CONFEDERATE VIEW
OF THE
TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.
COMPILED FROM
OFFICIAL RECORDS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS.
BY
Rev. J. WILLIAM JONES, D. D.
SECRETARY SOUTHERN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
RICHMOND :
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
1876
Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1870,
By J. WILLIAM JONES,
Secretary Southern Historical Society,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
PREFATORY NOTE.
The demand for the contents of the two Papers we have issued
on the "Treatment of Prisoners During the War Between the
States," induces us to put them in book form.
It would have improved the appearance of the book to have
reprinted the matter; but we have decided to lessen its cost by
simply binding into book form the March and April (1876) Num-
bers of our "Southern Historical Society Papers."
The discussion is by no means exhaustive, and yet we send it
forth in the full confidence that the argument has not been, and
cannot be answered, and that this little volume is a complete
refutation of the slanders against our Government and people which
have poisoned the minds of the nations against us.
J. W. J.
Office Southern Historical Society,
Richmond, Virginia, July 1. 1876.
SOUTHERN HISIU III PAPERS
Yol. I. Richmond, Ya., March, 1876. No. 3.
THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS DURING THE WAR BETWEEN
TIIE STATES.
[Compiled by Secretary of Southern Historical Society.]
There is, perhaps, no subject connected with the late war which
more imperatively demands discussion at our hands than the Prison
Question. That the Confederate Government should have been
charged in the heat of the passions of the war with a systematic
cruelty to prisoners was to be expected. The pulpits, the press,
and the Government reports, which were so busy denouncing
" Rebel barbarities " that they had no censure for the McNeils,
the Turchins, the Butlers, the Milroys, the Hunters, the Sher-
mans, and the Sheridans, who, under the flag of "Liberty,"
perpetrated crimes which disgrace the age, were not to be expected
to be over scrupulous in originating and retailing slanders against
the Government and people of the South. But it was hoped that
after the passions of the war had cooled, and the real facts had be-
come accessible, that these sweeping charges would be at least
modified, and these bitter denunciations cease.
We have been doomed to a sad disappointment. The leader of
the Radical party (Mr. Blaine) has recently in his place in the
United States Congress revived all of the charges which twelve
years ago " fired the Northern heart," and has marred the music of
the "Centennial chimes," with such language as this:
" Mr. Davis was the author, knowingly, deliberately, guiltily and
wilfully, of the gigantic murder and crime at Andersonville. And
I here, before God, measuring my words, knowing their full extent
and import, declare that neither the deeds of the Duke of Alva in
the Low countries, nor the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, nor the
thumb-screws and engines of torture of the Spanish Inquisition,
begin to compare in atrocity with the hideous crimes of Anderson-
ville."
He then quotes and endorses the following extract from the report
114
Southern Historical Society Papers.
of the ex parte committee of Congress who examined this question
at a time when passion was at its flood tide:
" The subsequent history of Andersonville has • startled and
shocked the world with a tale of horror, of woe and death before
unheard and unknown to civilization. No pen can describe, no
painter sketch, no imagination comprehend its fearful and unutter-
able iniquity. It would seem as if the concentrated madness of
earth and hell had found its final lodgment in the breasts of those
who inaugurated the rebellion and controlled the policy of the
Confederate Government, and that the prison at Andersonville had
been selected for the most terrible human sacrifice which the world
had ever seen. Into its narrow walls were crowded thirty-five
thousand enlisted men, many of them the bravest and best, the
most devoted and heroic of those grand armies which carried the
flag of their country to final victory. For long and weary months
here they suffered, maddened, were murdered, and died. Here
they lingered, unsheltered from the burning rays of a tropical sun
by day, and drenching and deadly dews by night, in every stage of
mental and physical disease, hungered, emaciated, starving, mad-
dened; festering with unhealed wounds; gnawed by the ravages of
scurvy and gangrene; with swollen limb and distorted visage; cov-
ered with vermin which they had no power to extirpate; exposed
to the flooding rains which drove them drowning from the misera-
ble holes in which, like swine, they burrowed; parched with thirst
and mad with hunger; racked with pain or prostrated with the
weakness of dissolution; with naked limbs and matted hair; filthy
with smoke and mud; soiled with the very excrement from which
their weakness would not permit them to escape; eaten by the
gnawing worms which their own wounds had engendered; with no
bed but the earth; no covering save the cloud or the sky; these
men, these heroes, born in the image of God, thus crouching and
writhing in their terrible torture and calculating barbarity, stand
forth in history as a monument of the surpassing horrors of Ander-
sonville as it shall be seen and read in all future time, realizing in
the studied torments of their prison-house the ideal of Dante's In-
ferno and Milton's Hell."
So industriously have these statements been circulated—so gene-
rally have they entered into the literature of the North—so widely
have they been believed, that the distinguished gentleman from
Georgia (Hon. B. H. Hill), who ventured upon a calm reply, in
which he ably refuted the assertions of Mr. Blaine, has been de-
nounced by the Radical press as a " co-conspirator with Jeff. Davis to
murder Union prisoners," and has been told by even some of our
own papers that his speech was " very unfortunate."
As we have in the archives of our Society the means of trium-
phantly vindicating the Confederate Government from the charge
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 115
of cruelty to prisoners, as we have been appealed to by leading
men North and South and in Europe to give the facts in reference
to this matter, and as the present seems an opportune time, we
have decided to enter upon the task.
We have only to premise that our work is mainly one of compila-
tion, and that our chief difficulty is which documents to select from
the vast number which we have in our collection.
THE QUESTION STATED.
Let it be distinctly understood that we do not for a moment
affirm that there was not a vast amount of suffering and fearful
mortality among the Federal prisoners at the South. But we are
prepared to prove before any fair tribunal, from documents now in
our archives, the following points:
1. The Confederate authorities always ordered the kind treatment
of prisoners of war, and if there were individual cases of cruel
treatment it was in violation of positive orders.
2. The orders were to give prisoners the same rations that our
own soldiers received, and if rations were scarce and of inferior
quality it was through no fault of the Confederacy.
3. The prison-hospitals were put on the same footing precisely as
the hospitals for our own men, and if there was unusual suffering
caused by want of medicine and hospital stores it arose from the
fact that the Federal authorities declared these " contraband of war,"
and refused to accept the Confederate offer to allow Federal surgeons
to come to the prisons with supplies of medicines and stores.
4. The prisons were established with reference to healthfulness
of locality, and the great mortality among the prisoners arose from
epidemics and chronic diseases which our surgeons had not the
means of preventing or arresting.
A strong proof of this is the fact that nearly as large a proportion
of the Confederate guard at Andersonville died as of the prisoners them-
selves.
5. The above reasons cannot be assigned for the cruel treatment
which Confederates received in Northern prisons. Though in a land
flowing with plenty, our poor fellows in prison were famished with
hunger, and would have considered half the rations served Federal
soldiers bountiful indeed. Their prison-hospitals were very far
from being on the same footing with the hospitals for their own
soldiers, and our men died by thousands from causes which the
Federal authorities could have prevented.
116
Southern Historical Society Papers.
6. But the real cause of the suffering on both sides was the stop-
page of the exchange of prisoners, and for this the Federal authorities
alone were responsible. The Confederates kept the cartel in good
faith. It was broken on the other side.
The Confederates were anxious to exchange man for man. It
was the settled policy on the other side not to exchange prisoners.
The Confederates offered to exchange sick and wounded. This was
refused. In August, 1864, we offered to send home all the Federal
sick and wounded without equivalent. The offer was not accepted
until the following December, and it was during that period that
the greatest mortality occurred. The Federal authorities determined
as their war policy not to exchange prisoners, they invented every
possible pretext to avoid it, and they at the same time sought to
quiet the friends of their prisoners and to "fire the Northern heart"
by most shamelessly charging that the Confederate Government
refused to exchange, and by industriously circulating the most
malignant stories of " Rebel barbarities " to helpless veterans of the
Union.
7. But the charge of cruelty made against the Confederate leaders
is triumphantly refuted by such facts as these: The official reports
of Secretary Stanton and Surgeon General Barnes show that a
much larger per cent, of Confederates perished in Northern prisons
than of Federals in Southern prisons. And though the most per-
sistent efforts were made to get up a case against President Davis,
General Lee, and others (even to the extent of offering poor Wirz a
reprieve if he would implicate them), they were not able to secure
testimony upon which even Holt and his military court dared to
go into the trial.
It may be well, before discussing the question in its full details,
to introduce the
testimony of leading confederates
who are implicated in this charge of cruel treatment to prisoners
And first we give a recent letter of ex-President Davis in reply
to Mr. Blaine's charges:
New Orleans, January 27, 1876.
Hon. James Lyons :
My Dear Friend—Your very kind letter of the 14th instant
was forwarded from Memphis, and has been received at this place.
I have been so long the object of malignant slander and the sub-
ject of unscrupulous falsehood by partisans of the class of Mr.
Blaine, that, though I cannot say it has become to me matter
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
117
of indifference, it has ceased to excite my surprise even in this
instance, when it reaches the extremity of accusing me of cruelty
to prisoners. What matters it to one whose object is personal and
party advantage that the records, both Federal and Confederate,
disprove the charge; that the country is full of witnesses who bear
oral testimony against it, and that the effort to revive the bitter
animosities of the war obstructs the progress toward tire reconcilia-
tion of the sections? It is enough for him if his self-seeking pur-
pose be promoted.
It would, however, seem probable that such expectations must
be disappointed, for only those who are wilfully blind can fail to
see in the circumstances of the case the fallacy of Mr. Blaine's
statements. The published fact of an attempt to suborn Wirz,
when under sentence of death, by promising him a pardon if he
would criminate me in regard to the Andersonville prisoners, is con-
elusive as to the wish of the Government to make such charge
against me, and the failure to do so shows that nothing could be
found to sustain it. JI ay we not say the evidence of my innocence
was such that Holt and Conover, with their trained band of suborned
witnesses, dared not make against me this charge—the same which
Wirz, for his life, would not make, but which Blaine, for the Presi-
dential nomination, has made?
Now let us review the leading facts of this case. The report of
the Confederate commissioner for exchange of prisoners shows how
persistent and liberal were our efforts to secure the relief of cap-
tives. Failing in those attempts, I instructed General R, E. Lee to
go under flag of truce and seek an interview with General Grant, to
represent to him the suffering and death of Federal prisoners held
by us, to explain the causes which were beyond our control, and to
urge in the name of humanity the observance of the cartel for the
exchange of prisoners. To this, as to all previous appeals, a deaf
ear was turned. The interview was not granted. I will not attempt,
from memory, to write the details of the correspondence. Lee no
longer lives to defend the cause and country he loved so well and
served so efficiently; but General Grant cannot fail to remember so
extraordinary a proposition, and his objections to executing the
cartel are well known to the public. But whoever else may choose
to forget my efforts in this regard, the prisoners at Andersonville
and the delegates I permitted them to send to President Lincoln to
plead for the resumption of exchange of prisoners cannot fail to
remember how willing I was to restore them to their homes and to the
comforts of which they were in need, provided the imprisoned
soldiers of the Confederacy should be in like manner released and
returned to us.
This foul accusation, though directed specially against me, was
no doubt intended as, and naturally must be, the arraignment of
the South, by whose authority and in whose behalf my deeds were
done. It may be presumed that the feelings and the habits of the
Southern soldiers were understood by me, and in that connection
118
Southern Historical Society Papers.
any fair mind would perceive in my congratulatory orders to the
army after a victory, in which the troops were most commended for
their tenderness and generosity to the wounded and other captives,
as well the instincts of the person who issued the order as the
knightly temper of the soldiers to whom it was addressed. It is
admitted that the prisoners in our hands were not as well provided
for as we would, but it is claimed that we did as well for them as we
could. Can the other side say as much?
To the bold allegations of ill treatment of prisoners by our side>
and humane treatment and adequate supplies by our opponents, it
is only necessary to offer two facts—first, it appears from the reports
of the United States War Department that though we had sixty
thousand more Federal prisoners than they had of Confederates,
six thousand more of Confederates died in Northern prisons than
died of Federals in Southern prisons; second, the want and suffer-
ing of men in Northern prisons caused me to ask for permission to
send out cotton and buy supplies for them. The request was
granted, but only on condition that the cotton should be sent to
New York and the supplies be bought there. General Beale, now
of St. Louis, was authorized to purchase and distribute the needful
supplies.
Our sympathy rose with the occasion and responded to its de-
mands—not waiting for ten years, then to vaunt itself when it could
serve no good purpose to the sufferers.
Under the mellowing influence of time and occasional demon-
strations at the North of a desire for the restoration of peace and
good will, the Southern people have forgotten much—have forgiven
much of the wrongs they bore. If it be less so among their in-
vaders, it is but another example of the rule that the wrong-doer
is less able to forgive than he who has suffered causeless wrong.
It is not, however, generally among those who braved the hazards
of battle that unrelenting vindictiveness is to be found. The brave
are generous and gentle. It is the skulkers of the fight—the
Blaines—who display their flags on an untented field. They made
no sacrifice to prevent the separation of the States. Why should
they be expected to promote the confidence and good will essential
to their union ?
When closely confined at Fortress Monroe I was solicited to add
my name to those of many esteemed gentlemen who had signed a
petition for my pardon, and an assurance was given that on my
doing so the President would order my liberation. Confident of
the justice of our cause and the rectitude of my own conduct, I
declined to sign the petition, and remained subject to the inex-
cusable privations and tortures which Dr. Craven has but faintly
described. When, after two years of close confinement, I was ad-
mitted to bail, as often as required I appeared for trial under the
indictment found against me, but in which Mr. Blaine's fictions do
not appear. The indictment was finally quashed on no application
of mine, nor have I ever evaded or avoided a trial upon any charge
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
119
the General Government might choose to bring against me, and
have no view of the future which makes it desirable to me to be
included in an amnesty bill.
Viewed in the abstract or as a general question, I would be glad
to see the repeal of all laws inflicting the penalty of political disa-
bilities on classes of the people that it might, as prescribed by the
constitution, be left to the courts to hear and decide causes, and to
affix penalties according to pre-existing legislation. The discrimi-
nation made against our people is unjust and impolitic if the fact
be equality and the purpose be fraternity among the citizens of the
United States. Conviction and sentence without a hearing, without
jurisdiction, and affixing penalties by ex post facto legislation, are
part of the proceeding which had its appropriate end in the as-
sumption by Congress of the Executive function of granting par-
dons. To remove political disabilities which there was not legal
power to impose was not an act of so much grace as to form a
plausible pretext for the reckless diatribe of Mr. Blaine.
The papers preserved by Dr. Stevenson happily furnish full proof
of the causes of disease and death at Andersonville. They are now,
I believe, in Richmond, and it is to be hoped their publication
will not be much longer delayed. I have no taste for recrimination,
though the sad recitals made by our soldiers returned from North-
ern prisons can never be forgotten. And you will remember the
excitement those produced, and the censorious publications which
were uttered against me because I would not visit on the helpless
prisoners in our hands such barbarities as, according to reports, had
been inflicted upon our men.
Imprisonment is a hard lot at the best, and prisoners are prone to
exaggerate their sufferings, and such was probably the case on both
sides. But we did not seek by reports of committees, with photo-
graphic illustrations, to inflame the passions of our people. How
was it with our enemy? Let one example suffice. You may re-
member a published report of a committee of the United States
Congress which was sent to Annapolis to visit some exchanged
prisoners, and which had appended to it the photographs of some
emaciated subjects, which were offered as samples of prisoners re-
turned from the South.
When a copy of that report was received, I sent it to Colonel
Ould, commissioner for the exchange of prisoners, and learned, as
I anticipated, that the photographs, as far as they could be iden-
tified, had been taken from men who were in our hospital when
they were liberated for exchange, and whom the hospital surgeon
regarded as convalescent, but too weak to be removed with safety
to themselves. The anxiety of the prisoners to be sent to their
homes had prevailed over the objections of the surgeon. But this
is not all, for I have recently learned from a priest who was then
at Annapolis that the most wretched looking of these photographs
was taken from a man who had never been a prisoner, but who
bad been left on the " sick list" at Annapolis when the command
120
Southern Historical Society Papers.
to which he was attached had passed that place on its southward
march.
Whatever may be said in extenuation of such imposture because
of the exigencies of war, there can be no such excuse now for the
attempts of Mr. Blaine, by gross misrepresentation arid slanderous
accusation, to revive the worst passions of the war; and it is to be
hoped that, much as the event is to be regretted, it will have the
good effect of evoking truthful statements in regard to this little
understood subject from men who would have preferred to leave
their sorrowful story untold if the subject could have been allowed
peacefully to sink into oblivion.
Mutual respect is needful for the common interest, is essential to
a friendly union, and when slander is promulgated from high places
the public welfare demands that truth should strip falsehood of its
power for evil.
I am, respectfully and truly, your friend,
Jefferson Davis.
We next introduce
the testimony of general r. e. lee,
who was Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate armies, who has
been widely charged with being particeps criminis in this matter,
but whom the world will ever believe to have been as incapable of
connivance at a cruel act as he was of the slightest departure from
the strictest accuracy of statement.
The following is an extract from his sworn testimony before the
Congressional Reconstruction Committee:
" Question. By Mr. Howard: 'I wish to inqure whether you had
any knowledge of the cruelties practiced toward the Union prisoners
at Libby Prison and on Belle Isle?' Answer. 'I never knew that
any cruelty was practiced, and I have no reason to believe that it
was practiced. I can believe, and have reason to believe, that pri-
vations may have been experienced by the prisoners, because I
.know that provision and shelter could not be provided for them.'
"Q. 'Were you not aware that the prisoners were dying from cold
and starvation? A. 'I was not.'
" Q. ' Did these scenes come to your knowledge at all ? A. ' Never.
No report was ever made to me about them. There was no call for
any to be made to me. I did hear—it was mere hearsay—that
statements had been made to the War Department, and that every-
thing had been done to relieve them that could be done, even finally
so far as to offer to send them to some other points—Charleston
was one point named—if they would be received by the United
States authorities and taken to their homes; but whether this is
true or not I do not know.'
"Q. 'And of course you know nothing of the scenes of cruelty
about which complaints have been made at those places' (Anderson-
ville and Salisbury)? A. ' Nothing in the world, as I said before. I
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
121
suppose they suffered for want of ability on the part of the Con-
federate States to supply their wants. At the very beginning of the
war I knew that there was suffering of prisoners on both sides, but
as far as I could I did everything in my power to relieve them, and
to establish the cartel which was agreed upon.'
"Q. 'It has been frequently asserted that the Confederate soldiers
feel more kindly toward the Government of the United States than
any other people of the South. What are .your observations on
that point ?' A. ' From the Confedrate soldiers I have heard no ex-
pression of any other opinion. They looked upon the war as a
necessary evil, and went through it. I have seen them relieve the
wants of Federal soldiers on the field. The orders always were
that the whole field should, be treated alike. Parties were sent out
to take the Federal wounded as well as the Confederate, and the
surgeons were told to treat the one as they did the other. These
orders given by me were respected on every field.'
"Q. ' Do you think that the good feeling on their part toward the
rest of the people has continued since the close of the war?' A. 'I
know nothing to the contrary. I made several efforts to exchange
the prisoners after the cartel was suspended. I do not know to
this day which side took the initiative. I know there were constant
complaints on both sides. I merely know it from public rumors.
I offered to General Grant, around Richmond, that we should our-
selves exchange all the prisoners in our hands. There was a com-
munication from the Christian Commission, I think, which reached
me at Petersburg, and made application to me for a passport to visit
all the prisoners South. My letter to them I suppose they have.
I told them I had not that authority, that it could only be obtained
from the War Department at Richmond, but that neither they nor
I could relieve the sufferings of the prisoners; that the only thing
to be done for them was to exchange them; and, to show that I
would do whatever was in my power, I offered them to send to City
Point all the prisoners in Virginia and North Carolina over which
my command extended, provided they returned an equal number
of mine, man for man. I reported this to the War Department,
and received for answer that they would place at my command all
the prisoners at the South if the proposition was accepted. I heard
nothing more on the subject.'"
The following private letter to a friend and relative was never in-
tended for the public eye, but may be accepted as his full convic-
tion on this subject:
"Lexington, Va., April 17, 1867.
" Dr. Charles Carter,
"No. 1632 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.:
" My Dear Dr. Carter—I have received your letter of the 9th inst.,
inclosing one to you from Mr. J. Francis Fisher, in relation to cer-
tain information which he had received from Bishop Wilmer. My
respect for Mr. Fisher's wishes would induce me to reply fully to'
122
Southern Historical Society Papers.
all his questions, but I have not time to do so satisfactorily; and,
for reasons which I am sure you both will appreciate, I have a great
repugnance to being brought before the public in any manner.
Sufficient information has been officially published, I think, to
show that whatever sufferings the Federal prisoners at the South
underwent, were incident to their position as prisoners, and pro-
duced by the destitute condition of the country, arising from the
operations of war. The laws of the Confederate Congress and
the orders of the War Department directed that the rations
furnished prisoners of war should be the same in quantity and
quality as those furnished enlisted men in the army of the Con-
federacy, and that the hospitals for prisoners should be placed on
the same footing as other Confederate States hospitals in all re-
spects. It was the desire of the Confederate authorities to effect a
continuous and speedy exchange of prisoners of war; for it was
their true policy to do so, as their retention was not only a calamity
to them, but a heavy expenditure of their scanty means of sub-
sistence, and a privation of the services of a veteran army. Mr.
Fisher or Bishop Wilmer has confounded my offers for the ex-
change of prisoners with those made by Mr. Ould, the Commissioner
of the Confederate States. It was he that offered, when all hopes
of effecting the exchange had ceased, to deliver all the Federal sick
and wounded, to the amount of fifteen thousand, without an equiva-
lent, provided transportation was furnished. Previously to this, I
think, I offered to General Grant to send into his lines all the pri-
soners within my department, which then embraced Virginia and
North Carolina, provided he would return me man for man; and
when I informed the Confederate authorities of my proposition, I
was told that, if it was accepted, they would place all the prisoners
at the South at my disposal. I offered subsequently, I think to the
committee of the United States Sanitary Commission, who visited
Petersburg for the purpose of ameliorating the condition of their
prisoners, to do the same. But my proposition was not accepted.
Dr. Joseph Jones has recently published a pamphlet termed 'Re-
searches upon Spurious Vaccination,' etc., issued from the Uni-
versity Medical Press, Nashville, Tenn., in which he treats of cer-
tain diseases of the Federal prisoners at Andersonville and their
causes, which I think would be interesting to you as a medical
man, and would furnish Mr. Fisher with some of the information
he desires. And now I wish you to understand that what I have
written is for your personal information and not for publication,
and to send as an expression of thanks to Mr. Fisher for his kind
efforts to relieve the sufferings of the Southern people.
"I am very much obliged to you for the prayers you offered for
us in the days of trouble. Those days are still prolonged, and we
earnestly look for aid to our merciful God. Should I have any use
for the file of papers you kindly offer me I will let you know.
<:A11 my family unite with me in kind regards to your wife and
children. And I am, very truly, your cousin,
(Signed) R. E. Lee."
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
123
VICE-PRESIDENT ALEX. H. STEVENS,
in his "War Between the States," declares that the efforts which
have been made to "fix the odium of cruelty and barbarity" upon
Mr. Davis and the Confederate authorities " constitute one of the
boldest and baldest attempted outrages upon the truth of history
which has ever been essayed." After briefly, but most conclusively)
discussing the general question, Mr. Stevens continues as follows in
reference to the Federal prisoners sent South:
Large numbers of them were taken to Southwestern Georgia in
1864, because it was a section most remote and secure from the inva-
ding Federal armies, and because, too, it was a country of all others
then within the Confederate limits, not thus threatened with an in-
vasion, most abundant with food, and all resources at command for
the health and comfort of prisoners. They were put in one stockade
for the want of men to guard more than one. The section of country,
moreover, was not regarded as more unhealthy, or more subject to
malarious influences, than any in the central part of the State.
The official order for the erection of the stockade enjoined that it
should be in "a healthy locality, plenty of pure water, a running
stream, and, if possible, shade trees, and in the immediate neighbor-
hood of grist and saw mills." The very selection of the locality,
so far from being, as you suppose, made with cruel designs against
the prisoners, was governed by the most humane considerations.
Your question might, with much more point, be retorted by ask-
ing, why were Southern prisoners taken in the dead of winter with
their thin clothing to Camp Douglas, Rock Island and Johnson's
Island—icy regions of the North—where it is a notorious fact that
many of them actually froze to death ?
As far as mortuary returns afford evidence of the general treat-
ment of prisoners on both sides, the figures show nothing to the
disadvantage of the Confederates, notwithstanding their limited
supplies of all kinds, and notwithstanding all that has been said of
the horrible sacrifice of life at Andersonville.
It now appears that a larger number of Confederates died in
Northern than of Federals in Southern prisons or stockades. The
report of Mr. Stanton, as Secretary of War, on the 19th of July,
1866, exhibits the fact that, of the Federal prisoners in Confederate
hands during the war, only 22,576 died; while of the Confederate
prisoners in Federal hands 26,436 died. This report does not set
forth the exact number of prisoners held by each side respectively.
These facts were given more in detail in a subsequent report by
Surgeon General Barnes, of the United States Army. His report I
have not seen, but according to a statement editorially, in the Na-
tional Intelligencer—very high authority—it appears from the Surgeon
General's report, that the whole number of Federal prisoners cap-
tured by the Confederates and held in Southern prisons, from first to
124 Southern Historical Society Payers.
last during the war, was, in round numbers, 270,000; while the
whole number of Confederates captured and held in prisons by the
Federals was, in like round numbers, only 220,000. From these
two reports it appears that, with 50,000 more prisoners in Southern
stockades, or other modes of confinement, the deaths were nearly
4,000 less! According to these figures, the per centum of Federal
deaths in Southern prisons was under nine! while the per centum of
Confederate deaths in Northern prisons was over twelve! These
mortality statistics are of no small weight in determining on which
side was the most neglect, cruelty and inhumanity!
But the question in this matter is, upon whom does this tremendous
responsibility rest of all this sacrifice of human life, with all its in-
describable miseries and sufferings? The facts, beyond question or
doubt, show that it rests entirely upon the authorities at Washing-
ton! It is now well understood to have been a part of their settled
policy in conducting the war not to exchange prisoners. The grounds
upon which this extraordinary course was adopted were that it
was humanity to the men in the field, on their side, to let their
captured comrades perish :in prison, rather than to let an equal
number of Confederate soldiers be released on exchange to meet
them in battle! Upon the Federal authorities, and upon them
only, with this policy as their excuse, rests the whole of this re-
sponsibility. To avert the indignation which the open avowal of
this policy by them at the time would have excited throughout
the North, and throughout the civilized world, the false cry of cruelty
towards prisoners was raised against the Confederates. This was
but a pretext to cover their own violation of the usages of war in
this respect among civilized nations.
Other monstrous violations of like usages were not attempted to
be palliated by them, or even covered by a pretext. These were,
as you must admit, open, avowed and notorious! I refer only to
the general sacking of private houses—the pillaging of money,
plate, jewels and other light articles of value, with the destruction
of books, works of art, paintings, pictures, private manuscripts and
family relics; but I allude, besides these things, especially to the
hostile acts directly against property of all kinds, as well as
outrages upon non-combatants—to the laying waste of whole sec-
tions of country; the attempted annihilation of all the necessaries
of life; to the wanton killing, in many instances, of farm stock
and domestic animals; the burning of mills, factories and barns,
with their contents of grain and forage, not sparing orchards or
growing crops, or the implements of husbandry; the mutilation of
county and municipal records of great value; the extraordinary
efforts made to stir up servile insurrections, involving the wide
spread slaughter of women and children; the impious profanation
of temples of worship, and even the brutish desecration of the
sanctuaries of the dead!
All these enormities of a savage character against the very ex-
istence of civilized society, and so revolting to the natural senti-
Treatment of Prisoners During the Tl"ar.
125
ments of mankind, when not thoroughly infuriated by the worst
of passions, and in open violation of modern usages in war—were
perpetrated by the Federal armies in many places throughout the
conflict, as legitimate means in putting down the rebellion, so-
called!—War Between the States, vol. 2, pp. 507-510.
We next present the
testimony of hon. robert ould, confederate commissioner of
exchange.
The following paper was published by Judge Ould in the National
Intelligencer in August, 1868. It is a calm, able, truthful exposition
of the question, which has not been and cannot be answered:
Richmond, Va., August 17, 1868.
To the Editors of the National Intelligencer :
Gentlemen—I have recently seen so many misrepresenta-
tiors of the action of the late Confederate authorities in relation to
prisoners, that I feel it due to the truth of history, and peculiarly
incumbent on me as their agent of exchange, to bring to the atten-
tion of the country the facts set forth in this paper:
I.
The cartel of exchange bears date July 22d, 1862. Its chief pur-
pose was to secure the delivery of all prisoners of war.
To that end, the fourth article provided that all prisoners of war
should be discharged on parole in ten days after their capture.
From the date of the cartel until the summer of 1863 the Confede-
rate authorities had the excess of prisoners. During the interval
deliveries were made as fast as the Federal Government furnished
transportation. Indeed, upon more than one occasion I urged the
Federal authorities to send increased means of transportation. It
has never been alleged that the Confederate authorities failed or
neglected to make prompt deliveries of prisoners who were not held
under charges, when they had the excess. On the other hand, during
the same time the cartel was openly and notoriously violated by
the Federal authorities. Officers and men were kept in confine-
ment, sometimes in irons or doomed to cells, without charge or
trial. Many officers were kept in confinement even after the no-
tices published by the Federal authorities had declared them ex-
changed.
In the summer of 1863 the Federal authorities insisted upon
limiting exchanges to such as were held in confinement on either
side. This I resisted as being in violation of the cartel. Such a
construction not only kept in confinement the excess on either side,
but ignored all paroles which were held by the Confederate Govern-
ment. These were very many, being the paroles of officers and
men who had been released on capture. The Federal Government
126
Southern Historical Society Papers.
at that time held few or no paroles. They had all, or nearly all,
been surrendered, the Confederate authorities giving prisoners as
equivalent for them.' Thus it will be seen that as long as the Con-
federate Government had the excess of prisoners matters went on
smoothly enough, but as soon as the posture of affairs in that re-
spect was changed the cartel could no longer be observed. So, as
long as the Federal Government held the paroles of Confedrate offi-
cers and men, they were respected, and made the basis of exchange;
but when equivalents were obtained for them, and no more were
in hand, the paroles which were held by the Confederate authori-
ties could not be recognized. In consequence of the position thus
assumed by the Federal Government, the requirement of the cartel
that all prisoners should be delivered within ten days was practi-
cally nullified. The deliveries which were afterwards made were
the results of special agreements.
The Confederate authorities adhered to their position until the
10th of August, 1864, when, moved by the sufferings of the men in
the prisons of each belligerent, they determined to abate their just
demand. Accordingly, on the last named day, I addressed the fol-
lowing communication to Brigadier-General John E. Mulford (then
Major), Assistant Agent of Exchange:
Richmond, August 10,1864.
Majob John E. Mulford,
Assistant Agent of Exchange:
Sir—You have several times proposed to me to exchange
the prisoners respectively held by the two belligerents—officer for
officer and man for man. The same offer has also been made by other
officials having charge of matters connected with the exchange of
prisoners.
This proposal has heretofore been declined by the Confederate
authorities, they insisting upon the terms of the cartel, which
required the delivery of the excess on either side on parole.
In view, however, of the very large number of prisoners now held
by each party, and the suffering consequent upon their continued
confinement, I now consent to the above proposal, and agree to
deliver to you the prisoners held in captivity by the Confederate
authorities, provided you agree to deliver an equal number of Confed-
erate officers and men. As equal numbers are delivered from time to
time, they will be declared exchanged. This proposal is made with
the understanding that the officers and men on both sides who have,
been longest in captivity will be first delivered, where it is prac-
ticable.
I shall be happy to hear from you as speedily as possible whether'
this arrangement can be carried out.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
Robert Ould,
Agent of Exchange.
Treatment of Frisoners During the War.
127
The delivery of this letter was accompanied with a statement of
the mortality which was hurrying so many Federal prisoners at
Andersonville to the grave.
On the 22d day of August, 1864, not having heard anything in
response, I addressed a communication to Major-General E. A.
Hitchcock, United States Commissioner of Exchange, covering a
copy of the foregoing letter to General Mulford, and requesting an
acceptance of my propositions.
No answer was received to either of these letters. General Mulford,
on the 31st day of August, 1864, informed me in writing that he
had no communication on the subject from the United States
authorities, and that he was not at that time authorized to make
any answer.
This offer, which would have instantly restored to freedom
thousands of suffering captives—which would have released every
Federal soldier in confinement in Confederate prisons—was not
even noticed. Was that because the Federal officials did not deem
it worthy of a reply, or because they feared to make one? As the
Federal authorities at that time had a large excess of prisoners, the
effect of the proposal which I had made, if carried out, would have
been to release all Union prisoners, while a large number of the
Confederates would have remained in prison, awaiting the chances of
the capture of their equivalents.
II.
In January, 1864, and, indeed, some time earlier, it became very
manifest that in consequence of the complication in relation to
exchanges, the large bulk of prisoners on both sides would remain
in captivity for many long and weary months, if not for the dura-
tion of the war. Prompted by an earnest desire to alleviate the
hardships of confinement on both sides, I addressed the following
communication to General E. A. Hitchcock, United States Com-
missioner of Exchange, and on or about the day of its date de-
livered the same to the Federal authority :
Confederate States of America, War Department,
Richmond, Ya., January 24, 1868.
Major-Generad E. A. Hitchcock,
Agent of JEvchange :
Sir—In view of the present difficulties attending the exchange
and release of prisoners, I propose that all such on each side shall
be attended by a proper number of their own surgeons, who, under
rules to be established, shall be permitted to take charge of their
health and comfort.
I also propose that these surgeons shall act as commissaries,
with power to receive and distribute such contributions of money,
food, clothing and medicines as may be forwarded for the relief of
prisoners. I further propose that these surgeons be selected by
128
Southern Historical Society Papers.
their own Governments, and that they shall have full liberty at any
and all times, through the agents of exchange, to make reports not
only of their own acts, but of any matters relating to the welfare
of prisoners.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
Robert Ould,
Agent of Exchange.
To this communication no reply of any kind was ever made. I need
not state how much suffering would have been prevented if this
offer had been met in the spirit in which it was dictated. In ad-
dition, the world would have had truthful accounts of the treatment
of prisoners on both sides by officers of character, and thus much
of that misrepresentation which has flooded the country would
never have been poured forth. The jury-box in the case of Wirz
would have had different witnesses, with a different stor}'. It will
be borne in mind that nearly all of the suffering endured by Federal
prisoners happened after January, 1864. The acceptance of the
proposition made by me, on behalf of the Confederate Government,
would not only have furnished to the sick medicines and physicians,
but to the well an abundance of food and clothing from the ample
stores of the United States.
The good faith of the Confederate Government in making this
offer cannot be successfully questioned; for food and clothing (with-
out the surgeons) were sent in 1865, and were allowed to be dis-
tributed by Federal officers to Federal prisoners.
Why could not the more humane proposal of January, 1864,
have been accepted?
III.
When it was ascertained that exchanges could not be made, either
on the basis of the cartel, or officer for officer and man for man, I
was instructed by the Confederate authorities to offer to the United
States Government their sick and wounded vnthout requiring any
equivalents. Accordingly, in the summer of 1864,1 did offer to de-
liver from ten to fifteen thousand of the sick and wounded at the
mouth of the Savannah river, without requiring any equivalents,
assuring at the same time the agent of the United States, General
Mulford,that if the number for which he might send transportation
could not readily be made up from sick and wounded, I would
supply the difference with well men. Although this offer was
made in the summer of 1864, transportation was not sent to the
Savannah river until about the middle or last of November, and
then I delivered as many prisoners as could be transported—some
thirteen thousand in number—amongst whom were more than five
thousand well men.
More than once I urged the mortality at Andersonville as a reason
for haste on the part of the United States authorities. I know, per-
sonally, that it was the purpose of the Confederate Government to
send off from all its prisons all the sick and wounded, and to con-
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 129
tinue to do the same, from time to time, without requiring any
equivalents for them. It was because the sick and wounded' at
points distant from Georgia could not be brought to Savannah
within a reasonable time that the five thousand well men were
substituted.
Although the terms of my offer did not require the Federal au-
thorities to deliver any for the ten or fifteen thousand which I
promised, yet some three thousand sick and wounded were de-
livered by them at the mouth of the Savannah river. I call upon
every Federal and Confederate officer and man who saw the cargo
of living death, and who is familiar with the character of the de-
liveries made by the Confederate authorities, to bear witness that
none such was ever made by the latter, even when the very sick
and desperately wounded alone were requested. For, on two oc-
casions at least, such were specially asked for, and particular re-
quest was made for those who were so desperately sick that it would
be doubtful whether they would survive a removal a few miles
down James river. Accordingly, the hospitals were searched for
the worst cases, and after they were delivered they were taken to
Annapolis, and there photographed as specimen prisoners. The
photographs at Annapolis were terrible indeed; but the misery
they portrayed was surpassed at Savannah.
The original rolls showed that some thirty-five hundred had
started from Northern prisons, and that death had reduced the
number during the transit to about three thousand. The mortality
amongst those who were delivered alive during the following three
months was equally frightful.
But why was there this delay between the summer and Novem-
ber in sending transportation for sick and wounded, for whom no
equivalents were asked? Were Union prisoners made to suffer in
order to aid the photographs " in firing the popular heart of the
North?"
IV.
In the summer of 1864, in consequence of certain information
communicated to me by the Surgeon-General of the Confederate
States as to the deficiency of medicines, I offered to make purchases
of medicines from the United States authorities, to be used exclusively
for the relief of Federal prisoners. I offered to pay gold, cotton or
tobacco for them, and even two or three prices if required. At the
same time I gave assurances that the medicines would be used ex-
clusively in the treatment of Federal prisoners; and moreover
agreed, on behalf of the Confederate States, if it was insisted on,
that such medicines might be brought into the Confederate lines
by the United States surgeons, and dispensed by them. To this
offer I never received any reply. Incredible as this appears, it is
strictly true.
2
130
Southern Historical Society Papers.
V.
General John E. Mulford is personally cognizant of the truth of
most, if not all, the facts which I have narrated. He was connected
with the cartel from its date until the close of the war. During a por-
tion of the time he was Assistant Agent of Exchange on the part of
the United States. I always found him to be an honorable and truth-
ful gentleman. While he discharged his duties with great fidelity
to his own Government, he was kind—and I might almost say,
tender—to Confederate prisoners. With that portion of the corre-
spondence with which his name is connected he is, of course, fa-
miliar. He is equally so with the delivery made at Savannah and
its attending circumstances, and with the offer I made as to the
purchase of medicines for the Federal sick and wounded. I appeal
to him for the truth of what I have written. There are other
Federal corroborations to portions of my statements. They are
found in the report of Major-General B. F. Butler to the " Committee
on the Conduct of the War." About the last of March, 1864,1 had
several conferences with General Butler at Fortress Monroe in rela-
tion to the difficulties attending the exchange of prisoners, and we
reached what we both thought a tolerably satisfactory basis.
The day that I left there General Grant arrived. General Butler
says he communicated to him the state of the negotiations, and
" most emphatic verbal directions were received from the Lieutenant-
General not to take any step by which another able bodied man
should be exchanged until further,orders from himand that on
April 30,1864, he received a telegram from General Grant " to re-
ceive all the sick and wounded the Confederate authorities may
send you, but send no more in exchange." Unless my recollection
fails me, General Butler also, in an address to his constituents, sub-
stantially declared that he was directed in his management of the
question of exchange with the Confederate authorities, to put the
matter offensively, for the purpose of prevening an exchange.
The facts which I have stated are also well known to the officers
connected with the Confederate Bureau of Exchange.
At one time I thought an excellent opportunity was offered of
bringing some of them to the attention of the country. I was
named hy poor Wirz as a witness in his behalf. The summons
was issued by Chipman, the Judge Advocate of the military court.
I obeyed the summons, and was in attendance upon the court for
some ten days. The investigation had taken a wide range as to the
conduct of the Confederate and Federal Governments in the matter
of the treatment of prisoners, and I thought the time had come
when I could put befere the world these humane offers of the Con-
federate authorities, and the manner in which they had been treated.
I so expressed myself more than once—perhaps too publicly. But
it was a vain thought.
Early in the morning of the day on which I expected to give my
testimony, I received a note from Chipman, the Judge Advocate,
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
131
requiring me to surrender my subpoena. I refused, as it was my
protection in Washington. Without it the doors of the Old Capitol
Prison might have opened and closed upon me. I engaged, however,
to appear before the court, and I did so the same morning. I still
refused to surrender my subpoena, and thereupon the Judge Advo-
cate endorsed on it these words: "The within subpoena is hereby
revoked; the person named is discharged from further attendance."
I have got the curious document before me now, signed with the
name of " N. P. Chipman, Colonel," &c. I intend to keep it, if I
can, as the evidence of the first case, in any court of any sort, where
a witness who was summoned for the defence was dismissed by the
prosecution. I hastened to depart, confident that Richmond was a
safer place for me than the metropolis.
Some time ago a committee was appointed by the House of
Representatives to investigate the treatment of Union prisoners in
Southern prisons. After the appointment of the committee—the
Hon. Mr. Shanks, of Indiana, being its chairman—I wrote to the
Hon. Charles A. Eldridge and the Hon. Mr. Mungen (the latter a
member of the committee) some of the facts herein detailed. Both
of these gentlemen made an effort to extend the authority of
the committee so that it might inquire into the treatment of
prisoners North as well as South, and especially that it might
inquire into the truth of the matters which I had alleged. All
these attempts were frustrated by the Radical majority, although
several of the party voted to extend the inquiry. As several thou-
sand dollars of the money of the people have been spent by this
committee, will not they demand that the investigation shall be
thorough and impartial ? The House of Representatives have de-
clined the inquiry; let the people take it up.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
Robert Ould.
We may add to the above statement that (through the courtesy
of Judge Ould) we now have on our table the letter-book of our
Commissioner of Exchange, containing copies of all of his official
letters to the Federal authorities, and they prove, beyond the
shadow of a doubt, every point which he makes.
If it be replied to the above testimony that President Davis,
General Lee, Vice-President Stevens and Judge Ould were "all
criminals in this matter," and that their testimony is thereby in-
validated, we will not pause to defend these high-toned gentlemen,
whom the verdict of history will pronounce as stainless as any
public men who ever lived, but we will proceed to introduce testi-
mony of a different character. While the Northern press was
ringing with the charge of " Rebel barbarity to prisoners," the Con-
federate Congress raised a joint committee of the Senate and House
132
Southern Historical Society Papers.
of Representatives to consider the whole subject of the treatment of
prisoners. The Chairman was Judge J. W. C. Watson, of Holly
Springs, Mississippi, an elder of the Presbyterian Church and a pure
minded, Christian gentleman, and the committee was composed of
gentlemen of highest character, who were absolutely incapable of
either countenancing or whitewashing cruelty to prisoners, or of sub-
scribing their names to statements not proven to be true. After a
full investigation, and the taking of a large volume of testimony,
the committee submitted a report. The testimony was being
printed when Richmond was evacuated, and was unfortunately
consumed in the great conflagration. A few copies of the report
were saved, and we have secured one for our archives, which we
now give in full:
Report of the Joint Committee of the Confederate Congress appointed to
Investigate the Condition and Treatment of Prisoners of War.
[Presented March 3d, 1666.]
The duties assigned to the committee under the several resolu-
tions of Congress designating them, are " to investigate and report
upon the condition and treatment of the prisoners of war respec-
tively held by the Confederate and United Srates Governments;
upon the causes of their detention, and the refusal to exchange;
and also upon the violations by the enemy of the rules of civilized
warfare in the conduct of the war." These subjects are broad in
extent and importance; and in order fully to investigate and pre-
sent them, the committee propose to continue their labors in ob-
taining evidence, and deducing from it a truthful report of facts
illustrative of the spirit in which the war has been conducted.
NORTHERN PUBLICATIONS.
