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Yankee Cruelty--forty-three
One of the most atrocious incidents of the whole war was yesterday related to us by a gentleman of this city, who obtained the facts from Capt. Jas. G. White, of King William county, who vouches for the accuracy of the statement. Some days age, when the Yankees made their raid to Aylett's, they visited the place of Dr. Gregg, living in the neighborhood, and took from their comfortable homes forty three negroes, who were hurried off to York river and placed on board a vessel bound northward. Along with these negroes, as a prisoner, was a gentleman named Lee, a resident and highly respectable citizen of King William, who has since been released and allowed to return to his home. He states that when the vessel arrived in Chesapeake Bay the small-pox made its appearance among the negroes, that disease having existed to some extent among the same family before they were dragged from their homes in King William. The Captain of the Yankee vessel and his crew were greatly alarmed at the appearance of the disease on board, and very soon determined to rid the vessel of the presence of the negroes. Without attempting to make the shore, and, not considering for an instant the inhumanity of the cruel deed, the whole negro cargo was thrown into the Bay, and every one left to perish by drowning. Not one, perhaps, escaped the cruel fate visited upon them by those who profess to be their earnest friends and warmest sympathizers.
The Daily Dispatch: June 17, 1863. Richmond Dispatch. 2 pages. by Cowardin & Hammersley. Richmond. June 17, 1863. microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mi : Proquest. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.
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