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oath that would have been a lie, I was denounced as a traitor, thrown into prison for. eight months, and then exchanged as a prisoner of war.
I may have been a fool.
I supposed or believed that the people of the South would never be conquered.
I hardly hoped to live through the war. Though I had no intention of throwing my life away, I was willing to sacrifice it, if necessary, for the interests of a cause I believed to be just.
I was more regardless of my own interests and those of my family than I should have been.
A large portion even of my paper salary was never drawn by me. Nearly every thing I had in the world was lost-even the commission I had received for gallant and meritorious conduct, and I possess not even a token of. esteem from those for whom I fought to leave, when I die, to those I love.
But the time has arrived when I think it my duty to grant pardon to the government for all the injustice and injury I have received.
I sincerely hope that harmony and prosperity may yet be restored to the United States of America.
Richmond, VA. 1877.
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