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could withstand. Kirkland went down; the lieutenant colonel fell; the front rank was shattered, as a wave on a rock; but still, many kept on, with a shout, and gained the wall, only to meet death there at the muzzles of the guns of the concealed foe. I ran on to turn the flank of their sition; got there just in time to be seen; and in the smoke, which was then so thick you could see nothing ten yards off, the enemy retired. All firing ceased for fifteen minutes; and when the curtain raised from the field, the wall was clear, and the Yankees had gone. Banks's adjutant-general, in an address to Massachusetts, said, 'It (the second Massachusetts) retired because a large force suddenly appeared behind them to their right.' It was only my small regiment; but the truth is, they had no stomach for another charge from the North Carolinians. That charge was the closest I have ever seen. Some of the men were not ten yards from the enemy."

EXECUTION OF CAPTAIN WEBSTER.

ONE of the Richmond papers of April 30th, 1862, con tained the following account of the execution of a Federal spy:

On the second of April, the court-martial convened for the trial of Timothy Webster, as an alion enemy; Colonel Nat. Tyler being President of the same. Charge-Lurking about the armies and fortifications of the Confederate States of America. 1st Specification-That on the 1st of April, being an alien enemy, and in the service of the United States, he lurked about the armies and fortifications of the Confede rate States in and near Richmond. 2d Specification-That

about the 1st of July, 1864, prisoner being an alien enemy, and in the service of the United States, did lurk in, around, and about the armies and fortifications of the Confederate States, at Memphis, in the State of Tennessee.

The prisoner was defended by Nance and Williams, who introduced a number of witnesses in his behalf.

The court, having maturely considered the evidence adduced, and two thirds concurring therein, they found the prisoner guilty of the charge on the first specification; not guilty, on the second.

Whereupon, two thirds of the court concurring, it was adjudged that the accused "suffer death by hanging."

On the 25th of April, the proceedings, findings, and sen tence of the court, were approved by the commanding-general of the Department of Henrico, who ordered that the sentence should be executed, under the direction of the provost-marshal, on the 29th of April, between the hours of six and twelve o'clock, M.

On the announcement of his approaching fate, the prisoner grew defiant, thinking no doubt that he would not be hung. He also said he could make several parties in the War Department "shake in their jackets" by his revelations. But he made none up to his last hour. Learning on Monday night that there was no show for him, he became completely unnerved. He was carried to the Fair grounds by Captain Alexander, but had previously received a visit from Rev. Mr. Woodbridge. He asked the clergyman to read the Psalm of David invoking vengeance on his enemies. He refused, and Webster grew indignant, causing the clergyman to take an early departure. When brought to the gallows, the prisoner was visibly affected by the sight of the prepara rations observable, and shuddered when he looked at his

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coffin. After the rope was adjusted round his neck, prayer was offered up by Rev. M. D. Hoge. At the conclusion, a black cap was drawn over his eyes, he having previously bid farewell to several persons standing by. The signal being given, the trigger that sustained the drop was drawn, and it struck against the uprights with a loud sound. Owing to a defect in the knot, the noose slipped, and Webster fell on his back to the ground. The half-hung and partially stunned man was speedily raised, and assisted up, and a new rope being ready, he was soon swinging in accordance with his sentence. He died in about one minute.

Webster, who had plenty of gold and Confederate treasury notes, gave it all to his wife the night before his execution. He was in the employment of one of the Departments here as a letter-carrier between this city and Maryland. He was said to take the letters received here to Washington, where they were copied, and the answers received were served in the same way-thus being used as evidence against the parties, as many of them have found to their cost by subsequent arrest and incarceration in Northern forts. Suspicion was first excited against the prisoner by the style of his evidence against Lewis and Scully; and they let the cat out of the bag on him after their conviction. Mrs. Webster was arrested along with her husband as a spy, and sent to Castle Godwin. Webster was the first man executed here as a spy.

A WAR PICTURE.

A CORRESPONDENT of the Richmond Sentinel wrote the fol lowing graphic letter from the battle-field of Chickamauga :

"When setting out for the West from your city a few weeks ago, a friend said to me at parting, 'If you write from the West, be sure and give us the truth!' Having been accustomed to look upon 'news from the west' with the same suspicion, I promised to exercise due caution.

"Judge of my chagrin, when the first message I sent by telegraph, on getting to Atlanta, turned out to be false. Arriving a few days after the fight, a rumor that Chattanooga had been evacuated by the Yankees was very current. I did not believe it. It happened, however, during the day, that I was introduced to a gentleman of high position among the railroad men of the town, and, on inquiry, I was informed that the report was true-that General Bragg had telegraphed for a train to leave next morning for that point, via Cleveland, and that the train would certainly go. These data even my cautious friend in your city would have regarded as satisfactory. I have no doubt but that such a message was received, and the General, for the second time at least in his life, telegraphed too soon.

"I have seen about fifteen hundred of our wounded, and have also been to the battle-field. The wounded I saw were among the worst cases. They had been sent down to the (then) terminus of the railroad on Chickamauga river-many of them after being operated upon, and many others where further attempts would be made to save the limb. Some of these poor fellows were terribly hurt. Many were wounded in two and three places, sometimes by the same ball. Though suffering much for food and attention, they were in remarkably good spirits. It would sicken many of your readers were I to describe minutely the sufferings of these men-exposed, first, for four days upon the field, and in the field-hospitals; then hauled in heavy army-wagons over a rocky road for

twelve miles, and afterward to lie upon straw, some in the open air, and others under sheds, for two and three days more, with but one blanket to cover with, and none to lie upon. Nothing that I have seen since the war began has so deeply impressed me with the horrors of this strife as frequent visits to this hospital at Chickamauga. God forbid tha such a spectacle may be witnessed again in this Confederacy! I did not visit the entire battle-field, but only that part of it where the strife was most deadly. It being a week after the fight, I saw only about fifteen unburied Yankees, and two Confederates, and about twenty dead horses, nine lying upon a space thirty feet square. They had belonged to one of our batteries which attempted to go into action within one hun dred and twenty yards of a Yankee battery, the latter being masked. The chiof evidences of a severe engagement were the number of bullet-marks on the trees. The ground on which this severe conflict took place was a beautiful wood with but little undergrowth.

"I never saw a more beautiful place for skirmishing, and I have understood from men in the fight that the Yankees favored this mode of warfare greatly, the men taking to the trees. But our boys dashed upon them and drove them from this cover. I had heard that the battle-ground was like that of Seven Pines, but that part I visited had no such resemblance. It was open and gently undulating. Here and there you would find a small, cleared field. Very little artillery was used, though some correspondents say the roar was deafening.' It has been also said that the enemy were driven from behind 'strong breastworks' on Sunday. The works I saw were mean, consisting of old logs, badly thrown together. I saw in one collection thirty-three pieces of captured artillery, and nineteen thousand muskets, in very

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