The Execution of Private Winslow N. Allen

September 27th, 1863. ... another hundred men joined the Regiment. They were mostly substitutes and conscripts.

Among the number was Winslow N. Allen, formerly a private in Company H, who had deserted while the Regiment was stationed at Washington, in the spring of 1862. Eight of these new men were assigned to Company H, and, strange as it may appear, Allen was assigned to the same Company from which he had deserted. He was possessed of a beautiful wife and one child, but, tempted by the bounty of three hundred dollars, he had sold himself as a substitute, trusting to fortune to make his escape again. As he was marched by the sergeant down the company street, though dark, his voice was recognized by his former comrades. This coming to the ears of the officers, he was arrested and placed in confinement to await his trial for desertion. He was soon after tried, convicted, and sentenced to be shot to death on the eighteenth of December, 1863.

So many had been arrested and either returned to duty or punished by imprisonment and loss of pay, that he could not believe he would be sentenced to death. Others who had been sentenced to be shot had been pardoned, so that after the decision became known to him he still indulged in hope. As the hour drew near, however, Captain Swan, as kindly as possible, assured him that all hope was vain, and that he should prepare for his awful doom. A day or two before his death he began to realize his situation, and to set about making preparations to enter "The undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveler returns."

He seemed calm and collected, and declared himself ready to die, if such must be his fate. So self-possessed was he, that an hour before his execution he sat at the table with his Captain, and ate a hearty dinner, after which he engaged in writing. As the drum beat the signal to march to the place of execution, he said: "Captain, you have been kind to me, which I can only return by my prayers for your welfare." Handing the Captain his pocket-book, "Take this, it is all I have, and when I am gone, please lay this," (a fervent prayer for one in his situation, printed on a card), "on my breast."

The Captain promised to do as requested. As they marched to the mournful measure of the death march, and neared the fatal spot where the rough coffin and gaping grave were waiting to receive their victim, he seemed suddenly struck with terror, and, seizing the Captain's hand with a vice-like grasp, thus remained until they arrived at the coffin. Around him were formed his companions whom he had deserted. The grave which was to receive him as a loathsome criminal, was fresh beside him. It was a severe test of his physical courage. To none but the Captain was there the exhibition of the least emotion.

The condemned man was placed upon the foot of his coffin; the bandage placed over his eyes; his hands pinioned. The charges, specifications, findings and order for his execution bad been read. The Captain bent over him, and, his heart almost too full for utterance, whispered: "Winslow, I can go no further with you ; the rest of your dark journey is alone. Have you any last word for your wife and child?"

"No, Only tell them I love them all!" These were his last words. The Captain stepped back a few feet; the officer gave the signal to the executioners; the report as of a single gun rang out, and Winslow N. Allen fell lifeless upon his coffin. He had, on that day completed his twenty-sixth year. He died without a perceptible movement of a muscle.

This was the only execution that ever occurred in the Seventy-sixth Regiment.

Footnote: According to Roundtable member Col. Pete Moore, while Allen’s was the only execution in the 76th, he was not the only member of the 76th to be executed during the war. Six Union soldiers were hanged by the Confederates at Andersonville for preying upon their fellow prisoners. One of these was a member of the 76th New York, a replacement from Rochester.

Another account of the execution of Pvt. Allen, written by Uberto Burnham.

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