Chapter X

PILLAGE, PLUNDER, BLACK-MAIL—MURDER OF THE REV. J. FEWEL—3,050 NEW
ENGLAND CLERGYMEN.

Indiscriminate Robbery, Pillage, Arson and Murder—Banditti and
Revenge—Black-Mail and Espionage—Panic, Depopulation and
Plunder—Demoralization—Virtue Sacrificed—Some who Would not Bow the
Knee to Moloch—God had an Altar and Israel a Priest—Persecution,
Arrest and Imprisonment of Revs. J. Ditzler, J. B. H. Wooldridge and
D. J. Marquis—Many others Suffered in Like Manner—Rev. James Fewel
Arrested, Cruelly Treated, and Died from the Effects of Inhuman
Treatment, aged Seventy-two Years—Many such Victims—The True Office
and Work of the Ministry—Its Spirit and Mission—Any Departure
Unsettles the Public Mind—A Sad Day for the Country, Church and
State—Relations and Dependencies—Three Thousand and Fifty New
England Clergymen Before Congress—A Solemn Protest and its
Effects—Then and Now—Ecclesiastical Bodies on the “State of the
Country”—Ecclesiastical Bummers—A Settled Policy to Drive the Old
Ministers out of the State—General Halleck’s Order.