”Art. 57. Whosoever shall be convicted of holding correspondence with, or giving intelligence to the enemy, either directly or indirectly, shall suffer death or such other punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial.”
Yeah, fourteen were lynched.
As I recall from our exchange on an earlier thread, the first seven condemned were all non-slave holders. That seems how it broke down. The victims were non-slave holders and the executioners were slave holders.
The book I have on this was written by one of the descendants of one of the murdered men. So that probably colors his take on it some. But he said there was nothing more than some general talk of aiding US forces if they approached the area.
I'd be a little leery of citing CSA "law" if I were you. Everything the Germans did to the Jews was strictly legal under German law.
I'd also point out that there were a number of arrests of secessionists in Maryland. Telegragh lines were cut, bridges burned, and U.S. troops fired on. In one instance four U.S. soldiers were killed.
And yet every single person arrested by the federal government for these actions was released unharmed.
So please don't try and suggest that the traitors out in Texas were justified in hanging these men, whose only crime was loyalty to Old Glory.
One thing about this whole ACW rant on FR and elsewhere is this tit for tat thing.
"Yes, CSA troops rampaged and murdered, but they were provoked by Union actions", we hear.
The only problem with this, even if it were true, which it's not, is that no one is putting forth a cult for the Union men of the day. We are told that the secessionists were honorable, christian men and all that, worthy of our respect and veneration.
You'd think that would give them less excuse for bloody murder-- seems like they should be held to a more strict standard, them being the basis of a cult and all, but their murderous actions, to say nothing of the theft of federal property, the legislation passed directing that lawful debts owed to northern PRIVATE creditors be paid to the treasury of the so-called CSA and all that doesn't faze some of their defenders.
In fact, these dishonorable actions don't seem to faze ANY of their defenders.
Walt
Not all of the jury were slave holders.
I'd be a little leery of citing CSA "law" if I were you. Everything the Germans did to the Jews was strictly legal under German law.
It is my understanding that US and Confederate law were similar on this point. How they applied it may have been different. A large number of Confederates were killed as spies by the North. What law did the Federals use to accomplish that?
So please don't try and suggest that the traitors out in Texas were justified in hanging these men, whose only crime was loyalty to Old Glory.
As my post said, I don't think that all of the hung men were guilty only of loyalty to Old Glory. If what you say is true, why were the bulk of the Unionists set free?
no one is putting forth a cult for the Union men of the day
Have you read your own posts?
The book I have on this was written by one of the descendants of one of the murdered men. So that probably colors his take on it some. But he said there was nothing more than some general talk of aiding US forces if they approached the area.
There was a serious plot of violence and murder by some of the Unionists. Here is a quote from the book, "Tainted Breeze, The Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862", which I just received today:
"...Young focused on ferreting out only the members who had planned a violent uprising. Young's queries as prosecuting attorney ... did reveal the outlines of a terrifying plot. Several admitted they intended to take possesion of North Texas using munitions from militia arsenals in Gainesville and Sherman...They had identified Confederate sympathizers and intended to murder them and their families..."
Some of the Unionists admitted to trying to contact the Union army and disaffected Indian tribes to coordinate an uprising. They reportedly managed to get some gunpowder from one of the Indian tribes. (These communications were a violation of the Confederate Articles of War, I believe, and punishable by death as specified in the Articles.)
One of the Unionists boasted to the public from the hanging tree of his comrades' plan to kill Confederate men, women, and children. I'm sure that inflamed the community. (One of the jurors had reported that there were 300-400 armed men in sight in Gainesville on Oct 1, the day of mass arrest, so there the makings of a mob were present.)
When alerted of possible lynch mob activities, the jury quickly tried and released over a dozen prisoners to keep them out of the lynch mob's reach.
Although you've noted in one of your posts that it wasn't a lone sheriff facing down the mob after that, it was pretty close. There was one guard at the jail where the prisoners were kept, and he stood off the lynch mob with a pistol. The mob retreated but did manage to hang an accused deserter and horsethief from a less well defended jail.
The jury later gave up 14 to the mob when faced with the threat that all remaining prisoners would be hung. Those 14 had included some implicated by previous testimony.
You are right in that the Confederate soldiers in town apparently did not protect the jury or the prisoners. Jury members were threatened, and some who did not favor the hangings eventually left the jury and were replaced with harsher jurors. One of the jurors was actually a member of the Unionist group (and one of the hung was a slave owner).
After the assasination of Young (who had tried to keep the trial focused on those who planned violence and murder), the trial went downhill. Some of those subsequently hung had been arrested because of their membership in the Union group but apparently had not known the plans of the uprising. "Tainted Breeze" lists 6 of those by name. There may well have been others among the hung who did not know or participate in the secret plans of the insiders of this group that came out in the trial. "Tainted Breeze" says in its Introduction that few of the victims had planned to usurp Confederate authority. In fact, the bulk of the roughly 200 arrested were released.