half past ten in the morning
They were searched , and the sword of one was found to be marked C. S. A. -- Confederate States of America . General Rosecrans was telegraphed to and denounced them as pretenders . A drum-head court-martial was ordered at quarter to five in the morning , and the two Confederates broke down and confessed . They begged for clemency , but orders had been to hang them if they were found guilty , and at half past ten in the morning they were executed in the presence of a large body of troops . This act was denounced in the South , but , terrible as it was , it was in strict accord with the rules of war . From the negro , the three captains , riding abreast , in advance of the mounted infantry , learned in what direction lay the road Major Gossley would most likely use in returning from Rover . It was little more than a foot-path , running through the plantation fields and coming up over a foot-bridge to the creek in the rear .