But we deem it proper at this time to make a preliminary report,
founded upon evidence recently taken, relating to the treatment of
prisoners of war by both belligerents. This report is rendered spe-
cially important, by reason of persistent efforts lately made by the
Government of the United States, and by associations and indi-
viduals connected or co-operating with it, to asperse the honor of
the Confederate authorities, and to charge them with deliberate
and wilful cruelty to prisoners of war. Two publications have
been issued at the North within the past year, and have been cir-
culated not only in the United States, but in some parts of the
South, and in Europe. One of these is the report of the joint select
committee of the Northern Congress on the conduct of the war,
known as " Report No. 67." The other purports to be a "Narra-
tive of the privations and sufferings of United States officers and
soldiers while prisoners of war," and is issued as a report of a com-
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
133
mission of inquiry appointed by "The United States Sanitary
Commission."
This body is alleged to consist of Valentine Mott, M. D., Edward
Delafield, M. £)., Gonverneur Morris Wilkins, Esq., Ellerslie Wal-
lace, M. D., Hon. J. J. Clarke Hare, and Rev. Treadwell Walden.
Although these persons are not of sufficient public importance and
weight to give authority to their publications, yet your committee
have deemed it proper to notice it in connection with the " Report
No. 67," before mentioned; because the Sanitary Commission has
been understood to have acted, to a great extent, under the control
and by the authority of the United States Government, and because
their report claims to be founded on evidence taken in solemn form.
THEIR SPIRIT AND INTENT.
A candid reader of these publications will not fail to discover
that, whether the statements they make be true or not, their spirit
is not adapted to promote a better feeling between the hostile
powers. They are not intended for the humane purpose of ameli-
orating the condition of the unhappy prisoners held in captivity.
They are designed to inflame the evil passions of the North; to
keep up the war spirit among their own people; to represent the
South as acting under the dominion of a spirit of cruelty, inhu-
manity and interested malice, and thus to vilify her people in the
eyes of all on whom these publications can work. They are justly cha-
racterized by the Hon. James M. Mason as belonging to that class
of literature called the " sensational," a style of writing prevalent
for many years at the North, and which, beginning with the writers
of newspaper narratives and cheap fiction, has gradually extended
itself, until it is now the favored mode adopted by medical profes-
sors, judges of courts and reverend clergymen, and is even chosen
as the proper style for a report by a committee of their Congress.
PHOTOGRAPHS.
Nothing can better illustrate the truth of this view than the " Re-
port No. 67," and its appendages. It is accompanied by eight pie-
twres or photographs, alleged to represent United States prisoners of
war returned from Richmond in a sad state of emaciation and suf-
fering. Concerning these cases your committee will have other
remarks, to be presently submitted. They are only alluded to now
to show that this report does really belong to the " sensational"
class of literature, and that, prima facie, it is open to the same criti-
cism to which the yellow covered novels, the "narratives of noted
highwaymen," and the " awful beacons" of the Northern book stalls
should be subjected.
The intent and spirit of this report may be gathered from the
following extract: "The evidence proves, beyond all manner of
doubt, a determination on the part of the Rebel authorities, delibe-
rately and persistently practiced for a long time past, to subject
134
Southern Historical Society Papers.
those of our soldiers who have been so unfortunate as to fall into
their hands to a system of treatment which has resulted in reducing
many of those who have survived and been permitted to return to
us to a condition, both physically and mentally, which no language
we can use can adequately describe." (Report, p. 1.) And they
give also a letter from Edwin M. Stanton, the Northern Secretary of
War, from which the following is an extract: "The enormity of
the crime committed by the Rebels towards our prisoners for the
last several months is not known or realized by our people, and
capnot but fill with horror the civilized world when the facts are
fully revealed. There appears to have been a deliberate system of
savage and barbarous treatment and starvation, the result of which
will be that few (if any) of the prisoners that have been in their
hands during the past winter will ever again be in a condition to
render any service, or even to enjoy life." (Report, p. 4.) And the
Sanitary Commission, in their pamphlet, alter picturing many
scenes of privation and suffering, and bringing many charges of cru-
elty against the Confederate authorities, declare as follows: "The
conclusion is unavoidable, therefore, that these privations and suf-
ferings have been designedly inflicted by the military and other
authorities of the Rebel Government, and could not have been due
to causes which such authorities could not control." (X. 95.)
TRUTH TO BE SOUGHT.
After examining these publications your committee approached
the subject with an earnest desire to ascertain the truth. If their
investigation should result in ascertaining that these charges (or
any of them) were true, the committee desired, as far as might be
in their power, and as far as they could influence the Congress, to
remove the evils complained of and to conform to the most humane
spirit of civilization; and if these charges were unfounded and false,
they deemed it a sacred duty without delay to present to the Con-
federate Congress and people, and to the public eye of the en-
lightened world, a vindication of their country, and to relieve her
authorities from the injurious slanders brought against her by her
enemies. With these views we have taken a considerable amount
of testimony bearing on the subject. We have sought to obtain
witnesses whose position or duties made them familiar with the
facts testified to, and whose characters entitled them to full credit.
We have not hesitated to examine Northern prisoners of war upon
points and experience specially within their knowledge. We now
present the testimony taken by us, and submit a report of facts and
inferences fairly deducible from the evidence, from the admissions
of our enemies, and from public records of undoubted authority.
FACTS AS TO SICK AND WOUNDED PRISONERS.
First in order, your committee will notice the charge contained
both in " Report No. 67" and in the "sanitary" publication, founded
on the appearance and condition of the sick prisoners sent from
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
135
Richmond to Annapolis and Baltimore about the last of April, 1864.
These are the men some of whom form the subjects of the photo-
graphs with which the United States Congressional Committee have
adorned their report. The disingenuous attempt is made in both
these publications to produce the impression that these sick and
emaciated men were fair representatives of the general state of the
prisoners held by the South, and that all their prisoners were being
rapidly reduced to the same state by starvation and cruelty, and
by neglect, ill treatment and denial of proper food, stimulants and
medicines in the Confederate hospitals. Your committee take
}>leasure in saying that not only is this charge proved to be wholly
alse, but the evidence ascertains facts as to the Confederate hospi-
tals, in which Northern prisoners of war are treated, highly credi-
table 1o the authorities which established them, and to the surgeons
and their aids who have so humanely conducted them. The facts
are simply these:
The Federal authorities, in violation of the cartel, having for a
long time refused exchange of prisoners, finally consented to a par-
tial exchange of the sick and wounded on both sides. Accordingly
a number of such prisoners were sent from the hospitals in Rich-
mond. General directions had been given that none should be
sent except those who might be expected to endure the removal
and passage with safety to their lives; but in some cases the sur-
geons were induced to depart from this rule by the entreaties of
some officers and men in the last stages of emaciation, suffering not
only with excessive debility, but with "nostalgia," or home sick-
ness, whose cases were regarded as desperate, and who could not
live if they remained, and might possibly improve if carried home.
Thus it happened that some very sick and emaciated men were
carried to Annapolis, but their illness was not the result of ill treat-
ment or neglect. Such cases might be found in any large hospital,
North or South. They might even be found in private families,
where the sufferer might be surrounded by every comfort that love
could bestow. Yet these are the cases which, with hideous viola-
tion of decency, the Northern committee have paraded in pictures
and photographs. They have taken their own sick and enfeebled
soldiers; have stripped them naked; have exposed them before a
daguerreian apparatus; have pictured every shrunken limb and
muscle; and all for the purpose, not of relieving their sufferings,
but of bringing a false and slanderous charge against the South.
CONFEDERATE SICK AND WOUNDED—THEIR CONDITION WHEN
RETURNED.
The evidence is overwhelming that the illness of these prisoners
was not the result of ill treatment or neglect. The testimony of
Surgeons Semple and Spence; of Assistant Surgeons Tinsley, Mar-
riott and Miller, and of the Federal prisoners E. P. Dalrymple,
George Henry Brown and Freeman B. Teague, ascertains this to
the satisfaction of every candid mind. But in refuting this charge,
136 Southern Historical Society Papers.
your committee are compelled by the evidence to bring a counter
charge against the Northern authorities, which they fear will not
be so easily refuted. In exchange, a number of Confederate sick
and wounded prisoners have been at various times, delivered at
Richmond and at Savannah. The mortality among these on the
passage and their condition when delivered were so deplorable as
to justify the charge that they had been treated with inhuman ne-
gleet by the Northern authorities.
Assistant Surgeon Tinsley testifies: " I have seen many of our
prisoners returned from the North who were nothing but skin and
bones. They were as emaciated as a man could be to retain life,
and the photographs (appended to ' Report No. 67') would not be
exaggerated representations of our returned prisoners to whom I
thus allude. I saw 250 of our sick brought in on litters from the
steamer at Rocketts. Thirteen dead bodies were brought off the
steamer the same night. At least thirty died in one night after they
were received."
Surgeon Spence testifies: "I was at Savannah, and saw rather
over three thousand prisoners received. The list showed that a
large number had died on the passage from Baltimore to Savannah-
The number sent from the Federal prisons was 3,500, and out of
that number they delivered only 3,028, to the best of my recollec-
tion. Captain Hatch can give you the exact number. Thus, about
472 died on the passage. I was told that 67 dead bodies had been
taken from one train of cars between Elmira and Baltimore. After
being received at Savannah, they had the best attention possible,,
yet many died in a few days."—"In carrying out the exchange of
disabled, sick and wounded men, we delivered at Savannah and
Charleston about 11,000 Federal prisoners, and their physical con-
dition compared most favorably with those we received in exchange,
although of course the worst cases among the Confederates had been
removed by death during the passage."
Richard H. Dibrell, a merchant of Richmond, and a member of
the "Ambulance Committe," whose labors in mitigating the suffer-
ings of the wounded have been acknowledged both by Confederate
and Northern men, thus testifies concerning our sick and wounded
soldiers at Savannah, returned from Northern prisons and hospitals:
"I have never seen a set of men in worse condition. They were so
enfeebled and emaciated that we lifted them like little children.
Many of them were like living skeletons. Indeed, there was one
poor boy, about 17 years old, who presented the most distressing
and deplorable appearance I ever saw. He was nothing but skin
and bone, and besides this, he was literally eaten up with vermin.
He died in the hospital in a few days after being removed thither,
notwithstanding the kindest treatment and the use of the most
judicious nourishment. Our men were in so reduced a condition,
that on more than one trip up on the short passage of ten miles from
the transports to the city, as many as five died. The clothing of the
privates was in a wretched state of tatters and filth."—" The mor-
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
137
tality on the passage'from Maryland was very great, as well as that
on the passage from the prisons to the port from which they started.
I cannot state the exact number, but I think I heard that 3,500
were started, and we only received about 3,027."—"I have looked
at the photographs appended to 'Report No. 67' of the committee
of the Federal Congress, and do not hesitate to declare that several
of our men were worse cases of emaciation and sickness than any
represented in these photographs."
The testimony of Mr. Dibrell is confirmed by that of Andrew
Johnston, also a merchant of Richmond, and a member of the
"Ambulance Committee."
Thus it appears that the sick and wounded Federal prisoners at
Annapolis, whose condition has been made a subject of outcry and
of wide-spread complaint by the Northern Congress, were not in a
worse state than were the Confederate prisoners returned from North-
era hospitals and prisons, of which the humanity and superior
management are made subjects of special boasting by the United
States Sanitary Commission!
CONFEDERATE HOSPITALS FOR PRISONERS.
In connection with this subject, your committee take pleasure in
reporting the facts ascertained by their investigations concerning
the Confederate hospitals for sick and wounded Federal prisoners..
They have made personal examination, and have taken evidence
specially in relation to " Hospital No. 21," in Richmond,'because
this has been made the subject of distinct charge in the publication
last mentioned. It has been shown not only by the evidence of
the surgeons and their assistants, but by that of Federal prisoners,
that the treatment of the Northern prisoners in these hospitals has
been everything that humanity could dictate; that their wards
have been well ventilated and clean; their food the best that could
be procured for them—and in fact that no distinction has been
made between their treatment and that of our own sick and wounded
men. Moreover, it is proved that it has been the constant practice
to supply to the patients, out of the hospital funds, such articles as
milk, butter, eggs, tea and other delicacies, when they were required
by the condition of the patient. This is proved by the testimony
of E. P. Dairymple of New York, George Henry Brown of Pennsyl-
vania, and Freeman B. Teague of New Hampshire, whose depositions
accompany this report.
CONTRAST.
This humane and considerate usage was not adopted in the United
States hospital on Johnson's Island, where Confederate sick and
wounded officers were treated. Colonel J. H. Holman thus testifies:
"The Federal authorities did not furnish to the sick prisoners the
nutriment and other articles which were prescribed by their own
surgeons. All they would do was to permit the prisoners to buy
the nutriment or stimulants needed; and if they had no money,
138 Southern-Historical Society Papers.
they could not get them. I know this, for I was in the hospital
sick myself, and I had to buy myself such articles as eggs, milk,
flour, chickens and butter, after their doctors had prescribed them.
And I know this was generally the case, for we had to get up a fund
among ourselves for this purpose, to aid those who were not well
supplied with money." This statement is confirmed by the testi-
mony of Acting Assistant Surgeon John J. Miller, who was at John-
son's Island for more than eight months. When it is remembered
that such articles as eggs, milk and butter were very scarce and high
priced in Richmond, and plentiful and cheap at the North, the
contrast thus presented may well put to shame the "Sanitary Com-
mission," and dissipate the self-complacency with which they have
boasted of the superior humanity in the Northern prisons and
hospitals.
CHARGE OF ROBBING PRISONERS.
Your committee now proceed to notice other charges in these pub-
lications. It is said that their prisoners were habitually stripped
of blankets and other property, on being captured. What pillage
may have been committed on the battle-field, after the excitement
of combat, your committee cannot know. But they feel well as-
sured that such pillage was never encouraged by the Confederate
generals, and bore no comparison to the wholesale robbery and
destitution to which the Federal armies have abandoned themselves,
in possessing parts of our territory. It is certain that after the
prisoners were brought to the Libby, and other prisons in Rich-
mond, no such pillage was permitted. Only articles which came
properly under the head of munitions of war were taken from
them.
SHOOTING PRISONERS.
The next charge noticed is, that the guards around the Libby
Prison were in the habit of recklessly and inhumanly shooting at
the prisoners upon the most frivolous pretexts, and that the Con-
federate officers, so far from forbidding this, rather encouraged it,
and made it a subject of sportive remark. This charge is wholly
false and baseless. The " Rules and Regulations" appended to the
deposition of Major Thomas P. Turner, expressly provide, " Nor
shall any prisoner be fired upon by a sentinel or other person, ex-
cept in case of revolt or attempted escape." Five or six cases
have occurred in which prisoners have been fired on and killed or
hurt; but every case has been made the subject of careful investi-
gation and report, as will appear by the evidence. As a proper
comment on this charge, your committee report that the practice
of firing on our prisoners by the guards in the Northern prisons
appears to have been indulged in to a most brutal and atrocious
extent. See the depositions of C. C. Herrington, William F. Gor-
don, Jr., J. B. McCreary, Dr. Thomas P. Holloway, and John P.
Fennell. At Fort-Delaware a cruel regulation as to the use of the
■"sinks" was made the pretext for firing on and murdering several
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
139
of our men and officers, among them Lieutenant-Colonel Jones,
who was lame, and was shot down by the sentinel while helpless
and feeble and while seeking to explain his condition. Yet this
sentinel was not only not punished, but was promoted for his act.
At Camp Douglas as many as eighteen of our men are reported to
have been shot in a single month. These facts may well produce
a conviction, in the candid observer, that it is the North and not
the South that is open to the charge of deliberately and wilfully
destroying the lives of the prisoners held by her.
MEANS FOR SECURING CLEANLINESS.
The next charge is, that the Libby and Belle Isle prisoners were
habitually kept in a filthy condition, and that the officers and
men confined there were prevented from keeping themselves suffi-
ciently clean to avoid vermin and similar discomforts. The evi-
dence "clearly contradicts this charge. It is proved by the deposi-
tions of Major Turner, Lieutenant Bossieux, Rev. Dr. McCabe, and
others, that the prisons were kept constantly and systematically
policed and cleansed; that in the Libby there was an ample supply
of water conducted to each floor by the city pipes, and that the
prisoners were not only not restricted in its use, but urged to keep
themselves clean. At Belle Isle, for a brief season (about three
weeks), in consequence of a sudden increase in the number of pri-
soners, the police was interrupted, but it was soon restored, and
ample means for washing both themselves and their clothes were
at all times furnished to the prisoners. It is doubtless true that,
notwithstanding these facilities, many of the prisoners were lousy
and filthy; but it was the result of their own habits, and not of ne-
gleet in the discipline or arrangements of the prison. Many of the
prisoners were captured and brought in while in this condition.
The Federal General Neal Dow well expressed their character and
habits. When he came to distribute clothing among them, he was
met by profane abuse; and he said to the Confederate officer in
charge, You have here the scrapings and rakings of Europe." That
such men should be filthy in their habits might be expected. -
CHARGE OF WITHHOLDING AND PILLAGING BOXES.
We next notice the charge that the boxes of provisions and cloth-
ingsent to the prisoners from the North were not delivered to them,
and were habitually robbed and plundered by permission of the
Confederate authorities. The evidence satisfies your committee
that this charge is, in all substantial points, untrue. For a period
of about one month there was a stoppage in the delivery of boxes,
caused by a report that the Federal authorities were forbidding the
delivery of similar supplies to our prisoners. But the boxes were
put in a warehouse, and were afterwards delivered. For some time
no search was made of boxes from the "Sanitary Committee," in-
tended for the prisoners' hospitals. But a letter was intercepted
140 Southern Historical Society Papers.
advising that money should be sent in these boxes, "as they were
never searched;" which money was to be used in bribing the guards,
and thus releasing the prisoners. After this it was deemed neces-
sary to search every box, which necessarily produced some delay..
Your committee are satisfied that if these boxes or their contents
were robbed, the prison officials are not responsible therefor. Be-
yond doubt, robberies were often committed by prisoners them-
selves, to whom the contents were delivered for distribution to their
owners. Notwithstanding all this alleged pillage, the supplies seem
to have been sufficient to keep the quarters of the prisoners so well
furnished that they frequently presented, in the language of a wit-
ness, "the appearance of a large grocery store."
THE FEDERAL COLONEL SANDERSON'S TESTIMONY.
In connection with this point, your committee refer to the testi-
mony of a Federal officer—Colonel James M. Sanderson—whose
letter is annexed to the deposition of Major Turner. He testifies
to the full delivery of the clothing and supplies from the North,
and to the humanity and kindness of the Confederate officers, spe-
cially mentioning Lieutenant Bossieux, commanding on Belle Isle.
His letter was addressed to the President of the United States Sani-
tary Commission, and was beyond doubt received by them, having
been forwarded by the regular flag of truce. Yet the scrupulous
and honest gentlemen composing that commission have not found
it convenient for their purposes to insert this letter in their publi-
cation. Had they been really searching for the truth, this letter
would have aided them in finding it.
MINE UNDER THE LIBBY PRISON.
Your committee proceed next to notice the allegation that the
Confederate authorities had prepared a mine under the Libby
prison, and placed in it a quantity of gunpowder for the purpose
of blowing up the buildings, with their inmates, in case of an at-
tempt to rescue them. After ascertaining all the facts bearing on
this subject, your committee believe that what was done, under the
circumstances, will meet a verdict of approval from all whose pre-
judices do not blind them to the truth. The state of things was
unprecedented in history, and must be judged of according to the mo-
tives at work and the result accomplished. A large body of Northern
raiders, under one Colonel Dahlgren, was approaching Richmond.
It was ascertained, by the reports of prisoners captured from them,
and other evidence, that their design was to enter the city, to set
fire to the buildings, public and private—for which purpose-tur-
pentine balls in great number had been prepared—to murder the
President of the Confederate States and other prominent men—to
release the prisoners of war, then numbering five or six thousand—
to put arms into their hands, and to turn over the city to indis-
criminate pillage, rape and slighter. At the same time a plot
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
141
was discovered among the prisoners to co-operate in this scheme,
and a large number of knives and slung-shot (made by putting
stones into woolen stockings) were detected in places of concealment
about their quarters. To defeat a plan so diabolical, assuredly the
sternest means were justified. If it would have been right to put to
death any one prisoner attempting to escape under such circum-
stances, it seems logically certain that it would have been equally
right to put to death any number making such attempt. But in
truth the means adopted were those of humanity and prevention,
rather than of execution. The Confederate authorities felt able to
meet and repulse Dahlgren and his raiders, if they could prevent
the escape of the prisoners.
The real object was to save their lives as well as those of our citi-
zens. The guard force at the prisons was small, and all the local
troops in and around Richmond were needed to meet the threatened
attack. Had the prisoners escaped, the women and children of
the city, as well as their homes, would have been at the mercy of
five thousand outlaws. Humanity required that the most summary
measures should be used to deter them from any attempt at escape.
A mine was prepared under the Libby Prison; a sufficient quan-
tity of gunpowder was put into it, and pains were taken to inform
the prisoners that any attempt at escape made by them would be
effectually defeated. The plan succeeded perfectly. The prisoners
were awed and kept quiet. Dahlgren and his party were defeated
and scattered. The danger passed away, and in a few weeks the
gunpowder was removed. Such are the facts. Your committee do
not hesitate to make them known, feeling assured that the con-
science of the enlightened world and the great law of self-preserva-
tion justify all that was done by our country and her officers.
CHARGE OF INTENTIONAL STARVATION AND CRUELTY.
We now proceed to notice, under one head, the last and gravest
charge made in these publications. They assert that the Northern
prisoners in the hands of the Confederate authorities have been
•starved, frozen, inhumanly punished, often confined in foul and
loathsome quarters, deprived of fresh air and exercise, and neglected
and maltreated in sickness—and that all this was done upon a de-
liberate, wilful and long conceived plan of the Confederate Govern-
ment and officers, for the purpose of destroying the lives of these
prisoners, or of rendering them forever incapable of military service.
This charge accuses the Southern Government of a crime so horrible
and unnatural, that it could never have been made except by those
ready to blacken with slander men whom they have long injured
and hated. Your committee feel bound to reply to it calmly but
emphatically. They pronounce it false in fact and in design; false
in the basis on which it assumes to rest, and false in its estimate of
the motives which have controlled the Southern authorities.
142
Southern Historical Society Papers.
HUMANE POLICY OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT.
At an early period in the present contest the Confederate Govern-
ment recognized their obligation to treat prisoners of war with
humanity and consideration. Before any laws were passed on the
subject, the Executive Department provided such prisoners as fell
into their hands with proper quarters and barracks to shelter them,
and with rations the same in quantity and quality as those furnished
to the Confederate soldiers who guarded these prisoners. They
also showed an earnest wish to mitigate the sad condition of prison-
ers of war, by a system of fair and prompt exchange—and the
Confederate Congress co-operated in these humane views. By their
act, approved on the 21st day of May, 1861, they provided that "all
prisoners of war taken, whether on land or at sea, during the pend-
ing hostilities with the United States, shall be transferred by the
captors from time to time, and as often as convenient, to the De-
partment of War; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of
War, with the approval of the President, to issue such instructions
to the Quartermaster-General and his subordinates as shall provide
for the safe custody and sustenance of prisoners of war; and the
rations furnished prisoners of war shaU be the same in quantity and
quality as those furnished to enlisted mm in the army of the Confederacy."
Such were the declared purpose and policy of tne Confederate Gov-
ernment towards prisoners of war—and amid all the privations and
losses to which their enemies have subjected them, they have sought
to carry them into effect.
RATIONS AND GENERAL TREATMENT.
Our investigations for this preliminary report have been confined
chiefly to the rations and treatment of the prisoners of war at the
Libby and other prisons in Richmond and on Belle Isle. This we
have done, because the publications to which we have alluded refer
chiefly to them, and because the "Report No. 67" of the Northern
Congress plainly intimates the belief that the treatment in and
around Richmond was worse than it was farther South. That re-
port says: "It will be observed from the testimony, that all the
witnesses who testify upon that point state that the treatment they
received while confined at Columbia, South Carolina, Dalton,
Georgia, and other places, was far more humane than that they re-
ceived at Richmond, where the authorities of the so-called Con-
federacy were congregated." Report, p. 3.
The evidence proves that the rations furnished to prisoners of
war, in Richmond and on Belle Isle, have been never less than those
furnished to the Confederate soldiers who guarded them, and have
at some seasons been larger, in quantity and better in quality than
those furnished to Confederate troops m the field. This has been,
because until February, 1864, the Quartermaster's Department fur-
nished the prisoners, and often had provisions or funds when the
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 143
Commissary Department was not so well provided. Once, and
only once, for a few weeks the prisoners were without meat; but a
larger quantity of bread and vegetable food was in consequence
supplied to them. How often the gallant men composing the Con-
federate army have been without meat, for even longer intervals,
your committee do not deem it necessary to say. Not less than
sixteen ounces of bread and four ounces of bacon, or six ounces of
beef, together with beans and soup, have been furnished per day
to the prisoners. During most of the time the quantity of meat
furnished to them has been greater than these amounts; and even
in times of the greatest scarcity they have received as much as the
Southern soldiers who guarded them. The scarcity of meats and
of bread stuffs in the South, in certain places, has been the result
of the savage policy of our enemies in burning barns filled with
wheat or corn, destroying agricultural implements, and driving off
or wantonly butchering hogs and cattle. Yet amid all these priva-
tions we have given to their prisoners the rations above mentioned.
It is well known that this quantity of food is sufficient to keep in
health a man who does not labor hard. All the learned disquisi-
tions of Dr. Ellerslie Wallace on the subject of starvation might
have been spared, for they are all founded on a false basis. It will
be observed that few (if any) of the witnesses examined by the
"Sanitary Commission" speak with any accuracy of the quantity
(in weight) of the food actually furnished to them. Their state-
ments are merely conjectural and comparative, and cannot weigh
against the positive testimony of those who superintended the de-
livery of large quantities of food, cooked and distributed according
to a fixed ratio, for the number of men to be fed.
FALSEHOODS PUBLISHED AS TO PBISONEBS FEEEZING ON BELLE ISLE.
The statements of the "Sanitary Commission," as to prisoners
freezing to death on Belle Isle, are absurdly false. According to
that statement, it was common, during a cold spell in winter, to
' see several prisoners frozen to death every morning in the places
in which they had slept. This picture, if correct, might well excite
our horror; but unhappily for its sensational power, it is but a
clumsy daub, founded on the fancy of the painter. The facts are,
that tents were furnished sufficient to shelter all the prisoners; that
the Confederate commandant and soldiers on the Island were
lodged in similar tents; that a fire was furnished in each of them;
that the prisoners fared as well as their guards; and that only one
of them was ever frozen to death, and he was frozen by the cruelty of
hit oum fettow-prisoners, who thrust him out of the tent in a freezing
night because he was infested with vermin. The proof as to the
healthiness of the prisoners on Belle Isle, and the small amount of
mortality, is remarkable, and presents a fit comment on the lugu-
brious pictures drawn by the "Sanitary Commission," either from
fheir own fancies or from the fictions put forth by their false wit-
neraes. Lieutenant Bossieux proves that from the establishment
144
Southern Historical Society Papers.
•of the prison camp on Belle Isle in June, 1862, to the 10th of Feb-
ruary, 1865, more than twenty thousand prisoners had been at
various times there received, and yet that the whole number of
deaths during this time was only one hundred and sixty-four.
And this is confirmed by the Federal Colonel Sanderson, who
states that the average number of deaths per month on Belle Isle
was "from two to five, more frequently the lesser number." The
sick were promptly removed from the Island to the hospitals in
.the city.
CHARACTER OF THE NORTHERN WITNESSES.
Doubtless the " Sanitary Commission" have been to some extent
led astray by their own witnesses, whose character has been por-
trayed by General Neal Dow, and also by the editor of the New
York Times, who, in his issue of January 6th, 1865, describes the
material for recruiting the Federal armies as " wretched vagabonds,
of depraved morals, decrepit in body, without courage, self-respect
or conscience. They are dirty, disorderly, thievish and incapable."
CRUELTY TO CONFEDERATE PRISONERS AT THE NORTH.
In reviewing the charges of cruelty, harshness and starvation to
prisoners, made by the North, your committee have taken testi-
mony as to the treatment of our own officers and soldiers in the
hands of the enemy. It gives us no pleasure to be compelled to
speak of suffering inflicted upon our gallant men; but the self-
laudatory style in which the "Sanitary Commission" have spoken
of their prisons, makes it proper that the truth should be presented.
Your committee gladly acknowledge that in many cases our pri-
soners experienced kind and considerate treatment; but we are
equally assured that in nearly all the prison stations of the North—
at Point Lookout, Fort McHenry, Fort Delaware, Johnson's Island,
Elmira, Camp Chase, Camp Douglas, Alton, Camp Morton, the Ohio
Penitentiary, and the prisons of St. Louis, Missouri—our men have
suffered from insufficient food, and have been subjected to igno-
minious, cruel and barbarous practices, of which there is no parallel,
in anything that has occurred in the South. The witnesses who
were at Point Lookout, Fort Delaware, Camp Morton and Camp
Douglas testify that they have often seen our men picking up the
scraps and refuse thrown out from the kitchens, with which to ap-
pease their hunger. Dr. Harrington proves that at Fort Delaware
unwholesome bread and water produced diarrhoea in numberless
cases among our prisoners, and that "their sufferings were greatly
aggravated by the regulation of the camp which forbade more than
twenty men at a time at night to go to the sinks. I have seen as many
as five hundred men in a row waiting their time. The consequence
was that they were obliged to use the places where they were.
This produced great want of cleanliness, ana aggravated the disease."
Our men were compelled to labor in unloading Federal vessels and
in putting up buildings for Federal officers, and if they refused,
were driven to the work with clubs."
Treatment of Prisoners During the War,
145
The treatment of Brigadier-General J. H. Morgan and his officers
was brutal and ignominious in the extreme. It will be found
stated in the depositions of Captain M. D. Logan, Lieutenant W. P.
Crow, Lieutenant-Colonel James B. McCreary and Captain B. A.
Tracy, that they were put in the Ohio Penitentiary and compelled
to submit to the treatment of felons. Their beards were shaved
and their hair was cut close to the head. They were confined in
convicts' cells and forbidden to speak to each other. For attempts
to escape, and for other offences of a very light character, they were
subjected to the horrible punishment of the dungeon. In mid-
winter, with the atmosphere many degrees below zero, without
blanket or overcoat, they were confined in a cell without fire or
light, with a foetid and poisonous air to breathe, and here they were
kept until life was nearly extinct. Their condition on coming out
was so deplorable as to draw tears from their comrades. The blood
was oozing from their hands and faces. The treatment in the St.
Louis prison was equally barbarous. Captain William H. Sebring
testifies: "Two of us—A. C. Grimes and myself—were carried out
into the open air in the prison yard, on the 25th of December, 1863,
and handcuffed to a post. Here we were kept all night in sleet,
snow and cold. We were relieved in the day time, but again
brought to the post and handcuffed to it in the evening, and thus
we were kept all night until the 2d of January, 1864. I was badly
frost-bitten and my health was much impaired. This cruel inflic-
tion was done by order of Captain Byrnes, Commandant of Prisons
in St. Louis. He was barbarous and insulting to the last degree."
OUR PRISONERS PUT INTO CAMPS INFECTED WITH SMALL-POX.
But even a greater inhumanity than any we have mentioned was
perpetrated upon our prisoners at Camp Douglas and Camp Chase.
It is proved by the testimony of Thomas P. Holloway, John P. Fen-
nell, H. H. Barlow, H. C. Barton, C. D. Bracken and J. S. Barlow,
that our prisoners in large numbers were put into "condemned
camps," where small-pox was prevailing, and speedily contracted
this loathsome disease, and that as many as 40 new cases often ap-
peared daily among them. Even the Federal officers who guarded
them to the camp protested against this unnatural atrocity; yet it
was done. The men who contracted the disease were removed to a
hospital about a mile off, but the plague was already introduced,
and continued to prevail. For a period of more than twelve months
the disease was constantly in the camp; yet our prisoners during
all this time were continually brought to it, and subjected to certain
infection. Neither do we find evidences of amendment on the part
of our enemies, notwithstanding the boasts of the " Sanitary Com-
mission." At Nashville, prisoners recently captured from General
Hood's army, even when sick and wounded, have been cruelly de-
prived of all nourishment suited to their condition; and other
prisoners from the same army have been carried into the infected
Gamps Douglas and Chase.
146 Southern Historical Society Papers.
Many of the soldiers of General Hood's army were frost-bitten
"by being kept day and night in an exposed condition before they
were put into Camp Douglas. Their sufferings are truthfully
depicted in the evidence. At Alton and Camp Morton the same
inhuman practice of putting our prisoners into camps infected by
small-pox prevailed. It was equivalent to murdering many of
them by th e torture of a contagious disease. Th e insufficient rations
at Camp Morton forced our men to appease their hunger by pound-
ing up and boiling bones, picking up scraps of meat and cabbage
from the hospital slop tubs, and even eating rats and dogs. The
depositions of William Ay res and J. Chambers Brent prove these
privations.
BARBAROUS PUNISHMENTS.
The punishments often inflicted on our men for slight offences
have been shameful and barbarous. They have been compelled to
ride a plank only four inches wide, called "Morgan's horse;" to sit
down with their naked bodies in the snow for ten or fifteen minutes,
and have been subjected to the ignominy of stripes from the belts
of their guards. The pretext has been used that many of their
acts of cruelty have been by way of retaliation. But no evidence
has been found to prove such acts on the part of the Confederate
authorities. It is remarkable that in the case of Colonel Streight
and his officers, they were subjected only to the ordinary confine-
ment of prisoners of war. No special punishment was used except
for specific offences; and then the greatest infliction was to confine
Colonel Streight for a few weeks in a basement room of the Libby
Prison, with a window, a plank floor, a stove, a fire, and plenty of
fuel.
We do not deem it necessary to dwell further on these subjects.
Enough has been proved to show that great privations and suffer-
ings have been borne by the prisoners on both sides.
WHY HAVE NOT PRISONERS OF WAR BEEN EXCHANGED?
But the question forces itself upon us why have these sufferings
been so long continued? Why have not the prisoners of war been
exchanged, and thus some of the darkest pages of history spared to
the world? In the answer to this question must be found the test
of responsibility for all the sufferings, sickness and heart-broken
sorrow that have visited more than eighty thousand prisoners within
the past two years. On this question, your committee can only
say that the Confederate authorties have always desired a prompt
and fair exchange of prisoners. Even before the establishment of
a cartel they urged such exchange, but could never effect it by
agreement, until the large preponderance of prisoners in our hands
made it the interest of . the Federal authorities to consent to the
cartel of July 22d, 1863. The ninth article of that agreement ex-
pressly provided that in case any misunderstanding; should arise,
it should not interrupt the release of prisoners on parole, hut should be
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 147
made the subject of friendly explanation. Soon after this cartel
was established, the policy of the enemy in seducing negro slaves
from their masters, arming them and putting white officers over
them to lead them against us, gave rise to a few cases in which
questions of crime under the internal laws of the Southern States
appeared. Whether men who encouraged insurrection and murder
could be held entitled to the privileges of prisoners of war under
the cartel, was a grave question. But these cases were few in num-
ber, and ought never to have interrupted the general exchange.
We were always ready and anxious to carry out the cartel in its
true meaning, and it is certain that the ninth article required that
the prisoners on both sides should be released, and that the few cases
as to which misunderstanding occurred should be left for final de-
cision. Doubtless if the preponderance of prisoners had continued
with us, exchanges would have continued. But the fortunes of war
threw the larger number into the hands of our enemies. Then
they refused further exchanges—and for twenty-two months this
policy has continued. Our Commissioner of Exchange has made
constant efforts to renew them. In August, 1864, he consented to a
proposition, which had been repeatedly made, to exchange officer
for officer and man for man, leaving the surplus in captivity.
Though this was a departure from the cartel, our anxiety for the
exchange induced us to consent. Yet, the Federal authorities re-
pudiated their previous offer, and refused even this partial compli-
ance with the cartel. Secretary Stanton, who has unjustly charged
the Confederate authorities with inhumanity, is open to the charge
of having done all in his power to prevent a fair exchange, and
thus to prolong the sufferings of which he speaks; and very re-
cently, in a letter over his signature, Benjamin F. Butler has declared
that in April, 1864, the Federal Lieutenant-General Grant forbade
him "to deliver to the Rebels a single able-bodied man;" and
moreover, General Butler acknowledges that in answer to Colonel
Ould's letter consenting to the exchange, officer for officer and man
for man, he wrote a reply, " not diplomatically but obtrusively and
demonstratively, not for thepurpose of furthering exchange of prisoners,
but for the purpose of preventing and stopping the exchange, and
furnishing a ground on which we could fairly stand."
These facts abundantly show that the responsibility of refusing
to exchange prisoners of war rests with the Government of the
United States, and the people who have sustained that Government;
and every sigh of captivity, every groan of suffering, every heart
broken by hope deferred among these eighty thousand prisoners,
will accuse them in the judgment of the just.
With regard to the prison stations at Andersonville, Salisbury
and places south of Richmond, your committee have not made ex-
tended examination, for reasons which have already been stated.
We are satisfied that privation, suffering and mortality, to an extent
much to be regretted, did prevail among the prisoners there, but
they were not the result of neglect, still less of design on the part
148 Southern Historical Society Papers.
of the Confederate Government. Haste in preparation; crowded
quarters, prepared only for a smaller number; want of transporta-
tion and scarcity of food, have all resulted from the pressure of the
war, and the barbarous manner in which it has been conducted by
our enemies. Upon these subjects your committee propose to take
further evidence, and to report more fully hereafter.
But even now enough is known to vindicate the South, and to
furnish an overwhelming answer to all complaints on the part of
the United States Government or people, that their prisoners were
stinted in food or supplies. Their own savage warfare has wrought
all the evil. They have blockaded our ports; have excluded from
us food, clothing and medicines; have even declared medicines
contraband of war, and have repeatedly destroyed the contents of
drug stores and the supplies of private physicians in the country;
have ravaged our country, burned our houses, and destroyed grow-
ing crops and farming implements. One of their officers (General
Sheridan) has boasted, in his official report, that in the Shenandoah
Valley alone he burned two thousand barns filled with wheat and
corn; that he burned all the mills in the whole tract of country;
destroyed all the factories of cloth; and killed or drove off every
animal, even to the poultry, that could contribute to human
sustenance. These desolations have been repeated again and again
in different parts of the South. Thousands of our families have
been driven from their homes as helpless and destitute refugees.
Our enemies have destroyed the railroads and other means of trans-
portation by which food could be supplied from abundant districts
to those without it. While thus desolating our country, in viola-
tion of the usages of civilized warfare, they have refused to exchange
prisoners; have forced us to keep fifty thousand of their men in
captivity, and yet have attempted to attribute to us the sufferings
and privations caused by their own acts. We cannot doubt that,
in the view of civilization, we shall stand acquitted, while they
must be condemned.
In concluding this preliminary report, we will notice the strange
perversity of interpretation which has induced the "Sanitary Com-
mission" to affix as a motto to their pamphlet the words of the
compassionate Redeemer of mankind:
"For I was anhungered and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty
and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger and ye took me not
in; naked and ye clothed me not; sick and in prison and ye visited
me not."
We have yet to learn on what principle the Federal mercenaries,
Bent with arms in their hands to destroy the*lives of our people,
to waste our land, burn our houses and barns, and drive us from
our homes, can be regarded by us as the followers of the meek and
lowly Redeemer, so as to claim the benefit of his words. Yet even
these mercenaries, when taken captive by us, have been treated
with proper humanity. The cruelties inflicted on our prisoners at
the North may well justify us in applying to the "Sanitary Com-
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
149
mission" the stern words of the Divine Teacher—"Thou hypocrite,
first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou
see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye."
We believe that there are many thousands of just, honorable and
humane people in the United States, upon whom this subject, thus
presented, will not be lost; that they will do all they can to miti-
gate the horrors of war; to complete the exchange of prisoners,
now happily in progress, and to prevent the recurrence of such
sufferings as have been narrated. And we repeat the words of the
Confederate Congress, in their manifesto of the 14th of June, 1864:
"We commit our cause to the enlighted judgment of the world,
to the sober reflections of our adversaries themselves, and to the
solemn and righteous arbitrament of heaven."
Rev. William Brown, D. D., of the Central Presbyterian, writes as
follows in his paper:
"So far as the intentions and orders of the Confederate Govern-
ment were concerned, no blame can rest upon it. The places se-
lected were healthy, and the food and medicines ordered were the
same as those assigned to our own soldiers and hospitals. The fate
of prisoners, especially if the number be large, is generally and una-
voidably a hard one. When the intentions of the Government
may be right, the neglect or tyranny of subordinates may render
the condition of the captives miserable. We can testify from per-
sonal observation, and from an intimate acquaintance with the
most unimpeachable testimony, that the treatment of our soldiers
in prison was often horrible and brutal in the extreme. A vast
mass of evidence had been obtained by a committee appointed by
the Confederate Senate. At the head of this committee was that
pure minded, eminent Christian gentleman, Judge J. W. C. Wat-
son, of Holly Springs, Mississippi. The volume of testimony
fathered from a large number ot returned prisoners, men of un-
oubted veracity, we were invited, by the kindness of Judge Wat-
son, to inspect. It was in the hands of the printer in Richmond
when the memorable fire occured, at the time of its evacuation in
April, 1865, and was unfortunately consumed in the great confla-
gration. But Camp Douglas, Rock Island, Johnson's Island, El-
mira, Fort Delaware, and other Federal prisons, could they find a
tongue, would tell a tale of horror that should forever silence all
clamor about 1Libby Prison' and 'Belle Isle' and 'Andersonville.'
At Fort Delaware the misrule and suffering were probable less than
at any other; yet whoever wishes to get a glimpse at the Federal
prisons in their best estate, and under the control of 'the best
Government the world ever saw,' let him consult 'Bonds of the
United States Government," a volume published last year by the
Rev. I. W. K. Handy, D. D., a member of the Synod of Virginia,
now residing near Staunton; or let him inquire of the Rev. T. D.
Witherspoon, D. D., another member of the same Synod, and now
150
Southern Historical Society Papers.
residing in Petersburg. They can both say, as victims,' We speak
concerning that which we know, and testify of that we have seen.'
" It may be—we neither affirm here nor deny—that Wirz deserved
his unhappy fate for his treatment of prisoners at Andersonville;
he was a subordinate officer, and may have abused his power; But
whoever shall look into that whole dreadful history of the treat-
ment of prisoners during the war, even in the light of such imper-
feet evidence as it has been possible to obtain, will have to conclude
that the operation of hanging ought to have been extended a great
deal further, and not to have stopped till it reached certain very
high quarters. The refusal of the military court to allow Judge
Ould to appear as a vntness for Wirz is to be noted as a most signifi-
cant fact. Read his remarkable statement. He went on to Wash-
ington city, summoned by the court to give testimony in behalf of
this man charged with a high crime, which put his life in peril.
He was fully prepared to bring before that court certain incontes-
tible facts which it was afraid to allow the public to hear. If they
Bhould only get before the world in such a conspicuous light, then
would somebody—the coming men—have to say,' Farewell, a long
farewell, to all my future greatness!' And so we have the extra-
ordinary fact, here asserted by Judge Ould (and when did criminal
jurisprudence, even in the worst acts of Jeffries, surpass its infamy?),
that a witness, of the highest character, summoned by the defence
was debarred from giving testimony, and was dismissed by the
prosecutor!
" The reports of the Federal authorities show that a larger number
of Confederates died in Northern than of Federal prisoners in South-
em prisons or stockades. The whole number of Federal prisoners
held in Confederate prisons was, from first to last, in round numbers,
270,000; while the whole number of Confederates held by the Fed-
erals was, in round numbers, 220,000. But, with 50,000 more
prisoners held by the Confederates, the deaths were actually about
4,000 less. The number of Federal prisoners that died was 22,576;
of Confederate prisoners, 26,436.
