The Daily Dispatch: August 12, 1862., [Electronic resource]

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Horrid Atrocity.

An intelligent negro, who has been within the lines of the enemy on the Peninsula, gives a truly horrible account of the atrocities perpetrated in Williamsburg and elsewhere upon our helpless people. He mentions one case, which makes the blood run cold. The daughter of one of the most prominent citizens (whose name has been given us) was seized, disrobed, and then whipped by these worse than savages! Her alleged offence was the expression of some ‘"rebel"’ sentiment that offended the miscreants. Such are the scenes which have been inaugurated since the victories of the South near Richmond! This is their revenge for a fair defeat in an open field.

The negro who brings this intelligence was left behind by his master a member of the 21st Mississippi regiment, when our army retired from Williamsburg being sick at the time. As soon as he had recovered, and had worked long enough to repay those who took care of him, he found means of getting through the Yankee lines, though he several times narrowly escaped capture. He says he never wants to dwell among Yankees again — he has seen enough of their brutality towards white and black to disgust him with the race forever.