ward, all were commanded to leave the
country. No cause was assigned, beyond the fact that the man was
born in the North, and had been harboring the family of his son, who
refused to serve in the Rebel ranks. They were told they could have
two days for preparation, but within ten hours of the time the notice
was served, a gang of Rebels appeared at the door, and ordered an
instant departure.

They made a rigid search of the persons of the refugees, to be sure
they took away nothing of value. Only a single wagon was allowed, and
in this were placed a few articles of necessity. As they moved away,
the Rebels applied the torch to the house and its out-buildings. In
a few moments all were in flames. The house of the elder son's widow
shared the same fete.

They were followed to the Missouri line, and ordered to make no halt
under penalty of death. It was more than two hundred miles to our
lines, and winter was just beginning. One after another fell ill and
died, or was left with Union people along the way. Only four of the
party reached our army at Rolla. Two of these died a few days after
their arrival, leaving only a young child and its grandfather. At St.
Louis the survivors were kindly cared for, but the grief at leaving
home, the hardships of the winter journey, and their destitution among
strangers, had so worn upon them that they soon followed the other
members of their family.

There have been thousands of cases nearly parallel to the above. The
Rebels claimed to be fighting for political freedom, and charged the
National Government with the most unheard-of "tyranny." We can well
be excused for not countenancing a political freedom that kills men
at their firesides, and drives women and children to seek protection
under another flag. We have heard much, in the past twenty years, of
"Southern chivalry." If the deeds of which the Rebels were guilty
are characteristic of chivalry, who would wish to be a son of the
Cavaliers? The insignia worn in the Middle Ages are set aside, to
make room for the torch and the knife. The chivalry that deliberately
starves its prisoners, to render them unable to return to the field,
and sends blood-hounds on the track of those who attempt an escape
from their hands, is the chivalry of modern days. Winder is the
Coeur-de-Leon, and Quantrel the Bayard, of the nineteenth century;
knights "without fear and without reproach."

Early in January, the Army of the Southwest, under General C