"Now let the voice of truth tell where was the greater neglect,
cruelty, inhumanity. And more than this: upon which side rests
the tremendous responsibility of the suffering and distress from the
long imprisonment of so many thousands of soldiers? Do not the
facts show, beyond a question, that it rests solely upon the authori-
ties at Washington? The source of the documents referred to is
of the most responsible character. The standing of Judge Ould
and Alexander H. Stevens before the world is such as to leave no
excuse for disregarding them. Besides this, they make a straight-
forward issue; they quote or point to their authorities for what
they say, and calmly challenge contradiction. The documents
were, after the surrender of General Lee, delivered over to the
Federal Government, and are now on file in the city of Washing-
ton. If the letters quoted or referred to by Judge Ould are not
official or genuine, their falsity can easily be shown from the origi-
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
151
nal papers. If any of his or Mr. Stephens' statements are untrue,
the means of refutation are at hand; let them be produced."
But we will now introduce the
TESTIMONY OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF WAR OF THE UNITED
STATES, MR. CHARLES A. DANA.
In an editorial in his paper, the New York Sun, Mr. Dana, after
speaking of the bitterness of feeling towards Mr. Davis at the North,
thus comments on his recent letter to Mr. Lyons:
This letter shows clearly, we think, that the Confederate authori-
ties, and especially Mr. Davis, ought not to be held responsible for
the terrible privations, sufferings and injuries which our men had
to endure while they were kept in the Confederate military prisons.
The fact is unquestionable that while the Confederates desired to
exchange prisoners, to send our men home and to get back their
own, General Grant steadily and strenuously resisted such an ex-
change. While, in his opinion, the prisoners in our hands were
well fed, and were in better condition than when they were cap-
tured, our prisoners in the South were ill fed, and would be restored
to us too much exhaused by famine and disease to form a fair set-
off against the comparative vigorous men who would be given in
exchange. " It is hard on our men held in Southern prisons," said
Grant in an official communication, "not to exchange them; but it
is humane to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. If we
commence a system of exchanges which liberates all prisoners
taken, we will have to fight on until the whole South is exter-
minated. If we hold those caught, they count for no more than
dead men." " I did not," he said on another occasion, " deem it justi-
fiableor just to reinforce the enemy; and an immediate resumption
of exchanges would have had that effect without any corresponding
benefit."
This evidence must be taken as conclusive. It proves that it was
not the Confederate authorities who insisted on keeping our pri-
soners in distress, want and disease, but the commander of our own
armies. We do not say that his reason for this course was not
valid; but it was not Jefferson Davis, or any subordinate or asso-
ciate of his, who should now be condemned for it. We were re-
sponsible ourselves for the continued detention of our captives in
misery, starvation and sickness in the South,
Moreover, there is no evidence whatever that it was practicable
for the Confederate authorities to feed our prisoners any better than
they were fed, or to give them better care and attention than they
received. The food was insufficient; the care and attention were in-
sufficient, no doubt; and yet the condition of our prisoners was not
worse than that of the Confederate soldiers in the field, except in
so far as the condition of those in prison must of necessity be worse
than that of men who are free and active outside.
152 Southern Historical Society Papers.
Again, in reference to those cases of extreme suffering and dis-
ease, the photographs of whose victims were so extensively circu-
lated among us toward the end of the war, Mr. Davis makes, it
seems to us, a good answer. Those very unfortunate men were
not taken from prisons, but from Confederate hospitals, where they
had received the same medical treatment as was given to sick and
wounded Confederate soldiers. The fact mentioned by Mr. Davis
that while they had 60,000 more prisoners of ours than we had of
theirs, the number of Confederates who died in our prisons exceeded
by 6,000 the whole number of Union soldiers who died in Southern
prisons, though not entirely conclusive, since our men were gene-
rally better fed and in better health than theirs, still furnishes a
strong support to the position that, upon the whole, our men were
not used with greater severity or subjected to greater privations
than were inevitable in the nature of the case. Of this charge,
therefore, of cruelty to prisoners, so often brought against Mr. Davis,
and reiterated by Mr. Blaine in his speech, we think he must be
held altogether acquitted.
There are other things in his letter not essential to this question,
expressions of political opinion and intimations of views upon
larger subjects, which it is not necessary that we should discuss.
"We are bound, however, to say that in elevation of spirit, in a sincere
desire for the total restoration of fraternal feeling and unity between
the once warring parts of the Republic, Mr. Davis' letter is in-
finitely superior and infinitely more creditable to him, both as a
statesman and a man, than anything that has recently fallen from
such antagonists and critics of his as Mr. Blaine.
Having produced the testimony of reliable witnesses who were in
position to know the truth in reference to this whole question, we
proceed to give a somewhat more detailed statement of the facts in
reference to it.
THE CONFEDERATE LAW.
We have before us the "statutes at large" of the Confederate
Congress, the general orders which eminated from the War Depart-
ment, and the orders of the Confederate Surgeon-General in refe-
rence to the management of hospitals. We have carefully examined
these volumes and papers, and are unable to discover a syllable look-
ing to or in the least degree countenancing the maltreatment of
prisoners of war.
As early as the 21st of May, 1861, the Confederate Congress
passed a law which provided that "all prisoners of war taken,
whether on land or sea, during the pending hostilities with the
United States, shall be transferred by the captors from time to time,
and as often as convenient, to the Department of War; and it shall be
the duty of the Secretary of War, with the approval of the President,
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
153
to issue such instructions to the Quartermaster-General and his subor-
dinates as shall provide for the safe custody and sustenance of
prisoners of war; and the rations furnished prisoners of war shall he
the same in quantity and quality as those furnished to enlisted men in the
army of the Confederacy."
This law of the Confederate Congress was embodied in the orders
issued from the War Department, and from the headquarters in
the field, and we defy the production of a single order from any
Confederate Department which militates against this humane pro-
vision.
PRIVATEERS.
The first question concerning prisoners which arose between the
two governments, was when the privateer Savannah was captured
on the 3d of June, 1861, off Charleston. In accordance with Mr.
Lincoln's proclamation declaring privateering "piracy," the crew of
the Savannah were placed in irons, and sent to New York. So
soon as the facts were known in Richmond, Mr. Davis sent Mr.
Lincoln, by a special messenger (Colonel Taylor), a communication,
in which, under date of July 6th, 1861, he said:
"Having learned that the schooner Savannah, a private armed
vessel in the service, and sailing under a commission issued by
authority of the Confederate States of America, had been captured
by one of the vessels forming the blockading squadron off Charles-
ton harbor, I directed a proposition to be made to the officer com-
inanding the squadron, for an exchange of the officers and crew of
the Savannah for prisoners of war held by this Government, ' ac-
cording to number and rank.' To this proposition, made on the
19th ultimo, Captain Mercer, the officer in command of the block-
ading squadron, made answer, on the same day, that' the prisoners
(referred to) are not on board of any of the vessels under my com-
mand.'
" It now appears, by statements made, without contradiction, in
newspapers published in New York, that the prisoners above men-
tioned were conveyed to that city, and have been treated not as
prisoners of war, but as criminals; that they have been put in
irons, confined in jail, brought before the courts of justice on
charges of piracy and treason; and it is even rumored that they
have been actually convicted of the offences charged, for no other
reason than that they bore arms in defence of the rights of this
Government and under the authority of its commission.
" I could not, without grave discourtesy, have made the newspa-
per statements above referred to the subject of this communication,
if the threat of treating as pirates the citizens of this Confederacy,
armed for its service on the high seas, had not been contained in
154
Southern Historical Society Papers.
our proclamation of the 19th of April last; that proclamation,
owever, seems to afford a sufficient justification for considering
these published statements as not devoid of probability.
" It is the desire of this Government so to conduct the war now
existing as to mitigate its horrors, as far as may be possible; and,
with this intent, its treatment of the prisoners captured by its
forces has been marked by the greatest humanity and leniency
consistent with public obligation. Some have been permitted to
return home on parole, others to remain at large, under similar
conditions, within this Confederacy, and all have been furnished
with rations for their subsistence, such as are allowed to our own
troops. It is only since the news has been received of the treat-
ment of the prisoners taken on the Savannah, that I have been
compelled to withdraw these indulgencies, and to hold the prisoners
taken by us in strict confinement.
"A just regard to humanity and to the honor of this Govern-
ment now requires me to state explicitly, that, painful as will be
the necessity, this Government will deal out to the prisoners held
by it the same treatment and the same fate as shall be experienced
by those captured on the Savannah; and if driven to the terrible
necessity of retaliation, by your execution of any of the officers or
crew of the Savannah, that retaliation will be extended so far as
shall be requisite to secure the abandonment of a practice unknown
to the warfare of civilized man, and so barbarous as to disgrace the
nation which shall be guilty of inaugurating it.
" With this view, and because it may not have reached you, I
now renew the proposition made to the commander of the block-
ading squadron, to exchange for the prisoners taken on the Savan-
nah an equal number of those now held by us, according to rank."
Colonel Taylor was permitted to go to Washington, but was re-
fused anaudience with the President, and wasobliged to contenthim-
self with a verbal reply from General Scott that the communication
had been delivered to Mr. Lincoln, and that he would reply in
writing as soon as possible.
No answer ever came, however, and the Confederate authorities
were compelled to select by lot from among the Federal prisoners
in their hands a number to whom they proposed to mete out the
same fate which 'might await the crew of the Savannah. But for-
tunately Mr. Lincoln was induced, from some cause, to recede from
his position—albeit he never deigned an answer of any sort to Mr.
Davis' letter—and the horrors of retaliation were thus averted.
Although not necessary to this discussion, it may be well (in view
of the flipancy with which North em, writers even now speak oi
"pirate Semmes"), to say that the Federal Government does not
seem to have been influenced in this matter by any considerations
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
155
of humanity, but rather by what occurred in the British House of
Lords, on the 16th of May, soon after Mr. Lincoln's proclamation,
declaring the Confederate privateers pirates, reached that country.
On this subject the Earl of Derby said:
" He apprehended that if one thing was clearer than another, it was
that privateering was not piracy, and that no law could make that
piracy, as regarded the subjects of one nation, which was not piracy
by the law of nations. Consequently the United States must not be
aucnoed to entertain this doctrine, and to call upon Her Majesty's
Government not to interfere. He knew it was said that the United
States treated the Confederate States of the South as mere rebels,
and that as rebels these expeditions were liable to all the penalties
of high treason. That was not the doctrine of this country, be-
cause we have declared that they are entitled to all the rights of
belligerents. The Northern States could not claim the rights of bellig-
erents for themselves, and, on the other hand, deal with other parties not
as belligerents, but as rebels."
Lord Brougham said that " it was clear that privateering was
not piracy by the law of nations."
Lord Kingsdown took the same view. " What was to be the
operation of the Presidential proclamation upon this subject was a
matter for the consideration of the United States." But he ex-
pressed the opinion that the enforcement of the doctrine of that
proclamation " would be an act of barbarity which would produce
an outcry throughout the civilized world."
Up to this time there had been no formal cartel for the exchange
of prisoners, and the policy of the Washington Government seemed
to be that they would not treat with " Rebels " in any way which
would acknowledge them as " belligerents." But many prisoners
on both sides were released on parole, and a proposition made in
the Confederate Congress to return the Federal prisoners taken at
First Manassas, without any formality whatever, would doubtless
have prevailed but for the difficulty in reference to the crew of the
Savannah.
The pressure upon the Federal Government by friends of the
prisoners became so great that they were finally induced to enter
into a cartel for the exchange of prisoners on the very basis that the
Confederates had offered in the beginning. The Confederate Gen-
eral Howell Cobb and the Federal General Wool entered into this
arrangement on the 14th of February, 1862—the only unadjusted
point being that General Wool was unwilling that each party should
agree to pay the expenses of transporting their prisoners to the
frontier, and this he promised to refer to his Government.
156
Southern Historical Society Papers.
At a second interview, the 1st March, General Wool informed
General Cobb that his Government would not consent to pay these
expenses, and thereupon General Cobb promptly receded from his
demand, and agreed to the terms proposed by the other side. But
General Wool, who had said at the beginning of the negotiation, "I
am alone clothed with full power for the purpose of arranging for the
exchange of prisoners," was now under the necessity of stating that
" his Government had changed his instructions." And thus the
negotiations were abruptly broken off, and the matter left where it
was before. The vacillating conduct of the Federal Government
was of easy explanation and in perfect accord with their double
dealing throughout the war. After these negotiations had begun,
the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson had given the United
States a considerable preponderance in the number of prisoners held
by them, and they at once reverted to their original purpose of not
treating with "Rebels" on equal terms.
But Jackson's Valley campaign, the Seven Days Battles around
Richmond, and other Confederate successes again reversed the "bal-
ance of power," and brought the Federal Government to terms to
which the Confederate authorities were always willing. Accordingly
negotiations were again entered into by General D. H. Hill, on the
part of the Confederacy, and General John A. Dix, on the part of
the United States, and the result was the adoption of the following
Cartel*
WaxatiT.'b Landing, on James River,
July 22, 1862.
The undersigned, having been commissioned by the autho-
rities they respectively represent to make arrangements for a gen-
eral exchange of prisoners of war, have agreed to the following
articles:
Article I. It is hereby agreed and stipulated that all prisoners of
war held by either party, including those taken on private armed
vessels, known as privateers, shall De exchanged upon the condi-
tions and terms following:
Prisoners to be exchanged man for man and officer for officer;
privateers to be placed upon the footing of officers and men of the
navy.
Men and officers of lower grades may be exchanged for officers
of a higher grade, and men and officers of different services may
be exchanged according to the following scale of equivalents:
A general-commander-in-chief or an admiral shall be exchanged
for officers of equal rank, or for sixty privates or common seamen.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 157
A flag-officer or major-general shall be exchanged for officers of
equal rank, or for forty privates or common seamen.
A commodore, carrying a. broad pennant, or a brigadier-general
shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or twenty privates or
common seamen.
A captain in the navy or a colonel shall be exchanged for officers
of equal rank, or for fifteen privates or common seamen.
A lieutenant-colonel or commander in the navy shall be exchanged
for officers of equal rank, or for ten privates or common seamen.
A lieutenant-commander or a major shall be exchanged for offi-
cers of equal rank, or eight privates or common seamen.
A lieutenant or a master in the navy or a captain in the army or
marines shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or six pri-
vates or common seamen.
Masters' mates in the navy or lieutenants or ensigns in the army
shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or four privates or
common seamen.
Midshipmen, warrant officers in the navy, masters of merchant
vessels and commanders of privateers shall be exchanged for offi-
cers of equal rank, or three privates or common seamen. Second
captains, lieutenants, or mates of merchant vessels or privateers,
and all petty officers in the navy, and all non-commissioned officers
in the army or marines, shall be severally exchanged for persons of
equal rank, or for two privates or common seamen; and private
soldiers or common seamen shall be exchanged for each other, man
for man.
Article II. Local, State, civil and militia rank held by persons
not in actual military service will not be recognized, the basis of
exchange being the grade actually held in the naval and military
service of the respective parties.
Article III. If citizens, held by either party on charges of disloyalty
for any alleged civil offence, are exchanged, it shall only be for citi-
zens. Captured sutlers, teamsters, and all civilians in the actual
service of either party to be exchanged for persons in similar po-
sition.
Article IV. All prisoners of war to be discharged on parole in ten
days after their capture, and the prisoners now held and those
hereafter taken to he transported to the points mutually agreed
upon, at the expense of the capturing party. The surplus prisoners,
not exchanged, shall not be permitted to take up arms again, nor
to serve as military police, or constabulary force in any fort, garri-
son or field-work held by either of the respective parties, nor as
guards of prisoners, deposit or stores, nor to discharge any duty
usually performed by soldiers, until exchanged under the provisions
of this cartel. The exchange is not to be considered complete until
the officer or soldier exchanged for has been actually restored to
the lines to which he belongs.
Article V. Each party, upon the discharge of prisoners of the
other party, is authorized to discharge an equal number of their
158 Southern Historical Society Papers.
own officers or men from parole, furnishing at the same time to the
other party a list of their prisoners discharged, and of their own
officers and men relieved from parole, thus enabling each party to
relieve from parole such of their own officers and men as the party
may choose. The lists thus mutually furnished will keep both
parties advised of the true condition of the exchange of prisoners.
Article VI. The stipulations and provisions above mentioned to
he of binding obligation during the continuance of the war, it mat-
ters not which party may have the surplus of prisoners, the great
principles involved being—1st. Ah equitable exchange of prisoners,
man for man, officer for officer, or officers of higher grade exchanged
for officers of lower grade, or for privates, according to the scale of
equivalents. 2d. That privates and officers and men of different
services may be exchanged according to the same scale of equiva-
lents. 3d. That all prisoners, of whatever arm of service, are to be
exchanged or paroled in ten days from the time of their capture, if
it be practicable to transfer them to their own lines in that time; if
not, as soon thereafter as practicable. 4th. That no officer, soldier,
or employee in service of either party is to be considered as ex-
changed and absolved from his parole until his equivalent has ac-
tually reached the lines of his friends. 5th. That the parole forbids
the performance of field, garrison, police, or guard or constabulary
duty.
John A. Dix, Major-General.
D. H. Hill, Major-General, C. S. A.
supplementary articles.
Article VII. All prisoners of war now held on either side, and all
prisoners hereafter taken, shall be sent with reasonable dispatch to
A. M. Aiken's, below Dutch Gap, on the James river, in Virginia,
or to Vicksburg, on the Mississippi river, in the State of Mississippi,
and there exchanged or paroled until such exchange can be effected,
notice being previously given by each party of the number of pri-
soners it will send, and the time when they will be delivered at
those points respectively; and in case the vicissitudes of war shall
change the military relations of the places designated in this article
to the contending parties, so as to render the same inconvenient for
the delivery ana exchange of prisoners, other places, hearing as
nearly as may be the present local relations of said places to the
lines of said parties, shall be, by mutual agreement, substituted. But
nothing in this article contained shall prevent the commanders of
two opposing armies from exchanging prisoners or releasing them
on parole at other points mutually agreed on by said commanders.
Article VIII. For the purpose of carrying into effect the foregoing
articles of agreement, each party will appoint two agents, to be called
Agents for the Exchange of Prisoners of War, whose duty it shall
be to communicate with each other, by correspondence and other-
wise; to prepare the lists of prisoners, to attend to the delivery of
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
159
the prisoners at the places agreed on, and to carry out promptly,
effectually and in good faith all the details and provisions of the said
articles of agreement.
Article IX. And in case any misunderstanding shall arise in re-
gard to any clause or stipulation in the foregoing articles, it is mu-
tually agreed that such misunderstanding shall not interrupt the
release of prisoners on parole, as herein provided, but shall be made
the subject of friendly explanation, in order that the object of this
agreement may neither be defeated nor postponed.
John A. Dix, Major-General.
D. H. Hill, Major-General, C. S. A.
The rigid observance of the above cartel would have prevented
all the horrors of prison life, North and South, and have averted
the great mortality in Southern prisons and the greater mortality
in Northern prisons. The Confederate authorities carried out in good
faith the provisions of the cartel until the other side had not only frequently
violated nearly every article, hut finally repudiated the cartel itself.
Judge Child's letter-book gives the most incontrovertible proof of
this statement; but we reserve the detailed proofs for the present,
and pass to consider further the
treatment of federal prisoners by the confederate
authorities.
We have given above the testimony of General Lee—that the
orders were to treat the whole field alike, caring for wounded
friend and foe without discrimination, and that "these orders
were respected on every field." Time and again, after some great
victory, has the writer seen our brave soldiers, though well nigh
worn out with the conflict, ministering to their wounded foes—
sharing with them their scant rations, carrying them water, binding
up their wounds, and bearing them gently back to our field hospi-
tals, where we gave them every attention in our power. We were
personal witnesses of that scene at Port Republic, when Fremont,
who had been so badly whipped by Ewell at Cross Keys the
day before, stood idly by until Jackson had routed Shields, and then
amused himself by shelling the Confederate ambulances and litter-
bearers who were caring for the Federal wounded. It is by no
means affirmed that there were not individual instances of cruelty
to prisoners on the part of Confederate soldiers (especially in the
latter part of the war, when their passions were aroused by the
heart-rending stories of Federal outrages to helpless women and
children which came from every quarter), but we do most emphati-
160 Southern Historical Society Pap&
cally assert that our soldiers as a class were wony of the eulogy
which President Davis pronounced upon them j a after the Seven
Days Battles around Richmond, in which he said, 'You are fighting
for all that is dearest to man, and though opposedv a foe who dis-
regards many of the usages of war, your humanity the wounded and
prisoners was a Jit and crowning glory to your valor."
The following well authenticated incident of a gafflt Confederate
soldier was brought out during his funeral obsequs last fall:
"While Pickett's division was before Newbern,ftneral Pickett
received by flag of truce a letter from a gentlemaiin Boston, ac-
companied by a package of money containg $2,CX.in which the
writer stated he had a brother, a Federal officer, iino Libby Pri-
son; that his brother was a former comrade of Picks in the Mexi-
can war; and appealed to him, by the friendship o:ieir old days,
to forward the money to his brother. The appa touched the
generous heart of the soldier, and he dispatched s orderly with
the money to the officer. The orderly, tempted rthe unusual
sight of so much greenbacks, basely deserted to theiemy and es-
caped with the booty. As soon as Pickett heard o:ae desertion
he immediately went to Richmond, and by a mortgz on his Tur-
key Island property succeeded in borrowing $2,000.<hich he car-
ried to the prisoner, with an explanation of and aiogy for the
delay. The officer, when he learned by what meaithe General
had raised the money, declined to accept $1,000 o:i; but with,
that nice sense of honor which distinguished the 9 Southern
gentleman, General Pickett compelled him to do so. he tvvo sol-
diers then talked over the brave old days of the past,*en together
they fought under the same flag; and as the conversant* ripened
into friendly confidence the prisoner frankly told thwneraj. that
his object was to escape if possible, and that he inaled using
some of the money he had paid him in the effort. ie Gfeneral
checked him at once by telling him that he could ni»eeiv*e his
confidence in such a matter; that the money was his cm, and. that
he had a right to do with it as he pleased, but it wouldtimpuoper
for him to become a party to his plans. He then la Thes pri-
soner did escape. The war ended disastrously to th-JU th, and
General Pickett's estate was sold to satisfy the mortgafTlaicfci he
had executed."
This incident of the treatment which the chivalriclclsetts ac-
corded to this prisoner is by no means an isolated exaae of the
readiness of Confederate officers and soldiers to do iux tlheir
power to alleviate the condition of prisoners. Incidentsistyatang
this might be multiplied.
But we proceed to inquire into the treatment receiveiy Fe*de-
ral prisoners after they reached our prisons. And as tfcp«ort; of
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
161
the committee of the Confederate Congress treats chiefly of the
prisons in and around Richmond, we will speak chiefly of
ANDERSON VILLE,
of which Mr. Blaine says, " Libby pales into insignificance before
Andersonville." We cannot better state the case than it has been
done by a well known writer:
"The site of the prison at Andersonville—a point on the South-
western Railway, in Georgia—had been selected under an official
order having reference to the following points: 'A healthy locality,
plenty of pure, good water, a running stream, and if possible shade
trees, and in the immediate neighborhood of grist and saw mills.'
The pressure was so great at Richmond and the supplies so scant
that prisoners were sent forward while the stockade was only about
half finished. When the first instalment of prisoners arrived, there
was no guard at Andersonville, and the little squad which had
charge of them in the cars had to remain; and at no time did the
guard, efficient and on duty, exceed fifteen hundred, to man the
stockade, to guard, and to do general duty and afford relief and en-
force discipline over thirty-four thousand prisoners.
"In regard to the sufferings and mortality among the prisoners at
Andersonville, none of it arose from the unhealthiness of the
locality. The food, though the same as that used by the Con-
federate soldiers—the bread, too, being corn—was different from
that to which they had been accustomed, did not agree with them,
and scurvy and diarrhoea prevailed to a considerable extent;
neither disease, however, was the result of starvation. That some
prisoners did not get their allowance, although a full supply was
sent in, is true. But there not being a guard sufficient to attend
to distribution, Federal prisoners were appointed, each having a
certain number allotted to his charge, among whom it was his duty
to see that every man got his portion, and, as an inducement, this
prisoner had special favors and advantages. Upon complaint of
those under him, he was broke and another selected; so that it only
required good faith on the part of these head men, thus appointed,
to insure to each man his share. But prisoners would often sell
their rations for whiskey and tobacco, and would sell the clothes
from their backs for either of them.
" In regard to sanitary regulations, there were certain prescribed
places and modes for the reception of all filth, and a sluice was
made to carry it off; but the most abominable disregard was mani-
fested of all sanitary regulations, and to such a degree that if a
conspiracy had been entered into by a large number of the pri-
soners to cause the utmost filth and stench, it could not have ac-
complished a more disgusting result. Besides which there was a
large number of atrocious villians, whose outrages in robbing, beat-
ing and murdering their fellow-prisoners must have been the cause,
162 Southern Historical Society Payers.
directly or remotely, of very many deaths and of an inconceivable
amount of suffering. We must recollect that among thirty-four
thousand prisoners, who had encountered the hardships of the
fields of many battleg, and had had wounds, there were, many of
delicate physique—many of respectability—to whom such self-
created filth and such atrocious ruffianism would of itself cause
despondency, disease and death; and when, in addition to this, was
the conviction that the Federal War Department, perfectly cogni-
zant of all this, had deliberately consigned them indefinitely to this
condition, a consuming despair was superadded to all their other
sufferings.
"The merits of Andersonville may be summed up by saying that
it was of unquestioned healthfulness; it was large enough and had
water enough, and could have been made tolerable for the number
originally intended for it. It appears that the increase of that
number was apparently a matter of necessity for the time; that
other sites were selected and prepared with all possible dispatch;
that the provisions were similar in amount and quality to those
used by Confederate soldiers; that deficient means rendered a sup-
ply of clothing, tents and medicines scanty; that the rules of dis-
cipline and sanitary regulations of the prison, if complied with by
the prisoners, would have secured to each a supply of food, and have
averted almost, if not altogether, the filth and the ruffianism, which
two causes, outside of unavoidable sickness, caused the great mass
of suffering and mortality."
We will add the following article, written by Mr. L. M. Park, of
La Grange, Georgia, who is personally known to us as a gentleman
of unimpeachable character, and whose testimony is of the highest
importance, as he speaks of what he saw himself. His article was
originally written for the Southern Magazine, and while it contains
some expressions which are bitter against the slanderers of our
people, we will give it entire except the concluding paragraphs:
The "Rebel Prison Pen" at Andersonville, Georgia.
It is the duty of every lover of justice, when he sees a gross and
injurious calumny put into circulation which he is able to refute
from direct knowledge, to challenge it at once, and more especially
if it is aimed at his own people, and meant to be used to their in-
jury. It is true that in those regions for which these calumnies are
prepared they are too generally preferred to the truth, even when
the truth is offered; but the duty of affirming the truth is no less
obligatory on those who are able to affirm it. It is with this view
that the following paper is written to correct certain statements
which recently appeared in Appleton's Journal* professing to relate
• See September monthly part" A Jaunt m the Sonth." These corrections were offered to
that Journal, bnt declined on the ground of personal regard for the author of " A Jaunt In the
South," who Is a regular contributor.
Treatment of. Prisoners During the War.
163
facts gleaned during a trip to Andersonville, Georgia, concerning
the Confederate military prison there and the treatment of Federal
prisoners. Instead of reviewing the article in detail, I will merely
take up, one by one, the principal false statements.
THE WATER THE PRISONERS DRANK.
It was my fortune to be stationed at Andersonville almost from
the first establishment of the prison until the removal to Millen,
Georgia, or Camp Lawton, and I unhesitatingly pronounce the
statement that " the prisoners had to drink the water which conveyed
the offal of three camps and two large bakeries or kitchens off before
it reached them," utterly false. The guards drank of the same
water that quenched the prisoners' thirst, cooked their food with
the same water, the same large stream or creek flowing through the
encampment of guards and stockade, or prison-pen, as Northern
writers sneeringly call it. The camps of the guards all faced the
stream, while their sinks were far off in the rear, and orders were
most strict not to muddy the water, much less defile it in any way.
As to the offal of the bakeries, these being presided over by prisoners
on parole, and who did the cooking for the entire prison, I cannot
believe they would pollute the water their brother prisoners had to
drink. As rapidly as they could the prisoners dug wells; in all
some two hundred were dug, and purer, sweeter, colder water I
never drank. Being on the staff of Captain Wirz, 1 had free access
to the prison at all times day or night, and whenever I wished to
quench my thirst, I went inside the prison and drank from one of
these wells.
THAT PROVIDENTIAL SPRING, SO-CALLED.
That " providential spring" is an impious myth. I have been in
the prison thousands of times and never before heard it so called,
except on reading the Herald's account of the anniversary of the
Fulton street prayer meeting, when some pharisaically pious
old brother recited a long rigmarole about this same "providential
spring," and said it was planted there in direct answer to prayer.
The gist of this spring-tale is that when the prisoners' sickness and
suffering from thirst was at its greatest, all at once, in the twinkling
of an eye, this spring gushed forth in direct answer to prayer. Was
ever such blasphemy? If such was the case, why does the spring
still exist after it has answered its purpose? Do those rocks of
Horeb struck by Moses to slake the children of Israel's thirst still
exist, and at this late day the water gush forth? It is all a cock-
and-bull story, and unlike Sterne's, one of the poorest I ever heard.
TWO'FEDERAL AND THREE REBEL PROVIDENTIAL SPRINGS.
If my recollection serves me right, there was yet another of these
same "providential springs" inside the stockade, and that Provi-
dence who sends the rain alike upon the just and the unjust gave
164
SouthernHistorical Society Papers.
unto the wicked and ungodly Rebels three of these "providential
springs;" and I am sure he did not plant ours in answer to prayer,
for we had just as soon drunk the branch water.
REASONS WHY THERE WERE NO BARRACKS.
The Confederate Government has always been harshly assailed
for its want of humanity in not having barracks to house the pris-
oners from the sun and rains. A more senseless hue and cry was
never heard. How was it possible to saw timber into planks with-
out saw-mills ? There were two water-power mills distant three and
six miles respectfully, but such rude primitive affairs undeserving
the name. The nearest steam saw-mill was twenty-three miles
distant (near Smithvillej, the next at Reynolds, about fifty miles
distant; but the great bulk of the lumber used, fully two-thirds,
was brought from Gordon, a distance of eighty miles. Even if
these mills had had the capacity to supply the necessary amount
of lumber, it would still have been impossible to have provided
barracks for the prisoners, as all the available engines of all the
railroads in the Confederacy were taxed to their utmost capacity in
transporting supplies for the army in the field and to the prisons.
But few even of the officers of the guard had shanties, and these
few were built of slabs and sheeting, which every one knows is the
refuse of the mills. And even though there were no lack of lumber,
when we remember that there was but one solitary manufactory of
cut nails in the limits of the Confederacy, certainly no blame could
be attached to the authorities for not furnishing more comfortable
quarters for them. Nearly every building in the encampment was
built of rough logs and covered with clap-boards split from the tree
and held to their places by poles. The force of these statements is
readily appreciated by every intelligent, unprejudiced mind. Be-
sides, is it customary for any nation in time of war to treat their
prisoners in a more humane manner than their own soldiers in the
field? The inquiry becomes pertinent when we reflect that during
the last two'years of the war there was not a tent of any description
to be found in any of the armies of the Confederacy, save such as
were captured from the Federals.
HOW THE STOCKADE WAS BUILT.
The stockade was built by the negroes belonging to the neigh-
boring farms, either hired or pressed into service by the Confederate
authorities to cut down the immense pine trees growing on the
ground intended for the stockade; and these same trees were then
cut into proper lengths and hewn upon the spot, and then planted
in a ditch dug four feet deep to receive them. In this manner was
the stockade made. Before it was completed the prisoners were
forwarded in great numbers; and it being impossible to keep them
in the cars, we had to put them in the completed end of the stock-
ade and double the guards, and our whole force kept ever ready
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 165
day and night for the slightest alarm; for at first we had only the
shattered remnants of two regiments—the Twenty-sixth Alabama
and the Fifty-fifth Georgia^—numbering in all some three hundred
and fifty men. This constituted the guard. In about ten days there-
after my regiment—the First Georgia Reserves, composed of young
boys and old men (I was not sixteen), just organized—were sent to
take the place of the Twenty-sixth Alabama and Twenty-sixth Geor-
gia, so they could be sent to the front for duty. In a few days after
our arrival the 2d, 3d and 4th Georgia Reserves, all composed of lads
and hoary-headed men (for we were reduced to the strait of " robbing
the cradle and the grave for men to make soldiers of"), joined us as
rapidlv as they could be organized. The author of "Jaunt in the
South1'says: " When thestockade was occupiedin 1864, there was not
a tree or blade of grass within it. Its reddish sand was entirely bar-
ren, and not the smallest particle of green showed itself. But now
the surface is covered completely with underbrush; a rich growth of
bushes, trees and plants has covered the entire area, and where be-
fore was a dreary desert there is now a wild and luxurious garden."
I have before said the ground was covered with a pine forest, and the
trees were utilized to build the stockade. Any one who has traveled
south of Macon, Georgia, knows the pine is abundant, and in fact
almost the only tree. In these forests the ground is covered by wire
grass or other grass peculiar to them.
WHY ANDERSONVILLE WAS SELECTED.
The main reasons for locating the prison at Andersonville, after
its first being thought the most secure place in the Confederacy
from Yankee cavalry raids, was the abundance of the water and
the timber wherewith to construct the prison rapidly, and its being
in the very heart of the grain-growing region of the South, which
would make it less inconvenient to supply with provisions such a
vast multitude.
MALICIOUS EXHIBITION IN OHIO STATE CAPITOL.
In the summer of 1867,1 set out for New York, being resolved to
live no longer in the South, where negroes were being placed over
us by Yankee bayonets, and in their vernacular, " de bottom rail
wuz agittin' on de top er de fence." I traveled very leisurely, and
stopped in every city of any note on my route, and kept eyes and
ears wide open to drink in everything. I visited the Ohio State
Capitol at Columbus, and in the museum of curiosities were some
small paper boxes carefully preserved in a glass case, containing
what purported to have been the exact quality and quantity of
rations issued per diem to each prisoner at Andersonville. In one
box was about a pint of coarse unbolted meal, and in another about
one tablespoonful of rice; and still another box with about two
tablespoonsful of black peas; and in a tiny little box was about one-
eighth of a teaspoon of salt. Underneath it is all explained, and
166 Southern ■ Historical Society Papers.
says, among other things, "When rice was given, the peas were
withheld; but when they had no rice, this kind of peas was given in-
stead." It is needless to tell how my blood boiled at such an atro-
ciously malicious and false exhibition. No wonder the hatred of
the North is kept alive, and the bloody chasm continually widened
by such wicked and uncharitable displays as this in one of the
largest and most enlightened States in the Union.
RATIONS TO GUARDS AND PRISONERS THE SAME.
I was for three months a clerk in the Commissary Department
at Andersonville, and it was my business to weigh out rations for
the guards and prisoners alike; and I solemnly assert that the pri-
soners got ounce for ounce and pound for pound of just the same
quality and quantity of food as did the guards. The State autho-
rities of Ohio ought to blush at thus traducing and slandering a
fallen foe, and never in the first instance to have placed on exhibition
for preservation as truth this fabrication of partisan hate. No An-
dersonville prisoner, unless he were lost to all sense of honor and
shame, could make such a statement as that the rations were no
more than the specimens shown.
WHY THE PRISONERS WERE FED ON CORN BREAD.
It has been charged as a crying shame upon the Confederacy by
ignorant humanitarians that the South might at least have given
the prisoners wheat bread occasionally; that they rarely ate corn
bread in their own land, and that the bread we issued was made of
meal so coarse and unsifted that it caused dysentery, thereby largely
increasing the mortality. It is well known now that the South
depends very largely, and with shame I confess it, on the West for
her bread and bacon, and the cotton belt proper makes but little
pretension of raising wheat, for the climate, it is said, is unsuited;
so that the region round about Andersonville, being in the very
heart of the cotton-growing section of Georgia, such a thing as
feeding prisoners on flour was simply impossible, and the little
flour that was obtained as tithes (one-tenth of all the crops raised
was required by our Government) was devoted entirely to the use
of the hospitals. Not only was this true of the territory immediately
surrounding Andersonville, but of the whole South. Our own
armies were unsupplied with flour, and perhaps not one family in
fifty throughout the whole land enjoyed that luxury. The guards
ate the same bread, or rather meal; the bread eaten by the prisoners
being baked by regular bakers (prisoners detailed for that purpose),
while the guards did their own cooking. The meal, however, was
the same, and both were unsifted and in truth very coarse. I ate
the unsifted meal always.
THE DEAD DINE.
Another cry of holy hcirror is raised every time the " Dead Line"
is mentioned, as if this dead line was prima facie evidence that the
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 167
Southerners were as barbarous ancf cruel a race as ever blotted the
face of earth. The civilized North, however, had the same barba-
rous dead line in their prisons, and in fact originated the device. It
was a necessity with us, for we had never at one time more than
1,200 to 1,500 guards in the four regiments fit for duty, and we had
the keeping at one time of very nearly 40,000 prisoners. By a con-
certed plan of onslaught they could at any time have scaled the
walls, captured guards, and with the weapons of their keepers
overrun the entire country, which, all south of Dalton, Georgia
(100 miles north ot Atlanta), was left wholly unprotected save by
gray-haired old men and young boys; and the women, children,
and negroes, who were the oijly hope for the making of crops for our
armies, would have been helplessly at their mercy. This dead line
was clearly defined, and consisted of stakes driven into the ground
twenty feet from the stockade walls, and on these stakes was a three-
inch strip of plank nailed all around the inside of the prison.
They were all notified that a step beyond this line was not prudent,
and they were ijot so unwise as to venture beyond that limit.
BUBIAL OP DEAD PRISONERS.
Speaking of the number and burial of the dead, the writer of the
aforesaid Jaunt" says: "The authorities at the stockade who
had charge of the interment of the Federal dead -did their work
rudely, * * * digging pits and burying them in." Then he
goes on: "It is hard to comprehend the true value of the number,
14,000; its magnitude eludes you. Fourteen thousand men would
form a great mob, or a great army, or a great town. Here you
have 14,000 men lying silently in a few acres. Within these bounds
men have suffered as greatly as have any since the world began."
In reply to this, I. would merely say the burial was the work of
prisoners paroled especially for the purpose, both the hauling of
the bodies to the ground, the digging of the graves, and even the
records of the names were all done by paroled prisoners. Books
and a tent were provided solely for the latter purpose. Owing to
the weakness of the guard, paroled prisoners were employed for
this duty, as we could spare no men for the purpose; and if the
work was rudely or carelessly done, the blame rests with them.
As compensation they were given double rations and almost entire
freedom. As to the number of the dead, we admit that it is great,
but statistics show that more Southern soldiers died in Northern
prisons than Northern soldiers in Southern prisons. In vain have
Northern writers tried to disprove this fact.
MORTALITY NO GREATER AMONG PRISONERS THAN GUARD.
Great as was the mortality among the prisoners, it was no greater
in proportion to numbers than that of the guard, which is fully
attested by the reports of the surgeon in charge. Besides, it is well
Jcnown to every soul that can or does read that the Confederacy,
168 Southern Historical Society Papers.
through their agent, Judge Ould', made frequent and tireless efforts
to get the United States Government, through their agent, General
Butler, to exchange. But no, the Federal authorities would not
hear to it; but acting on the avowed and promulgated idea that
the South, being blockaded, could not recruit her armies from
foreign lands, while to the North the whole of Europe was opened,
they cruelly determined not to exchange, so as to detain our soldiers
'from again fighting them, well knowing that even then we had made
our last conscription (17 to 50 years), and when those we had were
killed up or in prison we would of course be overpowered. This
was their cold blooded, brutal policy; and closely did they stick to it,
even till we were almost literally wip^l out, while the men they
had fighting us were in most part hired substitutes, drafted men,
and foreign hirelings.
PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF MORTALITY.
Farther, as to the mortality among the prisoners, let it be remem-
bered that a majority of the deaths caused in our prisons was for
want of proper medicines, which we did not have and could not
get, except by blockade-running. Had the Federal Government
any of the milk of human kindness in its composition, it would
have acceded to our earnest request to take cotton in exchange for
drugs to administer to their own dying soldiers. Their immense
manufactories were lying idle for want of cotton, while we had it
but could not use it. But as these self-same drugs and medicines
would also be applied to the relief of our own sick soldiers, they
determined it would be to their advantage to let all die alike, know-
ing the South could get no more men to supply the places of the
sick, the dying, and those they had imprisoned, so refused all over-
tures. After using every effort and exhausting every argument to
get an exchange, we proposed—as we had no medicines and could
get none, except what we accidentally ran in through the blockade
from Europe (they being declared contraband and always confiscated
whenever captured by the blockading fleet)—we proposed to turn
over to them all their sick, without requiring man for man, but
giving them absolutely up, if the United States would only send
vessels for transporting them. This was done at Camp Lawton
(Millen, Georgia), after the prison was removed from Andersonville
for greater security.
EXTRACTS FROM AN OFFICER'S DIARY.
From the private journal of a Confederate officer high in com-
mand, both at Andersonville and other Southern prisons, I glean
the annexed facts, the first bearing directly upon the foregoing:—
"At one time an order came to Camp Lawton to prepare 2,000 men
for exchange. The order from Richmond was to select first the
wounded, next the oldest prisoners and the sickly, filling up with
healthy men according to date. This party went first to Savannah,
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 169
sb arranged, but by some mistake the ships were at Charleston, and
the poor wretches had to be taken there; and every one who knew
the Southern railroads in those days, and the difficulty or rather
impossiblity to procure food for such a crowd along the road, will
know what those poor fellows suffered. At Charleston they were
refused, the commissioner declaring that 'he was not going to ex-
change able-bodied men for such miserable specimens of humanity.'
(The term used was more brutal). Finding him obdurate, Colonel
Ould requested him to take them without exchange. This he re-
fused with a sneering laugh, and the crowd was ordered back.
Never did the writer of this witness such woe-begone countenances,
in which misery and hopelessness were more strongly painted,
than shown by those poor fellows on their return. And the curses
leveled against the rulers who thus treated the defenders of their
country were fearful, although certainly well deserved. As the
stockade-gate closed upon them the surgeon in charge said to the
writer: 'Poor fellows I the world has closed upon more than half
of them; this disappointment will be their death-knell.' His words
proved true. Who murdered those men? Let history answer the
question."
CLOTHING FOB PRISONERS.
Again I extract from the aforesaid journal: "The Northerners
talk so much of the cruelty of the South to the Federal prisoners.
At one time the unfortunate prisoners were almost without cloth-
ing, indeed some had hardly as much as common decency required.
The South could not provide them, not being able to clothe their
own men. An application was made to Seward. The reply was
that 'the Federal Government did not supply clothing to prisoners
of war.' Luckily for the poor fellows, a society in New York took
the matter in hand, and several bales of clothing and cases of shoes
were forwarded to Richmond, and divided, in propotion to numbers,
among the prisons."
CRUELTY TO PRISONERS.
A great deal has been said of the cruelty to the prisoners inside
the stockade. This so-called cruelty was inflicted by their own
men. In every prison a police with a chief, all from the prisoners, was
appointed to keep order, see to the enforcement of the regulations,
and inquire into all offences, reporting through their chief to the.
Commandant. The punishments, sucn as were used in the Federal
army, were ordered to be inflicted by these men, and some were of
such a barbarous nature that they were prohibited with disgust by
the Confederate officers, who substituted milder and more humane
ones; and yet the former were in common practice in the Federal
armies, as testified by all the prisoners.
BLOODHOUNDS.
Among the numerous lies invented by Northerners, and actually
still believed by some parties to this day, was the story that the
170
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Confederates used to hunt and worry prisoners with bloodhounds.
Now it is well known that the breed of bloodhounds is nearly ex-
tinct in the South, and the large packs of those dogs alluded to by
writers on this subject existed only in their imaginations, the pro-
lific brains of penny-a-liners, whose vile and lying compositions
even now abound in many so-called respectable New York papers.
