Doc. 62.-General Brayman's order.
Special orders, No. 64.
The General Commanding is advised that Rufus P. Neely, Clerk of the Hardeman County Court, late a colonel in the rebel army, and engaged in acts of war against the United States, still persists in treasonable language and acts — giving aid and comfort to armed enemies, and disturbing the peace of this post — he having taken an oath of allegiance to the pretended government of the confederate States, in violation of his oath of office — still adhering to such allegiance, and refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the United States.
On the night of November twenty-eighth, he was arrested and brought within the lines, and on that and the two succeeding nights, a party of mounted men, including two commissioned officers, was detailed to guard his premises, and capture guerrillas, who were prowling in the neighborhood, and were said to be entertained at his house.
While there, the party was assailed with abusive epithets, and compelled, while in the performance of duty, to listen to disloyal declarations and threats on the part of the wife and daughters of Mr. Neely.
They state in writing, that Mrs. Neely acknowledged the fact of harboring Southern soldiers, and declared that she would give the last thing she had to help them — that the Federal army “was a set of murderers and rogues” --that the oath was of no effect for a secessionist to take — that she would go where she pleased, and would not take the oath — that “the Devil had telegraphed to Jeff Davis not to send him any more Yankees, for hell was already full of them, and he could not accommodate any more until he could
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dig another pit to put them in,” etc., etc. A daughter is reported as declaring that if she had her way, “all the Yankees should be put in prison, and fed on bread and water thirty days, if they lived so long” --that “if old Abe Lincoln had been dead, and such a man as Jeff Davis in his place, this trouble would not have been” --that “Lincoln and all such men ought to be dead” --that “old George Washington was a nasty, mean old scamp!”
The General Commanding regards with great charity, the harmless ebullitions of malevolence and spite, which, so far from being dangerous, only indicate sympathy with a wicked and failing cause.
The patriotic officers and soldiers of the American army have been severely tried in this particular, and deserve great credit for the forbearance with which they have listened, without resenting.
This may, however, be due to the fact that their forbearance has been taxed most severely, by those whose gentle sex claimed their homage, and whose social position, education, and supposed refinement of manners would appear to afford a guarantee against intentional and persistent rudeness.
It is not the desire or duty of officers in command, to take account of indecent and treasonable language, unless uttered under such circumstances as to do harm, or to affect the efficiency of the service.
In the case under consideration, the officers and soldiers of the United States were on duty — obeying orders, and entitled to protection; not only from molestation, but from insult.
The General Commanding will not impose upon his men disagreeable duties, and require of them, in addition, to submit to needless humiliation from public enemies, even though persons called ladies, are the offenders.
The avowal of treasonable acts and intentions, the coarse and disrespectful terms in which the President of the United States, and the army of which he is Commander-in-Chief, are spoken of, as before recited, are so often heard, and have been so long tolerated under the very shadow of our flag, as to excite no surprise — scarcely rebuke.
But it is not so — it shall not be so, when the venerated name of Washington is profaned.
Among all nations, civilized and savage — in all languages — by high and low — by the good, the noble, the brave, and gentle — even by the drunkard, the ruffian, and the traitor, the memory of Washington is held in reverence.
To the men and women of America, his name is expressive of all that is brave and magnanimous in war, and good and wise in statesmanship, and is spoken with something of that reverential awe which is felt when pronouncing that of the Saviour of mankind.
A case is here presented — the first within memory, in which this universal sentiment of the Christian world has been set at defiance.
It affords another striking evidence of the destructive and demoralizing influence of that political heresy which seeks the overthrow of that benignant government, and the dishonor of the sacred flag which the valor and wisdom of Washington gave us. The General Commanding feels no delicate reserve in expressing his abhorrence of such language, whenever and by whomsoever spoken.
Let the man who dares to utter it, die the death of a traitor, and the roof-tree beneath which woman shall revile the memory of Washington, tumble in swift ruin to the ground.
In consideration of the matters here stated, it is ordered as follows:
First.
The Provost-Marshal will release Rufus P. Neely, late colonel in the rebel army, from close custody, and remand him to his plantation outside the picket-lines of this post.
Second.
The Provost-Marshal will also revoke any permits heretofore given to said Neely, his wife, and his daughter, Miss Kate Neely, to pass within the picket-lines of this post, and will absolutely exclude them therefrom, until further orders.
Third.
Said Rufus P. Neely is debarred from holding the office, or performing any of the duties of Clerk of Hardeman County.
The foregoing order, and the occasion of it, seem to invite reference to other matters of a like nature, worthy of consideration at the present time.
Like all other monstrous violations of divine and human law, the treasonable military usurpation, which has brought such suffering and woe upon the good people of Tennessee, is coming to an end. Their benign civil government, which has been wrested from them, and their constitution and laws, which have been perverted, to their hurt, are about to be restored.
The Constitution and laws of the United States, so fruitful of blessings, begin again to be felt, in their influence upon a people glad to claim their protection.
The rebel armies which have desolated their homes, and plundered them of their substance, have been expelled, never to return.
The robber and murderers who yet infest the neighborhood in guerrilla bands, are alone left to torment the people.
Even they are relinquishing their cowardly work, and following the flight of the armies they have disgraced.
Hundreds of young men, who have been deluded from their homes, are coming back, clothed in their right mind.
Many a wife and mother, to-day rejoice over the return of loved ones, long absent, encountering suffering, dangers, and death in a wicked cause.
Many mourn the uncertain fate of those yet absent, and listen anxiously to the whispering of each breeze which passes over the tide of battle.
Yet other thousands rest in unknown graves, and the eyes that weep for them will wait for their coming in vain.
The traitors who seduced them, are their murderers.
The people of West-Tennessee are, or may be, free again.
They are already, practically, repudiating the spurious “Southern Confederacy,” and denying the authority of those ordinances and acts, which the late Governor Harris and a perjured Legislature imposed upon them.
They recognize Tennessee to be, what she has never for a moment ceased to be, one of the United States.
They stand by the Constitution and code
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of Tennessee, as she was in her better days.
They are already preparing, by efforts to secure a representation in Congress, and to resume the functions of civil government, to sit down in fraternal communion with the patriotic people of sister States, at the feast of constitutional liberty, which the hand of Washington spread for all.
The people of Bolivar and Hardeman County have entered zealously into this work, and are uniting in measures to perfect it. It is but fair and legitimate to hope that social hindrances, with those of a more marked character, will disappear.
It is but just to believe, that when a man of honor takes the oath of allegiance, he does so with a full and loyal purpose, and without reservation.
Not only his own conduct, but his influence and authority must be on the side of loyalty.
He is, by God's wise arrangement, and the law of the land, the head, the king, the patriarch of his own household, and responsible, on his oath, for all who find shelter under his roof.
It is not well that while the husband and father stands on the side of the Union, and enjoys in his business the blessings of recognized citizenship, the wife and daughter shall nurse the viper of sedition at home.
It is not well, that while he publicly invokes peace and the prevalence of law, they continue to court the horrors of war and disorder.
Can he suffer them to entertain traitorous emissaries at his board — to prepare supplies, (paid for by him,) and send them to the rebel army — to collect packages of letters filled with unlawful information, and, with passes obtained upon his good character, or granted in courtesy to their sex, carry them concealed upon their persons outside the lines to emissaries sent to receive them?
Can he permit this and not be compromised?
It will not do to say, he is clear, and the wife and daughter responsible.
They are responsible to him — he to all the world — all being finally accountable to the law. Man stands at the threshold — woman sits by the hearthstone!
God has so willed.
Let them not seek to change places.
