After reviewing the testimony and the written statement, the court found Troest guilty of all charges and sentenced him to “hard labor in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, or at any of the docks or fortifications of the United States during the remainder of the term of his enlistment [about two years].” During his imprisonment, he was to wear a ball and chain attached to one leg, be put on a diet of bread and water every other 14-day period during the first year of his confinement, and forfeit all his pay and allowances. At the end of his term, he was to be “disgracefully discharged.”

The court then turned to the case of Spades, who was charged with being absent without leave (although he was not enlisted in the army), theft, and assisting in the rape of Walker. The first witness was Wiedrich himself.

“Is this boy your servant?” the court asked.

“Yes, sir, with me in the army,” Wiedrich responded.

This ended the captain’s contribution to the fact-finding. The court then called Swindler to the stand again.

“Do you know this man [indicating Spades]?”

“I know that man. He searched my house from top to bottom, plundering and searching. He used insulting language to me, cursing and swearing. He called me a ‘God damned secessionist bitch’ and threatened me with a sabre and a bridle strap. I am a widow, over 60 years old.”

“Did your black woman say anything about the outrage?”

“She said the black man dragged her upstairs, and the two men misused her. I asked Polly if she had put herself in the way, but she said she did not.”

Walker was then recalled as a prosecution witness, and the court resumed its inquiry.

“Have you seen this man before?”

“Yes. He was the gentleman who came to rob our house. He asked if I had a husband. I said I did and he called me a damned liar. He came to me after the white man did, in the little room above the kitchen. I did not fight him, because he said he would kill me if I did. I cried and said was not willing.”

“Did he make an arrangement with you?”

“No. I told him I did not want to do it.”

“What did he say to you?”

“He said he wanted to f— me.”

The prosecution then rested, and Spades called Sorg as a defense witness.

“Did I commit violence on the Negro woman?” asked Spades.

“No,” Sorg responded. “You asked the Negro woman to “give me a f—ing.” Those were your words. She said she was willing if you kept the white man away. I saw you at it. She made no resistance. You wanted me to do the same to her but I would not. She did not cry out or seem troubled when you did it to her.”

After deliberation, the court found Spades guilty on all counts, and sentenced him to hard labor for five years, wearing a ball and chain. He was to be put on a diet of bread and water one week of every month.

The third and final defendant was the 19-year-old Sorg. Sorg was on trial for A.W.O.L. and for “numerous depredations,” but not for rape. Swindler was called once again as a witness.

“What did Private Sorg do at your house?”

“He took a liberal hand in plundering and destroying with the others. He did say he would try and stop the others from destroying things. I don’t know if he stopped them. He did not curse or abuse me.”

“Was he drunk?”

“They were not drunk when they came to my house. I had a half-pint of spirits in a decanter. When they left, the spirits were gone and the decanter was broken.”

The court considered the testimony and the written statement signed by Troest and Sorg and found Sorg guilty on both charges. He was sentenced to one year of hard labor, during which he was to forfeit all pay and allowances.

After the trial, Battery I remained in Sperryville for two weeks, leaving town on August 9, 1862, to join Major General John Pope’s army in northern Virginia. Meanwhile, Troest, Spades, and Sorg were on their way to prison.

On August 21 of the following year, Sorg rejoined his unit, having served his sentence. He did not, however, seem to have mended his ways. On June 10, 1865, at New Hope Church, Georgia, Private Adam Reitz of Battery I fell asleep with his pocketbook under his head. When he awoke, it was gone, but it was soon found hidden under Sorg’s jacket. Sorg confessed that he had taken $32.85 and spent $3.00 of the loot on cigars. Reitz was left with $29.85, and Sorg went off to prison again, the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, where he remained through the end of the war.

---

Thomas P. Lowry of Woodbridge, Virginia, is the author of The Story the Soldiers Wouldn’t Tell: Sex in the Civil War (1994) and Tarnished Eagles: The Courts-Martial of Fifty Union Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels (1998).

Pages: 1 2 3