No public man is safe from their atrocious attacks. Among the
various specimens of this dog alluded to by the above-named gentry,
was the famous bloodhound of the Libby Prison. The writer has
often seen this formidable animal, which certainly in his youth
must have been as fine a specimen of the kind as could be met
anywhere, but unfortunately for the thrilling portion of the accounts
of his doings at the time of the war, the poor beast, worn out from
old age ana with hardly a tooth in his head, wandered about a
harmless, inoffensive creature. He was the property of the Com-
mandant of Libby, who kept him because he was a pet dog of his
father's, and there the brute lived a pensioner in his old age. As
to his worrying men, he could not, had he even tried, have worried
a child. The other prisons had none, not even as pensioners.
Among the records history gives us of using those dogs to hunt
men, it is stated that during the Florida war a number of blood-
hounds were imported by the Federal Government from Cuba to
hunt the Indians out of the Everglades, and that numbers of the
natives were worried to death by the ferocious beasts. The writer
does not deny that when a prisoner got out of the stockade trying
to escape, if no clue could be obtained of his whereabouts, a few
mongrel or half-bred fox-hounds were used to track him, but the
worrying was all done in the correspondent's own brain. However,
it suited the times and made the article sell. The only complaint
made is that this vile and malicious lie is still, if not believed, re-
eated by some who use it for party purposes, and thus help to
eep up the bad feeling between North and South.
•
In reference to the causes of the mortality at Andersonville, we
have the highest medical authority, testimony which the other side
cannot impeach, for it was on his testimony (garbled and perverted,
it is true) that they hung Captain Wirz. Dr. Joseph Jones, now
a professor in the Medical College at New Orleans, and then one of
the most distinguished surgeons in the Confederate service, was
sent to Andersonville to inspect the prison and report on the causes
of mortality at Andersonville. He has recently sent us a MS,
from which we make the following extract:
Statement of Dr. Joseph Jones.
In the specification of the first charge against Henry Wirz, for-
merly commandant of the interior of the Confederate States mili-
tary prison at Andersonville, during his trial before a special Military
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 171
Commission, convened in accordance with Special Orders No. 453, War
Department, Adjutant-General's office, Washington, August 23d,
18(>5, the following is written:
"And the said Wirz, still pursuing his wicked purpose and still
aiding in carrying out said conspiracy, did use and caused to
be used, for the pretended purpose of vaccination, impure and poi-
sonous matter, which said impure and poisonous matter was then
and there, by the direction and order of said Wirz, maliciously,
cruelly and wickedly deposited in the arms of many of the said pri-
soners, by reason of which large numbers of them—to wit: one hun-
dred—lost the use of their arms; and many of them—to wit: about
thenumberof twohundred—wereso injured that soon thereafter they
died; all of which he, the said Henry Wirz, well knew and ma-
liciously intended, and, in aid of the then existing rebellion against
the United States, with the view of weakening and impairing the
armies of the United States; and in furtherance of the said con-
spiracy, and with full knowledge, consent and connivance of his.
co-conspirators aforesaid, he, the said Wirz, then and there did."
Among the co-conspirators specified in the charges were the
surgeon of the post, Dr. White, and the surgeon in charge of the
military prison hospital, R. R. Stevenson, Surgeon, C. S. A. As the
vaccinations were made in accordance with the orders of the Sur-
geon-General, C. S. A., and of the medical officers acting under his
command, the charge of deliberately poisoning the Federal pri-
soners with vaccine matter is a sweeping one; and whether in-
tended so or not, affects every medical officer stationed at that post;
and it appears to have been designed to go farther, and to affect
the reputation of every one who held a commission in the Medical
Department of the Confederate army.
The acts of those who once composed the Medical Department
of the Confederate army, from the efficient and laborious Surgeon-
General to the regimental and hospital officers, need no defence at
my hand.s Time, with its unerring lines of historic truth, will em-
balm their heroic labors in the cause of suffering humanity, and
will acknowledge their untiring efforts to ameliorate the most gi-
ganticmass of human suffering that ever fell to the lot of a beleagured.
and distressed people.
The grand object of the trial and condemnation of Henry Wirz
was the conviction and execution of President Davis, General
Robert E. Lee, and other prominent men of the Confederacy, in,
order that "treason might be rendered forever odious and infamous."
In accordance with the direction of Dr. Samuel Preston Moore,
formerly Surgeon-General, C. S. A., I instituted, during the months
of August and September, 1864, a series of investigations on the
diseases of the Federal prisoners confined in Camp Sumter, Ander-
sonville, Georgia.
The report which I drew up for the use of the Medical Depart-
ment of the Confederate army, contained a truthful representation
of the sufferings of these prisoners, and at the same time gave an
172
Southern Historical Society Papers.
equally truthful view of the difficulties under which the medical
officers labored, and of the distressed and beleagured and desolated
condition of the Southern States.
Shortly after the close of the civil war this report, which had
never been delivered to the Confederate authorities, on account of
the destruction of all railroad communication with Richmond, Vir-
ginia, was suddenly seized by the agents of the United States Gov-
ernment conducting the trial of Henry Wirz. I have since learned
that the United States authorities gained knowledge of the fact that
I had inspected Andersonville through information clandestinely
furnished by a distinguished member of the medical profession of
the North, who, after the close of the war, had shared the hospi-
tality of my own home.
It was with extreme pain that I contemplated the diversion of
my labors, in the cause of medical science, from their true and
legitimate object; and I addressed an earnest appeal, which ac-
companied the report, to the Judge-Advocate, Colonel N. P. Chip-
man, in which I used the following language:
"In justice to myself, as well as to those most nearly connected
with this investigation, I would respectfully call the attention of
Colonel Chipman, Judge-Advocate, U. S. A., to the fact that the
matter which is surrendered in obedience to the demands of a
power from which there is no appeal, was prepared solely for the
consideration of the Surgeon-General, C. S. A., and was designed to
promote the cause of humanity and to advance the interests of the
medical profession. This being granted, I feel assured that the
Judge-Advocate will appreciate the deep pain which the anticipa-
tion gives me that these labors may be diverted from their original
mission and applied to the prosecution of criminal cases. The
same principle which led me to endeavor to deal humanely and
justly by these prisoners, and to make a truthful representation of
their condition to the Medical Department of the Confederate States
army, now actuates me in recording my belief that as far as my
knowledge extends there was no deliberate or wilful design on the
part of the Chief Executive, Jefferson Davis, and the highest au-
thorities of the Confederate Government to injure the health and
destroy the lives of these Federal prisoners. On the 21st of May,
1861, it was enacted by the Congress of the Confederate States of
America, 'that all prisoners of war taken, whether on land or sea,
during the pending hostilities with the United States, should be
transferred by the captors, from time to time, as often as conve-
nient, to the Department of War; and it should be the duty of the
Secretary of War, with the approval of the President, to issue such
instructions to the Quartemaster-General and his subordinates as
shall provide for the safe custody and sustenance of prisoners of
war; and the rations furnished prisoners of war shall be the same
in quantity and quality as those furnished enlisted men in the
army of the Confederacy.' By act of February 17th, 1864, the
Quartermaster-General was relieved of this duty, and the Commis-
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
173
sary-General of Subsistence was ordered to provide for the suste-
nance of prisoners of war. According to General Orders No. 159,
Adjutant and Inspector-General's office, 'Hospitals for prisoners
of war are placed on the same footing as other Confederate States
hospitals in all respects, and will be managed accordingly.'
" The Federal prisoners were removed to southwestern Georgia in
the early part of 1864, not only to secure a place of confinement
more remote than Richmond and other large towns from the opera-
tions of the United States forces, but also 'to secure a more abundant
and easy supply of food.' As far as my experience extends, no per-
son who had been reared on wheat bread, and who was held in
captivity for any length of time, could retain his health and escape
either scurvy or diarrhoea, if confined to the Confederate ration (is-
sued to the soldier in the field and hospital) of unbolted corn meal
and bacon. The .large armies of the Confederacy suffered more
than once from scurvy; and as the war progressed, secondary
hemorrhage and hospital gangrene became fearfully prevalent from
the deteriorated condition of the systems of the troops, dependent
on the prolonged use of salt meat; and but for the extra supplies
received from home, and from the various State benevolent insti-
tutions, scurvy and diarrhoea and dysentery would have been still
farther prevalent.
" It was believed by the citizens of the Southern States that the
Confederate authorities desired to effect a continuous and speedy
exchange of prisoners of war in their hands, on the ground that
the retention of these soldiers in captivity was a great calamity,
not only entailing heavy expenditure of the scanty means of sub-
sistence, already insufficient to support their suffering, half-starved,
half-clad and unpaid armies, struggling in the field with over-
whelming numbers, and embarrassing their imperfect and dilapi-
dated lines of communication, but also as depriving them of the
services of a veteran army, fully equal to one-third the number
actively engaged in the field; and the history of subsequent events
have shown that the retention in captivity of the Confederate "pri-
soners was one of the efficient causes of the final and complete
overthrow of the Confederate Government. * * * * It is my
honest belief that if the exhausted condition of the Confederate
Government—with its bankrupt currency—with its retreating and
constantly diminishing armies—with the apparent impossibility
of filling up the vacancies by death and desertion and sickness,
and of gathering a guard of reserves of sufficient strength to allow
of the proper enlargement of the military prison—and with a
country torn and bleeding along all its borders—with its starving
women and children and old men, fleeing from the desolating
march of contending armies, crowding the dilapidated and over-
burdened railroad lines, and adding to the distress and consuming
the poor charities of those in the interior, who were harassed by
the loss of sons and brothers and husbands, and by the fearful
visions of starvation and undefined misery—could be fully realized,
174
Southern Historical Society Papers.
much of the suffering of the Federal prisoners would be attributed
to causes connected with the distressed condition of the Southern
States."
The Judge-Advocate, N. P. Chipman, Colonel, U. S. A., was not
only deaf to this appeal, but in his final argument before the Mili-
tary Commission, or so called "Court," whilst excluding all portions
of my testimony which related to the distressed condition of the
Southern States, and the efforts of the medical officers and Con-
federate authorities to relieve the sufferings of these prisoners of
war, deliberately endeavored to arouse the hatred of the entire
North against the author of the report and the medical officers of
the Confederate army. This statement will be manifest from the
following quotation, which I extract from the " argument" of the
Judge-Advocate before the "Court:"
" He had called into his counsels an eminent medical gentleman,
of high attainments in his profession, and of loyalty to the Rebel
Government unquestioned. Amid all the details in this terrible
tragedy there seems to me none more heartless, wanton and void
of humanity than that revealed by the Surgeon-General, to which
I am about to refer. I quote now from the report of this same Dr.
Joseph Jones, which he says (Record, p. 4384) was made in the
interest of the Confederate Government for the use of the Medical
Department, in the view that no eye would see it but that of the
Surgeon-General.
"After a brief introduction to his report, and to show under'
what authoritity it was made, he quotes a letter from the Surgeon-
General, dated Surgeon-General's office, Richmond, Virginia, Au-
gust 6th, 1864. The letter is addressed to Surgeon I. H. White, in
chage of the Hospital for Federal prisoners, Andersonville, Georgia,
and is as folllows:
'"Sir—The field of pathological investigation afforded by the
large collection of Federal prisoners in Georgia is of great extent
and importance, and it is believed that results of value to the pro-
fession may' be obtained by careful examination of the effects of
disease upon a large body of men subjected to a decided change of
climate and the circumstances peculiar to prison life. The surgeon
in charge of the hospital for Federal prisoners, together with his
assistants, will afford every facility to Surgeon Joseph Jones in the
prosecution of the labors ordered by the Surgeon-General. The
medical officers will assist in the performance of such post mortems
as Dr. Jones may indicate, in order that this great field for patho-
logical investigation may be explored for the benefit of the Medical
Department of the Confederate States armies.
'"S. P. Moore, Surgeon-General.'
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
175
"Pursuant to his orders, Dr. Jones, as he tells us, proceeded to
Andersonville, and on September 17th received the following pass:
"' Andersonville, September 17th, 1864.
"'Captain—You will permit Surgeon Joseph Jones, who has
orders from the Surgeon-General, to visit the sick within the stock-
ade that are under medical treatment. Surgeon Jones is ordered
to make certain investigations which may prove useful to his profession.
"'By order of General Winder.
"'Very respectfully,
"'W. S. Winder, A. A. G.
" 'Captain H. WlRZ, Commanding Prison.''
"When we remember that the Surgeon-General had been ap-
prised of the wants of that prison, and that he had overlooked the
real necessities of the prison, shifting the responsibility upon Dr.
White, whom he must have known was totally incompetent, it is
hard to conceive with what devilish mallice, or criminal devotion to
his profession, or reckless disregard of the high duties imposed
upon him—I scarcely know which—he could sit down and delib-
erately pen such a letter of instructions as that given to Dr. Jones.
Was it not enough to have cruelly starved and murdered our sol-
diers? Was it not enough to have sought to wipe out their very
memories by burying them in nameless graves? Was it not
enough to have instituted a system of medical treatment, the very
embodiment of charlatanism? Was it not enough, without adding
to the many other diabolical motives, which must have governed
the perpetrators of these acts, this scientific object, as deliberate
and cold-blooded as one can conceive? The Surgeon-General
could quiet his conscience when the matter was laid before him,
through Colonel Chandler, by endorsing that it was impossible to
send medical officers to take the place of the contract physicians
on duty at Andersonville; yet could select at the same time a dis-
tinguished gentleman of the medical profession and send him to
Andersonville, directing the whole force of surgeons there to render
him every assistance, leaving their multiplied duties for that pur-
pose. Why? Not to alleviate the sufferings of the prisoners; not
to convey to them one ounce more of nutritious food; to make no
suggestions for the improvement of their sanitary condition; for no
purpose of this kind, but, as the letter of instruction itself shows,
for no other purpose than 'that this great field of pathological in-
vestigation may be explored for the benefit of the Medical Depart-
ment of the Confederate armies'! The Andersonville Prison, so
far as the Surgeon-General was concerned, was a mere dissecting-
room, a clinic institute, to be made tributary to the Medical De-
partment of the Confederate armies."
The denunciations of the Judge-Advocate were leveled not
merely against a defenceless prisoner of war, whose papers had
been seized and himself dragged as a witness to this crucifixion of
176
Southern Historical Society Papers.
his native land, but they were sweeping in their character, and were
designed to arraign the humanity, honesty and intelligence of the
Surgeon-General and the entire corps of medical officers of the
Confederate army.
This charge had the desired effect, and was reiterated even by
eminent medical men in the North. Thus the son of the Vice-
President of the United States, Dr. Agustus C. Hamlin, late Medical
Inspector United States Army, Royal Antiquarian, etc., etc., in hia
"Martyria, or Anderson Prison," says:
" Here came a medical officer of the highest rank in the Rebel
army, and one of the most eminent savans of the South, to study the
physiology and philosophy of starvation. The notes of that fearful
clinic are preserved, and may some future day startle the scientific
world with their clearness, their candor, their positive evidence of
the cause of deaths. Thus the scalpel silences the argument, the
reasoning of sophistry."
A similar statement has been made by Dr. Austin Flint, Jr., in
his recent work on the "Physiology of Man."
It was clearly demonstrated in my report that diarrhoea, dysen-
tery, scurvy and hospital gangrene were the diseases which caused
the mortality at Andersonville. And it was still farther shown that
this mortality was referable, in no appreciable degree, to either the
character of the soil, or waters, or the conditions of climate. The
effects of salt meat and farinaceous food, without fresh vegetables,
were manifest in the great prevalence of scurvy. The scorbutic
condition thus induced modified the course of every disease, poi-
soned every wound, however slight, and lay at the foundation of
those obstinate and .exhausting diarrhoeas and dysenteries which
swept off thousands of these unfortunate men. By a long and
painful investigation of the diseases of these prisoners, supported
by numerous post mortem examinations, I demonstrated conclu-
sively that scurvy induced nine-tenths of the deaths. Not only
were the deaths registered as due to unknown causes, to apoplexy,
to anascarca, and to debility, directly traceable to scurvy and its
effects; and not only was the mortality in small-pox and pneumo-
nia and typhoid fever, and in all acute diseases, more than doubled
by the scorbutic complaint, but even these all but universal and
deadly bowel affections arose from the same causes, and derived
their fatal characters from the same conditions which produced the
scurvy. It has been well established by the observations of Blanc,
Pare, Lind, Woodall, Huxham, Hunter, Trotter and others that
this scorbutic condition of the system, especially in crowded camps,
ships, hospitals and beleagured cities is most favorable to the origin
and spread of fatal ulcers and hospital gangrene.
By the official reports of the medical officers of both the English
and French armies, during the Crimean war, it was conclusively
shown that, notwithstanding the extraordinaTy exertions of these
powerful nations, holding undisputed sway of both land and sea,
scurvy and a scorbutic condition of the blood increased to a fearful
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
177
degree the mortality, not only of gunshot wounds, but of all dis-
eases, and especially of pneumonia, diarrhoea and dysentery. I
have recorded numerous incontrovertible facts to show that the
scorbutic ulcers and hospital gangrene, and the accidents from
vaccination arising at Andersonville, were by no means new in the
history of medicine, and that the causes which induced these dis-
tressing affections have been active in all wars and sieges, and
amongst all armies and navies.
In truth, these men at Andersonville were in the condition of a
crew at sea—confined on a foul ship, upon salt meat, and unvary-
ing food, and without fresh vegetables. Not only so, but these un-
fortunate prisoners were like men forcibly confined and crowded
upon a ship tossed about on a stormy ocean—without a rudder,
without a compass, without a guiding star, and without an appa-
rent boundary or end to their voyage; and they reflected in their
steadily increasing miseries the distressed condition and waning
fortunes of a desolated and bleeding country, which was compelled,
injustice to her own unfortunate sons, to hold their men in this
most distressing captivity.
The Federal prisoners received the same rations, in kind, quality
and amount, issued to Confederate soldiers in the field. These ra-
tions were, during the last eighteen months of the war, insufficient,
and without that variety of fresh meat and vegetables, which would
ward off scurvy, from soldiers as well as prisoners. As far as my
experience extended, no body of troops could be confined exclu-
sively to the Confederate rations of 1864 and 1865, without mani-
testing symptoms of the scurvy.
The Confederate rations grew worse and worse as .the war pro-
gressed, and as portion after portion of the most fertile regions of
the Confederate States were overrun and desolated by the Federal
armies. In the straitened condition of the Confederate States the
support of an army of one hundred thousand prisoners, forced on
their hands by a relentless policy, was a great and distressing bur-
den, which consumed their scant resources, burdened their rotten
lines of railroad, and exhausted the overtaxed energies of the entire
country, crowded with refugees from their desolated homes.
The Confederate authorities charged with the exchange of prisoners
used every effort in their power, consistent with their views of
national honor and rectitude, to effect an exchange of all prisoners
in their hands, and to establish and maintain definite rules by
which all prisoners of war might be continuously exchanged as
soon as possible after capture.
Whatever the feelings of resentment on the part of the Confede-
rates may have been against those who were invading and desolating
their native land, which had been purchased by the blood of their
ancestors from the English and Indians, the desire for -the speedy
exchange and return of the great army of veterans held captives in
Northern prisons was earnest and universal, and this desire for
speedy and continuous exchange on the part of the Government,
5
178 Southern Historical Society Papers.
as well as on the part of the people, sprang not merely from motives
of compassion for their unfortunate kindred and fellow-soldiers, but
also from the dictates of that policy which would exchange on the
part of a weak and struggling people, a large army. of prisoners
(consumers and non-combatants, requiring an army for their safe
keeping) for an army of tried veterans.
Apart from the real facts of the case, it is impossible to conceive
that any government in the distressed and struggling state of the
Confederacy, could deliberately advocate any policy which would
deprive it of a large army of veterans, and compel it to waste its
scant supplies, already insufficient for the support of its struggling
and retreating armies.
And the result has shown that the destruction of the Confederate Gov-
emment was accomplished as much by the persistent retention in captivity
of the Confederate soldiers, as by the emancipation and arming of the
Southern slaves, and the employment of European recruits.
After the trial of Wirz, I published a small volume, entitled
" Researches upon Spurious Vaccination, or the Abnormal Phenomena,
accompanying and following vaccination in the Confederate army during
the recent civil war, 1861-1865," in which I examined the charge
that the medical officers of the Confederate army had deliberately
poisoned the Federal prisoners with poisonous vaccine matter.
Copies of this work were sent to several of the most prominent
Generals and medical officers of the Confederate army, with the
request that they would communicate such facts, as were in their
possession, with reference to the sufferings of the Federal and Con-
federate prisoners. The universal testimony was to the effect that
the sufferings of the Federal prisoners was due to causes over which
the Confederate Government had little or no control, and that the
sufferings and mortality amongst the Confederate prisoners confined
in Northern prisons were equally great and deplorable.
From this correspondence, I select the following letter from
General Robert E. Lee:
"Lexington, Va., 15th April, 1867.
"Dr. Joseph Jones :
" Dear Sir—I am much obliged to you for the copy of your
1 Researches on Spurious Vaccination,' which! will place in the library
of the Lexington College. I have read with attention your ex-
amination of the charge made by the United States Military Com-
mission, that the Confederate surgeons poisoned the Federal pris-
oners at Andersonville with vaccine matter. I believe every one
who has investigated the afflictions of the Federal prisoners is of
the opinion that they were incident to their condition as prisoners
of war, and to the distressed state of the whole Southern country,
and I fear they were fully shared by the Confederate prisoners in
Federal prisons.
"Very respectfully,
"Your obedient servant, R. E. Lee."
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 179
It appears, then, from the foregoing statements that the prison at
Andersonville was established with a view to healthfulness of loca-
tion, and that the great mortality which ensued resulted chiefly
from the crowded condition of the stockade, the use of corn bread,
to which the prisoners had not been accustomed, the want of va-
riety in the rations furnished, and the want of medicines and hoe-
pital stores to enable our surgeons properly to treat the sick. As
to the first point, the reply is at hand. The stockade at Anderson-
ville was originally designed for a much smaller number of pri-
soners than were afterwards crowded into it. But prisoners accu-
mulated—after the stoppage of exchange—in Richmond and at
other points; the Dahlgren raid—which had for its avowed object
the liberation of the prisoners, the assassination of President Davis
and his Cabinet, and the sacking of Richmond—warned our autho-
rities against allowing large numbers of prisoners to remain in
Richmond, even if the difficulty of feeding them there was removed;
and the only alternative was to rush them down to Andersonville,
as enough men to guard them elsewhere could not be spared from
the ranks of our armies, which were now everywhere fighting over-
whelming odds. We have a statement from an entirely trustworthy
source that the reason prisoners were not detailed to cut timber
with which to enlarge the stockade and build shelters, is, that this
privilege was granted to a large number of them when the prison
was first established, they giving their parole of honor not to at-
tempt to escape; and that they violated their paroles, threw away their
axes, and spread dismay throughout that whole region by creating the
impression that all of the prisoners had broken loose. This experiment
could not, of course, be repeated, and the rest had to suffer for the
bad faith of these, who not only prevented the detail of any num-
bers of other prisoners for this work, but made way with axes which
could not be replaced. In reference to feeding the prisoners on
corn bread, there has been the loudest complaints and the bitterest
denunciations. They had not been accustomed to such hard fare
as " hog and hominy," and the poor fellows did suffer fearfully
from it. But the Confederate soldiers had the same rations. Our sol-
diers had the advantage of buying supplies and of receiving occa-
sional boxes from home, which the prisoners at Andersonville
could have enjoyed to an even greater extent had the United States
authorities been willing to accept the humane proposition of our
Commissioner of Exchange—to allow each side to send supplies
to their prisoners. But why did not the Confederacy furnish bet-
180
Southern Historical Society Paperi
Cer rations to both our own soldiers and our prisoners? and why
were the prisoners at Andersonville not supplied with wheat bread
instead of corn bread? Answers to these questions may be abun-
dantly found by referring to the orders of Major-General John
Pope, directing his men "to live on the country"; the orders of
General Sherman, in fulfilling his avowed purpose to "make
Georgia howl" as he "smashed things generally" in that "great
march," which left smoking, blackened ruins and desolated fields to
mark his progress; the orders of General Grant to his Lieutenant,
to desolate the rich wheat-growing Valley of Virginia; or the re-
ports of General Sheridan, boasting of the number of barns he had
burned, the mills he had destroyed, and the large amount of wheat
he had given to the flames, until there was really more truth than
poetry in his boast that he had made the Shenandoah Valley " such a
waste that even a crow flying over would be compelled to carry his
own rations." We have these and other similar orders of Federal
Generals in our archives (we propose to give hereafter a few choice
extracts from them), and we respectfully submit that, for the South
to be abused for not furnishing Federal prisoners with better ra-
tions, when our own soldiers and people had been brought pain-
fully near the starvation point by the mode of warfare which the
Federal Government adopted, is even more unreasonable than the
course of the old Egyptian task-masters, who required their captives
to "make brick without straw." And to the complaints that the
sick did not have proper medical attention, we reply that the hos-
pital at Andersonville was placed on precisely the same footing as the
hospitals for the treatment of our ovm soldiers. We have the law of the
Confederate Congress enjoining this, and the orders of the Surgeon-
General enforcing it. Besides, we have in our archives a large
budget of original orders, telegrams, letters, &c., which passed be-
tween the officers on duty at Andersonville and their superiors.
We have carefully looked through this large mass of papers, and
we have been unable to discover a single sentence indicating that the
prisoners were to be treated otherwise than kindly, or that the hos-
pital was to receive a smaller supply of medicines or of stores than
the hospitals for Confederate soldiers. On the contrary, the whole
of these papers go to show that the prison hospital at Andersonville
was on the same footing precisely with every hospital for sick or
wounded Confederates, and that the scarcity of medicines and hos-
pital stores, of which there was such constant complaint, proceeded
from causes which our authorities could not control.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
181
But we can make the case still stronger. Whose fault was it
that the Confederacy was utterly unable to supply medicines for
the hospitals of either friend or foe ? Most unquestionably the re-
sponsibility rests with the Federal authorities. They not only
declared medicines "contraband of war"—even arresting ladies
coming South for concealing a little quinine under their skirts—but
they sanctioned the custom of their soldiers to sack every drug
store in the Confederacy which they could reach, and to destroy
even the little stock of medicines which the private physician might
chance to have on hand.
When General Milroy banished from Winchester, Virginia, the
family of. Mr. Lloyd Logan, because the General (and his wife)
fancied his elegantly furnished mansion for headquarters, he not
only forbade their carrying with them a change of raiment, and
refused to allow Mrs. Logan to take one of her spoons with which
to administer medicine to a sick child, but he most emphatically
prohibited their carrying a small medicine chest, or even a few phials of
medicine which the physician had prescribed for immediate use. Pos-
sibly some ingenious casuist may defend this policy; but who will
defend at the bar of history the refusal of the Federal authorities
to accept Judge Ould's several propositions to allow surgeons from
either side to visit and minister to their own men in-prison—to
allow each to furnish medicines, &c., to their prisoners in the hands
of the other—and finally to purchase in the North, for gold, cotton,
or tobacco, medicines for the exclusive use of Federal prisoners in the
South ? Well might General Lee have said to President Davis,
in response to expressions of bitter disappointment when he re-
ported the failure of his efforts to bring about an exchange of pris-
oners: " We have done everything in our power to mitigate the suffering of
prisoners, and there is no just cause for a sense of further responsibility on
our part." Dr. R. Randolph Stevenson, who was for most of the
time surgeon in charge at Andersonville, has in MS. a large volume
on this whole subject, and treats fully the diseases at Andersonville,
their causes, and their mortality. He has kindly tendered us the
free use of his MS. in the preparation of this paper, but we do not
feel that it would be right to anticipate the publication of his book
(which it is hoped will not be long delayed) by full quotations
from it. We give, however, several specimens of the character of
the papers to which reference is made above:
182
Southern' Historical Society Papers.
[Copy.]
Surgeon-General's Office,
Richmond, Va., September 12,1864.
Sir—You are instructed to assign the medical officers now on
duty with the sick prisoners at Andersonville, Georgia, to the points
that have been selected for the accommodation of the prisoners.
All the sick whose lives will not be endangered by transportation
will be removed. The medical officers selected will be required to
accompany the sick. You will visit each station and see that such
arrangements are made for the sick as their wants may require, and
use all the means for their comfort that the Government can fur-
nish.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
S. P. Moore, Surgeon-General C. S. A.
To I. H. "White, Surgeon C. S. M. Prison Hospital, Andersonville, Ga.
[Copy.]
Office of Surgeon in charge C. S. M. Hospital,
Andersonville, Ga., November 4,1864.
Colonel—Under orders from Brigadier-General John H. Winder^
I respectfully request that W. H. H. Phelps, of your post, be de_
tailed and ordered to report to me for assignment to duty as pur
chasing agent of vegetables and anti-scorbutics for the sick and
wounded prisoners now under my charge at this place.
Yours truly,
R. R. Stevenson, Surgeon in Charge.
To Colonel Leon Von Zinken, Commanding Post Columbus, Ga.
Endorsements.
S. M. Bemiss, Acting Medical Director.
Leon Von Zinken, Colonel Commanding Post.
[Copy.]
Office Chief Surgeon C. S. M. Prisons, Georgia and Alabama.
Camp Lawton, Ga., November 9,1864.
Sir— * * * We have been quite busy for the last two days in
selecting the sick to be exchanged. After getting them all ready
at the depot, we were notified by telegraph not to send them, and
had to take them back to the stockade. Many of these poor fellows,
already broken down in health, will succumb through despair.
********c *
I am, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
I. H. White, Chief Surgeon.
To Surgeon R. R. Stevenson, in charge Post, Andersonville, Ga.
Approved:
Approved:
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
183
A strong point illustrating the position that the sickness among
the prisoners was from causes which the Confederate authorities
could not control, is the fact that the Confederate guard, officers
and surgeons were attacked by the same maladies, and that the
deaths among them were about as numerous, in propotion to their
numbers, as among the prisoners themselves. Dr. Jones states in his
report, that the deaths among the Confederates at Andersonville
from typhoid and malarial fevers were more numerous than among the
prisoners, and Dr. Stevenson makes the following statement:
"The guards on duty here were similarly affected with gangrene
and scurvy. Captain Wirz had gangrene in an old wound, which
he had received in the Battle of Manassas, in 1861, and was absent
from the post (Andersonville) some four weeks on surgeon's certifi-
cate. (In his trial certain Federal witnesses swore to his killing certain
prisoners in August, 1864, when he( Wirz) was actually at that time absent
on sick leave in Augusta, Georgia.) General Winder had gangrene of
the face, and was forbidden by his surgeon (I. H. White) to go in-
side the stockade. Colonel G. C. Gibbs, commandant of the post,
had gangrene of the face, and was furloughed under the certificate
of Surgeons Wible and Gore, of Americus, Georgia. The writer
of this_can fully'attest to effects of gangrene and scurvy contracted
whilst on duty there; their marks will follow him to his grave.
The Confederate graveyard at Andersonville will fully prove that
the mortality among the guards was almost as great in proportion
to the number of men as among the Federals."
Again:
"For a period of some three months (July, August and Septem-
her, 1864) Captain Wirz and those few faithful medical officers of
the post were engaged night and day in ministering to the wants
of the sick and dying, and caring for the dead. So arduous were
their duties that many of the medical officers were taken sick and
had to abandon their post. In fact the pestilence assumed such
fearful proportions that Medical-Director S. H. Stout could hardly
induce such medical men as could be spared from the pressing
wants of the service (Georgia was at this time one vast hospital) to
go to Andersonville.
" It was this horrible condition of the captives that prompted Col-
onel Ould, the Confederate Commissioner of Exchange, to make
his repeated efforts in the interest of humanity to get the Federal
Government (as they had refused all further exchanges) to send
medicines, supplies of clothing, &c. (offering to pay for them in
fold or cotton), for the exclusive use of the Federal prisoners, to
e dispensed, if desired, by Federal surgeons sent for that purpose."
184
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Let us follow the preceding statements by the following
TESTIMONY OF THE PRISONERS THEMSELVES.
In reference to the recent discussion in Congress, an editor in
■Mr. Blaine's own State (Maine) says:
" In all the talk that is being made about Andersonville prison
by agitators and politicians who hope to profit by stirring up dead
animosities, it is noticeable that no evidence is produced from men
who were prisoners at that place. In order to get the views and
experiences of an actutual prisoner, we called a few days ago upon
Mr. John P. Frost, whose business place is a stone's throw from our
office. Mr. Frost says:
"'I was orderly of Captain Fogler's company, Nineteenth Maine;
was made prisoner at Petersburg in June, 1864, and was at Ander-
sonville eleven months, or until the war ended. There was suffer-
ing among the men who were sick, from the lack of medicines and
delicacies, but all had their rations as fully and regularly as did
the Confederate guard. There were times of scarcity, when supply
trains were cut off by the Federal forces; and at such times I have
known the guard to offer to buy the prisoners' rations, being very
short themselves. On these occasions the guards would take a
portion of their scanty supplies from the people of the country to
feed the prisoners. The Rebels were anxious to effect an exchange
and get the prisoners off their hands, but it was reported and be-
lieved among the prisoners that the Federal authorities refused.
At one time I was with a detail of three thousand prisoners who
were marched two hundred miles to the coast to be exchanged, but
it was declined by the Federal authorities, as was reported, and we
marched back with no enviable feelings. I believe that the larger
share of the responsibility for the suffering in that prison belonged
to our own Government. Wirz was harsh and cruel to the pri-
soners, and deserved hanging. But I believe the Confederate au-
thorities did as well as they could for the prisoners in the matter
of clothing, provisions and medicines.'
"This, let it be remembered, is not the talk of a designing poli-
tician who stayed safely at home, but the testimony of a soldier of
good record, from an actual experience of eleven months in Ander-
sonville prison."
The following resolutions were adopted by the prisoners:
[Copy.]
" Resolutions that were adopted by the Federal prisoners who
had been confined at Andersonville, and dated Savannah, Septem-
ber 23, 1864" (see United States Sanitary Commission Memoirs,
by Professor A. Flint, New York):
* * * "Resolved, That while allowing the Confederate Gov-
vernment all due praise for the attention paid to the prisoners,
numbers of our men are consigned to early graves," etc.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
185
"Resolved, That ten thousand of our brave comrades have descended
into untimely graves, caused by difference in climate, food, etc.
And whereas these difficulties still remain, we would declare our
firm belief that unless we are speedily exchanged we have no other
alternative but to share the same lamentable fate of our comrades.
* * Must this thing still go on? Is there no hope ? * * * *
"Resolved, * * * We have suffered patiently, and are still
willing to suffer, if by so doing we can benefit the country; but we
most respectfully beg leave to say that we are not willing to suffer
to further the ends of any party or clique to the detriment of our
families and our country.
(Signed) " P. Bradley,
"Chairman of Committee in behalf of Prisoners."
We give the following full extract from the testimony of Prescott
Tracy, of the Eighty-second Regiment New York Volunteers, be-
fore the United States Sanitary Commission, and published in their
report:
"As far as we saw General Winder and Captain Wirz, the former was
kind and considerate in his manners, the latter harsh, though not without
kindly feelings.
"It is a melancholy and mortifying fact that some of our trials came
from our own men. At Belle Isle and Andersonville there were among
us a gang of desperate men, ready to prey on their fellows. Not only
thefts and. robberies, but even murders were committed. Affairs became
so serious at Camp Sumter that an appeal was made to General Winder,
who authorized an arrest and trial by a criminal court. Eighty-six were
arrested, and six were hung, besides others who were severely punished.
These proceedings effected a marked change for the better.
" Some few weeks before being released I was ordered to act as
clerk in the hospital. This consists simply of a few scattered trees
and fly tents, and is in charge of Dr. White, an excellent and con-
siderate man, with very limited means, but doing all in his power for his
patients. He has twenty-five assistants, besides those detailed to examine
for admittance to the hospital. This examination was made in a
small stockade attached to the main one, to the inside door of
which the sick came or were brought by their comrades, the num-
ber to be removed being limited. Lately, in consideration of the
rapidly increasing sickness, it was extended to one hundred and
fifty daily. That this was too small an allowance is shown by the
fact that the deaths within our stockade were from thirty to forty
a day. I have seen one hundred and fifty bodies waiting passage
to the ' dead house,' to be buried with those who died in hospital.
The average of deaths through the earlier months was thirty a day.
At the time I left, the average was over one hundred and thirty,
and one day the record showed one hundred and forty-six.
"The proportion of deaths from starvation, not including those
consequent on the diseases originating in the character and
186
Southern Historical Society Papers.
limited quantity of food—such as diarrhoea, dysentery and scurvy—
I cannot state; but, to the best of my knowledge, information and
belief, there were scores every month. We could at any time point
out many for whom such a fete was inevitable, as they lay or feebly
walked, mere skeletons, whose emaciation exceeded the examples
given in Leslie's Illustrated for June 18,1864. For example: in
some cases the inner edges of the two bones of the arms, between
the elbow and the wrist, with the intermediate blood vessels, were
plainly visible when held toward the light. The ration, in quan-
tity, was perhaps barely sufficient to sustain life, and the cases of
starvation were generally those whose stomachs could not retain
what had become entirely indigestible.
" For a man to find, on waking, that his comrade by his side was
dead, was an occurrence too common to be noted. I have seen
death in almost all the forms of the hospital and battle-field, but
the daily scenes in Camp Sumter exceeded in the extremity of
misery all my previous experience.
"The work of burial is "performed by our own men, under guards and
orders, twenty-five bodies being placed in a single pit, without
head-boards, and the sad duty performed with indecent haste.
Sometimes our men were rewarded for this work with a few sticks
of firewood, and I have known them to quarrel over a dead body
for the job.
"Dr. White is able to give the patients a diet but little better than the
prison rations—a little flour porridge, arrow-root, whiskey, and wild or
hog tomatoes. In the way of medicine, I saw nothing but cdmphor,
whiskey, and a decoction of some kind of bark—white oak, I think. He
often expressed his regret that he had not more medicines."
We beg leave to call especial attention to the passages in the
above extract which we have italicised, and which are very signifi-
cant in testimony which was gotten up to prove " Rebel barbarity."
Another Andersonville prisoner testifies as follows before the
United States Congressional Committee:
"We never had any difficulty in getting vegetables; we used to
buy almost anything that we wanted of the sergeant who called the
roll mornings and nights. His name,was Smith, I think; he was
Captain Wirz's chief sergeant. We were divided into messes, eight
in each mess; my mess used to buy from two to four bushels of
sweet potatoes a week, at the rate of fifteen dollars Confederate
money per bushel. [They got twenty dollars of Confederate money
for one dollar of greenbacks in those days.] Turnips were bought
at twenty dollars a bushel. We had to buy our own soap for
washing our own persons and clothing; we bought meat and eggs
and buiscuit. There seemed to be an abundance of those things;
they were in the market constantly. That sergeant used to come
down with a wagon-load of potatoes at a time, bringing twenty or
twenty-five bushels at a load sometimes."
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
187
We will next introduce the following
statement of general j. d. imboden.
It touches on points which we have already discussed, and anti-
cipates some others which we shall afterwards give more in detail.
But it is a clear and very interesting narrative of an important eye-
witness; and we will not mutilate the paper, hut will give it entire
in its original form:
Kichmond, Va., January 12th, 1876.
General D. H. Maury,
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Southern Historical Society:
General—At your request I cheerfully reduce to writing the facts
stated by me in our conversation this morning, for preservation in the
archives of your society, and as bearing upon a historical question—
the treatment of prisoners during our late civil war, which it seems
certain politicians of the vindictive type in the North, led by a
Presidential aspirant, have deemed it essential to their party sue-
cess to thrust upon the country again in the beginning of this our
centennial year.
It is to be hoped that after a lapse of ten years since we of the
South grounded our arms, passion has so far yielded to patriotism,
reason, and sentiments of a common humanity in the minds and
hearts .of the great mass of intelligent people at the North, that all
the facts relating to the great struggle between the States of the
North and South may he calmly presented, if not for final decision
by this generation, at least to aid impartial mankind in the future
to judge correctly between the conquering and the vanquished parties
to the contest; and to fix the responsibility where it attaches, to
the one side or the other, or to both, for sufferings inflicted that
were not necessarily incident to a state of war between contending
Christian powers.
I now proceed to give you a simple historical narrative of facts
within my personal knowledge, that I believe have never been pub-
lished, although at the request of Judge Robert Ould, of this city,
who was the Confederate Commissioner for the Exchange of Pri-
soners, I wrote them out in 1866, and furnished the MS. to a re-
porter of the New York Herald. But the statement never appeared
in that journal, for the reason assigned by the reporter, that the
conductors of the Herald deemed the time inopportune for such a
publication. My MS. was retained by them, and I have never
heard of it since.
It is perhaps proper to state how I came to be connected with
the prison service of the Confederate States. An almost fatal attack
of typhoid fever, in the summer and fall of 1864, so impaired my
physical condition that I was incapable of performing efficiently
the arduous duties of my position as a cavalry officer on active
service in the mountains of Virginia, and therefore I applied to the
188
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Confederate War Office for assignment to some light duty farther
south till the milder weather of the ensuing spring would enable me
to take my place at the head of the brave and hardy mountaineers
of the Valley and western counties of Virginia I had the honor to
command. General R. E. Lee kindly urged my application in
Serson, and procured an order directing me to report to Brigadier-
eneral J. H. Winder, then Commissary of Prisoners, whose head-
quarters were at Columbia, South Carolina. I left my camp in the
Shenandoah Valley late in December, 1864, and reached Columbia,
I think, on the 6th of January, 1865. General Winder immediately
ordered me to the command of all the prisons west of the Savannah
river, with leave to establish my temporary headquarters at Aiken,
South Carolina, on account of the salubrity of its climate. I can-
not fix dates after this with absolute precision, because all my offi-
cial papers fell into the hands of the United States military authori-
ties after the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston to General
Sherman; but for all essential purposes my memory enables me
to detail events in consecutive order, and approximately to assign
each to its proper date.
A few days after receiving my orders from General Winder, I
reached Aiken, and visited Augusta, Georgia, and established an office
there in charge of a staff officer, Lieutenant George W. McPhail,
for prompt and convenient communication with the prisons of the
department.
About my first official act was to dispatch Lieutenant-Colonel
Bondurant on a tour of inspection of the prisons in my department,
with instructions to report fully on their condition and management.
Whilst Colonel Bondurant was on this service, I was forced to quit
Aiken by the approach of Kilpatrick's cavalry, moving on the flank
of Sherman's army. A detachment of this cavalry reached Aiken
within four hours after I left it. I then made Augusta my per-
manent headquarters, residing, however, a few miles out on the
Georgia railroad at Berzelia. Colonel Bondurant promptly dis-
charged the duty assigned to him, and on the state of facts presented
in his reports, I resolved to keep up but two prisons, the one at
Andersonville and the other at Eufaula. I did this for economical
reasons, and because it was easier to supply two posts than four or
five so widely scattered; and besides the whole number of prisoners
in the department then did not exceed 8,000 or 9,000—the great
majority, about 7,500, being at Andersonville.
Before I received Colonel Bondurant's report, General Winder
died, when, having no superior in command, I reported directly to
the Secretary of War at Richmond. Communication with the War
Office was at that period very slow and difficult. Great military
operations were in progress. General Sherman was moving through
the Carolinas. The Federal cavalry under Kilpatrick with Sherman,
and Stoneman co-operating from Tennessee, almost suspended mail
facilities between Georgia and Virginia, and the telegraph was
almost impracticable, because the line was taxed almost to its
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
189
capacity in connection with active military operations. After the
death of General Winder, I made repeated efforts to establish com-
munication with the Secretary of War, and with Commissioner
Ould, and obtain some instructions in regard to the prisons and
prisoners under my charge. All these efforts failed, at least I re-
ceived no reply by wire, mail or messenger to any of my inquiries.
A newspaper fell into my hands in which, as an item of news, I
saw it stated that Brigadier-General Gideon J. Pillow had been ap-
pointed General Winder's successor. General Pillow was then at
Macon, but had received no official notification of his appointment,
and I having none, could not, and did not, recognize him as entitled
to command me, but cheerfully, as will appear further on, consulted
him in regard to all important matters of administration.
