A reader found this account of Rev. Isaac Handy in an issue of “Confederate Veteran,” the publication of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Handy was a reverend in Portsmouth, VA. While visiting family in Delaware, he was arrested and imprisoned for 15 months without a trial. His crime was claiming that the American flag no longer stood for its original ideals. While in prison, he kept a journal. This is an excerpt from an October entry. His full journal is called “United States Bonds; or Duress by Federal Authorities.”

It is especially painful to find religious journals opposing compromise, and rejoicing with malignant spite, in the purpose of subjugation or extermination. A correspondent of the Independent of October 15th says, ‘We are to bring this civil war to a close, not by compromise. Compromise, thank God, is impossible. It is to come by subjugation or extermination of the rebels, and in no other way.’ Are they who thus teach disciples of the Prince of Peace? Are they not demons, belching forth the very spirit of the pit? Alas, for the age in which we live! The church is demoralized – the Christian name is too frequently a deceit – Christ’s members are madmen! All this is literally true to a very great extent at the North.

Thanks to J.R.R.

The Best of Laurence M. Vance