Source: John Massey, _Reminiscences_, Smith & Lamar Agents, Nashville, TN, 1916.

p. 196 “THREE MEN SHOT FOR DESERTION”

“Another incident during my connection with Longstreet’s Corps was a mournful sight to behold. The whole command was drawn up in some open fields to witness the execution of three men who had been tried by a court-martial and condemned to be shot for desertion, the greatest crime known in military discipline. A squad of fourteen men had been detailed to do the shooting. That these men should not know which one did the killing, guns were handed to them on the eve of the execution, every other one loaded with a blank cartridge. The three deserters were led out blindfolded and made to kneel with their backs to the squad. At the command, “Ready, aim, fire!” the condemned men fell over dead. I have forgotten to what command they belonged. They were not Alabamians. No soldier of the Legion was, during my connection with it, accused of desertion and only one of poltroonery, a fellow who shot himself through the hand in order to get a discharge from the service, as was believed by his captain, though the man claimed that it was accidental.

“During the last year of the war great pressure was brought to bear on some poor fellows on account of the suffering of their families at home. To this pressure some men did yield. I do not believe that any private pressure, however urgent, can justify a breach of the sacramentum, or military oath, when voluntarily taken in defense of one’s country. Some honorable way of relief should be found.”

Comment: John Massey was a single man while in the military. His parents were deceased, and he only had one brother still alive at the time. Lt. John Massey was Adjutant of the First Battalion of Hilliard’s Legion (afterwards called Alabama Legion).

Can these three men be identified?