Colonel Bondurant's report on the Andersonville prison, taken in
connection with written applications from Captain Wirz which
I had received, suggesting measures for the amelioration of the
condition of the prisoners, strongly endorsed and approved by
Colonel Gibbs, an old United States army officer, a cultivated, urbane
and humane gentleman, commanding the post, made it apparent
to my mind that I ought to make a personal examination into its
condition. This was no easy undertaking, as I had to travel over
almost impassible country roads through the desolated belt of
country traversed by Sherman's army, in its march through
Georgia, for a distance of over seventy miles, before I could reach
a railroad to take me to Andersonville. I made the journey, how-
ever, in February.
On my arrival at Andersonville, unannounced and unexpected,
I made an immediate personal inspection of everything—not only
as then existing, but with the aid of the post and prison record, I
went back several months, to the period when the mortality was so
great, to ascertain, if possible, its cause.
The guard then on duty consisted of a brigade of Georgia State
troops, under command of Brigadier-General Gartrell. The post
was commanded by Colonel Gibbs, who, as before stated, was an
old army officer ; and the prison proper was under the immediate
command of Captain Wirz, who was tried and executed at Wash-
ington, in 1865, most unjustly, as the verdict of impartial history
will establish; just as will be the case in regard to Mrs. Surratt s
horrible murder.
The officers first named, and all others on duty there, afforded
me every facility to prosecute my investigations to the fullest extent,
and were prompt to point out to me measures of relief that were
practicable. I went within the stockade and conversed with many
of the prisoners. I found the prison and its inmates in a bad con-
dition: not as bad as our enemies have represented, yet unfortu-
nately bad. The location of the stockade was good, and had been
judiciously chosen for healtlifulness. It occupied two gently sloping
hillsides, with a clear flowing brook dividing them; and being in
the sandy portion of the pine woods of Georgia, it was free from
190 Southern Historical Society Papers.
local malaria, and had the benefit of a genial and healthy climate.
It was of sufficient capacity for from 8,000 to 9,000 prisoners, without
uncomfortable crowding. The great mortality of the previous year,
I have no doubt, resulted in part from an excess of. prisoners over
the fair capacity of the stockade, and from the lack of sufficient
shelter from the sun and rain. Before my arrival at Andersonvlle,
Captain Wirz had, by a communication forwarded through Colonel
Gibbs, and approved by him, called my attention to the great de-
flciency of shelter in the stockade, and asked authority to supply
it. He had made a similar application, I was informed, to General
Winder some time before, but it had not been acted on before the
General's death. In consequence of this want of buildings and
shedding within the stockade, the prisoners had excavated a great
many subterranean vaults and chambers in the hillsides, which
many of them occupied, to the injury of their health, as these
places were not sufficiently ventilated.
The -prisoners were very badly off for clothing, shoes and hats,
and complained of this destitution, and of the quantity and kind
of rations—corn bread and bacon chiefly—issued to them. I found,
what I anticipated, that we had no clothing to give them. Many
of the men on duty as guards were in rags, and either barefooted,
or had their feet protected with worn out shoes held together
with strings and thongs, and in lieu of overcoats many had to pro-
tect themselves against inclement weather with a tattered blanket
drawn over the shoulders. Our own men being in this destitute
condition, it can be well understood that we could not supply a
large demand for clothing prisoners.
They also suffered greatly, and there had been great mortality,
for want of suitable medicines to treat the diseases incident to their
condition with any considerable success. From this cause, and
this alone, I have no doubt thousands died at Andersonville in
1864, who would be living to-day if the United States Government
had not declared medicines contraband of war, and by their close
blockade of our coasts deprived us of an adequate supply of those
remedial agents that therapeutical science and modern chemistry
have produced for the amelioration of suffering humanity. The
object of this barbarous decree against the Confederacy, it is now
well understood, was to expose our soldiers, as well as our wives,
children and families, without protection or relief, to the diseases
common in our climate, and to make us an easy prey to death, ap-
proach us in what form he might; not foreseeing, perhaps, that
when the grim monster stalked through our prisons he would find
not alone Confederates for his victims, but the stalwart soldiers of the
Government which had invoked his aid against us. At the time
of my inspection, there was a good deal of sickness amongst the
prisoners, but not a large percentage of mortality. Our medical
officers, even with their scanty pharmacopse, gave equal attention
to sick friends and enemies, to guard and to prisoners alike.
I investigated particularly the food question, and found that no
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
191
discrimination was made in the issue of rations to guards and pri-
soners. In quantity, quality and kind the daily supply was ex-
actly the same, man for man. It is true it was very scanty, con-
sisting of a third or half a pound of meat a day, and usually a pint
or pint and a half of corn meal, with salt. Occasionally there were
small supplies of wheat flour, and sometimes a very few potatoes,
but they were rarely to be had. Other vegetables we had none.
General Lee's army in Virginia lived but little if any better. The
food was sound and wholesome, but meagre in quantity, and not
such in kind and variety as Federal soldiers had been accustomed
to draw from their abundant commissariat. Our soldiers did very
well on "hog and hominy," and rarely complained. The Federals
thought it horrible to have nothing else, and but a scanty supply
of this simple food. Great scoundrelism was detected amongst the
prisoners in cheating each other. They were organized in compa-
nies of a hundred each in the stockade, and certain men of their
own selection were permitted to come outside the stockade and
draw the rations for their fellows, and cook them. Many of these
rascals would steal and secrete a part of the food, and as opportu-
nity offered sell it at an exorbitant rate to their famished comrades.
Shortly before I went to Andersonville six of these villains were
detected, and by permission of the prison authorities the prisoners
themselves organized a court of their own, tried them for the offence,
found them guilty, and hung them inside the stockade. This event
led to a change in the mode of issuing rations, which precluded
the possibility of such a diabolical traffic in stolen food.
Bad as was the physical condition of the prisoners, their mental
depression was worse, and perhaps more fatal. Thousands of them
collected around me in the prison, and begged me to tell them
whether there was any hope of release by an exchange of prisoners.
Some time before that President Davis had permitted three of the
Andersonville prisoners to go to Washington to try and change the
determination of their Government and procure a resumption of
exchanges. The prisoners knew of the failure of this mission when
I was at Andersonville, and the effect was to plunge the great ma-
jority of them into the deepest melancholy, home-sickness and
despondency. They believed their confinement would continue
till the end of the war, and many of them looked upon that as a
period so indefinite and remote that they believed that they would
die of their sufferings before the day of release came. I explained
to them the efforts we had made and were still making to effect an
exchange. A Federal captain at Andersonville, learning that I had
a brother of the same rank (Captain F. M. Imboden, of the Eigh-
teenth Virginia Cavalry) incarcerated at Johnson's Island, in Lake
Erie, where he was in a fair way to die from harsh treatment and
a lack of food, represented to me that he had powerful connections
at Washington, and thought that if I would parole him he could
effect his exchange for my brother, and perhaps influence a deci-
sion on the general question of exchanges. He agreed to return in
192
Southern Historical Society Papers.
thirty days if he failed. I accepted his terms, and with some diffi-
culty got him through the lines. He failed, and returned within
our lines, but just in time to be set at liberty again, as will appear
further on. I regret that I have forgotten his name, and have no
record of it.
I have already alluded to Captain Wirz's recommendation to put
up more shelter. I ordered it, and thereafter daily a hundred or
more prisoners were paroled and set to work in the neighboring
forest. In the course of a fortnight comfortable log houses, with
floors and good chimneys—for which the prisoners made and burnt
the brick—were erected for twelve or fifteen hundred men, and
were occupied by those in feeble health, who were withdrawn from
the large stockade and separated from the mass of prisoners. This
same man (Captain Wirz), who was tried and hung as a murderer,
warmly urged the establishment of a tannery and shoemaker's shop,
informing me that there were many men amongst the prisoners
skilled in these trades, and that some of them knew a process of
very rapidly converting hides into tolerably good leather. There
were thousands of hides at Andersonville, from the young cattle
butchered during the previous summer and fall, whilst the country
yet contained such animals. I ordered this, too; and a few weeli
later many of the barefooted prisoners were supplied with rough, but
comfortable shoes; one of tnem made and sent to me a pair that
surprised me, both by the quality of the leather and the style of the
shoes. Another suggestion came from the medical staff of the post
that I ordered to he at once put into practice: it was to brew corn
beer for those suffering from scorbutic taint. The corn meal—or
even whole corn—being scalded in hot water and a mash made of
it, a little yeast was added to promote fermentation, and in a few
days a sharp acid beverage was produced, by no means unpalatable,
and very wholesome. Captain Wirz entered warmly into this en-
terprise. I mention these facts to show that he was not the mon-
ster he was afterwards represented to be, when his blood was called
for by infuriate fanaticism. I would have proved these facts if I
had been permitted to testify on his trial after I was summoned
before the court by the United States, and have substantiated them
by the records of the prison and of my own headquarters, if these
records were not destroyed, suppressed or mutilated at the time.
But after being kept an hour in the court-room, during an earnest
and whispered consultation between the President of the court and
the Judge-Advocate, and their examination of a great mass of
papers, the contents of which I could not see, I was politely dis-
missed without examination, and told I would be called at another
time; but I never was, and thus Wirz was deprived of the benefit
of my evidence. My personal acquaintance with Captain Wirz
was very slight, but the facts I have alluded to satisfied me that he
was a humane man, and was selected as a victim to the bloody
moloch of 1865, because he was a foreigner and comparatively
friendless. I put these facts on record now to vindicate, as far as
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
193
they go, his memory from the monstrous crimes falsely charged
against him. No such charges ever reached me, whilst I was in a
position to have made it a duty to investigate them, as those upon
which he was tried and executed. He may have committed grave
offences, but if so, I never knew it, and do not believe it.
After having given my sanction and orders to carry out every
suggestion of others, or that occurred to my own mind for the
amelioration of the condition of the prisoners as far as we possessed
the means, and having issued stringent orders to preserve discipline
amongst the guarding troops, and subordination, quiet and good
order amongst the prisoners, I went to Macon to confer with Gene-
ral Howell Cobb and General Gideon J. Pillow as to the proper
course for me tq pursue in the event of our situation in Georgia
becoming more precarious, or the chance of communication with
the Government at Richmond being entirely cut off, which ap-
peared to be an almost certain event in the very near future. After
a full discussion of the situation, there was perfect accord in our
views. General Pillow was expecting to receive official notice of
his appointment as Commissary of Prisons, in which event he
would become my commanding officer. General Cobb commanded
the State troops of Georgia, and I was dependent on him for a
sufficient force to discharge my duties and hold the prisoners in
custody. There was eminent propriety, therefore, in our conferring
with each other, and acting harmoniously in whatever course might
be adopted. General Pillow took a leading part in the discussion,
and in shaping the conclusions to which we came. In the absence
of official information or instructions from Richmond, we acted
upon what the newspapers announced as a recently established ar-
rangement with General Grant, which was, in effect, that either
side might deliver to the other on parole, but without exchange,
any prisoners they chose, taking simply a receipt for them. We
had no official information of any such agreement from our Gov-
ernment, but it was regarded by us as very probably true, and we
decided to act upon it. The difficulty of supplying the prisoners
with even a scanty ration of corn meal and bacon was increasing
daily. The cotton States had never been a grazing country, and
therefore we had few or no animals left there for food, except hogs.
These States were not a large wheat producing region, and for that
reason we had to depend mainly on corn for bread. Salt was
scarce and hard to obtain. Vegetables we had none for army pur-
poses. We were destitute of clothing, and of the materials and
machinery to manufacture it in sufficient quantities for our own
soldiers and people. And the Federal Government, remaining deaf
to all appeals for exchange of prisoners, it was manifest that the
incarceration of their captured soldiers could no longer be of any
possible advantage to us, since to relieve their sufferings that gov-
ernment would take no step, if it involved a similar release of our
men in their hands. Indeed, it was manifest that they looked
upon it as an advantage to them and an injury to us to leave their
6
194 Southern Historical Society Papers.
f risoners in our hands to eat out our little remaining substance,
n view of all these facts and considerations, Generals Cobb and
Pillow and I were of one mind that the best thing that could be
done was, without further efforts to get instructions from Rich-
mond, to make arrangements to send off all the prisoners we had
at Eufaula and Andersonville to the nearest accessible Federal post,
and having paroled them not to bear arms till regularly exchanged,
to deliver them unconditionally, simply taking a receipt on descrip-
tive rolls of the men thus turned over. .
In pursuance of this determination, and as soon as the necessary
arrangements could be made, a detachment of about 1,500 men,
made up from the two prisons, was sent to Jackson, Mississippi, by
rail and delivered to their friends. General " Dick " Taylor at that
time commanded the department through which these prisoners
were sent to Jackson, and objected to any more being sent that
way, on the ground that they would pick up information on the
route detrimental to our military interests. The only remaining
available outlet was at Saint Augustine, Florida, Sherman having
destroyed railway communication with Savannah. Finding that
the prisoners could be sent from Andersonville by rail to the
, Chattahoochie, thence down that river to Florida, near Quincy,
and from Quincy by rail to Jacksonville, within a day's march of
Saint Augustine, it was resolved to open communication with the
Federal commander at the latter place. With that view, some-
where about the middle of March, Captain Rutherford, an intelli-
gent and energetic officer, was sent to Saint Augustine. A few
days after his departure for Florida, he telegraphed from Jackson-
ville, "Send on the prisoners." He had, as he subsequently re-
ported, arranged with the Federal authorities to receive them. At
once all were ordered to be sent forward who were able to bear the
journey. Three days' cooked rations were prepared, and so benefi-
cial to health was the revival of the spirits of these men by the
prospect of once more being at liberty, that I believe all but twelve
or fifteen reported themselves able to go, and did go. The number
sent was over 6,000. Only enough officers and men of the guard
went along to keep the prisoners together, preserve order, and facil-
itate their transportation. To my amazement the officer command-
ing the escort telegraphed back from Jacksonville that the Federal
commandant at Saint Augustine refused to receive and receipt
for the prisoners till he could hear from General Grant, who was
then in front of Petersburg, Virginia, and with whom he could only
communicate by sea along the coast, and asking my instructions
under the circumstances. Acting without the known sanction of
the Government at Richmond, I was afraid to let go the prisoners
without some official acknowledgment of their delivery to the
United States, and knowing that two or three weeks must elapse
before General Grant's will in the premises could be made known,
and it being impossible to subsist our men and the prisoners at
Jacksonville, I could pursue but one course. I ordered their
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 195
return to Andersonville, directing that the reason for this unex-
pected result should be fully explained to them. Provisions were
hastily collected and sent to meet them, and in a few days all were
back in their old quarters. I was not there on their return, but it
was reported to me that their indignation against their Govern-
ment was intense, many declaring their readiness to renounce alle-
giance to it and take up arms with us. The old routine was resumed
at Andersonville, but it was not destined to continue long. '
Before any further communication reached me from Saint Augus-
tine, General Wilson, with a large body of cavalry, approached
Georgia from the West. It was evident that his first objective point
was Andersonville. Again conferring with Generals Cobb and
Pillow, and finding we were powerless to prevent Wilson's reaching
Andersonville, where he would release the prisoners and capture
all our officers and troops there, it was decided without hesitation
again to send the prisoners to Jacksonville and turn them loose, to
make the best of their way to their friends at Saint Augustine. This
was accomplished in a few days, the post at Andersonville was
broken up, the Georgia State troops were sent to General Cobb at
Macon, and in a short time the surrender of General Johnston to
Sherman, embracing all that section of country, the Confederate
prisons ceased to exist, and on the 3d of May, 1865,1 was myself a
prisoner of war on parole at Augusta, Georgia. A few days later I
was sent with other paroled Confederates to Hilton Head, South
Carolina, where I met about 2,000 of the Andersonville prisoners,
who had been sent up from Saint Augustine, to be thence shipped
North. Their condition was much improved. Many of them were
glad to see me, and four days later I embarked with several hun-
dred of them on the steam transport " Thetis " for Fortress Monroe,
and have reason to believe that every man of them felt himself my
friend rather than an enemy.
It has been charged that Mr. Davis, as President of the Confede-
rate States, was responsible for the sufferings of prisoners held in
the South. During my four months' connection with this dis-
agreeable branch of Confederate military service, no communication,
direct or indirect, was ever received by me from Mr. Davis, and, so
far as I remember, the records of the prison contained nothing to
implicate him in any way with its management or administration.
I have briefly alluded to the causes of complaint on the part of
prisoners, and even where these were well founded, I am at a loss
to see how Mr. Davis is to be held responsible before the world for
their existence, till it is proved that he knew of them and failed to
remove delinquent officers.
The real cause of all the protracted sufferings of prisoners North
and South is directly due to the inhuman refusal of the Federal
Government to exchange prisoners of war, a policy that we see
from the facts herein stated was carried so far as to induce a com-
manding officer, at Saint Augustine, to refuse even to receive, and
acknowledge that he had received, over 6,000 men of his own side,
196
Southern Historical Society Papers.
tendered to him unconditionally, from that prison in the South
which, above all others, they charged to have been the scene of un-
usual suffering. The inference is irresistible that this officer felt
that it would he dangerous to his official character to relieve the
Confederacy of the burthen of supporting these prisoners, although
he and his countrymen affected to believe that we were slowly
starving them to death. The policy at Washington was to let
Federal prisoners starve, if the process involved the Confederates
in a similar catastrophe—and " fired the Northern heart."
I have introduced more of my personal movements and actions
into this recital than is agreeable or apparently in good taste, but
it has been unavoidable in making the narrative consecutive and
intelligible, and I trust will be pardoned, even if appearing to
transcend the bounds of becoming modesty. In the absence of all
my official papers relating to these subjects (which I presume were
taken to Washington after I surrendered them, and are still there,
unless it was deemed policy to destroy them when Captain Wirz was
on trial), I have not been able to go into many minute details that
might add interest to the statement, but nothing, I think, to the lead-
ing fact—that the United States refused an unconditional delivery of
so many of its own men, inmates of that prison (Andersonviile),
which they professed then to regard as a Confederate slaughter-pen
and place of intentional diabolical cruelties inflicted on the sick
and helpless. Was this course not a part of a policy of deception
for "firing the Northern heart"? Impartial history will one day
investigate and answer this question. And there we may safely
leave it, with a simple record of the facts.
Very truly, your friend,
J. D. Imboden.
The above documents seem to us to show beyond all controversy
that whatever suffering existed at Andersonviile (and it is freely
admitted that the suffering was terrible), resulted from causes
which were beyond the control of the Confederate Government, and
were directly due to the cold-blooded, cruel policy of the Federal
authorities, which not only refused to exchange prisoners, but re-
jected every overture to mitigate their sufferings.
The Federal Government has had possession of the Confederate
archives for now nearly eleven years. The Confederate leaders and
their friends have been denied all access to those archives, while
partisans on the other side have ransacked them at will in eager
search for every sentence which could be garbled out of its connec-
tion to prove the charges made, with reckless disregard of the truth,
against the " Rebel crew." It is fair to presume that those records
contain no stronger proof of " Rebel cruelty to prisoners " than has
already been brought to light, while some of us are fondly hoping
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
197
that before the next Centennial the people of the South will have
the vindication which the records of the Confederacy afford. The
strongest proof of the charges made against the Confederate Gov -
ernment which has yet been produced from those records is the
report of colonel d. t. chandler, .
which was introduced at the Wirz trial, and upon which the Radical
press has been ringing the charges ever since. It has been recently
thus put in a malignant reply, in a partisan sheet, to Mr. Davis'
letter to Mr. Lyons:
On the 5th day of August, 1864, Colonel Chandler, an officer of
the Confederate army, made a report to the Rebel War Department
regarding the condition of Andersonville prison. He had made
one six months before, but no attention had been paid to it. In
his last report he said:
"My duty requires me respectfully to recommend a change in the
officer in the command of the post, Brigadier-General J. H. Win-
der, and the substitution in his place of some one who unites both
energy and good judgment with some feeling of humanity and
consideration for the welfare and comfort (so far as it is consistent
with their safe-keeping) of the vast number of unfortunates placed
under his control: some one who at least will not advocate deliberately
and in cold blood the propriety of leaving them in their present condition
until their number has been sufficiently reduced by death to make the pre-
sent arrangement suffice for their accommodation; who will not con-
sider it a matter of self-laudation and boasting that he has never
been inside of the stockade, a place the horrors of which it is difficult
to describe, and which is a disgrace to civilization, the condition of
which he might, by the exercise of a little energy and judgment,
even with the limited means at his command, have considerably
improved.
" D. T. Chandler,
"Aisistant Adjutant and Inspector-General."
This report was forwarded to the Secretary of War with the
following endorsement:
"Adjutant and Inspector-General's Office,
"August 18, 1864.
" Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War. The condition
of the prison at Andersonville is a reproach to us as a nation. The
Engineer and Ordnance Departments were applied to, and authorized
their issue, and I so telegraphed General Winder. Colonel Chan-
dler's recommendations are coincided in.
" By order of General Cooper.
"R. H. Chilton,
11 Assistant Adjutant and Inspector-General."
198
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Not content with this, Colonel Chandler testifies that he went to
the War Office himself, and had an interview with the Assistant
Secretary, J. A. Campbell, who then wrote below General Cooper's
endorsement the following:
"These reports show a condition of things at Andersonville, which
calls very loudly for the interposition of the Department, in order
that a change may be made.
" J. A. Campbell,
"Assistant Secretary of War."
Thus was the horrible condition of things at Andersonville
brought home to the Secretary of War, one of the confidential ad-
visers of the President, who was daily in consultation with him.
If all was being done for the prisoners that could be done, how
came such reports to be made? But what was the result? A few
days after this report was sent in, Winder, the beast, the cruel,
heartless coward—the man of whom the Richmond Examiner said,
when he was ordered from that city to Andersonville, "Thank God
that Richmond is at last rid of old Winder; God have mercy upoa
those to whom he has been sent"—this man was promoted by Mr.
Davis, and made Commissary-General of all the prisons" and pris-
oners in the Confederacy. We come now to a question which we
challenge Mr. Davis to answer. Did he know of, or had his atten-
tion been called to, Colonel Chandler's report when he promoted
General Winder ? Dare he deny having made this latter appoint-
ment as a reward to Winder for his faithful services at Anderson-
ville?
A writer in the Sauk Rapids Sentinel adds the statement (which
is certainly news in this latitude) that upon this report General
Winder was "indignantly removed by the Secretary of War," and
that when he carried the order removing him to the President he
not only reinstated him, but "immediately added to his power
and opportunities for barbarity, by promoting him to the office of
Commissary-General of all of the prisons and prisoners of the
Southern Confederacy." This is, indeed, a terrible arraignment of
Mr. Davis, if it were true, but there is really not one word of truth in
any statement of that character. Mr. Davis not only never saw Colo-
nel Chandler's report, hut absolutely never heard of it until last year.
We are fortunate in being able to give a clear statement of the
history of Colonel Chandler's report, and to show that so far from
being proof of any purposed cruelty to prisoners on the part of
the Confederate Government, the circumstances afford the strongest
proof of just the reverse.
We inclosed the slip from the Sauk Rapids Sentinel to Hon. R. G.
H. Kean, who was chief clerk of the Confederate War Department.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
199
We may say (for the benefit of readers in other sections; it is en-
tirely unnecessary in this latitude), that Mr. Kean is now Rector
of the University of Virginia, and is an accomplished scholar and
a high-toned Christian gentleman, whose lightest word may be
implicitly relied upon. Mr. Kean has sent us the following letter,
which, though hastily written and not designed for publication,
gives so clear a history of this report that we shall take the liberty
of publishing it in full:
Letter of Hon. B. tt. H. Kean, Chief Clerk of the Confederate War
Department.
Lynchburg, Va., March 22,1876.
Rev. J. "William Jones,
Secretary Southern Historical Society :
My Dear Sir—Yours of the 20th is received this A. M., and I
snatch the time from the heart of a busy day to reply immediately,
because I feel that there is no more imperious call on a Confederate
than to do what he may to hurl back the vile official slanders of
the Federal Government at Washington in 1865, when Holt, Cono-
ver & Co., with a pack of since convicted perjurers, were doing all
in their power to blacken the fame of a people whose presence they
have since found and acknowledged to be indispensable to any
semblance of purity in their administration of affairs.
In September, 1865,1 was required by the then commandant at
Charlottesville to report immediately to him. The summons was
brought to me in the field, where in my shirt sleeves I was assist-
ing in the farming operations of my father-in-law, Colonel T. J. Ran-
dolph, and his eldest son, Major T. J. Randolph. I obeyed, and was
sent by the next train to report to General Terry, then in command
in Richmond. He informed me that I was wanted, and had long
been sought for, to testify before the Commission engaged in trying
Wirz, and I was sent to Washington by the next train. I attended
promptly, but it was two or three days before I was examined as a
witness. When I was, a paper taken from the records of our War
Office was shown me—the report of Lieutenant-Colonel Chandler
of his inspection of the post at Andersonville. I remembered the
paper well. This writer in the Sauk Rapids Sentinel is in error when
he says this report was " delivered in person to the Confederate
Assistant Secretary of War." It had been sent through the usual
•channels, and reaching the hands of Colonel R. H. Chilton, Assist-
ant Inspector-General, in charge of the inspection branch of the
Adjutant and Inspector-General's bureau, was brought into the War
Office by Colonel Chilton and placed in my hands, with the
endorsement quoted by this writer, or something to that
effect. Colonel Chilton explained to me that the report dis-
closed such a state of things at Andersonville, that he had
brought it to me, in order that it might receive prompt atten-
200
Southern Historical Society Papers.
tion, instead of sending it through the usual routine channeL
I read it immediately, and was shocked at its contents. I do not
remember the passage quoted by this writer, but I do remember
that it showed that the 32,000 men herded in the stockade at An-
dersonville were dying of scurvy and other diseases engendered by
their crowded condition and insufficient supplies of medicines,
suitable food, and medical attendance, at the rate of ten per cent.,
or about 3,000 a month. Shocked at such a waste of human life,
produced by the fraudulent refusal to observe the cartel for ex-
change of prisoners, whom we had neither the force to guard in a
large enclosure, nor proper food for when sick, nor medicines, save
such as we could smuggle into our ports or manufacture from the
plants of Southern growth, I took the report to Judge Campbell,
Assistant Secretary of War, and told him of the horrors it disclosed.
He read it, and made on it an endorsement substantially the same
quoted, and carried it to Mr. Seddon, then Secretary of War. My
office was between that of the Assistant Secretary and the Secre-
tary, and the latter passed through mine with the paper in his
hand. I testified to these facts before the Wirz Commission, and
also to this further. As well as I remember it was early in August
that these endorsements were made. In October, Colonel Chandler,
who was, I think, a Mississippian, and with whom I had no pre-
vious acquaintance, presented himself in my office, and stated
to me that he had been officially informed that General Winder,,
on being called on in August for a response to the parts of his re-
port which reflected on or blamed him (Winder), had responded,
by making an issue of veracity with him (Chandler); that he (C.)
had promptly demanded a court of inquiry, but that none had
been ever ordered. He expressed himself as very unwilling to lie-
under such an imputation, and urgently desirous to have the sub-
ject investigated. His appearance and manner were very good—
those of a gentleman and a man of honor; and, in sympathy with
his feelings (though I told him that it was extremely improbable
that officers of suitable rank could be spared from the service to-
conduct such an investigation at that time), I told him I would call
the attention of the Secretary to the matter. Accordingly I got the re-
port, and placing around it a slip of paper in the usual official man-
ner, I endorsed to this effect: "Lieutenant-Colonel Chandler is here
in person, urgin'g that a court of inquiry be named to investigate the
issues between him and General Winder touching this report. He-
seems to feel his position painfully"—addressed to the Secretary
of War. Mr. Seddon told me afterwards that in the then state of
things it was impossible to spare officers of suitable rank—so
many were prisoners that the supply in the field was insufficient^
or to that effect—and Colonel Chandler was so informed, either by
me in person or by letter. This endorsement of mine, dated in
October, 1864, was the thing which connected me with the report, and
caused me to be summoned to Washington to trace it into the hands-
of the Secretary of War. The effort was assiduously made by Colonel
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 201
L. R. Chipman, the Judge-Advocate of the Wirz Commission, to
show by me that this report was seen by President Davis, but that
effort failed, because I knew nothing on that subject. This was
substantially all that I knew of my own knowledge, and so was
competent to prove as a witness, in respect to the report. But very
much more came to my knowledge as hearsay, not competent
legally, yet as credible as what I knew directly.
My observations, during the several days I was in attendance
and watching the proceedings of the Commission, convinced me—
whether rightly or wrongly subsequent events have in some de-
gree developed—that the destruction of Wirz was a very subordi-
nate object of his so-called trial; that the main objects were to
blacken the character of the Southern Government, and, as I
thought, to compass the death of Mr. Davis and Mr. Seddon, who
were not technically on trial, but were alleged to have " conspired"
with Wirz and others to kill and murder the Federal prisoners, &c.
One was immured in irons in a casemate of Fortress Monroe, the other
was in a casemate in Fort Pulaski. Believing that their lives were
in danger, I sought Mr. L. Q. Washington, who was then in Wash-
ington, and communicated to him the apprehensions I felt, and
urged him to communicate them to Mr. Seddon's friends, with
whom I knew him to be intimate. I learned that he did so; and
Mrs. Seddon sent Captain Phillip Welford, a gentleman of great
intelligence, to Washington to see what was best to be done to pro-
tect her helpless husband, who was being prosecuted while a pri-
soner six hundred miles away. The result of Captain Welford's
investigations and conferences with friends in Washington, was
that it was not deemed judicious for Mr. Seddon to be represented
directly by counsel, but that he should place his materials of de-
fence and explanation touching the Chandler report in the hands
of Wirz's counsel; and this was done. The Government had gone
into all this matter, and the response, therefore, on every principle
of fair dealing or of law, was legitimate in that came. Colonel Robert
Ould and General J. E. Mulford, therefore, were summoned to show
what the action of the Confederate Government on Colonel Chan-
dler's report was. Judge Ould attended, and General Mulford was
prepared to do so and to corroborate him. Judge Ould, as Mr.
Welford informed me, unless my memory is at fault„was prepared to
state that as soon as Colonel Chandler's report was presented to
Mr. Seddon, the latter sent for him and showed the terrible mor-
talit^ prevailing at Andersonville, instructed him to go down James
river at once with his flag-of-truce boat, see General Mulford, inform
him of the state of things there; that its causes, by reason of the
blockade, were beyond our resources to prevent; but that we were
unwilling that the breach of the cartel should entail such suffering;
and to propose that the Federals might send as many medical offi-
cers to Andersonville and other prisons as they pleased, with such
supplies, and funds, medicine, clothing, and whatever else would
conduce to health and comfort, with power to organize their own
202 Southern Historical Society Payers.
methods of distribution, and without other restriction than a per-
sonal parole of honor not to convey information prejudicial to us,
on condition that we, too, should be allowed to relieve the sufferings
of our men in Northern prisons by sending medical officers with
like powers, who should take cotton (the only exchange we pos-
sessed) to buy supplies necessary for our people; that this was im-
mediately communicated early in August, 1864, to General Mul-
ford, who was informed of the state of things at Andersonville;
that he communicated this proposition to his immediate superiors,
and had no answer for some two or three weeks, and when the
answer came it was a simple refusal; that General Mulford
promptly communicated this to Judge Ould, and he to Mr. Sed-
don; that immediately thereon Mr. Seddon directed Colonel Ould
to return down the river (James), see General Mulford and say
that in three days from the time we were notified that transporta-
tion would be at Savannah to receive them, the Federals should
have deliverd them ten thousand of the sick from Andersonville,
whether we were allowed any equivalent in exchange for them or not, as a
mere measure of humanity; that this was promptly done; and
General Mulford, as I was informed, would have stated that,
so impressed was he with the enormous suffering, which it
was the desire of our Government to Spare, that not content with
an official letter through the usual channels, he went in person to
Washington, into the office of Secretary Stanton, told him the
whole story, and urged prompt action, but got no reply. Nor was
a reply vouchsafed to this offer until the latter part of December,
1864; meanwhile some fifteen thousand men had died. If these
be the facts, who is responsible ?
My deliberate conviction at the time, and ever since, has been
that the authorities at Washington considered thirty thousand men,
just in the rear of General Johnston's army in Georgia, drawing
their rations from the same stores from which his army had to be
fed, would be better used up there than in the Federal ranks, in
view of the fact that they could recruit their armies, while we had
exhausted our material; that the refusal to exchange prisoners, and
the denial of our offers in regard to the sick at Andersonville, was
part of the plan of attrition. It will be remembered that the friends
of Federal soldiers in prison at the South had become clamorous
about the stoppage of exchanges. The Northern press had taken
the matter up, and the authorities had been arraigned as responsi-
ble. I have never doubted that one collateral object of the Wirz
trial was by a perfectly unilateral trial (?), in which the prosecutor
had everything his own way to manufacture an answer to these
just complaints. And I feel a conviction that the truth will one
day be vindicated; that, having reference to relative resources,
Federal prisoners were more humanely dealt with in Confederate
hands than Confederate prisoners were in Federal hands. It was
their interest, on a cold-blooded calculation, to stop exchanges
when they did it—and as soon as it was their interest, they did it
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
203
without scruple or mercy. The responsibility of the lives lost at
Andersonville rests, since July, 1864, on General Meredith, Com-
missary-General of Prisoners, and (chiefly) on Edwin M. Stanton,
Secretary of War. No one of sound head or heart would now hold
the Northern people responsible for these things. The blood is on
the skirts of their then rulers; and neither Mr. Garfield nor Mr.
Blaine can change the record.
I never heard that there was any particular "suffering" at Libby
or Belle Isle, and do not believe there was. Crowded prisons are
not comfortable places, as our poor fellows found at Fort Delaware,
Johnson's Island, &c.
I have at this late day no means of refreshing my memory in
regard to the general orders on the subject of prison treatment, but
this as a general fact I do know, that Mr. Davis' humanity was
considered to be a stronger sentiment with him than public justice,
and it was a common remark that no soldier capitally convicted
was ever executed, if the President reviewed the record of his con-
viction. He was always slow to adopt the policy of retaliation for
the barbarities inflicted by local commanders on the other side.
The controversy between General Winder and Colonel Chandler
was never brought to an investigation, for the reasons mentioned
above. What the result of that investigation would have been no
one can now tell; but I will say in reference to this true old patriot
and soldier—a genial man, whose zeal was sometimes ahead of his
discretion—that if he was, at Andersonville, the fiend pretended
by the "Bloody Shirt" shriekers, he had in his old age changed his
nature very suddenly. I never saw any reason to consider Colonel
Chandler's report wilfully injurious to General Winder, and sup-
posed that it was the result of those misunderstandings which not
unfrequently spring up between an inspecting officer and a post
commander, when the former begins to find fault.
I have written hastily. In minor details, the lapse of twelve
years may render my memory inaccurate, but of the general accu-
racy of the narrative I have given, as lying in my own knowledge
or reported to me by those whose names I have mentioned, I vouch
without hesitation.
Respectfully, yours truly,
R. G.'H. KEAN.
We have also a
LETTER FROM SECRETARY SEDDON,
dated March 27th, 1876, from which we give the following extract:
"Unfortunately, during my imprisonment after the war, nearly
all the papers and memoranda I had connected with the adminis-
tration of the War Department were destroyed, and I have had so
little satisfaction in dwelling upon the sad sacrifices and sufferings
that attended and resulted from the futile though glorious efforts
204
Southern Historical Society Papers.
of our people in their lost cause, that I have sought rather to allow
my memories of events to be dimmed or obliterated, than to
brighten or cherish them. I have not a copy of any of my own
reports, nor of that of Colonel Chandler, to which you specially
refer, and have of that by no means a lively recollection. I do
remember however, generally, that it severely reflected on General
Winder, and while it induced calls for explanation and defence
from General Winder, it at the same time, from its terms, inspired
an impression of controversy, and perhaps angry and incautious
expressions between them, which warned to caution in receiving
them as accurate representations of the facts. The Department
was aware of the strict instructions which had been given, both
verbally and by written orders, for the selection and preparation of
the military prisons, especially that of Andersonville, with special
view to the health and comfort of the prisoners, and for their
humane treatment and supply on the same footing with our own
troops, and could not hastily accept an account of such orders
being wantonly disregarded by an old, regularly trained officer,
rather noted as a rigid disciplinarian, or of cruel and unofficer-
like treatment of prisoners on his part. The authorities, too, knew
only too well the grave and growing deficiencies of all supplies,
and the sad necessities the war was by its ruthless conduct impos-
ing on all affected by its course. They also knew that unexpected
events had forced the assemblage of a far greater number of pri-
soners than had been anticipated and provided for in the few safer
points of confinement, before others had or could be provided for
them, and we were daily looking and counting on a large number
being removed by the liberal offer of some 10,000 of those suffering
from sickness to be returned (without equivalent) to the Federals;
and on the completion of new, safe prisons for the accommodation
of others. The Department, under such circumstances, could not
so hastily receive and act on the representations of this report, or
condemn General Winder without investigation and response from
him. His reports and explanations were of a very different char-
acter, and, as far as I now recollect, deemed exonerating. I cannot
recall exactly the time or circumstances of his promotion as Gen-
eral, but certainly no advance was ever accorded under any con-
viction of inhumanity or undue severity to prisoners by him, much
less as a support to him therein, or a reward for such conduct."
Do not these letters show beyond all cavil that so far from there
being a deliberate purpose on the part of the Confederate Govern-
ment to murder Federal prisoners, that a report of their suffering
condition met the promptest attention; that General Winder was
at once asked to explain the charges made against him, and did
give satisfactory explanations; that Colonel Chandler's request for
a court of inquiry was only postponed because officers to compose
the court could not be spared from the field, and that without
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
205
waiting to hear General Winder's explanations, Mr. Seddon sent
Judge Ould to tell the Federal Agent of Exchange of the reported
suffering of the Federal prisoners, and to urge the acceptance of his
humane proposition, that if they would not exchange, or allow their
own surgeons to come to their relief, or allow the Confederate Gov-
ernment to buy medicines for them, they would at least send trans-
portation to Savannah and receive their sick without any equivalent.
And since the Federal Government turned a deaf ear to all of these
appeals, are they, not responsible before God and at the bar of his-
tory for every death that ensued ?
If it could be proven beyond all doubt that the officers at Ander-
sonville were the fiends incarnate that Northern hatred pictures
them to be, there is not one scintilla of proof that the Government
at Richmond ordered, approved or in any way countenanced their
" atrocities." It is not, therefore, necessary for our purpose that we
should go into any
defence of general winder.
And yet, as an act of simple justice to the memory of this officer,
we give the following letters:
Sabot Hill, December 29, 1875.
Mr. W. S. Winder, Baltimore :
Dear Sir—Your letter reached me some two weeks since,
and I have been prevented by serious indisposition from giving it
an early reply.
I take pleasure in rendering my emphatic testimony to relieve
the character and reputation of your father, the late General John
H. Winder, from the unjust aspersions that have been cast upon
them in connection with the treatment of the Federal prisoners
under his charge during our late civil war.
I had, privately and officially, the fullest opportunity of knowing
his character, and judging his disposition and conduct towards the
Federal prisoners; for those in Richmond, where he was almost
daily in official communication with me, often in respect to them,
had been some time under his command before, in large measure
from the care and kindness he was believed to have shown to them,
he was sent South to have the supervision and control of the large
number there being aggregated.
His manner and mode of speech were perhaps naturally some-
what abrupt and sharp, and his military bearing may have added
more of sternness and imperiousness; but these were mere super-
ficial traits, perhaps, as I sometimes thought, assumed in a manner
to disguise the real gentleness and kindness of his nature.
I thought him marked by real humanity towards the weak and
helpless—such as women and children, for instance—by that spirit
206 Southern Historical Society Papers.
of protection and defence which distinguished the really gallant
soldier.
To me he always expressed sympathy, and manifested a strong
desire to provide for the wants and comforts of the prisoners under
his charge. Very frequently, from the urgency of his claims in
behalf of the prisoners while in Richmond, controversies would
arise between him and the Commissary-General, which were sub-
mitted to me by them in person for my decision, and I was struck
by his earnestness and zeal in claiming the fullest supplies the law
of the Confederacy allowed or gave color of claim to. This law re-
quired prisoners to have the allowance provided for our own soldiers
in the field, and constituted the guide to the settlement of such ques-
tions. Strict injunctions were invariably given from the Depart-
ment for the observance of this law, both then and afterwards, in
the South, and no departure was to be tolerated from it except
under the direst straits of self-defence. Your father was ever re-
solved, as far as his authority allowed, to act upon and enforce the
rule in behalf of the prisoners.
When sent South I know he was most solicitous in regard to all
arrangements for salubrity and convenience of location for the mili-
tary prisons, and for all means that could facilitate the supplies and
comforts of the prisoners, and promote their health and preserva-
tion. That afterwards great sufferings were endured by the prison-
ers in the South was among the saddest necessities of the war; but
they were due, in a large measure, to the cessation of exchange,
which forced the crowding of numbers, never contemplated, in the
limited prison bounds which could be considered safe in the South,
to the increasing danger of attack on such places, which made South-
em authorities and commanders hostile to the establishment of
additional prisons in convenient localities, and to the daily increas-
ing straits and deficiencies of supplies of the Confederate Govern-
ment, and not to the want of sympathy or humanity on the part
of your father, or his most earnest efforts to obviate and relieve the
inevitable evils that oppressed the unfortunate prisoners. I know
their sad case, and his impotency to remedy it caused him keen
anguish and distress.
Amid the passions and outraged feelings yet surviving our terri-
ble struggle, it may be hard still to have justice awarded to the true
merits and noble qualities of your father, but in future and happier
times I doubt not all mists of error obscuring his name and fame
will be swept away under the light of impartial investigation, and
he will be honored" and revered, as he ought to be, among the most
faithful patriots and gallant soldiers of the Southern Confederacy.
Very truly yours,
James A. Seddon.
[Copy.]
Montreal, 20th June, 1867.
My Dear Sir— * * * I have never doubted that all had
been done for the comfort and preservation of the prisoners at An-
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
207
dersonville that the circumstances rendered possible. General
Winder I had known from my first entrance into the United States
army as a gallant soldier and an honorable gentleman. Cruelty to
those in his power, defenceless and sick men, was inconsistent with
the character of either a soldier or a gentleman. I was always,
therefore, confident that the charge was unjustly imputed. * * *
The efforts made to exchange the prisoners may be found in the
published reports of our Commissioner of Exchange's, and they
were referred to in several of my messages to the Confederate Con-
gressr They show the anxiety felt on our part to relieve the cap-
tives on both sides of the sufferings incident to imprisonment, and
how that humane purpose was obstructed by the enemy in disre-
gard of the cartel which had been agreed upon. * * * *
I am, very respectfully and truly, yours,
Jefferson Davis.
To R. R. Stevenson, Stewiacke, N. S.
Special attention is called to the following from the venerable
Adjutant-General of the Confederacy, whose endorsement upon the
report of Colonel Chandler has been as widely copied (and per-
verted) as the reported action of Mr. Seddon "indignantly remov-
ing General Winder":
[Copy.]
Alexandria, Va., July 9,1871.
Dear Sir—* * * I can, however, with perfect truth declare as
my conviction that General Winder, who had the control of the
Northern prisoners, was an honest, upright and humane gentleman,
and as such I had known him for many years. He had the repu-
tation in the Confederacy of treating the prisoners confided to his
general supervision with great kindness and consideration, and
fully possessed the confidence of the Government, which would
not have been the case had he adopted a different course of action
toward them; and this was exemplified by his assignment to Ander-
sonville by the special direction of the President. Both the Presi-
dent and Secretary of War always manifested great anxiety that
the prisoners should be kindly treated and amply provided with
food to the extent of our means, and they both used their best
means and exertions to these ends.
Yours truly,
S. Cooper.
To Dr. R. R. Stevenson, Stewiacke, Nova Scotia.
