Martinsburg Gazette And Public Advertiser

From the Civilian.

THE CASE OF NEIL CAMERON.

This poor fellow lost his life under the following circumstances. Colonel King, who commanded at Pensacola, in 1818, considering Courts-martial as an unnecessary waste of time, ordered his men to shoot deserters wherever found. This extraordinary innovation he immediately reported to General Jackson, who was his commanding officer. Col. King was arrested and tried by a Court martial, upon the charge, among others, of having Neil Cameron shot under the above sanguinary order. One of the witnesses at the Court martial was Cornelius Jackson, a private of the 4th Regiment, who swore that he was one of the party sent in pursuit of Neil Cameron, a private of the same regiment, and was with the sergeant when he came upon Cameron asleep. They waked him up; he said he was going back, but was told he must be put to death. He begged to be taken back, as he was a prisoner and without arms, and ought to be tried. The sergeant said there was no use in his being tried, and told the witness to fire at him. The witness refused. The sergeant then took the gun, Cameron being unarmed, and snapped it twice. Cameron still begged for his life—even for a short respite to repent for his sins—but the sergeant 'blowed him through,' and left him dead and unburied where they had found him. The sergeant and witness returned to camp, and the commanding officer told them they had done "exactly right."

Col. King in his defence boldly avowed and justified the proceeding as part of a system sanctioned by the authority of General Jackson. He declared that he had reported to General Jackson the order to shoot without trial all such as his corporals and sergeants might choose to consider deserters, and that the General had "approbated the measure." In proof of this, he produced a letter from General Jackson, dated at Nashville, April 18, 1819, in which the General says—"Your conduct in the evacuation of Pensacola, as well as on every other occasion during your unpleasant command in the Spanish province, meets my entire approbation."* Col. King was by the sentence of the Court martial dismissed the service, while General Jackson, who approved of the measures, and who could have annulled the order by disapproval, was permitted to wear his epaulets.

*See Documents 119, 1st Sess. 16th Con.