When he was bidding me good-by, he said: "For the first time I shake a prisoner's hand, and I must say that I do not look upon you as a prisoner but as the most honorable man that we have in this post, and I must confess that you have done a most honorable thing in the sight of man and God, and I will help you with all that lies within my power to make everything easy for you." The next morning the lieutenant-colonel came into the guard-house asking for me. When I came near the door, he reached out his hand and grasped mine, saying, "Neither my wife nor I have slept during the night, and I have decided to recommend you for a year's clemency, so that you will have only two years to serve." It did not sound very good to me, but I went into the guard-house and prayed. The thought came to me, "Can you not trust the Lord to carry you through all these difficulties?" I said to myself, "Yes, I leave all in the hands of the Lord." After a few weeks the court was detailed. The president of the court was Captain Koester, who, I was informed, was an infidel. The next man of his court, Captain Ottwell, was a Christian Scientist, and the rest of the court, including eleven officers, were Roman Catholics. They detailed Lieutenant Rockwell to be my counsel for defense. He came up to the court-house and said: "You are a Jew, are you not?" "Yes." "And you believe in Jesus Christ, do you not?" "Yes." "I have no use for Jews, especially for a turncoat, and I will see that you get the limit of the court." This broke me all up, and I said, "Lieutenant, if you can, God will let you go ahead." I then walked into my cell and knelt down to pray, broken-hearted. The scripture came to me, "Fear them not; for I the Lord thy God shall fight for you." I rejoiced to know that the Lord was fighting my battles and that he would do it well. Thirteen days afterwards I was tried. When I came to the court, the lieutenant came to me with a piece of paper in his hand and said: "I am sorry for the words which I spoke to you, but I have suffered for them, and with God's help I will recommend you to clemency. The same Lord that saved you has also saved me." The judge of the court asked me what I would plead to the charge. "I plead guilty to the charge of desertion and violation of the forty-seventh article of war." He asked me again if I knew what it meant to plead guilty. I answered that I knew. He then asked me what my plea on the specification of the forty-seventh article of war was. "Guilty," I answered. He said to the court, "I want to make plain to this boy the solemnity of these charges, that he may know the consequences thereof." He then asked me if I had any pleas to make. I told him no, and repeated the scripture that the Lord had given me: "Fear them not; for I the Lord thy God shall fight for you." I said, "I fear you not, for my Lord will fight for me and will deliver me." Then the counsel for the defense arose and made this statement: