Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882) to General Ethan Allen Hitchcock
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09115 Author/Creator: Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882) Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 20 November 1863 Pagination: 8 p. Order a Copy
On retaliation for treatment of Union prisoners at Libby Prison: "I read her [Mrs. Horace Mann] opinion against retaliating in kind, and said 'Certainly that is right.' I read her proposition to shoot or hang a number of selected officers as a retaliation; I said 'that is better, certainly, than to starve all, or any part of them. But no; it will not do.' ...I suppose this killing of our men by hunger was incidental, not designed. There was famine in Richmond...& the prisoners suffered first...Without clearest evidence of malicious purpose on their [the Confederates] part, it would be hideous to retaliate by killing prisoners even in the shortest way."
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