon our return he went and got it. This "extract" is utterly false and was probably fabricated to prejudice the public against me. Lieut. W. expressed himself as highly gratified at hearing what I said about it. The "extract" represents me as indulging in a tirade of abuse of the North generally. The heading introduces it as a specimen of what Mr. Giddings used to call "plantation manners." * *Joshua Giddings anti-slavery leader and author. J CHAPTER XIV ULY 13. I clipped from the Boston Journal a piece headed "The Hero of the British Tories," copied from the London Herald. The Herald's appreciation of Mr. Davis is as much over the true mark as the Journal's is under it. Mr. Davis is neither the greatest nor the worst man in America, in the United States, nor in the late Confederate States. How he will tower in history or be estimated by posterity, I do not know. It certainly is not my object to detract from Mr. Davis, but the truth is that as a statesman he was not colossal. If he had been a statesman of great stature the condition of this country, or of those States which put him at the head of their affairs, would be far different from what it is. After the Government was organized at Montgomery, it was reported that he said it was "now a question of brains." The remark I thought a good one. If the real truth of history in relation to the Southern Cause shall ever be written, it will be to this effect: The Southern mind was influenced and misguided by a class of public men, politicians not statesmen, newspaper editors, and preachers, who possessed far more ambition and zeal than wisdom and knowledge. By their power over the passions and prejudices of the multitude, they precipitated the Southern people into reassumption of their independence as States, more as an escape from anticipated wrongs than from actual grievance. These |