The two following letters need no comment, except to call atten-
tion to the fact that General Beauregard's call for the prisoners was
avowedly in retaliation for General Sherman's previous course, and
that General Winder's refusal to fill the requisition is a most sig-
nificant refutation of the charge of brutality to prisoners made
against him:
208
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Alexandria, April 3, 1868.
My Dear Captain—Yours of the 2d has been received, and in
reply I beg leave to say that I have no copies of the letters and
orders referred to, but I have an entry in iny journal of the date of
the 9th of January, 1865, whilst headquarters were at Mont-
gomery, Alabama. The entry is substantially as follows: "In pur-
suance of orders, I addressed a letter to General Winder, requesting
him to turn over thirty Federal prisoners to Major Hottle, quarter-
master, for the purpose of taking out sub-terra shells and torpedoes
from the cuts in the West Point and Atlanta railroad. Shortly
afterwards I received from General Winder a reply, stating that he
could not comply with the request, as it would not only violate the
orders of the War Department, but would be in contravention of
the laws and usages of war."
I have no objection to your using this information on such occa-
sions and terms as you may deem proper for the vindication of
your father, but I would suggest this consideration: that a public
use in the present heated and embittered condition of political
affairs would result in no practical use, and might possibly create
unnecessary prejudice against those now living ana to Southern
interests.
Very truly yours,
George W. Bkent.
New Orleans, February 15, 1876.
My Dear Sir—I regret to find from your letter of inquiry, that
General Sherman seeks to extenuate one of those violations of the
rules of civilized warfare, which characterized his campaign through
Georgia and South Carolina, by the easily refuted slander upon the
Confederate army to which you call my attention, namely: That
in his employment of Confederate prisoners during that campaign
to search and dig up torpedoes, he acted "only in retaliation " for
the like employment of Federal prisoners by Confederate com-
manders—an assertion reckless even for General Sherman, whose
heedlessness of what he writes and speaks was notorious before the
appearance of his " Memoirs."
I myself can recall no occasion when Federal prisoners were or
could have been employed, as alleged by that General, even had it
been legitimate, and not a shocking inhumanity, to do so; that is
to say, I do nob believe General Sherman can specify, with date,
any place that came into possession of the Confederates during the
war, where torpedoes were planted, which they had to remove
either by resort to the use of Federal prisoners or any other means.
There certainly was never such a place or occasion in the depart-
ments which I commanded.
I recollect distinctly, however, learning immediately after the fall
of Savannah, that General Sherman himself had put Confederate
prisoners to this extraordinary use in his approach to that city, as
also at the capture of Fort McAllister, and I thereupon made,
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
209
through my Chief of Staff, Colonel G. W. Brent, a requisition on our
Commissary of Prisoners of War, General Winder, for a detachment
of Federal prisoners, to be employed in retaliation, should the oc-
casion occur. I further recollect that your brother answered that,
under his instructions from the Confederate War Department, he
could not comply; also that, in his belief, prisoners could not right-
fully be so employed.
That General Sherman, as I had heard at the time, did so employ
his prisoners, stands of record at page 194, vol. 2, of his Memoirs:
"On the 8th (December, 1864), as I rode along, I found the column
turned out of the main road, marching through the fields. Close
by, on the corner of a fence, was a group of men standing around
a handsome young officer, whose foot had been blown to pieces by
a torpedo planted in the road. *****
He told me that he was riding along with the rest of his brigade
staff of the Seventeenth Corps, when a torpedo, trodden on by his
horse, had exploded, killing the horse and literally blowing off all the
flesh from one of his legs. I saw the terrible wound and made full
inquiry into the facts. There had been no resistance at that point;
nothing to give warning of the danger; the Rebels had planted
eight inch shells in the road with friction matches to explode them
by being trodden on. This was no war, but murder, and it made
me very angry. I immediately ordered a lot of Rebel prisoners to
be brought from the provost guard with picks and shovels, and
made them march in close order along the road, so as to explode
or discover and dig them up. They begged hard, but I reiterated
the order, and could hardly help laughing at their stepping so gin-
gerly along the road where it was supposed sunken torpedoes might
explode at eack step, but they found no other till near FortMcAllis-
ter."
Here we have his own confession that he pushed a mass of un-
armed men, prisoners of war, ahead of his column to explode tor-
pedoes, which he apprehended were planted in the approaches to a
strongly fortified position, his ability to carry which he greatly
doubted, as may be seen from his " Memoirs." He does not there
pretend that he acted " in retaliation " at all, but because, forsooth,
he was " angry" that one of his officers had been badly wounded
by a torpedo which had been planted in his path " without giving
warning of danger"! Surely his own narrative, with its painful
levity, gives as bad a hue to the affair as General Sherman's worst
enemies could desire. It remains to be said that he omits mention
of another instance of this unwarrantable employment of prisoners
of war. After General Hazen (on December 13) had handsomely
assaulted and carried Fort McAllister, General Sherman, in person,
ordered the Confederate engineer officer of the fort, with men of
that garrison then prisoners, to remove all the torpedoes in front of
the fort which might remain unexploded; gallant soldiers who,
under their commander, Major G. W. Anderson, had "only sue-
cumbed as each man was individually overpowered." (General Ha-
7
210
Southern Historical Society Papers.
zen's official report). Major Anderson, in his report, says: " This
hazardous duty (removal of the torpedoes) was performed without
injury to any one; but it appearing to me as an unwarrantable and
improper treatment of prisoners of war, I have thought it right to-
refer to it in this report. General Sherman might with equal right
have pushed a body of prisoners in front of an assaulting column
to serve as a gabion-roller.
His manner of relating the incidents, which I have quoted in his
own words, is calculated to give the impression that the use of the
torpedoes is something so abhorrent in regular warfare that he
could subject his unarmed prisoners to the hazard of exploding
them and deserve credit for the act! A strange obliquity in the
general-in-chief of an army which has, at the present moment, a
special torpedo corps attached to it as an important defensive re-
source to fortified places; in one who, moreover, was carefully taught
at West Point how to plant the equivalent of torpedoes as known
to engineers of that date—i. e., crows'-feet," trous-de-loups,"
"fougasses," "mines," etc.
For my part, from the day of the capitulation of Fort Sumter,
in 1861, when, in order to save a brave soldier and his command
from all unnecessary humiliation, I allowed Major Anderson the
same terms offered him before the attack—i. e., to salute his flag with
fifty guns, and to go forth with colors flying and drums beating,
taking off company and private property—down to the close of the
war, I always favored and practiced liberal treatment of prisoners.
At the same time, however, I always urged the policy of rigid and
prompt retaliation, at all cost, for every clear infraction of the set-
tied laws of war; for history shows it to be the only effectual method
of recalling an enemy from inhuman courses. Washington never
hesitated to apply the painful remedy during our Revolutionary
war.
I am yours, most truly,
G. T. Beauregard.
W. H. Winder, Esq., New York, N. Y.
Since the foregoing was written we have seen a letter from Judge
Ould, in the Saint Louis Globe-Democrat, which so ably refutes the
charge made against him on the faith of a garbled letter of his,
and brings out other points so clearly, that we give it entire except
the introductory paragraphs:
Richmond, Va., October 5th, 1875.
********
" I will now give the history and contents of the letter which
" S." produces as the sole proof of my premeditated complicity in.
the murder of Federal prisoners. When Richmond was evacuated
in April, 1865, this letter was found among the scattered debris of
General Winder's office. The first time I ever saw it published in
full was in the Washington Chronicle, a well-known Republican
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
211
paper, of the date of August 25, 1868. It was then and there made
the basis of a savage attack upon me. Of course, everything in the
letter which could be damaging to me was set forth. The latter
part of it was printed in italics. I will give the letter as it appeared
in the Chronicle, and beneath it I will give the version of "S."
I did not retain a copy, but I believe the letter as it appeared in
the Chronicle is exactly the one which I did write. Here, then, are
the two versions:
the chronicle version.
City Point.
Sir—A flag-of-truce boat has arrived with 350 political prisoners,
General Barrow and several other prominent men amongst them.
I wish you to send me, at 4 o'clock Wednesday morning, all the
military prisoners (except officers) and all the political prisoners
you have. If any of the political prisoners have on hand proof
enough to convict them of being spies, or of having committed
other offences which should subject them to punishment, so state
opposite their names. Also, state whether you think, under the
circumstances, they should be released.
The arrangement I have made works largely in our favor. We
get rid of a set of miserable wretches, and receive some of the best
material I ever saw.
Ro. Ould, Agent of Exchange.
Brigadier-General Winder.
the version of "s."
"The arrangement I have made works largely in our favor; in
getting rid of a miserable set of wretches, and receive in return
some of the best material I ever saw. This, of course, is between
ourselves."
" S." gives as the date of my letter, in his first communication,
August 1,1864. In his last communication "S." admits his mis-
take, or that of the compositor, and says that the true date is August
1,1863. It will be seen, according to the copy in the Chronicle, that
the letter has no date. It is the veriest pretence for "S." to shift
his date from August 1,1864, to August 1, 1863. I am confident
the letter had no date, and that it was written long before August,
1863. Your readers can draw their own conclusion as to this
double attempt to change the face of my letter.
But, dates aside, I ask your attention to the difference of the two
versions. " S." not only cuts off the first part of the letter, which
explains the purport of the latter part, but he adds to the original
the words, " this of course is between ourselves." In his last commu-
nication he makes great ado about these words, and lo! they now
turn out to be a forgery. I do not think they amount to much,
nor would they be any cause of shame if I had written them.
But "S." seems to think otherwise, and makes use of a plain forgery
212
Southern Historical Society Papers.
to sustain his false charge against me. Could not "S." have been
content with suppressing that portion of my letter which explained
its last paragraph, without forging an addition to it? Moreover,
the version of "S." makes me use worse grammar than is my wont.
In addition to his attempt to show me to be a felon, does he desire
to take from me "the benefit of clergy"? When this letter of mine
appeared in the Washington Chronicle, in 1868,1 addressed a com-
munication to the National Intelligencer, which was published in
that paper on the 29th August, 1868, explaining the circumstances
under which it was written, and showing very clearly that the
latter paragraph of it did not relate to soldiers at all. In that
communication I stated what I now repeat—that some three hun-
dred and fifty political prisoners had arrived at City Point, and
being anxious not to detain the Federal steamer, I wrote to General
Winder to send all the political prisoners he had in his charge, as
well as soldiers; that it was as to these political prisoners that I
wrote the last paragraph in the letter; that it so manifestly appeared
from the context; that every word in the paragraph was true, both
as to the class received and those sent off; that not one Confederate
soldier in service was received at that time; that scarcely any one
of the three hundred and fifty had been in prison a month; that
all of them had been recently arrested as sympathizers with the
Confederate cause; that those sent off were miserable wretches in-
deed, mostly robbers and incendiaries from Western Virginia, who
were Confederates when Confederate armies occupied their country,
and Unionists when Federal troops held it, and who in turn preyed
upon one side and the other, ana so pillaged that portion of the
State that it had almost been given over to desolation; that they
were men without character or principle, who were ready to take
any oath or engage in any work of plunder; that I then reiterated
what I had before written—that they were "a set of miserable
wretches"; that the Federal soldiers who had passed through my
hands knew well, I hoped, that I would not have applied any such
phrase to them; and especially so if the calamities of prison life
had prostrated them, and that inasmuch as in my letter I had re-
ferred to an arrangement which I had made, I must have referred
to the exchange of political prisoners which I had just negotiated,
and not to the exchange of military prisoners, which was negotiated
by the cartel.
After this full and frank explanation of the letter, nothing more
for some seven years was heard of it, until it was revived in a false,
forged and garbled form by "S." a few weeks since.
Before its publication in the Chronicle, it had, however, appeared
in the famous Wirz trial—whether in its true or false form, I do
not know. In this respect the letter was more fortunate than I
was, for I was not permitted to appear. Wirz had summoned me
through the proper channel as a witness in his behalf. I went to
Washington in obedience to the summons, and was in attendance
upon the court martial. While in such attendance my subpoena
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
213
was revoked by the Judge-Advocate, and I was dismissed. I venture
to assert that this was the first case where it ever happened, even
in countries more unhappy than our own, that a witness who had
been duly summoned for the defence was dismissed by the prose-
cution.
In my letter to Colonel Wood, the chief complaint that I made
against " S." was that he published only a part of my letter to General
Winder and ignored the remainder, which was a full explanation
of what he did publish. The matter of dates to which I referred
was merely incidental. Now, "S." in his reply has a good deal to
say about the matter of dates, without pretending to excuse him-
self for garbling the body of the letter. Whether he has any ex-
cuse I know not, but I certainly do know that he has offered none.
When I charge him with suppressing a material part of my letter,
a part which gave full explanation, it will not do for "S." to ignore
such charge, and launch out into explanations, satisfactory or un-
satisfactory, about a mere change of dates.
In his last communication, " S." seeks to answer what I had de-
clared in my letter to Colonel Wood, to wit: That the Federal
authorities were responsible for the suffering of Federal prisoners.
I referred to a certain statement of mine published in August, 1868,
in the Saint Louis Times and National Intelligencer. I herewith send
a copy of that statement, and beg, in the interest of the truth of
history, that you will republish it. I ask it, not in the interest of
hate, nor to revive sectional controversy, nor to inflame the now
subsiding passions of war. Least of all do I desire to put any
stigma upon the people of the North, for the sin was that of indi-
vidua! s, and they few in number. I think, if a due investigation
were made, it would be found that the number of sinners would
not exceed a half dozen. I substantially proposed in my statement
to prove my case by Federal testimony. The witnesses are alive
now, and the proofs at hand, if the archives have not been mutilated
or destroyed. The due investigation of such matter, if prosecuted
with judicial fairness, instead of increasing any feeling of hate be-
tween the North and South, would tend to allay it. It would
conclusively show that the sections were not to be blamed; that
the people on both sides were not justly amenable to any reproach;
that honor, integrity and Christian civilization in the main reigned
North and South; that maltreatment of the defenceless and suffer-
ing was loathed alike by Federal and Confederate people; that the
story of their participation in or countenance of such wrongs is a
shameless libel, and that our civil war, although necessarily harsh
and brutal in its general aspect, was illustrated on both sides by
high and shining examples of moderation, kindness, good faith,
generosity and knightly courtesy. I do not believe that an investi-
gation which would develop these facts would tend to fan into a
flame the old passions of the war. So far from that, I believe it
would serve to make us respect each other the more. It is true that
the national wrath might fall upon a few persons who really are
214
Southern Historical Society Papers.
the only ones who are responsible for the frightful miseries of the
prisoners of the war; but such a result, even independent of the
vindication of the truth, would be far better than that the people
of either side should believe that the other, even under the prompt-
ings of evil passions, joined in a crusade against the helpless and
suffering.
The statement which I ask you to publish contains a reference
to only some of the points and some of the proofs which can be
brought forward. I seek not to make myself prominent, or to
bring myself unduly forward in this matter. I wish the cup
could pass from me. But the official position which I occupied
during the war, as well as the fact that the propositions looking to
the relief of prisoners went through my hands, seems to require
that I should step to the front. When I do, I hope that my con-
duct may be marked by becoming modesty and firmness.
In my letter to Colonel Wood, I stated that "every one of the
many propositions for the relief of Federal prisoners, which I not
only made, but pressed upon the Federal authorities, was uniformly
disregarded." The proof of that is found in the statement which I
now ask you to publish. " S." attempts to meet my charge by show-
ing from the evidence given on the Wirz trial, that there was a large
amount of stores near Andersonville during the time the Federal
prisoners were confined there. I do not know whether this evi-
dence conforms to the truth or not. But, admitting that it does,
how does it answer the charge that I proposed to exchange officer
for officer and man for man; or the charge that I proposed that the
prisoners on each side should be attended by a proper number of
their awn surgeons, who, under rules to be established, should be
permitted to take charge of their health and comfort, with authority,
also, to receive and distribute such contributions of money, food,
clothing and medicine, as might be forwarded for the relief of prison-
ers; or the charge that I offered to the United States authorities
their sick and wounded, without requiring any equivalent; or the
charge that I offered to make purchases of medicines from the
United States authorities, to be used exclusively for the relief of
Federal prisoners, paying therefor in gold, cotton or tobacco, at
double or thrice the price, if required, and giving assurances that
the medicines so bought would be used exclusively in the treatment
of Federal prisoners, and, indeed, that they might be brought within
our lines by Federal surgeons and dispensed by them ?
In my letter to Colonel Wood, I stated that I offered the Ander-
sonville prisoners, without requiring equivalents, in August, 1864;
that I urged the Federal authorities to send transportation for them
quickly, and that I accompanied the offer by an official statement
of the monthly mortality, and set forth our utter inability to pro-
vide for the prisoners. "S." endeavors to assail the truth of this
statement by showing that there were large supplies at Anderson-
ville at or about that time. Admitting the truth of the figures of
" S." (for as to their correctness I know nothing), how does that
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
215
fact disprove our utter inability? The mere fact that I offered
these prisoners, without requiring equivalents, is very strong proof
of itself of our inability. But were sick men to be physicked with
"bacon, meal, flour, rice, syrup and whiskey," which were stored at
Americus and elsewhere in Southwestern Georgia? I offered to
send off the sick and wounded wherever they might be, at Ander-
sonville and elsewhere. We had no medicines—the blockade was
rigid—the Federal authorities had declined to send any medicines,
even by the hands of their own surgeons, and therefore it was I
said we were utterly unable to provide for the prisoners. It will be
observed that my declaration of utter inability to provide for the
prisoners follows immediately my statement of the monthly mor-
tality at Andersonville. I referred more to medicine than to food,
though I did not intend entirely to exclude the latter. But does
not" S." know that there were others besides the prisoners at Ander-
sonville, who were to be cared for? We had a large army in the
field. We had our own hospitals to supply. Our armies every-
where were drawing from Georgia. It was because the stores at
Americus, Albany and elsewhere were not sufficient to supply both
prisoners and our own soldiers, that I made the propositions to the
Federal authorities which I have heretofore mentioned.
"S." also denies that the mortality at Andersonville was greater
after I proposed to deliver the Federal prisoners, without requiring
their equivalents, than it was before. It is the truth, however much
"S." may deny it. Of course I speak of the percentage of mor-
tality, and not the aggregate. After August there were fewer
prisoners at Andersonville. They were removed to other depots.
The mortality rate was greater after August than before. It could
have been spared if transportation had been sent when I so re-
quested.
I am sorry to tax your columns with so long a communication,
but I could not well do justice to the subject in less space.
Yours, respectfully, Ro. Ould.
We will add an explanation of another letter which purports to
have been written by Judge Ould during the war, and which has
been widely circulated in the Radical papers as proof positive of
Inexcusable cruelty to prisoners.
The popular version of this letter is as follows:
Confederate States of America,
"War Department,
Richmond, Virginia, March 21, 18G3.
My Dear Sir—If the exigencies of our army require the use
•of trains for the transportation of corn, pay no regard to the Yankee
prisoners. I would rather they should starve than our own people
suffer.
I suppose I can safely put it in writing, "Let them suffer."
Very truly, your faithful friend, Ro. Our.d.
Colonel A. C. Myers.
216
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Judge Ould says that he does not remember ever to have written
such a letter, and we have searched his letter-book (in which he
was accustomed to have all of his letters copied) in vain for the
slightest trace of it. We might simply demand, the production of the
original letter. But Judge Ould thinks it possible that in one of his
many contests with Confederate quartermasters in the interest of
Federal prisoners he may have complained that transportation was
not promptly furnished the prisoners—that the parties complained
of made explanations to the effect that they could not furnish the
transportation at the time without seriously interfering with feeding
the Confederate army, and that he may have made on the papers
some such endorsement, referring to some special set of circum-
stances. The reference could not be to the general question of
feeding the prisoners, for with that Judge Ould had nothing to do;
and he defies the production of all of the papers in his department
to show that he was ever otherwise than humane to prisoners.
We have thus given the other side the full benefit of about all
they have been able in eleven years to garble from the Confederate
records.
FIGURES OF SECRETARY STANTON. .
Yet after all that has been said on this subject, the stubborn fact
remains that over three per cent, more Confederates perished in Northern
prisons than of Federal prisoners in Southern prisons. The figures to
prove this statement have been several times given in this discus-
sion, but they are so significant that we give them again in the form
in which they were presented by Honorable B. H. Hill in his
masterly reply to Mr. Blaine. Mr. Hill said:
" Now, will the gentleman believe testimony from the dead ? The
Bible says, ' The tree is known by its fruits.' And, after all, what
is the test of suffering of these prisoners North and South? The
test is the result. Now, I call the attention of gentlemen to this
fact, that the report of Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War—you
will believe him, will you not?—on the 19th of July, 1866—send to
the library and get it—exhibits the fact that of the Federal pris-
oners in Confederate hands during the war, only 22,576 died, while
of the Confederate prisoners in Federal hands 26,436 died. And
Surgeon-General Barnes reports in an official report—I suppose
you will believe him—that in round numbers the Confederate
prisoners in Federal hands amounted to 220,000, while the Federal
prisoners in Confederate hands amounted to 270,000. Out of the
270,000 in Confederate hands 22,000 died, while of the 220,000
Confederates in Federal hands over 26,000 died. The ratio is this:
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 217
More than twelve per cent, of the Confederates in Federal hands
died, and less than nine per cent, of the Federals in Confederate
hands died. What is the logic of these facts according to the gen-
tleman from Maine? I scorn to charge murder upon the officials
of Northern prisons, as the gentleman has done upon Confederate
prison officials. I labor to demonstrate that such miseries are
inevitable in prison life, no matter how humane the-regulations."
An effort has since been made by the Radical press to discredit
these figures, and it has been charged that "Jeff. Davis manufactured
them for Hill's use." But with ample time to prepare his rejoinder,
and all of the authorities at hand, Mr. Blaine did not dare to deny
them. He fully admitted their truth, and only endeavored to
weaken their force by the following explanation, of which we give
him the full benefit:
"Now, in regard to the relative number of prisoners that died in
the North and the South respectively, the gentleman undertook t»
show that a great many more prisoners died in the hands of the
Union authorities than in the hands of the Rebels. I have had
conversations with surgeons of the army about that, and they say
that there were a large number of deaths of Rebel prisoners, but
that during the latter period of the war they came into our hands
very much exhausted, ill-clad, ill-fed, diseased, so that they died in
our prisons of diseases that they brought with them. And one
eminent surgeon said, without wishing at all to be quoted in this
debate, that the question was not only what was the condition of
the prisoners when they came to us, hut what it was when they
were sent back. Our men were taken in full health and strength;
they came back wasted and worn—mere skeletons. The Rebel
prisoners, in large numbers, were, when taken, emaciated and re-
duced; and General Grant says that at the time such superhuman
efforts were made for exchange there were 90,000 men that would
have re-enforced the Confederate armies the next day, prisoners in
our hands who were in good health and ready for fight. This con-
sideration sheds a great deal of light on what the gentleman states."
The substance of this extract is that Mr. Blaine does not deny
the greater mortality of our prisoners in Northern prisons, but ac-
counts for it on the supposition that our men were so much " ex-
hausted, so id-clad, ill-fed and diseased," that they " died of diseases
that they brought with them,"
Now, if this explanation were true it would contain a fatal stab
to Mr. Blaine's whole argument to prove Confederate cruelty to
prisoners. If our own soldiers were so ill-clad and ill-fed as to ren-
der them exhausted, and so diseased that when taken prisoners they
died like sheep, despite the tender nursing and kind, watchful care
218
Southern Historical Society Papers.
•which (according to Mr. Blaine) they received at the hands of their
captors, how could a Government which had not the means of
making better provision for its own soldiers provide any better
than we did for the thousands of prisoners which were captured by
these emaciated skeletons? And what shall we say of General Grant
and his splendid army of two hundred thousand hale, hearty, well
equipped men, who, in the campaign of 1864, were beaten on
every field by forty thousand of these " emaciated and reduced"
creatures, until, after losing over a third of their men, they were
compelled to skulk behind their fortifications at Petersburg, and
absolutely refused "the open field and fair fight," which Lee and
his "ragamuffins" offered them at every point from the Wilderness
to Petersburg?
But, of course, the whole thing is absurd. Our men were on
half rations, and in rags, it is true; hut a healthier, hardier set of
fellows never marched or fought, and they died in Northern prisons
(as we shall hereafter show) because of inexcusably harsh treat-
ment.
These official figures of Mr. Stanton and Surgeon-General Barnes
tell the whole story, and nail to the counter the base slander against
the Confederate Government.
FAILURE TO MAKE A CASE AGAINST MR. DAVIS.
But a crowning proof that this charge of cruelty to prisoners is false,
may be more clearly brought out than it has been above intimated.
In the proceedings against Wirz, Mr. Davis and other Confederate
leaders were unquestionably on trial. Every effort that partisan
hatred or malignant ingenuity could invent was made to connect
Mr. Davis with and make him responsible for the "crimes of A'n-
dersonville." The captured Confederate archives were searched)
peijured witnesses were summoned, and the ablest lawyers of the
reigning party put their wits to work; but the prosecution utterly
broke down. They were unable to make out a case upon which
Holt and Chipman dared to go into a trial even before a military
■court, which was wont to listen patiently to all of the evidence for
the prosecution, and coolly dismiss the witnesses for the defence.
Does not this fact speak volumes to disprove the charge, and to
show that no cases can be made out against our Government?
But an even stronger point remains. After despairing of con-
victing Mr. Davis on any testimony which they had or could
procure, they tried to bribe poor Wirz to save his own life by
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 219
swearing away the life of Mr. Davis, who was then in irons at
Fortress Monroe.
Mr. Hill thus strongly puts it:
Now, sir, there is another fact. Wirz was put on trial, but really
Mr. Davis was the man intended to be tried through him. Over
one hundred and sixty witnesses were introduced before the mili-
tary commission. The trial lasted three months. The whole
country was under military despotism; citizens labored under
duress; quite a large number of Confederates were seeking to make
favor with the powers of the Government. Yet, sir, during those
three months, with all the witnesses they could bring to Washington,
not one single man ever mentioned the name of Mr. Davis in con-
nection with a single atrocity at Andersonville or elsewhere. The
gentleman from Maine, with all his research into all the histories
of the Duke of Alva and the massacre of Saint Bartholomew and
the Spanish inquisition, has not been able to frighten up such a
witness yet.
Now, sir, there is a witness on this subject. Wirz was condemned,
found guilty, sentenced .to be executed; and I have now before me
the written statement of his counsel, a Northern man and a Union
man. He gave this statement to the country, and it has never
been contradicted.
Hear what this gentleman says:
"On the night before the execution of the prisoner Wirz, a tele-
gram was sent to the Northern press from this city, stating that
Wirz had made important disclosures to General L. C. Baker, the
well known detective, implicating Jefferson Davis, and that the
confession would probably be given to the public. On the same
evening some parties came to the confessor of Wirz, Rev. Father
Boyle, and also to me as his counsel, one of them informing me that
a high Cabinet officer wished to assure Wirz that if he would im-
plicate Jefferson Davis with atrocities committed at Andersonville,
his sentence would be commuted. The messenger requested me to
inform Wirz of this. In presence of Father Boyle I told Wirz next
morning what had happened."
Hear the reply:
"Captain Wirz simply and quietly replied: 'Mr. Schade, you
know that I have always told you that I do not know anything
about Jefferson Davis. He had no connection with me as to what
was done at Andersonville. I would not become a traitor against
him or anybody else, even to save my life.'"
Sir, what Wirz, within two hours of his execution, would not
say for his life, the gentleman from Maine says to the country to
keep himself and his party in power.
The statement of Mr. Schade is confirmed by the following ex-
tract from the Cycle, of Mobile, Alabama:
In the brief report of the speech of Mr. Hill in Congress on Monday
220
Southerrl Historical Society Papers.
last, copied in another place, it will be observed that he refers to a
statement made by Captain Wirz to his counsel just before his
death. The subjoined letter from Professor R. B. Winder, M. D.,
now Dean of the Baltimore Dental College, who was a prisoner in
a cell near that of Wirz, will give a more detailed account of the
same transaction. The letter was written in reply to an inquiry
made in the course of investigation in the history of the transac-
tions which have been made the subject of discussion in Congress.
Dr. Winder .speaks of the statement as having been already sev-
eral times published. We do not remember to have seen it before.
At any rate, it will well bear repetition, and will come in very per-
tinently, apropos of the recent debate:
Baltimore, November 16,187S.
Major W. T. Walthall :
My Dear Sir—Your letter of the 25th of last month was duly
received, and except from sickness should have been replied to long
ago. I take pleasure in giving you the facts which you request,
but they have already been published several times in the different
papers of the country.
A night or two before Wirz's execution, early in the evening, I
saw several male individuals (looking like gentlemen) pass intp
Wirz's cell. I was naturally on the " qui vive to know the meaning
of this unusual visitation, and was hoping and expecting, too, that
it might be a reprieve—for even at that time I was not prepared to
believe that so foul a judicial murder would be perpetrated—so I
stood at my door and directly saw these men pass out again. I
think, indeed I am quite certain, there were three of them. Wirz came
to his door, which was immediately opposite to mine, and I gave
him a look of inquiry which he at once understood. He said:
"These men have just offered me my liberty if I will testify against
Mr. Davis and criminate him with the charges against the Ander-
sonville prison; I told them that I could not do this, as I neither
knew Mr. Davis personally officially, or socially, but that if they
expected with the offer of my miserable life to purchase me to treason
and treachery to the South, they had undervalued meI asked him if
he knew who the parties were. He said "no," and that they had
refused to tell him who they were—but assured him that they had
full power to do whatever they might promise. This is all, and as
you perceive, I did not hear the conversation, but merely report
what Wirz said to me—but he also made the same statement to his
counsel, Mr. Schade, of Washington city, and he has also, under
his own signature, published these facts.
You will better understand the whole matter from the accom-
panying diagram of our respective jails. The doors opened imme-
diately opposite, and it was such hot weather that they allowed
the doors to be open—the corridor being always heavily guarded
by sentinels, and a sentinel was always posted directly between
these openings—but Wirz and myself were often allowed to
converse. Very truly yours, R. B. Winder.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 221
Have we not made out our case so far as we have gone? But
our material is by no means exhausted, and we shall take up the
subject again in our next issue. We propose to discuss still further
the question of exchange, and then to pass to a consideration of the
treatment of Confederate prisoners by the Federal authorities. We
ask that any of our friends who have material illustrating any
branch of thi3 subject will forward it to us at once.
We have a number of diaries of prison life by Confederates who
did not find Elmira, Johnson's Island, Fort Delaware, Rock Island,
Camp Douglas, Camp Chase, &c., quite so pleasant as Mr. Blaine's
rose-colored picture of Northern prisons would make it appear.
And we have also strong testimony from Federal soldiers and citi-
zens of the North as to the truth of our version of the prison ques-
tion. But we would be glad to receive further statements bearing
on this whole question, as we desire to prepare for the future his-
torian the fullest possible material for the vindication of our slan-
dered people.
To those who may deprecate the reopening of this question, we
would say that we did not reopen it. The South has rested in •
silence for years under these slanderous charges; and we should
have, perhaps, been content to accumulate the material in our ar-
chives, and leave our vindication to the "coming man" of the
future who shall be able to write a true history of the great strug-
gle for constitutional freedom. But inasmuch as the question has
been again thrust upon the country by a Presidential aspirant, and
the Radical press is filled with these calumnies against our Govern-
ment, we feel impelled to give at least an outline of our defence.
We will only add that we have not made, and do not mean to
make, a single statement which we cannot -prove before any fair-minded
tribunal, from documents in our possession.
222
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Editorial paragraphs.
Our thanks are due to many friends who have pushed the circulation of
our Papers, and to the press for the most kindly notices. Our subscription
list is still rapid! y increasing, but we bespeak the kind help of our friends to-
give us such a list as will enable us to make various improvements in the get
up of our Papers.
We have no fixed day of the month for our issue, but we will use our best,
endeavors to let each number appear before the close of the month.
An important typographical error in Judge Ould's letter to General Hitch-
cock, page 127, crept into the copy we used and was carelessly overlooked by
us in reading the proof. The date ought, of course, to be " 1864" instead of
"1868."
We are obliged to surrender this month so large a part of our editorial
space that we omit much that we had desired to say.
Book Notices.
Memorial Virginia Military Institute. By Charles D. Walker, late Assistant
Professor Virginia Military Institute. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott
& Co.
We are indebted to the courtesy of General F. H. Smith, Superintendent
of the Virginia Military Institute, for a copy of this book, which contains
brief sketches of one hundred and seventy of the graduates and Sl&ves of the
Virginia Military Institute who gave their lives to the Confederate cause.
The volume contains also a discourse on the life and character of Lieu-
tenant-General T. J. Jackson by General F. H. Smith, a sketch of the battle
of Mew Market by General Smith, and a memorial poem by James Barron
Hope, Esq.
Mr. Walker has done his work admirably. He has called to his aid the pens
of some of our most distinguished men, and has made a record of self-denying
heroism and high military skill which reflects the highest credit upon the
Institute, and should find a place in every home in the South, that our youth
may study the characters and imitate the virtues of these noble men who
freely yielded up their lives at the call of native land.
The Confederate Currency. By William Lee, M. D., of Washington, D. C.
The author has kindly sent us a copy of this pamphlet, together with plates
Editorial Paragraphs.
223
illustrating the various issues of Confederate notes. It is a publication of
rare interest and value, and we are not supprised to leam that a new edition
has been called for.
Our Living and Our Dead.
The editor and proprietor, Colonel S. D. Pool, has donated to our library
three beautifully bound volumes of this magazine, which he has been pub-
lishing in Raleigh, North Carolina. It contains a great deal of historic
value, and is a highly prized addition to our library.
Books Received.
We acknowledge the receipt of the following books, which will be noticed
more fully hereafter:
From D. Appleton & Co., New York :
Cooke's Life of General R. E. Lee.
A Military Biography of Stonewall Jackson. By Colonel John Esten Cooke.
With an appendix (containing an account of the Inauguration of Foley's
statue, &c.), by Rev. J. Wm. Jones.
General, Joseph E. Johnston's Narrative.
Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes and Letters oj' General R. E. Lee. By
Rev. J. Wm. Jones, D. D.
Sherman's Memoirs and Shuckers' Life of Chief Justice Chase.
From the publishers, Harper Brothers, New York (through West &
Johnston, Richmond):
Draper's Civil War in America.
From J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia (through West & Johnston):
Dixon's New America.
From West & Johnston, Richmond :
A beautiful lithograph of the Ordinance of Secession of Virginia, and the
signatures of the members of the convention.
From the author (Dr. Joseph Jones, New Orleans):
Medical and Surgical Memoirs, 1855-1876.
224
Southern Historical Society Papers.
PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH
UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
OF THE SOUTHERN HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
These papers will contain a great deal of the official history
of the late war, and many contributions from the ablest of the
men who made the great struggle for constitutional freedom. It
is proposed to issue a number every month, properly arranged for
binding, so that at the end of the year each subscriber will have a
large volume of matter that will be of deep historic interest, and
simply invaluable to every one who desires to know the truth
about the late war.
We furnish these Papees free of charge to members of the
Society who have paid their annual fees, and to other subscribers at
THREE DOLLARS PER ANNUM.
As our Monthly will go into every State of the South, and
circulate among our very best people, it offers rare inducements to
advertisers. We will insert a few advertisements at the following
rates:
12 mos. 6 mos. 8 mos. l mo.
1 page $75 $40 $25 $10
J page 40 25 15 6
page 25 15 8 3
We desire to secure everywhere suitable agents to canvass for
members of the Society, or subscribers to our Papers.
Address
Rev. J. WILLIAM JONES,
Secretary Southern Historical Society, Richmond, Va.
Ill HISTORICAL III PAPERS,
Vol. I. Richmond, Va., April, 1876. No. 4.
THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS DURING THE WAR BETWEEN
THE STATES.
[Compiled by the Secretary of the Southern Historical Society.]
We stated in our last issue that we should resume this subject in
this number. But instead of finishing at this point the discussion
of the Exchange question, we will first dispose of
THE TREATMENT OF CONFEDERATE PRISONERS BY THE FEDERAL
AUTHORITIES.
The ex "parte reports of the Federal Congress, the reports of the
United States officials, the reports of the Sanitary Commission,
various books that partisan writers at the North have published,
and the Radical press generally, have represented that while the Con-
federate authorities deliberately, wilfully, and persistently, starved,
tortured, and murdered Union prisoners, the Federal authorities
always treated their captives in the most considerate and humane
manner. Indeed the impression sought to be made is that Con-
federates fared so much better in Federal prisons than they did in
the Confederate army, that their capture was really a blessing to
them—that they came to prison emaciated skeletons, and were sent
back (except those who "died of diseases they brought with
them ") sleek, hale, healthy men.
We might quote largely on this point from the writings alluded
to, but we will only give an extract from the speech of Hon. James
G. Blaine, uttered deliberately on the floor of the United States
House of Representatives eleven years after the close of the war:
" Now I undertake here to say that there is not a Confederate
soldier now living who has any credit as a man in his community,
and who ever was a prisoner in the hands of the Union forces, who
will say that he ever was cruelly treated; that he ever was deprived
of the same rations that the Union soldiers had—the same food
and the same clothing.
226
Southern Historical Society Payers.
"Mr. Cook. Thousands of them say it—thousands of them;
men of as high character as any in this House.
" Mr. Blaine. I take issue upon that. There is not one who
can substantiate it—not one. As for measures of retaliation,
although goaded by this terrific treatment of our friends imprisoned
by Mr. Davis, the Congress of the United States specifically refused
to pass a resolution of retaliation, as contrary to modern civilization
and the first precepts of Christianity. And there was no retaliation
attempted or justified. It was refused; and Mr. Davis knew it was
refused just as well as I knew it or any other man, because what
took place in Washington or what took place in Richmond was
known on either side of the line within a day or two thereafter."
Now we propose to meet this issue—and if we do not show by
witnesses, of the most unimpeachable character, that Confederate
prisoners were "cruelly treated"—that they were deprived of the
same rations that the Union soldiers had—the same food and the
same clothing"—if we do not show that the Federal authorities
were themselves guilty of the crimes they charged against us, then
we are willing to stand before the bar of history convicted of
inability to judge of the weight of evidence.
And here again our work of compilation is rendered difficult
only by the mass of material at hand. We have enough to make
several large volumes—we can only cull here and there a statement.
Mr. Henry Clay Dean, of Iowa, who says in his introduction,
" I am a Democrat; a devoted friend of the Constitution of the United
States; a sincere lever of the Government and the Union of the States"—
published in 1868 a book of 512 pages, entitled " Crimes of the
Civil War," which we respectfully commend to the perusal of those
who believe that the Federal Government conducted the war on
the principles of "modern civilization and the precepts of Chris-
tianity."
We will extract only one chapter (pp. 120-141), and will simply
preface it with the remark, that though some of the language used
is severer than our taste would approve, the narrative bears the
impress of truth on its face, and can be abundantly substantiated
by other testimony:
narrative of henry clay dean.
In the town of Palmyra, Missouri, John McNeil had his head-
quarters as colonel of a Missouri regiment anc^commander of the
post.
An officious person who had acted as a spy and common informer,
named Andrew Allsman, who was engaged in the detestable business
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
227
of having his neighbors arrested upon charges of disloyalty, and
securing the scoutings and ravages from every house that was not
summarily burned to the earth. This had so long been his vocation
that he was universally loathed by people of every shade of opinion,
and soon brought upon himself the fate common to all such persons
in every country, where the spirit of self-defence is an element of
human nature. In his search for victims for the prison which was
kept at Palmyra, this man was missed; nobody knew when, or
where, or how; whether drowned in the river, absconding from the
army, or killed by Federal soldiers or concealed Confederates.
His failure to return was. made the pretext for a series of the
most horrible crimes ever recorded in any country, civilized or
barbarous.
John McNeil is a Nova Scotian by birth, the descendant of the
expelled tories of the American Revolution, who took sides against
the colonists in the rebellion against Great Britain. He is by trade
a hatter, who made some money in the Mexican war. He had
lived in Saint Louis for many years, simply distinguished for his
activity in grog-shop politics. He was soon in the market on the
outbreak of the war, and received a colonel's commission. Without
courage, military knowledge, or experience, he entered the army for
the purpose of murder and robbery.
As the tool of McNeil, W. H. Strachan acted in the capacity of
provost marshal general, whose enormities exceed anything in the
wicked annals of human depravity.
At the instigation of McNeil, the provost marshal went to the
prison, filled with quiet, inoffensive farmers, and selected ten men
of age and respectability; among the rest an old Judge of Knox
county, all of whom had helpless families at home, in destitution
and unprotected.
These names, which should be remembered as among the victims
of the reign of the Monster of the Christian era, were as follows:
William Baker, Thomas Huston, Morgan Bixler, John Y. Mc-
Pheeters of Lewis, Herbert Hudson, John M. Wade, Marion Lavi
of Ralls, Captain Thomas A. Snyder of Monroe, Eleazer Lake of
Scotland, and Hiram Smith of Knox county, were sentenced to be
shot without trial or any of the forms of military law, by a military
commander whose grade could not have given ratification to a
court-martial, had one been held; had the parties been charged
with crime, which they were not.
Mr. Humphreys, also in prison, was to have been shot instead of
one of those named above, but which one the author has not the
means of knowing. The change in the persons transpired in this
way:
Early on the morning of the execution, Mrs. Mary Humphreys
came to see her husband before his death, to intercede for his re-
lease. She first went to see McNeil, who frowned, stormed, and
let loose a volley of such horrible oaths at her for daring to plead
for her husband's life that she fled away through fear, and when
228 Southern Historical Society Papers.
she closed the door, the unnameable fiend cursed her with blasphe-
mous assurances that her husband should be dispatched to hell at
one o'clock. The poor affrighted woman, with bleeding heart,
hastened to the provost marshal's office, and quite fainted away as
she besought him to intercede with McNeil for the preservation of
her husband's life. With a savage, taunting grin, Strachan said
" that may be done, madam, by getting me three hundred dollars."
This she did through the kindness of two gentlemen, who advanced
the money at once.
She returned with the money and paid it to Strachan. Mrs.
Humphreys had her little daughter by her side, when she sank into
her seat with exhaustion. Scarcely had she taken her place, until
Strachan told her that she had still to do something else to secure
her husband's release. At this moment he thrust the little girl out
of the door and threatened the fainting woman with the execution
of her husband. She fell as a lifeless corpse to the floor. After he
had filled his pockets with money and satiated his lust, the provost
marshal released poor Humphreys. Another innocent victim was
taken in his place to cover up the hideous crime. The newspapers
were commanded to publish the falsehood that some one had vol-
unteered to die in his stead. The additional murdered man was a
sacrifice to the venality, murder and rape of the provost marshal.
The victim was an unobtrusive young man, caught up and dragged
off as a wild beast to the slaughter, without any further notice than
was necessary to prepare to walk from the jail to the scene of
murder.
The other eleven were notified of their contemplated murder
some eighteen hours before the appointed moment of the tragedy.
Rev. James S. Green, of the city of Palmyra, remained with them
through the night.
Between eleven and twelve o'clock the next day, three Govern-
m'ent wagons drove to the jail with ten rough boxes, upon which
the ten martyrs to brutal demonism were seated.
This appalling spectacle was made more frightful by the rough
jeering of the mercenaries who guarded the victims to the place of
butchery. The jolting wagons were driven through street after
street, which was abandoned by every human being; women faint-
ing at the awful spectacle, clasping their children more closely to
their bosoms, as the murderers, with blood pictured in their coun-
tenances, were screaming in hoarse tones the word of command.
