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These are excerpts of three executions that Pvt. Haley witnessed.
December 23, 1864
At 11 o'clock we were ordered out to witness an execution of an
Englishman charged with "desertion with intent to betray."
He had left our lines a little to the left of Fort Sedgwick. Near this
point our line projects toward Rebeldom, forming an angle. The fellow
started for the rebel lines, but the night being exceedingly dark and
much firing going on, he got turned round to the left and ended up in
front of the angle near some old chimneys on the Jerusalem Plank Road.
Supposing himself at the rebel lines, he mounted the works and yelled,
"Don't shoot! I'm a Yankee deserter with important information for
headquarters!" He was accomodated with a speedy visit to headquarters,
but the "important information" died on his lips when he found himself
facing his own brigadier general. His crime was compounded by the fact
that he was a British emissary.
The day of his execution has been a raw, uncomfortable one, and every
bone in me rattled as I waited the slow movements of the cortege. It
might not be right to want to hurry another human being out of this
world, but the longer I thought of his treachery and the lives it might
have cost, the more I wished for his immediate execution.
He didn't seem to share my feelings and tried to delay the business in
every way. He threw the bandage from his eyes at least twenty times. He
would take off his coat and walk around, then put it on and sit on his
coffin. In a moment, he would hop up and throw it off again. This he
did time after time till my patience was worn threadbare.
The woods were only twenty paces in his rear and the undergrowth so
thick that no mounted force could have pursued him. If he were shot
running away, it would be no worse than his sentenced fate. I held my
breath as we watched his gyrations but he made no attempt to flee.
The marshall and chaplain finally lost patience and informed him that
no more fooling would be allowed. With this, he submitted to the
bandage, and in a few moments his body was riddled with bullets. It was
a great relief when it was over. I was chilled all out of shape and my
teeth chattered in their sockets. I was soon back in camp, hugging the
fire.
February 17, 1865
Were paraded to watch an execution. The unfortunate victim was a fellow
from the 124th New York. He had deserted and joined the Rebel army.
After serving a time in an Alabama regiment he came into our lines as a
Rebel deserter. So far all went well and doubtless would have continued
so but for the next step in his programme. Having been sent to New York
until paroled, he went to a bank to draw his money. Here he had to give
his name and here his play ended. The detectives soon had him and he
was forwarded to his regiment to be dealt with according to the law.
Sentence was executed this day, at noon, in the presence of this
division.
He was thoroughly overcome and could perform the death march only as he
was supported by the chaplain. It is a sad sight to see a young man
brought so such a doom.
We must enforce discipline or we should soon see our army dwindling
away. The late conscripts are almost wholly mercenaries. Remove the
penalty for desertion and these fellows would skip. This man knew the
penalty and incurred the risk. Now he must endure the punishment.
March 18, 1865
Nothing of note going on this morning, only notice that we should go
out at 10 o'clock to witness an execution. Being now on the eve of
important movements, it becomes necessary to make an example of someone
so that we might have a wholesome dread of the fate of cowards and
govern ourselves accordingly.
The victim this time was a person whose intellect was in several senses
below par, and this is by no means the first such instance I have
noticed.
The men who were selected to do the shooting made a botch of it and hit
the man everywhere except in a vital part. He rolled on the ground,
writhing in agony until the reserve, two in number, were ordered to
finish him, which they did by blowing his brains out. It was the
most sickening sight I have ever witnessed. Although I have seen men
killed in action and seen them mutilated in every way that was in the
regular order of warfare, not deliberate murder. This man was simply
butchered by blunderers, and at a time when every man is needed.
If all were treated thus who ever shown their coattails to the enemy,
our ranks would be thinned to such an extent that we should have to
recruit before the spring campaign could commence. There is another
reason why the shooting was not justifiable: If a man is a coward and
can't control himself, he should be removed from the ranks and detailed
for some duty he is fitted for. A goodly number of our troops are
foreigners who have been impressed into service. They had no idea of
the nature of an oath when they were enlisted, and were in many cases
so intoxicated that they didn't know whether they were taking the oath
of allegiance or saying the Lord's Prayer. When they came to their
senses, they found themselves in some military camp without knowing how
they came there. Such men have a right to desert and we have no right
to shoot them.
I returned to camp disgusted and in a somewhat savage frame of mind.
The rest of the day I didn't do anything to distract my attention from
this subject.
From 'The Rebel Yell & the Yankee Hurrah - A Civil War Journal of a
Maine Volunteer' (Down East Books, Camden, Maine, 1985)
By Private John Haley