Army.

You all know of the troubles that occurred in the border states during the
Civil War, and of the cruelties to the families of Union men who entered
our Army. It was father against son, brother against brother, and, as
General Sherman said, "It was cruelty, and there was no refining it." We
know what severe orders were given for treatment of enemies within our
lines, when their acts were in violation of the laws of war. In one case
torpedoes were placed under a road over which our troops were marching,
and several soldiers were killed. Sherman happened to come along just at
that time, and said to the Colonel of the First Alabama Cavalry, which was
his escort, "Burn the country within fifteen miles surrounding this spot."
You all know what that meant; it was a license under which other things
besides burning was done. An eye-witness describes Sherman's march to the
sea and through the Carolinas as a "cloud of smoke by day and a pillar of
fire by night." Who ever made the suggestion that Sherman's uniform should
be stripped off for this, or that he should be shot, as some of our
representatives in Congress and our press now demand should be done in the
Philippines for making war in earnest?

Take another case, where Captain Anderson captured a train of convalescent
unarmed Union soldiers in North Missouri, and placed them in line and shot
every one of them. Shortly afterwards Colonel Johnson, of the Missouri
State Militia, who was following Anderson, came up. Anderson attacked,
this militia command of 160 men and killed 143, only seventeen getting
away. Only one man was taken alive, and he saved himself by giving a
Masonic sign. The war records are full of cases of individual acts, and I
select one of which I had personal knowledge. It is found in volume 38, of
the War Records. The orders in Missouri at that time were that any person
who harbored a guerilla, and did not report the fact to the nearest
commanding Union officer, should receive the same treatment as the
guerilla. A man by the name of McReynolds violated these orders, and
harbored Quantrell, the guerilla, and the officer who detected it, after
stating all the facts and evidence, reported to me as follows:

On consultation with the squadron commanders, Captain Hamblin and
Lieutenant Grain, it was decided to execute McReynolds, which was
carried out under my orders.

R. M. BOX.

_Captain Company H, Seventh Cavalry, Missouri State M