The company of stranger adventurers, mercenaries, and the vilest
resident population, formed a circle at the scene, in imitation of the
Roman slaughter in the time of Nero, Caligula and Commodus, to
feast their sensual eyes on blood and amuse themselves with the
piteous shrieks of the dying men. This infernal saturnalia com-
menced with music. Everything was done which might harrow
the feelings and torture the soul. The rough coffins were placed
before them in such manner as to excite horror; the grave opened
its yawning mouth to terrify them; but they stood unmoved amid
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
229
the frenzied, murderous mob. Captain Snyder was dressed in
beautiful black, with white vest; magnificent head covered with
rich wavy locks that fell around his broad shoulders like the mane
of a lion. When the mercenaries were preparing to consummate
this horrible crime, they at last seemed conscious of the character
and the magnitude of this awful work, grew pale and trembled:
even the brutal Strachan seemed alarmed at his own nameless and
compounded crimes of lust, avarice and murder. Rev. Mr. Rhodes,
a meek and unobtrusive minister of the Baptist Church, prayed
with the dying men, and Strachan reached out his bloody hands to
bid them adieu. They generously forgave their murderers.
To lengthen out the cruel tragedy, the guns were fired at different
times that death might be dealt out in broken periods. Two of
the men were killed outright. Captain Snyder sprang to his feet,
faced the soldiers, pierced their cowardly faces with his unbandaged
eagle eye, and fell forward to rise no more.
The other seven were wounded, mangled and butchered in detail,
with pistols; whilst the ear was rent with their piteous groans, pray-
ing to find refuge in death. The whole butchery occupied some
fifteen minutes.
The country was appalled at the recital of these crimes and in-
credulous of the facts.
The newspapers were suppressed to prevent their publication,
and the exposure of the perpetrators. The punishment of the
criminals was demanded by public justice and expected by every-
body except the criminals, who well understood the cruelty fand
corruption of the Executive Department.
To cover up these crimes by a judicial farce, nearly two years
afterwards charges were preferred against Strachan; he was con-
victed upon the foregoing state of facts, and sentence passed upon
him. The sentence was remitted and Strachan promoted.
For this crime McNeil was promoted by Lincoln to Brigadier-
General and kept in office. In all of the history of European wars,
Asiatic butcheries, Indian cruelties, and negro atrocities, there can
be found no parallel instance in which the murder of men without
any of the forms of trial, was accompanied with the rape of the
wives of those designated by the lottery of death as the price of the
husband's liberty. There was nothing left undone to make the
whole scene cruel, loathsome, and revolting.
This outrage unpunished, gave license for crime, cruelty, outrage
and disorder everywhere. It would require the pen of every writer,
the paper of every manufacturer, for a year, to recount them; the
human imagination sickens in contemplation of them.
In the next year after the McNeil butchery, in the neighboring
city of Hannibal, occurred a similar crime, equally monstrous in
its details.
J. T. K. Heyward commanded a body of enrolled brigands in
Marion county, known as the railroad brigade, who foraged upon
the people and plundered the country.
230 Southern Historical Society Papers. .
Hugh B. Bloom, a drunken soldier of the Federal army, returning
to his regiment, muttered some offensive words in the presence of
Hey ward's men. Bloom was immediately dragged from the steam-
boat upon which he was traveling and carried before Heyward.
Heyward improvised a military court, tried the drunken man,
and condemned him to immediate death.
Whilst the poor wretch was unconscious of his condition, dis-
qualified for self-defence, and unable to understand the fearful
nature of his peril, he was hurried off to the most public place on
the river side; the people of the town, trembling with fear, were
compelled to witness the horrid scene.
The worst was yet to come. Old and respectable citizens, because
known for their quiet demeanor and hatred of violence, were dragged
down to witness the horrid spectacle. Twelve of these gentlemen
were presented with muskets, and commanded to fire at the trem-
bling inebriate sitting upon his coffin.
To enforce this fiendish order to make private gentlemen commit
public murder, Heyward's brigands were placed immediately behind
the squad of private citizens and commanded to fire upon the first
who hesitated to fire at Bloom. As the shuddering man sank down
beneath the terrible volley of musketry, Heyward turned upon the
people and warned them of their impending fate in the murder of
this man.
The spectacle was revolting in itself. It was terrible in view of
the fact, that these militia were unauthorized by law for any such
purpose; that the execution was without the shadow of law, that
the victim was a Union soldier, who had committed no offence;
that the men who were forced to do this horrid work were unwilling
to commit the crime, and protested against being made the instru-
ments of such bloody horror. But how ineffably shocking that the
perpetrator, Heyward, should be a member of a Christian church,
ana assume the office of Sabbath-schoolteacher; that little children
should look upon the horrible visage of the murderous wretch as
their instructor.
This Heyward, secluded from the inquiring world, overawing
and corrupting the press of his own neighborhood, was the most
satanic of all the local tyrants of Missouri.
At one time he gathered all of the old and respectable citizens of
Hannibal, including such highly cultivated gentlemen of spotless
escutcheon as Hon. A. W. Lamb, into a dilapidated, falling nouse,
and placed powder under it to blow it to atoms, in case Hannibal
should be visited by rebels.
In Monroe county, two farmers were arrested by the provost
marshal's guard, taken a short distance from home, shot down and
thrown into the field with the swine.
On the next day the recognized fragments of the bodies were
gathered up by the neighbors and carried to their respective houses,
and prepared for interment.
The citizens were so respectable, the murder so brutal, the outrage
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
231
eo revolting, that people gathered from a long distance around to
bury in decency the remains of those who had been so shockingly
destroyed.
When the funeral procession had been formed, the provost mar-
ehal sent his guard to disperse them; declaring that no person
opposed to the war should have public burial.
The heart-broken families had to go unattended to the grave of
their respective dead; each one dreading the danger that beset the
highway upon their return home; and feeling even more in danger
from marauders in the secret chambers of their own domicil.
During this drunken reign of horrors, innocent people were shot
down upon their door sills, called into their gardens upon pretended
business, butchered and left lying, that their families might not
know their whereabouts uutil their bodies were decomposed.
Women were ravished, houses burned, plantations laid waste.
Judge Richardson was shot whilst in the courthouse in which
he presided, in Scotland county. Rev. Wm. Headlee, a minister of
the gospel, was shot upon the highway; and all of these murderers,
robbers and incendiaries, are yet a large.
Dr. Glasscock, a physician, was dragged from his own house by
soldiers, under pretence of taking him to court as a witness, against
the earnest prayers of his children and slaves, was shot, mangled,
disfigured and mutilated, then brought to his own yard and thrown
down like a dead animal.
To prevent punishment by law, these criminals repealed the laws
against their crimes; and provided in the constitution that crime
should go unpunished if committed by themselves.
To make themselves secure in their crime and to give immunity
from punishment, they disfranchised the masses of the people; and
in the city of Saint Louis the criminal vote elected the criminal
McNeil as the sheriff of the county of Saint Louis—the tool of the
weakest and most malignant tyrants.
milroy's order.
Saint George, Tucker Co., Va., November 28th, 1862.
Mr. Adam Harper :
Sir—In consequence of certain robberies which have been com-
mitted on Union citizens of this county by bands of guerrillas, you
are hereby assessed to the amount ($285.00) two hundred and
eighty-five dollars, to make good their losses; and upon your failure
to comply with the above assessment by the 8th day of December,
the following order has been issued to me by Brigadier-General
R. H. Milroy:
You are to burn their houses, seize all their property and shoot
them. You will be sure that you strictly carry out this order.
You will inform the inhabitants for ten or fifteen miles around
your camp, on all the roads approaching the town upon which the
enemy may approach, that they must dash in and give you notice,
232 Southern Historical Society Papers.
and upon any one failing to do so, you will burn their houses and
shoot the men.
By order Brigadier-General R. H. Milrqy,
H. Kellog, Captain Commanding Post.
Mr. Harper was an old gentlemen, over 82 years of age, a cripple,
and can neither read nor write the English language, though a
good German scholar. This gentlemen was one of twelve children,
had served in the war of 1812, was the son of a Revolutionary
soldier who bore his musket during the whole war, inherited a
woodland tract, and built up a substantial home in the midst of
Western Virginia.
His was only one of a class which swept over West Virginia, and
left the beautiful valleys of Tygart and the Potomac rivers in ashes
and desolation.
It is to pay for crimes like these, and keep in employment the
men who committed them, that created the debt now weighing the
people down. It was to pay such monsters, with their tools, that
money was refunded by the General Government to the State of
Missouri and West Virginia, and the taxes saddled upon the people
of the country.
The following letter gives its own explanation:
Macon, Georgia, October 7, 1867.
Henry Clay Dean, Mount Pleasant, Iowa :
Dear Sir—I have read your late communication- addressed to
"The prisoners of war, and victims of arbitrary arrests in the
United States of America."
You allege that "the Congress of the United States refused to
extend the investigation contemplated by a resolution, adopted by
that body on the 10th of July, 1867, appointing certain parties to
investigate the treatment of prisoners of war and Union citizens
held by the Confederate authorities during the rebellion, to the
prisoners of war, victims of ' arbitrary power and military usurpa-
tion by the authority of the Federal Administration.'"
Appreciating your object "to put the truth upon the record," and
concurring in your patriotic suggestion that "it is the duty of every
American to look to the honor of his country and the preservation
of the truth of history," I have felt constrained to respond to the
call made in your circular, so far as to acquaint the public, through
you, with the following precise, simple, and unexaggerated state-
ment of facts:
When the Capitol of the Confederate States was evacuated, the
specie belonging to the Richmond banks was removed, with the
archives of the Government, to Washington, Georgia. Early after
the close of the war, a wagon train conveying this specie from
Washington to Abbeville, South Carolina, was attacked and robbed
of an amount approximating to $100,000, by a body of disbanded,
cavalry of the Confederate army.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
233
A few weeks subsequent to this event, Brigadier-General Edward
A. Wild, with an escort consisting of twelve negro soldiers, under
the command of Lieutenant Seaton, of Captain Alfred Cooley's
company (156th Regiment of New York Volunteers"), repaired to
the scene of the robbery in the vicinity of Danburg, Wilkes county,
Georgia. .By the order of General Wild, and in his presence, A. D.
Chenault, a Methodist minister, weighing 275 pounds, his brother,
John N. Chenault, of moderate size, and a son of the latter, only
15 years of age, but weighing 230 pounds, were arrested and taken
to an adjacent wood, where the money abstracted from the train,
or a portion of it, was supposed to be concealed. Failing to pro-
duce the money upon the order of General Wild, these three citizens,
who enjoy the esteem and confidence of all who know them, were
suspended by their thumbs, with the view of extorting confessions as
to the place of its concealment. Mr. John N. Chenault was twice
subjected to this torture, and on one occasion until he fainted, and
was then cut down. Rev. A. D. Chenault was also hung up twice
by his thumbs, and until General Wild was induced only by his
groans and cries to release him from his agony. The youth, A. F.
Chenault, was hung up once, and until he exhibited evident signs
of fainting, when he was cut down. Whilst this scene was being
enacted, General Wild and his subaltern were both present, direct-
ing the whole operations. These citizens, with the exception of
John N. Chenault, who was unable to be removed, were then sent
under guard to Washington, fifteen miles distant.
By order of General Wild, a daughter of John N. Chenault, about
the age of seventeen years, universally beloved in her neighborhood,
and distinguished for her piety, was searched, by being stripped, in
the presence of the Lieutenant, who was charged with the execution
of the order. When her garments, piece by piece, were taken from
her and the very last one upon her was reached, in the instincts of
her native modesty, she threw herself upon abed and sought to
conceal her person with its covering, she was ordered to stand out
upon the floor until stripped to perfect nakedness.
By order of General Mild, the wife of John N. Chenault was
arrested and taken under guard to Washington, where she was in-
carcerated for several days, fed on bread and water, in one of the
petit jury rooms of the courthouse, and after she had been forced
to leave at her home her nursing infant, but nine months old, where
it continued to remain until its mother was releaSed.
During the period of her imprisonment, General Wild was waited
upon at his hotel by three citizens of the county, to wit: Francis
G. Wingfield, Richard T. Walton, and your correspondent, who
importuned this officer to permit one of the party to take Mrs.
Chenault to his residence in the village, each pledging his neck, and
all tendering bond, with security in any amount which he would
be pleased to nominate, for her appearance at any time and place
in obedience to his order. This request General Wild promptly and
emphatically refused, but graciously allowed her friends to supply
her with suitable food at the place of her confinement.
234
Southern Historical Society Papers.
The tortures and indignities thus inflicted upon this family, who
are respected and esteemed by all who know them, failed to discover
any evidence whatever of their complicity in the robbery, or any
knowledge of the concealment of any of its fruits.
The facts thus detailed were reported in substance to Major-Gen-
eral James B. Steadman, then on duty at Augusta, Georgia, who
immediately ordered his Inspector-General (whose name is not re-
membered) to Washington, with instructions to collect the evidence
as to the truth of the representations made to him. After spending
several days at Washington and its vicinity, in the examination of
witnesses, this officer observed that the facts which he had elicited
fully corroborated the statements which had been forwarded to
General Steadman.
General Wild was removed by the order of General Steadman.
and ordered to Washington city. Charges were also preferred
against him, but the public is not advised that even asjmuch as a
reprimand was ever administered to him.
The foregoing statement of facts will be avouched by many
citizens of Washington, and of Wilkes and Lincoln counties. You
are respectfully referred to James M. Dyson, Gabriel Toombs, Green
P. Cozart, Hon. Garnett Andrews, Dr. J. J. Robertson, Dr. James
H. Lane, Dr. J. B. Ficklin, Richard T. Walton, Dr. John Haynes
Walton and David G. Cotting, the present editor of the Republican,
at Augusta.
Prompted by no spirit of personal malevolence, but in obedience
alone to the instinct of a virtuous patriotism, I have thus "a round
unvarnished tale delivered" of some of the actings and doings of
this officer, studiously refraining from any denunciation, and sup-
pressing every suggestion the least calculated to excite the prejudices
or inflame the passions of the public.
I am, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant, John B. Weems.
An attempt to record the crimes committed during the civil war
would fill volumes and excite horror.
We can only indicate the crimes rather than give detail of their
circumstances.
One gentleman from Vicksburg writes in justly indignant language
of the rape and robbery of his wife; that he has sought redress in
vain of the military authorities. Another of the violation of two
ladies by beastly mercenaries, until one dies, and the other lives a
raving maniac.
A lady writes from Liberty, Missouri, that her father, Mr. Payne,
a minister of Christ, was murdered by the military and left out
from his dwelling for several days, until found by some neighbors
in a mutilated condition.
A gentleman writes that a wretch named Harding boasts that he
had beaten out the brains of a wounded Confederate prisoner at
the battle of Drainesville.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
235
The affidavit of Thomas E. Gilkerson states that negro soldiers
were promoted to corporals for shooting white prisoners at Point
Lookout, where he was a prisoner.
That he was transferred to Elmira, New York, where prisoners
were starved into skeletons; were reduced to the necessity of rob-
bing the night-stool of the meats which, being spoiled, could not
be eaten by the sick, was thrown into the bucket of excrements,
taken out and washed to satisfy their distressing hunger.
That for inquiring of Lieutenant Whitney, of Rochester, New
York, for some clothes which the deponent believed were sent to
him in a box, the deponent was confined three days in a dungeon
and fed on bread and water.
. That two men in ward twenty-two were starved until they eat a
dog, for which offence they were severely punished.
That negroes were placed on guard. That while on guard, a
negro called a prisoner over the dead line, which the prisoner did
not recognize as such, and the negro shot him dead, and went
unpunished.
That shooting prisoners without cause or provocation, was of
frequent occurrence by the negro guards.
This affidavit was taken before Daniel Jackson, Justice of the
Peace.
Joseph Hetterphran, from Fayetteville, Georgia, writes that he
was captured on the 27th of January, 1864, in East Tennessee;
searched and robbed with his companions of everything. They
were hurried by forced marches to Knoxville, nearly frozen and
starved; were then confined in the penitentiary, where the treat-
ment all the time grew worse; were finally taken to Rock Island,
where he had no blanket, was stinted in fuel, food and raiment.
In this horrible place the prisoners ate dogs and rats. The poor
fellows tried to get the crumbs that fell from the bread wagons; a
great many died of diseases induced by starvation: others starved
outright. In the meantime the sutler would sell provisions to the
rich Confederates, whilst the poor were driven to starvation. This
prison was guarded by negroes for a considerable time. The negroes
frequently shot the prisoners down through wantonness, just as
they did at Elmira. The officer who led negroes to kill the people
of his own race, can sink to no lower depth of degradation.
Henry J. Moses writes from Woodbine, Texas, that he was taken
prisoner at Gaines' Farm, near Richmond, Virginia, and confined
at Point Lookout during-the month of May, 1864, and then taken
to Fort Delaware, where he remained until the 24th of August.
When General Foster demanded the removal of six hundred of
the prisoners, they were placed on board the steamer Crescent, and
kept in the hold seventeen days, suffocating with heat, drinking
bilge water, and eating salt pork and crackers in very stinted allow-
ances. The hatchway was frequently closed, and all of the horrors
of the African slave trade revived in their persons and treatment.
After enduring this terrible form of torture, they were placed on
236
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Morris' Island, under the fire of their own guns for forty-three days,
guarded by negroes. The dead line rope was stretched as a pre-
text for shooting those who should even by accident touch it.
Taunts, gibes, jeers, and insults of every kind were heaped upon
the prisoners. Paul H. Earle, of Alabama, for no offence whatever,
was shot at; another time the tent was fired into, and two sleeping
soldiers badly wounded, by order of the lieutenant. As it always
has been and ever will be, the negroes behaved much better than
the white fiends who commanded them. How could it be other-
wise? A man raised in Christian communities who would let loose
barbarians to burn up and destroy the habitations of women and
children of his own race, has not one conceivable iota of space
in which to sink deeper in degradation.
After all of the acts of cruelty and ingenuity to starve these poor
fellows, they were finally confined in Fort Pulaski, fed upon a pint
of musty kiln-dried corn, with a rotten pickle each day. On this
diet they were kept for forty-four days, when the scurvy broke out
and killed over two hundred of the number. After such loathsome
suffering as makes human nature shudder, incarcerated in damp
cells without blankets, some with no coats, Mr. Moses adds that
"nothing but the preserving hand of God kept us through those
trying hours." How much greater was the crime of a Christian
people, that the ministry in the peaceful regions were inflaming
this horrible work, instead of alleviating the sufferings of the peo-
pie. Added to all of the other atrocious crimes and cruelties, the
insane were in like manner tortured. An old gentleman named
Fitzgerald, infirm and insane, who ate opium to alleviate his pain,
was denied his medicine for which he begged, until death kindly
came to open the prison doors and release him from bis agony.
The prisoners say that Foster instigated these cruelties. The names
and references of the parties clothe the whole statement with an
unmistakable semblance of truth. The corroboration is con-
elusive.
John L. Waring, of Brandywine, Prince George's count)', Mary-
land, states that he was a prisoner of war for more than two years;
that a private soldier killed in his presence an inoffensive prisoner
in Carroll prison, who sat by the window, and was promoted from
the ranks to corporal for the crime.
Forney's Chronicle, in noticing the death, and apologizing for the
crime, falsely stated that young Hardcastle, the prisoner killed, was
cursing the guard.
The room-mate of Plardcastle, who, like Hardcastle, had been
arrested upon no charges whatever, soon after this murder was
released, but died shortly after in consequence of the cruel prison
treatment.
Mr. Waring was removed from Carroll prison to Point Lookout,
where the prisoners were detailed to load and unload vessels; were
robbed by negroes of the trinkets made in prison; some were shot
by negroes, carpet sacks were robbed of clothing, and hospital
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
237
stewards and sanitary commissions ate the provisions sent to pris-
oners and soldiers, or extorted exorbitant prices from the person
to whom they had been sent.
The negroes offered every manner of indignity to the prisoners.
Among other crimes they shot a dying man on his attempt to re-
lieve nature. The conduct of the negroes at Point Lookout was
incited by their white officers until it was frightful.
Henry H. Knight writes from Cary, Wake county, North Carolina,
that he was captured at Gettysburg, taken to Fort Delaware, and
suffered all that cold and mud could inflict upon their comfort and
convenience. He was driven from poorly warmed stoves by Fed-
era! officers. The soldiers were beaten, starved and frozen to death.
Seven were frozen one morning; others of-them went to the hos-
pital and died. At other times they were driven through the water,
and were alternately robbed, frozen, tortured and starved. The
great amount sent them by relatives was appropriated by the guards
for their own use; and if they made complaint, the prisoners were
shot, and the improbable story told that they had run guard, and
that would be the last of their crime heard in the fort against the
guards.
Some of these poor fellows were whole days without fire, when
the snow was a foot deep, or the water covering the ground. The
author saw hundreds of these prisoners in the city of Pittsburg in
the early summer of 1865, on their way to the Southwest, in the
most loathsome condition. Their pitiable suffering and mournful
stories were sickening, and would crimson the cheek with unuttera-
ble shame and horror. No words can portray the picture that he
saw with his own eyes. Swollen gums, teeth dropping from the
jaws, eyes bursting with scurvy, limbs paralyzed, hair falling off
of the heads, frozen hands and feet. These were those that escaped.
The dead concealed the crimes of the murderers in the grave which
was closed upon them, by hundreds.
W. C. Osborn, of Opelika, Alabama, states that he was captured
on the 4th of July, 1863, and confined in Fort Delaware; that the
rations were three crackers twice a day; most of the time no meat
at all, but occasionally a very small piece of salt beef or pork.
That he drank water within fifteen feet of the excrement of the
fort, and could get no other. When cold weather returned, the
beds of each man were searched, and only one blanket left him.
The barracks were inferior, and men froze to death in the terrible
winter of 1863-4. Prisoners were shot for the most trivial offences.
One man's brains were blown out and scattered on the walls, where
they remained for many days, for no offence other than looking
over the bounds, unconsciously. For other offences, men were
tied up by the thumbs just so that their toes might touch the
ground, for three hours at a time, until they would turn black in
the face. Others were placed astride of joists, and forced to remain
in that attitude for hours at a time, the coldest weather. These
crimes against the persons of the prisoners, and their starvation,
238
Southern Historical Society Papers.
were carefully concealed from the public eye, and the Philadelphia
papers made every effort to deceive the public in regard to these
matters. On inspection days, when the people were admitted to
the grounds, the prisoners got three times as much as upon other
days. This was done to delude the people of the country, who
never had any sympathy with these horrible crimes.
Presley N. Morris, of Henry county, Georgia, was captured by
Wilder's brigade, was divested of everything, marched five days on
one meal each day, carried through filthy cars to Camp Morton,
Indiana, on the 19th of October, 1863, where he was imprisoned
in an old horse stable on the Fair Ground, without blanket, thinly
clad, and without fire, until January, 1864, when he received one
blanket; his body covered with rags and vermin, when the snow
was from six to ten inches deep. Two stoves were all that was
used to warm three hundred men, and then wood for half the time
only was allowed. The prisoners were compelled to remain out
in the cold in this condition from nine o'clock, A. M., to four o'clock,
P. M., no difference what was the condition of the weather. In
October, 1864, the prisoners were drawn up in line, stripped of all
their bedding, except one blanket, and robbed of all money; and
Mr. Morris was robbed of three hundred dollars, with other val-
uables, none of which were ever returned; was beaten over the
head because a piece of money was found near his feet, by one
Fifer. Money sent him was purloined by the officers through
whose hands it came.
Another says he belonged to Grigsby's regiment; was sent to
Camp Morton; and corroborates the statement of Mr. Morris in
regard to Camp Morton. He was soon, after his capture, sent to
Camp Douglas near Chicago. In this place the prisoners were shot
at by sharpshooters and Indians; sometimes were kept in close
confinement for forty-eight hours. Sometimes a half dozen pris-
oners were placed upon a rude machine called " Morgan's horse,"
which was very sharp, and compelled to sit more than two hours
at a time, with weights to their legs. Others were tied up by their
thumbs. They were searched once every week. The prisoners
were whipped with leather straps and sticks, after the manner of
whipping brutes. Upon one occasion, when a guard discovered a
beef bone thrown from the window of number six, he made all of
the prisoners form in line and touch the ground with the fore finger
without bending the knee. All who could not do this were beaten.
A young man was shot for picking up snow to quench his thirst,
when the hydrant had been closed for several days. New and
cruel punishments were inflicted, as whim, passion, or pure ma-
lignity indicated.
Wm. Howard, a Baptist minister, sixty years of age, of Graves
county, Kentucky, was taken, with his daughters, and beaten over
the head with a sabre, until the sabre was broken; and he was
otherwise cruelly treated.
Lucius T. Harding writes that on the 14th of October the large
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
239
steamer General Foster came to his place. The sailors entered the
house, kicked his sick children, and robbed him of everything.
That white officers led negro raids into Westmoreland and Rich-
mond counties. Women were violated wherever they were caught
by the negroes with the utmost impunity.
N. D. Hall, of Larkinville, Alabama, a soldier of Western Vir-
ginia, during Hunter's, Crook's and Averill's horrible desolation of
Virginia, says that the rebels found a negro man and child, both
dead, and a negro woman stripped naked, whose bleeding person
had been outraged by Averill's men.
That Averill's men offered to give to Dr. Patton's wife, in Green-
brier county, West Virginia, fifteen negro children which they had
stolen, and which she refused to take from them. To rid themselves
of the burden, and the children from suffering, they were thrown
into Greenbrier river.
In the valley below Staunton, Crook's men tied an old gentle-
man, and violated his only daughter in his presence, until she
fainted.
In Bedford county he saw the corpse of one, and the other sister
a raving maniac, from violation of their persons. Desolation was
left in the trail of these men.
An aged and respectable minister was hanged in Middletown,
Virginia, by military order, for shooting a soldier in the attempt
to violate his daughter in his own house in Greenbrier county.
David Nelson, of Jackson, was shot because his son was in the
Confederate army.
Another person named Peters, a mere boy, was shot for having a
pistol hidden.
Garland A. Snead, of Augusta, Georgia, said he was taken pris-
oner at Fisher's Hill, Virginia, September, 1864; sent to Point
Lookout, which was in the care of one Brady, who had been an
officer of negro cavalry.
He was starved for five days, had chronic diarrhoea; was forced
to use bad water, the good water being refused them. Men died
frequently of sheer neglect. He was sent off to make room for
other prisoners, because he was believed to be in a dying condition;
as it was manifestly the purpose to poison all that could be de-
stroyed by deleterious food and water, or by neglect of their
wants.
He said that negroes fired into their beds at night; and one
was promoted for killing a prisoner, from the ranks to sergeant.
Claiborne Snead, of Augusta, Georgia, writes from Johnson's Is-
land, that prisoners were frequently shot without an excuse; that
prisoners having the small-pox were brought to Johnson's Island
on purpose to inoculate the rest of the prisoners, and that many
died of that disease; a crime for which civilized government visits
the most terrible penalties. Yet this disease, thus planted, was
kept there until it had spent its force.
That the rations were bad, and prisoners went to bed suffering
the pangs of hunger.
240
Southern Historical Society Papers.
That although Lake Erie was not one hundred yards distant, yet
these prisoners were forced to drink from three holes dug in the
prison bounds, surrounded by twenty-six sinks, the filth of which
oozed into the water. This treatment, in no wise better than the
inoculation of small-pox, and even more loathsome than that
disease, caused many prisoners to contract chronic diarrhoea in a
country where that disease is not common.
It is impossible for human language to portray the horrible crim-
inality of the wicked men who inflicted these tortures upon human
beings, and at the same time caused the detention of Northern
prisoners in loathsome Southern prisons, through a fiendish love
of sutfering; and the unwillingness to have exchanges, paroles,
and releases granted to the unfortunate, innocent men of both
armies, unnaturally led to mutual destruction. What apology
can the infidel ministry of the country offer for such crimes?
and upon their head must the curse ever rest who sustained these
thieves.
J. C. Moore, son of Colonel David Moore, of the Federal army,
writes that he was taken prisoner at Helena, Arkansas, July 4,
1863, with 1,750 prisoners. The poor fellows, half starved, were
met at Saint Louis by a supply of apples, cakes, tobacco and
money. The officer having them in charge threatened the boys
with imprisonment, who extended these friendships to these un-
fortunate men. That he was taken to the Alton prison, where
men were kept with ball and chain at work in the street, for mere
peccadilloes, where the keepers shot their victims and stabbed them,
with all of the indignities usual in the prisons everywhere, which
seemed under control of no military, but rather governed by the
instigation of the devil.
L. P. Hall and Wm. Perry, of Chico Butte, California, were arrested;
had their press destroyed; were handcuffed together in Jackson,
Amada county, with ball and chain attached to their legs, ana
driven to labor on the Public Works at Alcatross. Fifty-two others
were treated in like manner. Hall and Perry were finally discharged
without charges or trial. In the persons of these gentlemen, were
violated all the rights of freedom of person, of the press, of speech,
and finally they were starved, and released after enduring the most
offensive insults at the hands of a cowardly enemy. This crime
transpired in California, where war had not gone, and their im-
prisonment was without pretence.
T. Walton Mason, of Adairville, Logan county, Kentucky, says
that he was surrendered by General Jno. Morgan, in Ohio, July
26th, 1863, and imprisoned at Camp Chase, then removed to Camp
Douglas, where all of the horrors of that place were revived. In
this camp Choctaw Indians were employed as guards. When
money was given to the guards to buy provisions, they -would
pocket the money. The Indians shamed the whites for this breach
of faith and petty theft. In November, 1863, seven escaped pris-
oners were returned, and subjected to the most cruel torture. They
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
241
were taken out in the presence of the garrison and tortured with
the thumb-screw until they fainted with pain.
In February, 1864, the cruelty became extreme; they beat pris-
oners with clubs and a leather belt, with a United State buckle at
the end of it. They shot prisoners without provocation. For
spilling the least water on the floor, the prisoner was elevated on a
four inch scantling fifteen feet high, and tortured for two or three
hours. For any similar offence, when the perpetrator was not
known, the whole regiment was marched out and kept in the cold
all day, sometimes freezing their limbs in the effort. Because a
sick man vomited on his floor, the whole of the prisoners, in the
dead hour of a chilling cold night, were made to stand out in their
night clothes, until frozen, and from which several died, whilst
others lost their health, which they never recovered.
Mr. Mason was driven by this night's cruelty into the hospital,
where, among empyrics, he refused to take their medicines; in turn
his own physician was not allowed to see him.
From twelve to thirty prisoners died every day, during the
months of July, August, September and October, from brutal treat-
ment.
When James Wandle, a Virginia giant near seven feet high, died
through neglect in the hospital, the ward-master could not lay him
in the small coffin which was furnished, but his body in a most
brutal manner was stamped down into its narrow limits to prepare
it for the grave.
Such were the every day affairs of this loathsome place.
Again, in the coldest winter night, the prisoners were aroused
and driven out in the storm barefooted, in their night clothes, and
made to sit down until the snow melted under them.
Late in December, several hundred prisoners came from Hood's
army, near Nashville, almost destitute of clothing; coming from a
warm climate, they were kept out all night in the cold, shivering
and freezing. Upon the next morning, nearly one hundred were
sent to the hospital. As a consequence, many of their limbs were
frozen and required amputation, and death kindly came to the
relief of all.
J. Risque Hutter, late Lieu tenant-Colongl Eleventh Regiment
Virginia Infantry, writes that he was captured at Gettysburg, and
was eighteen months in prison on Johnson's Island.
During the tyranny of a fellow of the name of Hill, rations were
reduced and stinted; that prisoners were neglected in sickness;
straw und other necessaries were declared contraband.
That suffering from thirst was common, right on "the shores of
the lake-bound prison."
. That the rations were indifferent in quality and insufficient in
quantity to satisfy hunger. Rats were eaten by hundreds of pris-
oners, who regarded themselves fortunate to get them, such was the
reduced condition of the prisoners.
That Colonel Hutter's brother, an officer in the Confederate
2
242
Southern Historical Society Papers.
army, on duty in Danville, Virginia, went to Lieutenant Bingham
and agreed to furnish him with all of the comforts of life, if he
would have the necessaries furnished Colonel Hutter through his
friends at home. Colonel Hutter had Lieutenant Bingham furnished
with everything he desired, and when arrangements were made to
furnish similar articles to Colonel Hutter, on Johnson's Island, Hill
would not permit it. When the matter was referred to Washing-
ton, the refusal was sustained.
The ahove abbreviated statement has been made from ably
written details of individual wrongs—each gentleman giving name,
date, place and specific charges. The latter would make a large
hound volume of itself, which want of space only apologizes for
the abridgment.
John M. Weiner, formerly Mayor of the city of Saint Louis,
was arrested in that city and kept in prison without any charges
against him whatever. After the cruel treatment common to Saint
Louis prisons, he was transferred to Alton penitentiary, and from
there made his escape, and was killed near Springfield, Missouri.
Mrs. Weiner sent for her husband's body for burial in Bellafon-
taine Cemetery. Whilst his wife and friends were preparing his body
for burial, Samuel R. Curtis sent a squad of soldiers, who stole the
corpse from his wife, and buried it in a secret place.
Mrs. Beatty was arrested for begging the release of Mayor Wolf,
who was sentenced to be shot in retaliation. Wolf was respited
and then exchanged; but Mrs. Beatty was put in prison, mana-
cled, shackled, and chained with a heavy ball until the iron cut
through her tender limbs, and the flesh rotted beneath the irons,
until she was attacked with chills; and in a lone cell, not permitted
to see a human being, when her mind gave way under the terrible
treatment. The surgeon protested against this vicious cruelty;
still it was continued, until the very sight of the poor creature was
frightful. So iShe continued until Rosecrans was removed. After
Rosecrans was broken down in the army, like Burnside, he tried to
retrieve his lost fortunes by cruelty, but failed. Neither the release
of Strachan from the penalties of the court-martial for his partici-
pation in the McNeil murders, and robbery and rape of Mrs. Mary
Humphreys, nor his barbarity could save him from the contempt
of the Radicals. After his brutalities in these cases, the Democrats
loathed him, and he now lies hidden among the rubbish of the
war, 'mid the remnants of abandoned barracks, rusty guns and
broken wagons, to be heard of no more forever. Mrs. Beatty was
tried by court-martial and acquitted, but will wear the marks of
cruelty to the grave.
One of the most horrible murders of the State of Missouri, was
that committed by an old counterfeiter named Babcock, who shot„
Judge Wright and his three sons, after decoying them from their
own door. The details are too horrible for human pen.
This wretched criminal, Babcock, was elected to the legislature
by disfranchising the people of his county by military force.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
243
This murderer is a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and dispenses the gospel to the people.
Through disgust, horror and shame, I cast my pen aside, and sit
in amazement, that for crimes like these an angry God has not, by
His breath, cursed the earth, and sent it as a floating pandemonium
throughout the immensity of space, as a warning to other worlds,
if other worlds there be so depraved, corrupted and lost to the
charities of life and the mercies of God.
Dr. Gideon S. Bailey, in wealth and character, is one of the finest
citizens of the State of Iowa. He had attended Abraham Lincoln's
reputed father in his last illness for many months, and had received
not one cent in compensation. Yet Dr. Bailey was arrested, placed
in the very same filthy place in which the author was imprisoned,
and kept there for a number of days.
The weather was exceeding sultry; Dr. Bailey was in very feeble
health when he was carried down to Saint Louis on the hurricane
deck of a steamer. When in Saint Louis, he was placed in Gratiot
street prison, where he was subjected to every manner of filth,
torture and suffering.
The debt due him for the attendance upon Mr. Lincoln remains
unpaid, though the doctor will bear the effects of his incarceration
to the grave.
We will next give Rev. George W. Nelson's narrative of his
prison life. Mr. Nelson is now rector of the Episcopal church in
Lexington, Virginia. As an alumnus of the University of Virginia,
a gallant Confederate soldier, and since the war a devoted, useful
minister of the gospel, Mr. Nelson is widely known and needs no
endorsation from us. The narrative was written not long after the
close of the war, when the facts were fresh in his memory, and
could be substantiated by memoranda in his possession. In a
private letter to the editor, dated March 14, 1876, Mr. Nelson says
of his narrative: " It is all literal fact, understated rather than over-
stated. I read it a few days since to Mr. Gillock of this place,
(Lexington), who was my bunk-mate from Point Lookout until we
were released, and he says that all of the facts correspond with his
memory of them." Without further introduction, we submit the
paper in full:
REV. GEORGE W. NELSON'S NARRATIVE.
I was captured on the 26th of October, 1863, under the following
circumstances: I had just returned from within the enemy's lines
to the home of my companion on the border. We were eating
dinner, and thought ourselves perfectly secure. The sight of a
blue coat at the window was the first intimation of the presence of
the Yankees. We immediately jumped up and ran into another
244
Southern Historical Society Papers.
room, expecting to escape through a back window, but to our dis-
may found that outlet also guarded. We next made tremendous
exertions to get up into the garret of the house, but the trap-door
was so weighted down as to resist our utmost strength. The effort
to double up our long legs and big bodies in a wardrobe was
equally unsuccessful. At last we threw ourselves under a bed and
awaited our fate. A few minutes, and in they came—swords
clattering, pistols cocked and leveled. They soon spied our legs
under the bed. " Come out of that," was yelled out, then pistols
were put in our faces, and I heard several voices call out " sur-
render," which we did with as good a grace as we could. The
ladies of the family were much distressed and alarmed, particularly
when the Yankees came up to us with their pistols leveled. They
implored: " Don't sjioot them—don't shoot them." The Yankees
answered : " 0, we aint going to hurt them." A few moments were
given us to say good-bye, and then we were put upon our horses,
(which they had found), placed in the column, with a trooper on
each side and one in front leading our horses, thus precluding all
chance of escape. We had gone about a mile, when an Orderly
came up to us with an order from the Colonel to bring the ranking
prisoner to the head of the column. Accordingly I was led forward.
The Colonel saluted me, introduced a Captain Bailey who was riding
with him, and said we should be treated with all possible courtesy
while under his charge, and I must do him the justice to say he
kept his word. He then proceeded to question me about our army.
There were very few questions of this kind that I would have
answered, but it happened that the Colonel and myself were both
quite deaf, which gave rise to a ludicrous mistake, and resulted in
putting a stop to the catechism. Overture: " Does Jeff. Davis visit
the army often ?" Answer: " 0, yes, while we were camped about
Orange Courthouse in the summer, the array of beauty was great,
and the smiles of the fair ones fully compensated for the hardships
of the Pennsylvania campaign." I thought he asked me whether
the ladies visited the army. He asked me what I said. I re-
peated. I then noticed he had a puzzled look, and that Captain
Bailey could hardly restrain his laughter. So I told him I was
deaf, and had probably misunderstood his question. He answered
that he was deaf, too. I came to the conclusion he thought I was
quizzing, as he did'nt ask any more questions. It is my intention
to give full credit for every kindness I received, for stretched to the
utmost, they make but two or three bright spots in a dark record
of suffering and oppression. One of these occurred the evening of
our capture. I had no gloves, and the night was very cold. Captain
Bailey seeing this, gave me one of his, and the next day brought me
a pair he had got for me. We halted the first night at a place called
Ninevah. We were put for safe keeping in a small out-house,
where we made our bed upon " squashes " and broken pieces of
an old stove. This did not trouble us, however, as we intended to
be awake all night in the hope of a chance for escape. But a
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
245
numerous and vigilant guard disappointed us. We reached Stras-
burg the next evening, where our captors gave us a dinner. We
then went on to Winchester, where we spent the night. The
Yankee officers gave us a first-rate supper. We reached Charles-
town next day, where dinner was again given us—a very good one,
too. The Yankee officers took us to their "mess," and treated us
very courteously. That evening the Colonel commanding took us
to Harper's Ferry. As we were starting, Captain Bailey very kindly
gave us some tobacco, remarking, " You will find some difficulty
in getting such things on the way." The Colonel left us at the
Ferry, and we found ourselves in the hands of a different set of
men. We were put in the " John Brown Engine House," where
were already some twenty-five or thirty prisoners. There were no
beds, no seats, and the floor and walls were alive with lice. Before
being sent to this hole, we were stripped and searched. We stayed
here about thirty-six hours, were then sent on to Wheeling, where
we were pht in a place neither so small nor so lousy as the one we
had left, but the company was even less to our taste than lice, viz:
Yankee convicts. We remained here two or three days, and then
were taken to Camp Chase. We reached there in the night—were
cold and wet. After undergoing a considerable amount of cursing
and abuse, we were turned into prison No. 1, to shift for ourselves
as best we could. At Camp Chase I made my first attempt at
washing my clothes—having no change, I had to be minus shirt,
drawers and socks during the operation. I worked so hard as to
rub all the skin off my knuckles, and yet not enough to get the
dirt out of my garments. We stayed at this place about twenty
days. We were then started off to Johnson's Island. My friend
had ten dollars good money when we reached Camp Chase, which
was taken from him and sutlers' checks given instead. When about
to leave for Johnson's Island, where, of course, Camp Chase checks
would be useless, the sutler made it convenient not to be on
hand to redeem his paper, so my friend lost all the little money he
had. We marched from Camp Chase to Columbus, where we took
the cars. This march was brutally conducted. Several of our
number were sick, and yet the whole party was made to double
quick nearly the whole distance—five miles. The excuse was, that
otherwise " we would be too late for the train." But why not have
made an earlier start? or why not have waited for the next train?
We traveled all day, reached Johnson's Island in the night, worn
out and hungry. I stayed at Johnson's Island from about November
20th to April 26th. During this time, in common with many
others, I suffered a good deal. Prisoners who were supplied by
friends in the North got along very well, but those altogether de-
pendent upon the tender mercies of the Government were poorly
off indeed. I was among the latter for sometime—not having been
able to communicate with my friends until the middle of Decern-
ber. But the New Year brought me supplies and letters more
Tprecious. than bank notes, even to a half starved, shivering prisoner.
246
Southern Historical Society Papers.
The building in which I stayed was a simple weather-hoarded
house, through which the wind blew and the snow beat at will. It
is true many of the buildings were quite comfortable, but I speak
of my own experience. The first of January, 1864, was said by all
to be the coldest weather ever known at that point. It was so
cold that the sentinels were taken off for fear of their freezing.
