The Palmyra Massacre

[290 words] One of the darkest chapters of the Civil War is “The Palmyra Massacre.” In 1862, the Confederate Army released 45 Confederate prisoners from a Union stronghold and arrested an Union sympathizer, Andrew Allsman. Union Provost Marshal William R. Strachan re-took the post and demanded that Allsman be returned or 10 Confederate POWs would be executed. (This would be considered a war crime today.) The Confederacy didn’t give in to the blackmail. Ten men were escorted from the prison and forced to sit upon their own coffins. A hundred spectators gathered to gawk at the gruesome scene. The officer in command now stepped forward, and gave the word of command. The firing squad did their work. One of the ten men originally on the list of prisoners to be executed received a last-minute acquittal. The reprieved man was William T. Humphrey. You see, an-other soldier came forward, explaining that…