when I heard of the presentation of a wooden sword and hempen sash, by our "Association," to the Hon. Mr. Ely, I laughingly remarked to a friend that my distinguished fellow-prisoner would have met with little mercy at the hands of the rebel government, had the terrible weapon been in his possession at the time of the search. The day following that on which this miserable farce was enacted, another excitement was raised among the captives by the announcement that a certain number of officers and privates were to be removed from their present quarters to Castle Pinckney, in Charleston Harbor. There was an immediate murmur at such a harsh proceeding; for, during the short time we had been together as prisoners, attachments had been formed, and friendships awakened, whose rude disseverance thus would wring many of our hearts.. We were helpless, however, and had to content ourselves with a thousand surmises as to which of us the lot would fall on. These were soon disposed of, for, about nine o'clock in the morning, an Orderly, carrying a roll, came in and informed us that the following named persons would prepare to leave for Castle Pinckney at one o'clock.

The names were then called over, and mine was one of the first. "God's will be done!" I murmured, within myself, as, with the rest of my companions, who were thus doomed to new trials and persecutions, I turned away to make ready a few little necessaries for my journey, and take leave of those who were to remain in Richmond.

While on my way to my future prison, I chanced to come across a part of a copy of a Richmond paper, which I have since ascertained was the Examiner. On this fragment was a paragraph which I would not give in this connection were it not for the purpose of showing to what vile and false means the leaders of the Rebellion stooped to stir up and embitter the minds of the Southern masses against the United States Government and its loyal supporters. It was as follows:

YANKEE PRISONERS SENT SOUTH.

"One hundred and fifty-six Yankee prisoners, selected chiefly from among those members of the New York, Massachusetts, and Michigan regiments who have evinced the most insolent and insubordinate disposition, were yesterday afternoon dispatched by railroad to Castle Pinckney, a small fortification in Charleston Harbor. The invigorating sea-breezes, it is thought, and the genial climate of 'Dixie's Land,' will have the effect not only of improving the health, but also the temper of the captive Bull Runners."

This is how the Southern heart has been "fired" by vile demagogues who have led the Sonth very nearly to its ruin.

From the moment that it was announced who were to go to the Castle, an hour had not elapsed before all were ready to depart thither. During the necessary preparation, all hands were busy. Tokens of friendship and remembrance were given and exchanged by nearly every one; and words of farewell were spoken, and hands shaken long before the real moment of leaving came.

When, indeed, the guard did arrive, and we were ordered once more to "fall in," the scene reminded me more of the final parting of a family of loving brothers, than that of men who, a few weeks before, had, in the majority of instances, been perfect strangers to each other. After filing out into the street, we were halted until the rest of those in the adjoining building, destined to the same place as ourselves, could join us. During this delay, our companions in the Warehouse crowded to the windows, undisturbed for once by the guards, and conversed with us. At last, however, all being ready, the officer under whose charge we were placed ordered us to march; and, amid the shouted "Good-byes" and "God bless yous" of the friends we were leaving behind us, we took up our tramp toward our new prison. I must confess that about this time my heart was ready to sink beneath its load of sorrow. I was breathing the fresh, balmy air of heaven, and I felt the genial beams of the bright sun; but my spirit was in chains. I had expected that before this I would have been exchanged, according to the usages of war, by the United States Government. Yet, instead of such a pleasure, I was now being forced by my foes further and further from my home. I was to go and be immured in the loathsome dungeon of an ocean-bound castle, and for no other offence than drawing my sword and baring my breast in defence of the best and mightiest Republic that earth

has ever seen.

Suddenly, in the midst of these gloomy reflections, I thought of my duty-thought of what the martyr heroes of 1776 had done and suffered. I thought of Dartmore and the British prison-ships, in which thousands of the fathers of the Republic had endured ten times what I had endured, or would be called to endure. Their lives had been most ignobly sacrificed by their oppressors upon America's altar; and should I now murmur at my comparatively insignificant wrongs and trials? No! never! Nevermore should a complaint pass my lips. If the good of my adopted country demanded that I should languish in fetters, welcome the heaviest fetters that could be forged. If the welfare of the United States demanded that I should

die on the gallows, welcome, thrice welcome the scaffold. Such were the feelings that in a moment sprang to life within me, and nerved me to bear up under my future hardships.

Between Richmond, Va., and Gaston, a small town in the State of North Carolina, no incident occurred worthy of record. But at the latter place occurred a scene which I cannot pass without recording. The train on which we were, reached here one afternoon while a meeting was being held. Considering the size of the town, there was a large concourse of people, mostly men, but with the usual sprinkling of the fair sex. The raised platform, that had been originally erected for the use of passengers leaving the cars at that station, on the present occasion served the stump orators as a rostrum from which to hurl their bitter imprecations and anathemas against the Union.

The engineer slacked his speed very much when within sight of the station, as a precautionary measure, and at this slow rate we were passing the stand, when suddenly, with a dull crash, down went the car in which I was seated. An axle of the forward truck had snapped, and thus the disaster. In a moment, there was much confusion, every one shouting and yelling forth advice and orders; and no one, save the military escort with us prisoners, having sufficient presence of mind to obey a command. With as little delay as possible, we were marched out of the wrecked car, and halted along the roadside in double file, nearly opposite the speaker's stand. The orator of the occasion, when quiet was somewhat restored, and while the railroad hands were getting the track clear, thought it was a fitting opportunity to show himself off, and "air his eloquence."

