This week in 1864

“Judge, I hope to meet you in heaven.”

— William Carey, convicted of murder, firing squad, Arkansas.
Executed July 29, 1864

Carey was executed, along with three other “bushwackers,” for leading a force of twenty-plus men disguised in Union uniforms and killing eight federal cavalrymen. At age nineteen, Carey was the youngest of the condemned. Before his death, he confessed to killing more than twenty-one men and waging a private war against the North, which also made him an outlaw among Confederates. On the day of his execution, Carey and three other men were taken from the jail to stand in a line beside their coffins. While shaking the judge advocate’s hand, Carey delivered his final words.