696 NortH Carotina Troops, 1861-’65.

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THE CONFEDERACY —“MEMORIAL OF THE CHOCTAW PRIS-
3?
ONER. BY SIMEON E. HAMILTON (AN INDIAN),

CAPTAIN SECOND CHOCTAW CAVALRY, C. S. A.

“As freemen ought, the South contended for her rights,
The Choctaw was stand by her.

For her rights she sacrificed her many brave sons,
Choctaw has done the same, likewise.

For her rights many bloods of her beloved sons
Has been shed on her own soil,

Choctaw’s blood has been required as one of them.

For her rights she have many brave sons imprisoned on John-
son’s Island, &c.,

And there is Choctaw among her sons.

On an island unaccustomed and hostile climate,
Her brave sons are kept looking for better days,
And Choctaw is among tnem.”

Captain Hamilton died on 5 February, 1864, while a pris-
oner of war on Johnson’s Island.

PRISONERS AT JOHNSON ISLAND
TQ GOVERNOR VANCE.

30 MAKCH, 1864.

FurnisHep By COLONEL THOS. 8. KENAN, Forty-Tuirp RrGimMent
Norto Caroiina Troops.

During the campaign of 1864, Governor Vance made a
speech at Wilkesboro, a copy of which was seen in a newspa-
per procured by one of the North Carolina prisoners on John-
son’s Island. How its sentiments were appreciated and en-
dorsed, is set out in the following letter:

“OU, S. Mrurrary Prison, Jonnson’s Is_anp,
“ Near Sanpusky Ciry, Ouro, March 30, 1864.
“Governor Vance:

“Sir :—At a meeting of the officers from North Carolina
confined in this prison, on yesterday, we, the undersigned,
were appointed a committee to express to you the intense sat-
isfaction with which we have marked the distinguished ability
and lofty patriotism which have characterized your adminis-
tration. It has been with peculiar pride during this, our
long and tedious imprisonment, that in every wind that has
brought to our ears a whisper from the land of our birth and
of our unchangeable love, we have heard the utterance of our
own sentiments, the echo of our own prayers, of our highest
Lopes and purest aspirations, in the manly and patriotic lan-
wuage of the Governor of our State. Exiles from our homes
and country, captives in the land of those who hate and would
destroy us, we watch with anxious concern the progres» of
events ‘and the course of the war, and note with unmingled
pleasure the manifestations of ardent patriotism and unyield-
ing firmness among the masses of the people of our own State.
But, sir, it is with peculiar pleasure that we advert to your
late noble effort at Wilkesboro—so genuine in its eloquence,
so exalted in its patriotism, so forcible in its arguments, and