So, with a grandiloquent flourish of his arm, he pointed the attention of his fellow-secessionists to the poor, blindfolded tools (ourselves) of the Lincoln tyranny. There we stood, he said, like so many gallows-birds, ready to be strung up. This complimentary simile drew rounds of applause from his fiery hearers. Finding himself so successful, the silly gabbler next had the audacity to address himself to us.

"Are you not ashamed of yourselves?" said he, with an attempt to look terrible, the effect of which was to set us laughing. This irritated the blatant booby, and he abused us in the most scandalous and unmanly manner. "Go!" he continued, fiercely, "and hide your diminished, infernal heads, you Yankee scum of the earth!"

I began to think, at this juncture, that he was intoxicated, and I consequently turned my head away, and began watching the laborers engaged in removing the broken car from the railroad track. I had

scarcely done so, however, before I heard him call out my own name. I started, and looked over at him in time to see him shaking his finger toward me, and to hear him exclaim, in taunting, angry tones:

"And you, Colonel Corcoran, ought to be ashamed of yourself. You were one of the first to volunteer with your hireling soldiers, to come and invade, with fire and sword, the peaceful homes of the South. But where is your boasted Sixty Ninth now?"

This was more than my Irish disposition could stand, and, with flashing eyes, I replied:

"Silence! drivelling coward! and cease your lying! As to the whereabouts of the Sixty Ninth, you'll know that sooner, perhaps, than you expect. You'll see the Sixty Ninth very likely before long, with standards waving victoriously in this very place."

This retort was made on the spur of the moment, and before any one could prevent it. For an instant afterward, all was still; and then a murderous-looking ruffian stepped in front of me, and, placing his hand half tragically upon the haft of a knife that was stuck in his belt, he said:

"The whole North put together couldn't do that!"

I know not what would have been the result of this piece of effrontery, had nothing occurred to distract my thoughts. However, as the cowardly villain clutched his knife, a half-suppressed shriek was uttered by a beautiful young lady, who, the succeeding moment, rushed forward, and, placing herself between me, and, as she supposed, my intended murderer, thrust him back, exclaiming: "Back, scoundrel! will you dare shed the blood of a helpless, unarmed prisoner?"

"I always told the neighbors you was a dd Unionist!" growled the make-believe assassin, again stepping forward, “and I'll fix your flint yet for you, mind I tell you!"

The guard at this moment, doubtless fearing any further discussion or demonstration, acted with promptness and resolution. The speaker, who had commenced the wrangle, was forced to stop his speech, while the crowd was driven back at the point of the bayonet to a respectable distance. But they continued hooting and jeering at us until the track being cleared, and all ready, we resumed our journey toward Charleston, and soon left the miserable, inhospitable town far behind us.

During the night, which we were forced to pass in the cars, catching such intermittent sleep as the rumbling, jolting motion permitted, a heavy rain came up. We were so crowded that we would certainly have suffocated if the windows had been shut down, and we were

therefore obliged to receive a drenching in place of a smothering. As fortune had it, also, I was on the side against which the storm beat, and only a short time elapsed before I was thoroughly soaked through. To add to my discomfort, a chilly air began to blow, that made my teeth chatter, and, altogether, I felt very miserable. I slept no more that night.

The next morning broke clear and balmy; and the bright sun, peeping over a neighboring ridge of land, had quite an exhilarating effect upon me. For several miles I amused myself, when not gazing out over the surrounding country, by watching the fantastic shapes taken by the vapor or steam that arose from my body. Soon after, the welcome intelligence fell upon my ear that we were to stop for a half an hour for the purpose of refreshing ourselves.

When we did so, I requested of the officer commanding the guard, the privilege of walking about a little, which he readily granted, not even so much as placing a soldier in charge of me. This great courtesy I noticed particularly, and, upon returning to the car, I thanked him for his delicate sensibility.

"Colonel," he replied, with a bow, "when I have intercourse with an honorable man, my own honor and feelings teach me how to bear myself toward him, most especially when he occupies the position which you do at present.".

Though, of course, my enemy, I have remembered, and shall ever remember, this courteous soldier for his noble, generous behavior toward the captives under his charge.

We were soon under way again, and in due time reached Waynestown, where is the junction, or intersection, of the Raleigh and Beaufort, and Richmond and Wilmington railroads. Here we were detained a whole night and part of the succeeding day. The reason of the delay was, that, in anticipation of certain threatening movements of the United States Government, a large body of rebel troops was being thrown rapidly forward in the direction of Beaufort, S. C. And here let me say that it is my firm belief that, had any other government on the face of the earth been subjected to the insidious power of treachery as has that of the United States ever since the Rebellion broke out, it would not have survived ninety days. There was scarcely a single move, eyen of minor importance, entered upon by the Federal power, that was not known in the South, even to prisoners, long before it was put in execution. And this is the reason why the Union forces have, on nearly every occasion of their taking the field at any one point, been instantly overwhelmed by numbers. The shortest way to crush out the horrid civil war that is wasting