The late raid of the dashing Cornyn to Florence, Alabama, is
attracting considerable attention. Though it may be diverging, we would ask the
reader to indulge us in recording here Colonel Cornyn's laconic letter, written
while at Florence to Colonel Biffle, commanding forces C. S. A., which is as
follows:
COLONEL BIFFLE:
Sir—Your pompous demand for the
surrender of one squadron of cavalry (Fifteenth Illinois), occupying this
place, and your cowardly retreat before you received Captain Carmichael's
reply, suggested the propriety of visiting upon the traitor citizens here who
tried to assist you in the capture of those gallant Illinois boys, a little
legitimate revenge of my government; therefore, in the name of our glorious
Union, I hereby make good the grand exordium of the declaration of
independence, i. e., “that all men are created free and equal," and to-day
I free and take with me from this place, every colored creature who inherits
with the human race everywhere the image of his Maker and an immortal soul.
FLORENCE M. CORNYN,
Colonel Commanding Cavalry Brigade.
An officer accompanying the raid, rehearsed to us to-day the
following conversation held between Colonel Cornyn and the Rev. R. A. Y., one
of Alabama's D. Ds., formerly of St. Louis:
Y. Do you not think it horrible to
shell a town occupied by women and children?
Cornyn. Do you not think it
horrible for a rebel Colonel and a traitor to seek a town and its houses to
make breastworks and cover for his cowardly traitors from which to shell and
shoot the brave and generous patriots of this land of liberty, who are willing
to meet their country's enemies in open fields every hour of the night and day?
Y. I don't.
Cornyn. You lie, d---n you!
You, the offspring of some low white libertine and a debauched Indian squaw,
are trying to establish a distinction in favor of yourself, a child of shame,
and the negro, a race from the hand of God, bearing his image and ennobled by
an immortal soul. The negro is your superior.
Y. Are my wife and children safe while
your forces hold this town?
Cornyn. Yes; the brave are
always generous, and my soldiers are among the brightest examples on this
planet.
An order comes to the Seventh this evening, to the effect
that they are to be mounted on “the meek and patient mules.” The guerrillas in
West Tennessee will be hunted down now.
SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 172-3
