From the Richmond Dispatch, 9/26/1863, p. 1, c. 6

Execution of a Spy. - Pursuant to a notice published in the Dispatch, Spencer Kellogg, the Yankee deserter and spy, was hung at Camp Lee yesterday afternoon. About 11 o’clock the prisoner was taken from Castle Thunder and placed in a carriage, in which were Rev. J. L. Burrows, Rev. Mr. Carpenter, the prison chaplain, his spiritual advisers, and detective officer John Caphart. The cortege then moved off under escort of a detachment of soldiers from the City Battalion in front and rear, and a mounted guard on each side of the carriage. It proceeded with solemn tread up Main to Governor street, up Governor to Capitol street, and continued thence to 10th, where it turned up to Broad, and up Broad to the New Fair Grounds, at which place it arrived about twenty five minutes to one o’clock. The carriage containing the doomed man halted within about one hundred yards of the scaffold, when the military filed off a short distance and came to a rest, remaining thus for about ten minutes. During the interval a large crowd collected around the carriage, and great curiosity was manifested to get a glimpse at the prisoner. Kellogg sat resting his head the most of the time on his hand. In stature he was about five feet eight or nine inches high, light hair and complexion, deep blue eyes, and well trimmed whiskers. He was dressed in a neat Federal uniform. At fifteen minutes to 1 o’clock, everything being in readiness, the carriage again moved off, preceded by the military. Driving up close to the scaffold the criminal, his spiritual advisers, and Detective Caphart alighted, when, after the completion of the necessary manoeuvres of the guard, Capt. G. W. Alexander rode up and read the sentence of the Court-Martial, setting forth the offence of which the prisoner had been convicted. At the conclusion of the reading of this document the Rev. Dr. Burrows offered up a feeling prayer, during which the unfortunate man manifested much emotion. The prayer being through with, Kellogg soon after ascended the platform of the gallows, and placing his hands behind him, stood by till the executioner came up and adjusted the rope preparatory to tieing his feet and arms. When ready he stepped to the middle of the stand, and, placing his hands behind him and his legs together, watched with some interest the manner of tieing them, during the progress of which he was heard to remark, “Captain, this is hard,” After doing this, and when the rope was about being placed over his neck. Kellogg took off his hat to permit its proper adjustment. This he sailed lightly off among the crowd, and observing it fall on the shoulders of a bystander, he, with a smile on his countenance, said “Excuse me.” Caphart here bade the criminal good-bye, each grasping the other cordially by the hand, and descended. A negro man then ascended, and, placing one end of the rope through the hook at the top, began to draw it through, till, getting it within about a foot of his neck, Kellogg interrupted him with the words, “I want more fall than that; one foot, doctor, (addressing himself to his surgeon,) won’t break my neck.” “I wish, doctor, you would see that it’s arranged properly.” Then casting his eyes up towards the additional length given to the fall, be said, “There, that will do.”—At this stage of the proceedings the executioner again ascended the platform and placed the hood over his head, during which he was assisted by K., who, catching hold of the noose around his neck, remarked, “Don’t you think this should be drawn a little tighter?” pulling it up an inch or so at the same time and slipping the knot nearer to the left ear. His hat was then given him, that he might signal by dropping it when the trap should be knocked from under him. This he did in about two minutes after Caphart left the stand, and simultaneous with the fall of the hat the props were knocked from under, and the condemned man was left dangling in the air. For about one minute and a half his struggles were violent, but after that time his hands and body relaxed and every sign of life disappeared. In fifteen minutes after he was hung his body was cut down, and, the surgeon pronouncing him dead, he was placed in the coffin brought out for the purpose and deposited in the grave prepared for his remains. Thus ended the career of this misled fanatic.

Kellogg’s demeanor during the whole time was self-possessed, and apparently free from all fear, but at the same time manifesting none of that reckless bravado so often shown by hardened criminals. When about leaving the prison yesterday morning he was heard to say, “I do not complain of my lot; I acknowledge my guilt, and expect to pay the penalty. I was employed by my Government to do what I did. I mean to die as becomes a man.”- He was a native of Utica. N. Y., and was about 33 years of age. During the siege of Island No.10 he deserted from the enemy in a small boat and came into our lines; representing himself as a civil engineer he was taken in the Confederate States Engineer service, and after collecting information about the defences and fortifications of Island No.10, for the purpose of communicating the same to the enemy deserted, and was captured in arms against the Confederate States.

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