John Yates Beall's Last Words: "I Die in the Service and Defense of My Country"

From Civil War Scholar.com  "Lincoln, Beall and the Gallows" by Jim Surkanp.

A reporter for the New York World witnessed the execution Feb. 24, 1865:

"As some author has said, we may be as near to God on the scaffold as elsewhere...  I protest against the execution of this sentence.  It is murder.

"I die in the service and defense of my country.

"I have nothing more to say."

--Old Service