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Page 11
Fourteen of these mutineers were tried in a few days by a general
court-martial. Whalen was sentenced to death. Four of the others
were sentenced to wear a ball and chain for a month, and lose six
months' pay. Three of these being non-commissioned officers were
publicly degraded, and put into the ranks. The remainder were
sentenced to wear a ball and chain for a month, and lose three
months' pay. Whalen's sentence was to have been carried out a month
from the time he was tried; but as there was a strong feeling of
indignation in the regiment about the severity of his sentence, a
recommendation for pardon was presented to General Pillow, and
Whalen was reprieved and sent to Memphis. He was at last pardoned,
and transferred into a regiment which went to Virginia. This was
done that he might not return to the regiment again and encourage
others to mutiny, holding out his own example of pardon as a
safeguard against punishment.
What effect this leniency had on the future conduct of this regiment
will be hereafter seen. It will be observed that this mutiny might
have occurred in any army. Others yet to be described had their
origin in the defects of the Rebel discipline, and will demonstrate
radical evils in their system.
One of the most serio-comic affairs that occurred during my service,
may be worth the narration. Shortly after reaching Randolph, one of
our sergeants named Brown imported his better-half from Memphis, and
for some days they agreed remarkably well; but the sergeant
obtaining a jug of whiskey one day, and imbibing too much of the
potent fluid, made up his mind that Mrs. Brown should not drink any
more, and informed her of his decision. He argued in a masterly way
that, as they two were one, he would drink enough for both; and she
being fond of the _crathur_, demurred to this proposition. Thereupon
ensued a very lively scene. Mrs. Brown, who weighed some fourteen
stone, and was fully master of her weight, intrenched herself behind
some boxes and barrels, with the precious jug in charge. Mr. Brown
first tried compromise, and then flattery, but she was proof against
such measures.
_Mr. Brown._ Mrs. Brown, my dear, jist come over to me now and we'll
argue the matter.
_Mrs. Brown._ No, you don't, Sergeant, ye don't catch me wid any ov
ye'r compromises. I have the jug now, and I'll hould on to it. So I
will.
_Mr. B._ Shure, Honey, I was only jokin' wid ye before. Ye may hev
half o' the crathur.
_Mrs. B._ Now, Sergeant, ye may as well hould ye'r tongue, for a
drap ov this liker ye'll never touch agin.
Maddened to desperation, the sergeant attacked Mrs. Brown, who
valiantly defended herself with half of a tent-pole which lay near
at hand. About this juncture, their "_discussion wid sticks_" was
interrupted by the captain ordering out a guard of four men to take
the pair and put them in confinement. As I was Orderly Sergeant, I
immediately attempted to carry out this order, and arrested the
sergeant first. I then advanced to seize Mrs. Brown, but she charged
with the tent-pole, and as the four men were engaged in carrying off
the sergeant, who resisted desperately, and called lustily to Mrs.
Brown for assistance, I was forced to beat a hasty retreat and seek
reinforcements, at the same time feeling a very unpleasant tingling
sensation across my shoulders from a blow Mrs. Brown had
administered with her stick. Being reinforced by several more men,
we surrounded the enemy, and she surrendered at discretion, and was
put under guard in the middle of the parade ground with her
affectionate spouse. Then ensued a scene which almost beggars
description.
_Mrs. B._ O Brown, ye cowardly spalpeen! to stand by and see yer
wife abused in sich a manner!
_Mr. B._ Now, honey, be aisy, can't ye? Shure I was tied before
they took ye.
_Mrs. B._ Shure it was meself that riz ye up out ov the streets, and
give ye six hundred dollars that I had in bank, and made a gintleman
ov ye; and now ye wouldn't rize yer hand to protect me!
Here Mrs. Brown again became very angry, and would have given her
lord a good drubbing, if the guard had not interfered and separated
them. Mrs. Brown became so furious that the colonel heard the
disturbance, and walked down from his quarters to see what it meant.
She immediately demanded to be released, but this the colonel
refused; and she then cited many illustrious military men who had
been tyrants in some cases, but never so daring as to put a woman
under arrest.
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