Wherever the air struck the face the sensation was that of ice
pressed hard against it. Yet cold as it was, we were without fire
in my room from 3 o'clock in the evening to 9 o'clock next morn-
ing. I went to my bed, which consisted of two blankets, one to
lie upon and one to cover with, but sleep was out of the question
under such circumstances. So I got up, got together several fellow-
prisoners, and kept up the circulation of blood and spirits until
day light by dancing. My chum, unfortunately, stayed in our
bunk—the consequence was, he was unable to get his boots on, so
badly were his feet frost-bitten. During my stay in this prison,
there was at times a scarcity of water, sufficient not only to incon-
venience us, but to cause actual suffering. The wells from which
we got our supply were shallow, and were generally exhausted
early in the afternoon. We were surrounded by a lake of water,
whence we might have been allowed a plentiful supply, but the
fear of our escaping was so great that we were never allowed to go
to the lake except through a long line of guards. This opportunity
was given once a day, except when the wells were frozen so that no
water could be got from them at all, then we had access to the lake
twice a day. In this prison, as in all others in which it was my
misfortune to be confined, we were liable to be shot at at any time,
and for nothing. I remember three different times that the room
I stayed in was fired into at night because the sentinel said we had
lights burning, when to my certain knowledge there was no light
in the room. The authorities had rules stuck up, the observance
of which, they said, would insure safety. It is true, the non-
observance of them would almost certainly entail death or a wound,
but the converse was by no means true. Sentinels interpreted rules
as they pleased, and fired upon us at the dictation of their cowardly
hearts. In no instance have I seen or heard of their being pun-
ished for it, though it was clearly proven that the sufferer violated
no rule. This prison afforded opportunity for the exhibition of a
spirit characteristic of our people, and which, now they are over-
powered and under the heel of oppression, is still manifested. It
is that spirit of self-reliance and submission to the will of Provi-
dence, which, added to a conscious rectitude of purpose, bids men
make the best of their circumstances. This spirit showed itself at
Johnson's Island in the efforts made to pass the time pleasantly
and profitably. Schools, debating clubs, and games of all kincU
were in vogue. There were all kinds of shops. Shoemaker, black-
smith, tailor, jeweler, storekeeper, were all found carrying on their
respective business. The impression is upon my mind of many
disagreeable, unkind, and oppressive measures taken by the author-
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
247
ities, but the very severe treatment to which I was afterwards sub-
jected so far threw them into the shade that they have escaped
my memory. I must not omit a statement about food. At Camp
Chase my rations were of a good quality and sufficient. At John-
son's Island they were not so good nor near so plentiful, though
sufficient to keep a man in good health. While at Johnson's
Island, I made two attempts to escape. My first attempt was in
December. Six of us started a tunnel from under one of the
buildings, with the intention of coming to the surface outside of
the pen surrounding the prison. Our intention then was to swim
to the nearest point of mainland, about a quarter of a mile distant,
and then make across the country for the South. We had with
infinite labor, during three or four nights, made a considerable
hole, and were in high spirits at the prospect, when one night there
came a tremendous rain, which caved in our tunnel and blasted
our hopes for that time. My next attempt was on the 2d of
January, 1864, during the intensely cold weather. I succeeded in
getting to the fence where the sentinel was posted, but the guard
was so vigilant it was impossible to get over. I lay by the fence
until nearly frozen. The moon shone out brightly, and I had to
run for my life. In the beginning of spring an exchange of sick
and disabled prisoners was agreed upon between the two Govern-
ments. I had been very unwell for some three months. Accord-
ingly I went before the board of physicians, which decided I was
a fit subject for exchange. On the 26th of April, in company with
one hundred and forty sick, I left Johnson's Island, fully believing
that in a few days I would be once more in dear old Dixie. We
traveled by rail to Baltimore, thence we went by steamer to Point
Lookout. Here I drank to the dregs the cup of " Hope deferred
that maketh the heart sick." Every few days we were told we
would certainly leave for the South by the next boat—once all of
us were actually called up to sign the parole not to take up arms,
etc., until regularly exchanged—but the order was countermanded
before one-third of us had signed the roll. I never before nor since
felt so sick at heart as then. My disappointments of the same
character have been many, but that overstepped them all. All
faith in the truth of any Government official was then shattered
forever. The greater part of my time at Point Lookout was passed
in the hospital, where I was very well treated. The sick were not
closely guarded, and had the privilege of the whole Point. It was
no small consolation to sit for hours on the beach, the fresh breeze
blowing in your face, the free waters rolling endless before you
(moodful as nature's own child, sparkling with infinite lustre in
the sunshine of a calm day, kissing with a soft murmur of welcome
the gentle breeze or struggling with an angry roar in the embrace
of the tempest), and miles distant was the Virginia shore, and I
have often thought I might claim a kindred feeling with the
prophet viewing from Pisgah the land he might not reach. About
the middle of May the hospital was crowded with wounded
248
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Yankees sent from Butler's line. This necessitated our removal.
Accordingly we were sent out to the regular prison. There we
lived in tents. We still had one luxury—sea bathing. The drink-
ing water here was very injurious—caused diarrhoea. About this
time rations were reduced. We were cut down to two meals a day.
Coffee and sugar were stopped. The ration was a small loaf of
bread per day, a small piece of meat for breakfast, and a piece of
meat, and what was called soup, for dinner. About the 20th of
June I was removed to Fort Delaware. We were crowded in the
hold and between decks of a steamer for three days, the time
occupied in the trip. I thought at the time this was terrible, but
subsequent experience taught me it was only a small matter. On
reaching Fort Delaware we underwent the "search" usual at most
of the prisons. What money I had I put in brown paper, which
I placed in my mouth in a chew of tobacco. I thus managed to
secure it. An insufficiency of food was the chief complaint at
Fort Delaware. I did not suffer. My friends supplied me with
money, and I was allowed to purchase from the sutler what I
needed. While at Fort Delaware, one of our number, Colonel
Jones, of Virginia, was murdered by one of the guard. Colonel
Jones had been sick for sometime. One foot was so swollen he
could r.ot bear a shoe upon it, and it was with difficulty he walked
at all. One evening he hobbled to the sinks. As he was about to
return a considerable crowd of prisoners had collected there. The
septinel ordered them to move off, which they did. Colonel Jones
could not move fast. The sentinel ordered him to move faster.
He replied that he was doing the best he could, he could not walk
any faster, whereupon the sentinel shot him, the ball passing
through the arm and lungs. He lived about twenty-four hours.
He remarked to the commandant of the post: " Sir, I am a mur-
dered man—murdered for nothing—I was breaking no rule." The
prisoners at Fort Delaware were great beer drinkers. The beer
was made of molasses and water—was sold by prisoners to each
other for five cents per glass. Every few yards there was a
" beer stand." Beer was drank in the place of water—the latter
article being very warm, and at times very brackish. While at
Fort Delaware we were kept on the rack by alternate hope and
disappointment. Rumors, that never came to anything, of an
immediate general exchange, were every day occurrences. On
the 20th of August, 1864, six hundred of us were selected and
sent to Morris' Island, in Charleston harbor, to be placed under the
fire of our own batteries. We were in high spirits at starting, for
we firmly believed we were soon to be exchanged for a like number
of the enemy in Charleston, In some instances men gave their
gold watches to some of the " lucky ones," as they were termed, to
be allowed to go in their places. On the evening of the 20th we
were all (600) stowed away between decks of the steamer " Crescent."
Bunks had been fixed up for us. They were arranged in three
tiers along the whole length of the ship, two rows of three tiers
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
249
each on each side of the vessel, leaving a very narrow passage-
way, so narrow that two men could with difficulty squeeze by each
other. In the centre of the rows the lower and centre tiers of
bunks were shrouded in continual night, the little light through
the port holes being cut off by the upper tier of bunks. My bunk,
which was about five feet ten inches square, and occupied by four
persons, was right against the boiler, occasioning an additional
amount of heat, which made the sensation of suffocation almost
unbearable. Here we lay in these bunks, packed away like sardines,
in all eighteen days, in the hottest part of summer. In two in-
stances the guard placed in with us fainted. I heard one of them
remark: " A dog could'nt stand this." Perspiration rolled off us
in streams all the time. Clothes and blankets were saturated with
it, and it constantly dripped from the upper to the lower bunks.
Our sufferings were aggravated by a scarcity of water. The water
furnished us was condensed, and so intense was the thirst for it,
that it was taken from the condenser almost boiling hot and drunk
in that state. One evening, during a rain, we were allowed on
deck. Several of us carried up an old, dirty oil-cloth, which we
held by the four corners until nearly full of rain water. We then
plunged our heads in and drank to our fill. I remember well the
sensation of delight, the wild joy with which I felt the cool water
about my face and going down my throat. On one occasion, hearing
that the surgeon gave his medicines in ice water, I went to him
and asked for a dose of salts, which he gave me, and after it a glass
of ice water. He remarked upon the indifference with which I
swallowed the physic. I told him I would take another dose for
another glass of water, which he was kind enough to give me
minus the salts. It was strange that none of us died during this
trip. I can account for it only by the fact that we were sustained
by the hope every one had of being soon exchanged and returning
home. Our skins, which were much tanned when we started, were
bleached as white as possible during this trip. We lay for some
days off Port Royal, while a pen was being made on Morris' Island
in which to confine us. While at anchor, three of our number
attempted their escape. They found some "life preservers" some-
where in the ship. With these they got overboard in the night,
swam some eight or ten miles, when two of them landed; the
third kept on swimming, and I have never heard of him since.
The other two got lost among the islands and arms of the sea, and
after scuffling and suffering for three days were re-captured and
brought back to their old quarters. On the 7th of September,
1864, we landed on Morris' Island. We disembarked during the
middle of the day, under a scorching sun, but yet the change from
the close, and by that time, filthy hold of the ship, was delightful.
During the voyage we were guarded by white soldiers. They were
now relieved by blacks, and they were certainly the blackest I
ever saw. But black, uncouth and barbarous as they were, we soon
found that they were far preferable to the white officers who com-
250
Southern Historical Society Papers.
manded them. If physiognomy is any index of character, then
surely these officers were villainous. But not one of them, in looks
or deeds, could compare with their Colonel. I always felt in his
presence as if I had suddenly come upon a snake. He used
frequently to come into the pen and talk with some of the prisoners.
He seemed to take a fiendish pleasure in our sufferings. A prisoner
said to him, on one occasion : " Colonel, unless you give us more
to eat, we will starve." His reply was: " If I had my way I would
feed you on an oiled rag." Once he told us we must bury lie
refuse bones in the sana to prevent any bad smell from them.
One of our number answered: " If you don't give us something
more to eat, there will not only be nothing to bury, hut there won't
be any of us left to bury it." " Ah, well, he replied, " when you
commence to stink, I'll put you in the ground too." The bread
issued us was spoiled and filled with worms. Some one remon-
strated with him about giving men such stuff to eat. His answer
was: "You were complaining about not having any fresh meat, so
I thought I would supply you." The pen in which we were con-
fined had an area of one square acre. It was nearly midway
between batteries Gregg and Wagner, perfectly exposed to the shot
and shell fired at the two batteries. The principal firing was from
mortars, and was done mostly at night. We lived in tents, and
had not the least protection from the.fire. This, however, troubled
us but little. Our great concern was at the small amount and
desperate quality of the food issued. One of our greatest pleasures
was in watching the shells at night darting through the air like
shooting stars, and in predicting how near to us they would ex-
plode. Sometimes they exploded just overhead, and the fragments
went whizzing about us. But, strange to say, during our stay there,
from September 7th to October 19th, not one of our number was
struck, though there was firing every day and night, and sometimes
it was very brisk. The negro guard was as much exposed as our-
selves. One of them had his leg knocked off by a shell—the only
person struck that I heard of. In this place we lived in small A
tents—four men to a tent. The heat was intense during the day,
but the nights were cool and pleasant—the only drawback to
sleep being the constant noise from exploding shell and from the
firing of the forts by us. Our camp was laid off in streets, two
rows of tents facing each other, making a street. These rows were
called A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H. A negro sergeant had charge of
each row, calling it "his company." His duties were to call the
roll three times per diem, issue rations, and exercise a general
superintendence. These sergeants were generally kind to us, ex-
pressed their sorrow that we had so little to eat. We had a point
in common with them, viz: intense hatred of their Colonel. Their
hatred of him was equalled only by their fear of him. His treat-
ment of them, for the least violation of orders, or infraction of
discipline, was barbarous. He would ride at them, knock and
beat them over the head with his sabre, or draw his pistol and
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
251
shoot at them. Our rations were issued in manner and quantity
as follows: The sergeant came around to each tent with a box of
hard biscuit, issued to each prisoner three, generally, sometimes
two, sometimes one and a half. Towards the last of our stay five
were issued, which last was the number allowed by the authorities.
The sergeant next came around with a box of small pieces of
meat, about the width and length of two fingers. One of them
was given to each man. This was breakfast. At dinner time the
sergeant went around with a barrel of pea soup—gave each man
from one-third to half a pint. Supper was marked by the issue of
a little mush or rice. This, too, was brought around in a barrel.
1 have before spoken of the lively nature of the bread. Any one
who had not seen it would hardly credit the amount of dead
animal matter in the shape of white worms, which was in the
mush given us. For my own part, I was always too hungry to be
dainty—worms, mush and all went to satisfy the cravings of nature.
But I knew of several persons, who, attempting to pick them out,
having thrown out from fifty to eighty, stopped picking them out,
not because the worms were all gone, but because the little bit of
mush was going with them.
While at Morris' Island we considered ourselves in much more
danger from the guns of the guard than from our batteries. The
negroes were thick-headed, and apt to go beyond their orders,
or misunderstand. They were, therefore, very dangerous. For-
tunately they were miserable shots, else several men would have
been killed who really were not touched. A sutler was permitted
to come in once a week to sell tobacco, stationery, molasses, cakes,
etc., to those who had money. Inside the enclosure and all around
the tents was a rope: this was the "Dead Line." To go beyond,
or even to touch this rope, was death—that is, if the sentinel could
hit you. When the sutler came in we were ordered to form in two
ranks, faced by the flank towards the "Dead Line." Every new
comer had to fall in behind, and await his turn. On one occasion,
one of our number, either not knowing or having forgotten the
order, walked up to the "Dead Line" on the flank of the line of
men. He was not more than five yards from a sentinel. An
officer was standing by the sentinel, and ordered him to fire, which
he did, and wonderful to say, missed not only the man at whom
he shot, but the entire line. The officer then pulled his pistol,
and fired it at the prisoner. He also missed. The prisoner, not
liking a position where all the firing was on one side, then made
good his retreat to his tent.
Our authorities in Charleston and the Yankee authorities on the
island exchanged a boat load of provisions, tobacco, etc., for their
respective prisoners. Bread, potatoes, meat, and both smoking and
chewing tobacco, were sent us by the Charleston ladies. Never
was anything more enjoyed, and never, I reckon, were men more
thankful. I had as much as I could eat for once, even on Morris'
Island. All the prisoners seemed to squirt out tobacco juice, and
252
Southern Historical Society Papers.
puff tobacco smoke, with a keener relish from knowing where it
came from, and by whom it was sent. There, as elsewhere, we
were constantly expecting to be exchanged. No one counted upon
being there more than ten days; and, at the end of that ten days,
" why, we will surely be in Dixie before another ten days passes."
One freak of the Yankees I have never been able to account for.
They took us out of the pen one morning, marched us down to the
opposite end of the island, put us on board two old hulks, kept us
there for the night, then marched us back to our old quarters. About
the 18th of October we were ordered to be ready to leave early the
next morning. In compliance with this order, we got up earlier
than usual, in order to bundle up our few possessions and wash
our faces before leaving. The guard took this occasion to shoot
two of our number, one through the knee, the other through the
shoulder. Early on the morning of the 18th of October we were
drawn up in line, three days' rations were issued, viz: fifteen "hard
tack" and a right good-sized piece of meat. I felt myself a rich
man. I remember well the loving looks I cast upon my dear
victuals, and the tender care with which I adjusted and carried my
trusty old haversack. A few moments more and we took up the
line of march for the lower end of Morris' Island, with a heavy
line of darkey guards on either side. The distance was only three
miles, but this to men confined for over a year, and for two months
previous existing upon such light rations, was a very considerable
matter. Several of our number gave out completely, and had to
be hauled the remaining distance- Arrived at the wharf, we ex-
changed our negro guards for white ones, the 157th New York Vol-
unteers, Colonel Brown commanding. This officer and his men,
though we afterwards while in their hands were subjected to the
most severe treatment, as far as they were concerned individually
always treated us with kindness. We were put in two old hulks
fitted up for us, and then were towed out to sea. The first evening
of the journey I fell upon my "victuals," and was so hungry that
I ate my three days' rations at once. To a question from a friend,
"What will you do for the rest of the time? I replied: "I reckon
the Lord will provide." But I made a mistake. I might have
known the Almighty would use such instruments as were about
us only as ministers of wrath. The evening of the third day we
anchored off Fort Pulaski. By this time I was nearly famished.
We did not land until the next morning, when we were marched
into the fort and provisions given us. On the journey a party
attempted to escape. They had succeeded in cutting a hole in the
side of the vessel, and were just letting themselves down into the
water when they were discovered and brought back.
Fort Pulaski is a brick work, mounts two tiers of guns, the lower
tier in casemates. The walls enclose about an acre of ground.
We were placed in the casemates, where bunks in three tiers were
prepared for us. The flooring was mostly brick. This was very
damp, which, together with the cold, damp air, rendered us very
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 253
uncomfortable. A heavy guard was thrown around our part of
the fort, and for additional security iron grates were placed in the
embrasures. Twenty prisoners at a time were allowed to walk up
and down the parade ground within the fort for exercise. Doors
and windows were generally kept shut, and our abiding place was
dark and gloomy enough.
Nothing remarkable happened until the end of the old year. A
tolerable amount of rations was issued, and our life was pretty
much the same with prison life elsewhere. The new year brought
a terrible change. General Foster ordered us to be retaliated upon
for alleged ill treatment of prisoners at Andersonville, Georgia.
Our rations were reduced to less than one pint of meal and about
a half pint of pickle per day. No meat and no vegetables of any
kind were allowed us. The meal issued was damaged. It was in
lumps larger than a man's head, and as hard as clay: it was sour,
and generally filled with bugs and worms. We either had to eat
this or lie down and die at once. This regimen lasted forty-three
days. I cannot do justice to the misery and suffering experienced
by myself and seen everywhere around me during this period. It
is only one year since, and yet I can hardly believe I really passed
through such scenes as memory brings before me. Our diet soon
induced scurvy. This loathsome disease, in addition to the pangs
of hunger, made life almost insupportable. The disease first made
its appearance in the mouth, loosening the teeth, and in many
cases making the gums a mass of black, putrid flesh. It next
attacked the limbs, appearing first in little spots, like blood blisters.
One of them, after being broken, would become a hard, dark-
colored knot. These spots would increase until the whole limb
was covered, by which time the muscles would have contracted
and the limb be drawn beyond all power of straightening. I have
seen cases where not only the legs and arms but the back was thus
affected. Another feature of the disease was the fainting produced
by very slight exercise. I have walked down the prison, and
stumbled upon men lying on the floor to all appearance dead,
having fainted and fallen while exerting themselves to get to the
"sinks."
Terrible as was the above state of things, our sufferings were in-
creased by as heartless and uncalled-for a piece of cruelty as has
ever been recorded. Our poor fellows generally were supplied, and
that slimly, with summer clothing, such as they brought from Fort
Delaware in August. United States, blankets (and many had no
other kind) had been taken away at Morris' Island. Not only
were blankets and clothing not issued, but we were not allowed to
receive what friends had sent us. We had only so much fuel as was
needed for cooking. Can a more miserable state of existence be
imagined than this? Starved almost to the point of death, a prey
to disease, the blood in the veins so thin that the least cold sent a
shiver through the whole frame! No fire, no blankets, scarcely
any clothing I Add to this the knowledge on our part that a few
254
Southern Historical Society Papers.
steps off were those who lived in plenty and comfort! Crumbs
and bones were there daily thrown to the dogs or carried to the
dunghill, that would have made the eyes of the famished men in
that prison glisten. The consequence of all this was. that the pris-
oners died like sheep. Whatever the immediate cause of their
death, that cause was induced by starvation, and over the dead
bodies of nine-tenths of those brave, true men there can be given but
one true verdict: " Death by starvation." I remember one instance
that, suffering as I was myself, touched me to the heart. One poor
fellow, who had grown so weak as not to be able to get off his
bunk, said to his "chum": "I can't stand this any longer, I must
die." " 0, no," said the other, " cheer up, man, rations will be
issued again in two days, and I reckon they will certainly give us
something to eat then—live until then anyhow." The poor fellow
continued to live until the day for issuing rations, but it brought
no change—the same short pint of damaged meal and pickle, and
nothing more. As soon as the poor fellow heard this, he told his
friend not to beg him any more, for he could not live any longer,
and the next evening he died.
Fortunately for some of us, there were a great many cats about
the prison. As may be imagined, we were glad enough to eat
them. I have been partner in the killing and eating of three, and
besides friends have frequently given me a share of their cat. We
cooked ours two ways. One we fried in his own fat for breakfast—
another we baked with a stuffing and gravy made of some corn
meal—the other we also fried. The last was a kitten—was tender
and nice. A compassionate Yankee soldier gave it to me. I was
cooking at the stove by the grating which separated us from the
guard. This soldier hailed me: "I say, are you one of them
fellers that eat cats?" I replied, "Yes." "Well, here is one 111
shove thro' if you want it." " Shove it thro'," I answered. In a
very few minutes the kitten was in frying order. Our guards were
not allowed to relieve our sufferings, but they frequently expressed
their sympathy. The Colonel himself told us it was a painful
duty to inflict such suffering, but that we knew he was a soldier
and must obey orders.
The 3d of March, 1865, dawned upon us ladened with rumors of
a speedy exchange. The wings of hope had been so often clipped
by disappointment, one would have thought it impossible for her
to rise very high. " Hope springs," etc., received no denial in our
case. Each man was more or less excited. Strong protestations of
belief that nothing would come of it were heard on all sides. But
the anxiety manifested in turning the rumor over and over, the
criticisms upon the source from which it came, and especially the
tenacity with which they clung to it in spite of professed disbelief,
showed that in the hearts of all the hope that deliverance was at
hand had taken deep root. On the 4th the order came to be ready
to start in two hours. Soon after one of our ranking officers was
told by one of the officials that an order was just received from
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 255
Grant to exchange us immediately. We were wild with hope.
The chilling despair which had settled upon us for months seemed
to rise at once. All were busy packing their few articles. Cheerful
talk and hearty laughter was heard all through the prison. "Well,
old fellow, off for Dixie at last," was said as often as one friend
met another. The alacrity with which the sick and crippled
dragged themselves about was wonderful. Soon the drum beat,
the line was formed and the roll called. " Forward, march 1" Two
by two we passed through the entrance to the Fort, over the moat,
and then Fort Pulaski was left behind us forever I
One sorrowful thought accompanied us. Our joy could not
reach the poor fellows who had suffered with us and fallen victims
to hunger and disease, and whose remains lay uncared for, un-
honored, aye! unmarked. A good many head-boards, with the
name, rank and regiment of the dead had been prepared by friends,
but an opportunity to put them up was not given, although it had
been promised. We reached Hilton Head without anything re-
markable happening. Then we took on our party which had been
sent there at the beginning of the retaliation, or " Meal and Pickles,"
as we used to call it. This party had undergone the same treat-
ment. The greeting between mends was: " How are you, old
fellow, ain't dead yet ? you are hard to kill." " I'm mighty glad
to see you. Have some pickles—or here is some sour meal if you
prefer it." The boat in which we started was now so crowded that
there was not room for all to sit down. It was so overloaded, and
rolled so, that the Captain refused to put to sea unless a larger
'ship was given to him. Accordingly we were transferred to the
ship " Illinois." The sick, about half our number, occupied the
lower deck—the rest of us were packed away in the " hole." But
no combination of circumstances could depress us as long as we
believed we were " bound for Dixie." So we laughed at our close
quarters, at ourselves and each other, when sea sick. We were
almost run away with by lice, but we off shirts and skirmished
with these varmints with the " vim" inspired by " bound for
Dixie."
We reached Fort Monroe on the third day. By this time the
filth in the ship was awful—language can't describe the condition
of the deck where the sick were. The poor fellows were unable to
help themselves, and sea sickness and diarrhoea had made their
quarters unendurable. The stench was terrible—the air suffocating.
We expected to go right up the James river and be exchanged at
City Point. We Were most cruelly disappointed. Orders were
received to carry us to Fort Delaware. When we learned this we
were in despair. The stimulus which had enabled us to bear up
all along was gone; we were utterly crushed. The deaths of three
of our number during the day and night following told the tale of
our utter wretchedness. Their death excited little or no pity. I
think the feeling towards them was rather one of envy. I re-
member hardly anything of our passage from Fort Monroe to
256
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Fort Delaware. A gloom too deep for even the ghost of hope to
enter was upon my spirits. I noticed little and cared less. Upon
reaching Fort Delaware seventy-five of our number were carried
to the prison hospital, and had there been room many more would
have gone. We were marched into the same place we had left
more than six months before. I had no idea what a miserable
looking set of men we were until contrasted with the Fort Delaware
prisoners—our old companions. I thought they were the fattest,
best dressed set of men 1 had ever seen. That they looked thus to
me, will excite no surprise when I describe my own appearance. A
flannel shirt, low in the neck, was my only under-garment. An
old overcoat, once white, was doing duty as shirt, coat and vest;
part of an old handkerchief tied around my head served as a hat;
breeches I had none—an antiquated pair of red flannel drawers
endeavored, but with small success, to fill their place. I was very
thin and poor and was lame, scurvy having drawn the muscles of
my right leg. When I add that I was in better condition, both in
flesh and dress than many of our crowd, some idea can be formed
of the appearance we made. The prisoners came to our rescue,
gave us clothes, subscribed money, and bought Vegetables for us.
For a long time after our arrival, whenever any one was about to
throw away an old crumb or piece of meat or worn out garment,
some bystander would call out: " Don't throw that away, give it
to some of the poor Pulaski prisoners." The fall of Richmond,
Lee's surrender, and, finally, the capitulation of Johnston's army,
soon swept from us every hope of a Southern Confederacy. But
one course remained, viz: swear allegiance to the Government in
whose power we were. Upon doing this, I was released on the
13th of June, 1865.
We next give the following extract from a private letter, written
August 4th, 1865, from Great Barrington, Massachusetts, by a Con-
federate officer, to a lady of Richmond, the full truth of which can
be abundantly attested:
I was captured on Tuesday, the 4th of April, near evening.
Some four hundred or more, that had been collected during the
day, were marched a few miles and stowed away for the night in a
small tobacco barn. The next morning we were told that if we
could find any meat on the remains of three slaughtered cattle
(that had already been closely cut from) we were welcome. No
bread or salt was offered, yet it could be had for money. From
Tuesday till Friday all that I had given me to eat was two ears of
musty corn and four crackers! During that time we were exposed
to the rain, which was continued for days. We were marched
through mud and w^ter to City Point, a distance of near one
hundred miles by the route taken. The first sustaining food I
received was from Mrs. Marable, at Petersburg, and I shall ever feel
grateful to her for it. We arrived at Point Lookout at night, and
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
257
mustered for examination next morning over eighteen hundred.
After searching my package and person, taking from me nearly
everything that my captors had left me, I was assigned, with two
others, to a tent having already twenty-three occupants. I cannot
describe the appearance of that tent and the men in it. If there
is a word more comprehensive than filthy I would use it. It would
require a combination of similar adjectives to give any description.
There was given me a half loaf of bread and a small rusty salt
mackerel, which I was informed was for next day's rations. I de-
clared I would not sleep in the tent, but was told there was no
alternative, as the guards or patrol would shoot me if I slept out-
side. It was a horrible nignt. Weary, exhausted, almost heart-
broken, I ate a part of my scanty loaf, and placed the remainder
under my head with the fish. I soon forgot my troubles in sleep.
Waked in the morning and found I had been relieved of any
further anxiety for my bread, as it had been taken from me by
some starving individual, (a common occurrence). The mackerel
was left as undesirable. A chew of tobacco would purchase two, so
little demand was there for them—for many had no means of
cooking them. A few hours of reflection—that ever .to be remem-
bered morning. There were none there that I had ever seen, ex-
cept the few acquaintances made on the march. All looked dark,
dismal—and the thought I might remain there for months came
nearer to making my heart sink in despair than ever before. I
thought that must be surely the darkest hour of my existence.
While thus lamenting my fate, and almost distrustful of relief, a
boy near me asked what regiment I belonged to. I told him the
Washington Artillery. "Why," says he, "there is a whole com-
pany of them fellows here captured near Petersburg." I began to
revive a little on that. For though the saying goes, that " Misery
seeks strange bed fellows," I sought for old acquaintances, and
soon found them. The surprise was mutual. By the kindness of
Mr. Vinson, I had good quarters with him, and was more com-
fortable. We had a small tent, and only six in it. True, we were
" packed like sardines" at night, but we were friends, and each
one had a pride and disposition to keep as cleanly as we could.
The food allowed was as follows: In the morning, early, the men
are marched by companies (each about one hundred and fifty) to
the "cook houses," and receive a small piece of boiled beef or
pork. I do not think the largest piece ever given would weigh
three ounces. There is no bread given at this time, and it is a
common occurrence for the men to have eaten their scanty allow-
ance in a few mouthfuls without bread. At or near twelve o'clock,
M., there is issued to each a half of a small loaf of bread, (eight
ounce loaves). The men can then go to the cook-houses and re-
ceive a pint of miserable soup. That is the last meal for the day.
I never tasted of the soup (so called) but once. It was revolting—
I might say revolving to my stomach. Sometimes, in place of meat,
is given salt mackerel or codfish—never of good quality. The
3
258
Southern Historical Society Papers.
water at the "Point" was horrible, being strongly tinctured with
copperas and decayed shells, &c. It was obtained from wells in
different parts of the enclosure. Near the officers quarters' was one
pump from which a little better water was sometimes received by
favored ones. This location for a prison was once condemed by a
Board of Surgeons on account of the poisonous composition of the
water. Many persons were greatly affected by the water, and the
food given would barely sustain life—in many cases it did not—and
I feel confident that money deaths were caused solely from scanty
and unhealthy food, and this too by a Government that had plenty.
Whenever any complaint was made of the food or treatment, the
reply would be: " 'Tis good enough for you, and far better than.
Andersonville." I depended very little upon the food issued, as in
a week after my imprisonment I received money from my friends
and was enabled to purchase coffee, etc., and lived well. Most of
the Washington Artillery fared well, but it was by purchase rather
than favor. The sutlers were most happy to receive our money,
and charged more than double the market value for their supplies.
We were fortunate even thus, for there were thousands of that
motley group that for months had not a sufficiency of food. I
have seen them many times fishing out from the barrels (in which
all the filth and oflal of the camp is thrown) crusts of bread,
potato peelings, onion tops, etc., etc.—in fact, anything from which
they might find little sustenance. I had never before witnessed to
what great extremity hunger would drive a human being. The
discipline of the prison was very strict. The guard was most of
the time of colored troops, who, when (as they usually were) badly
treated by their officers, would vent their rage upon the prisoners.
Much is said in the papers of the " Dead Line," over which so
many " blue coats " had " accidentally " passed and were shot for
their " imprudence." In all prisons the penalty for passing the
"Dead Line" is well known, and there can be no excuse in such
attempt. At Point Lookout Confederate soldiers were shot for
being at the pumps for water, which had always been permitted at
all hours of night, till the self-constituted restriction of the negro
guard caused several men to be severely wounded. I was an eye-
witness of many disgusting scenes, almost brutal on the part of
the guard, towards simple and ignorant prisoners. That prison
was said to be the best of all the Yankee prisons—if so, I am
truly sorry for those that were in the others. I know not what
Andersonville was. I do not doubt but there was great suffering,
but all was done by the Government that could be, and we had
not the resources of the world as had the Yankees.
Thus have I given you some particulars. It is really an " un-
varnished tale," but it is true, and I can safely challenge the denial
of a word of it.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
259
HON. A. M. KEILEY'S NARRATIVE.
In 1866 Hon. A. M. Keiley, (then of Petersburg, but for some
years past thejscholarly and popular Mayor of Richmond), pub-
lished a volume on his prison life at Point Lookout and Elmira,
which we would be glad to see read by all who really Wish to know
the truth concerning those prisons. We make the following ex-
tracts concerning Point Lookout:
The routine of prison-life at Point Lookout was as follows:
Between dawn and sunrise a " reveille" horn summoned us into
line by companies, ten of which constituted each division—of which
I have before spoken—and here the roll was called. This perform-
ance was hurried over with much as haste as is ascribed to certain
marital ceremonies in a poem that it would be obviously improper
to make a more particular allusion to; and those whose love of a
nap predominates over fear of the Yankees, usually tumble in for
another snooze. About eight o'clock the breakfasting began. This
operation consisted in the forming of the companies again into
line, and introducing them under lead of their sergeants into the
mess-rooms, where a slice of bread and a piece of pork or beef—
lean in the former and fat in the latter being contraband of war—
were placed at intervals of about twenty inches apart. The meat
was usually about four or five ounces in weight. These we seized
upon, no one being allowed to touch a piece, however, until the
whole company entered, and each man was in position opposite
his ration (universally pronounced raytion, among our enemies, as
it is almost as generally called with the "a" short among ourselves,
symbolical, you observe, of the shortness of provant in Dixie). This
over, a detail of four or five men from each company—made at
morning roll-call—formed themselves into squads for the cleansing
of the camp; an operation which the Yankees everywhere attend
to with more diligence than ourselves. The men then busied
themselves with the numberless occupations which the fertility of
American genius suggests, of which I will have something to say
hereafter, until dinner-time, when they were again carried to the
mess-houses, Where another slice of bread, and rather over a half-
pint of watery slop, by courtesy called "soup," greeted the eyes of
such ostrich-stomached animals as could find comfort in that sub-
stitute for nourishment.
About sunset, at the winding of another horn, the roll was again
called, to be sure that no one had " flanked out," and, about an
hour after, came "taps;" after which all were required to remain
in their quarters and keep silent.
The Sanitary Commission, a benevolent association of exempts
, in aid of the Hospital Department of the Yankee army, published
in July, 1865, a "Narrative of Sufferings of United States Officers
and Soldiers, Prisoners of War," in which a parallel is drawn be-
260
Southern Historical Society Papers.
tween the treatment of prisoners on both sides, greatly to the
disadvantage, of course, of "Dixie."
An air of truthfulness is given to this production by a number of
affidavits of Confederate prisoners, which made many a Confederate
stare and laugh to read.
They were generally the statements of "galvanized" rebels, "so
called;" that is, prisoners who had applied for permission to take
the oath, or of prisoners who had little offices in the various pens,
which they would lose on the whisper of any thing disagreeable,
and their testimony is entitled to the general credit of depositions
taken "under duress."
But among these documentary statements, in glorification of the
humanity of the Great Republic, is one on page 89, from Miss Dix,
the grand female dry-nurse of Yankee Doodle (who, by the by,
gave, I understand, unpardonable offence to the pulchritude of
Yankeedom, by persistently refusing to employ any but ugly women as
nurses—the vampire)—which affirms that the prisoners at Point
Lookout "were supplied with vegetables, with the best of wheat
bread, and fresh and salt meat three times daily in abundant
measure."
Common gallantry forbids the characterization of this remarkable
extract in harsher terms than to say that it is untrue in every par-
ticular.
It is quite likely that some Yankee official at Point Lookout
made this statement to the benevolent itinerant, and her only fault
may he in suppressing the fact that she "was informed," etc., etc.
But it is altogether inexcusable in the Sanitary Commission to at-
tempt to palm such a falsehood upon the world, knowing its falsity,
as they must have done. For my part, I never saw any one get
enough of any thing to eat at Point Lookout, except the soup, and
a teaspoonful of that was too much for ordinary digestion.
These digestive discomforts were greatly enhanced by the villain-
ous character of the water, which is so impregnated with some
mineral as to offend every nose, and induce diarrhoea in almost
eyery alimentary canal. It colors every thing black in which it is
allowed to rest, and a scum rises on the top of a vessel if it is left
standing during the night, which reflects the prismatic colors as
distinctly as the surface of a stagnant pool. Several examinations
of this water have been made by chemical analysis, as I was told
by a Federal surgeon in the prison, and they have uniformly re-
suited in its condemnation by scientific men; but the advantages
of the position to the Yankees, as a prison pen, so greatly counter-
balanced any claim of humanity, that Point Lookout I felt sure
would remain a prison camp until the end of the war, especially as
there are wells outside of "the Pen," which are not liable to these
charges, the water of which is indeed perfectly pure and whole-
some, so that the Yanks suffer no damage therefrom. The ground
was inclosed at Point Lookout for a prison in July, 1863, and the*
first instalment of prisoners arrived there on the 25th of that
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
261
month from the Old Capitol, Fort Delaware and Fort McHenry,
some of the Gettysburg captures. One hundred and thirty-six
arrived on the 31st of the same month from Washington, and on
the 10th of August another batch came from Baltimore, having
been captured at Falling Waters. Every few weeks the number
was increased, until they began to count by thousands.
During the scorching summer, whose severity during the day is
as great on that sand-barren as anywhere in the Union north of the
Gulf, and through the hard winter, which is more severe at that
point than anywhere in the country south of Boston, these poor
fellows were confined here in open tents, on the naked ground,
without a plank or a handful of straw between them and the heat
or frost of the earth.
And when, in the winter, a high tide and an easterly gale would
flood the whole surface of the pen, and freeze as it flooded, the
sufferings of the half-clad wretches, many accustomed to the almost
vernal warmth of the Gulf, may easily be imagined. Many died
outright, and many more will go to their graves crippled and
racked with rheumatisms, which they date from the winter of
1863-4. Even the well-clad sentinels, although relieved every
thirty minutes (instead of every two hours, as is the army rule),
perished in some instances, and in others lost their feet and hands,
through the terrible cold of that season.
During all this season the ration of wood allowed to each man
was an arm-full for five days, and this had to cook for him as well
as warm him, for at that time there were no public cook-houses
and mess-rooms.
An additional refinement of cruelty was the regulation which
always obtained at Point Lookout, and which I believe was peculiar
to the prison, under which the Yanks stole from us any bed-clothing
we might possess, beyond one blanket! This petty larceny was
effected through an instrumentality they called inspections. Once in
every ten days an inspection was ordered, when all the prisoners
turned out in their respective divisions and companies in marching
order. They ranged themselves in long lines between the rows of
tents, with their blankets and haversacks—those being the only
articles considered orthodox possessions of a rebel. A Yankee in-
spected each man, taking away his extra blanket, if he had one,
and appropriating any other superfluity he might chance to pos-
sess; and this accomplished, he visited the tents and seized every
thing therein that under the convenient nomenclature of the Fed.-
erals was catalogued as "contraband"—blankets, boots, hats, any
thing. The only way to avoid this was by a judicious use of
greenbacks—and. a trifle would suffice—it being true, with honora-
ble exceptions, of course, that Yankee soldiers are very much like
ships: to move them, you must " slush the ways."
In the matter of clothing, the management at Point Lookout was
simply infamous. You could receive nothing in the way of cloth-
ing without giving up the corresponding article which you might
262
Southern Historical Society Papers.
chance to possess; and so rigid was this regulation, that men who
came there barefooted have been compelled to beg or buy a pair of
worn-out shoes to carry to the office in lieu of a pair sent, them by
their friends, before they could receive the latter. To what end
this plundering was committed I could never ascertain, nor was I
ever able to hear any better, or indeed any other reason advanced
for it, than that the possession of extra clothing would enable the
prisoners to bribe their guards 1 Heaven help the virtue that a
pair of second-hand Confederate breeches could seduce !
As I have mentioned the guards, and as this is a mosaic chapter,
I may as well speak here as elsewhere of the method by which
order was kept in camp. During the day, the platform around the
pen was constantly paced by sentinels, chiefly of the Invalid (or,
as it is now called, the Veteran Reserve) Corps, whose duty it was
to see that the prisoners were orderly, and particularly, that no one
crossed " the dead-line." This is a shallow ditch traced around
within the inclosure, about fifteen feet from the fence. The penalty
for stepping over this is death, and although the sentinels are pro-
bably instructed to warn any one who may be violating the rule,
the order does not seem to be imperative, and the negroes, when
on duty, rarely troubled themselves with this superfluous formality.
Their warning was the click of the lock, sometimes the discharge
of their muskets. These were on duty during my stay at the Point
every third day, and their insolence and brutality were intolerable.
Besides this detail of day-guard, which of course was preserved
during the night, a patrol made the rounds constantly from "taps,"
the last horn at night, to "reveille." These were usually armed
with pistols for greater convenience, and as they are shielded from
scrutiny by the darkness, the indignities and cruelties they often-
times inflicted on prisoners, who for any cause might he out of
their tents between those hours, especially when the patrol were
black, were outrageous. Many of these were of a character which
could not by any periphrase be decently expressed—they were,
however, precisely the aets which a set of vulgar brutes, suddenly
invested with irresponsible authority, might be expected to take
delight in; and, as it was of course impossible to recognize the
perpetrators, redress was unattainable, even if one could brook the
sneer and insult which would inevitably follow complaint. Indeed,
most of the Yankees did not disguise their delight at the insolence
of these Congoes.
Under date of Thursday, June 16th, he writes:
Saw to-day, for the first time, the chief provost-marshal, Major
H. G. 0. Weymouth. He is a handsome official, with ruddy face,
a rather frank countenance, and a cork-leg. He conducts this es-
tablishment on the " laissez faire" principle—in short, he lets it
alone severely- Whatever the abuses or complaints, or reforms,
the only way to reach him is by communications through official
channels, said channels being usually the authors of the abuses 1
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
263
It may be easily computed how many documents of this descrip-
tion would be likely to meet his eye.
Two or three times a week he rides into camp with a sturdy
knave behind him, at a respectful distance—makes the run of one
or two streets, and is gone, and I presume sits down over a glass of
brandy and water, and indites a most satisfactory report of the
condition of the " rebs," for the perusal of his superior officer, or
plies some credulous spinster with specious fictions about the com-
fort, abundance, and general desirableness of Yankee prisons.
The Major bears a bad reputation here, in the matter of money ; all
of which, I presume, arises from the unreasonableness of the " rebs,"
who are not aware that they have no rights which Yankees are
bound to respect.
Friday, June 17th.—A salute of thirteen guns heralded this morn-
ing the arrival of General Augur, who commands the department
of Washington. About twelve M., the general, with a few other
officials, made the tour of camp, performing, in the prevailing per-
functory manner, the official duty of inspection.
Nothing on earth can possibly be more ridiculous and absurd
tlan the great majority of official inspections of all sorts; but this
"banged Bannagher." General Augur did not speak to a prisoner,
enter a tent, peep into a mess-room, or, so far as I saw, take a
single step to inform himself how the pen was managed.
Weymouth probably fixed up a satisfactory report, however,
vhen the general's brief exhibition of his new uniform to the
appalled "rebs" was over.
Visited all my comrades to-day, and, with one exception, found
them all suffering like myself from exhausting diarrhoea, induced
ly the poisonous water.
In his narrative of prison life at Elmira, after speaking in high
terms of the kindly feeling towards the prisoners shown by Major
Colt, the commandant of the prison, Mr. Keiley writes as follows :
In the executive duties of his office, Major Colt was assisted by
fifteen or twenty officers, and as many non-commissioned officers,
chiefly of the militia or the veteran reserves. Among them were
some characters which are worth a paragraph.
There was a long-nosed, long-faced, long-jawed, long-bearded,
long-bodied, long-legged, endless-footed, and long-skirted curiosity,
yclept Captain Peck, ostensibly engaged in taking charge of certain
companies of " rebs," but really employed in turning a penny by
huckstering the various products of prisoners' skill—an occupation
very profitable to Peck, but generally unsatisfactory, in a pecuniary
way, to the " rebs." Many of them have told me of the impossi-
bility of getting their just dues from the prying, round-shouldered
captain, who had a snarl and an oath for every one out of whom
he was not, at that instant, making money.
Another rarity of the pen was Lieutenant John McC., a braw
264
Southern Historical Society Pagers.
chiel frae the land o' cakes, who was a queer compound of good-
nature and brutality. To some of us he was uniformly polite, but
he had his pistol out on any occasion when dealing with the
majority of the " Johnnies," and would fly into a passion over the
merest nothing, that would have been exceedingly amusing, hut
for a wicked habit he had of laying about him with a stick, a tent
pole—any thing that fell into his hands. He was opening a trench
one day, through the camp, when, for the crime of stepping across
it, he forced a poor, sick boy, who was on his way to the dispensary
for medicine, to leap backwards and forwards over it till he feu
from exhaustion amid the voluble oaths of the valiant lieutenant.
One Lieutenant R. kept McC. in countenance by following closely
his example. He is a little compound of flee and weasel, ana
having charge of the cleaning up of the camp, has abundant op-
portunities to bully and insult, but being, fortunately, very far short
of grenadier size, he does not use his boot or fist as freely as his
great exemplar. No one, however, was safe from either of them,
who, however accidentally and innocently, fell in their way, physi-
cally or metaphorically.
Of the same block Captain Bowden was a chip : a fair-haired,
light-moustached, Saxon-faced "Yank"—far the worst type of
man, let me tell you, yet discovered—whose whole intercourse with
the prisoners was the essence of brutality. An illustration will
paint him more thoroughly than a philippic. A prisoner named
Hale, belonging to the old Stonewall brigade, was discovered one
day rather less sober than was allowable to any hut the loyal, anc
Bowden being officer of the guard, arrested him and demandec
where he got his liquor. This he refused to tell, as it would com-
promise others, ana any one but a Yankee would have put him ir
the guard-house, compelled him to wear a barrel shirt, or inflictec
some punishment proportionate to his offence. All this would hav<
been very natural, but not Bowdenish, so this valorous Parolles
determined to apply the torture to force a confession! Hale was
accordingly tied up by the thumbs—that is, his thumbs were
fastened securely together behind his back, and a rope being at-
tached to the cord uniting them, it was passed over a cross bar
over his head and hauled down, until it raised the sufferer so
nearly off the ground that the entire weight of his body was sus-
tained by his thumbs, strained in an unnatural position, his toes
merely tonching the ground. The torture of this at the wrists and
shoulder joints is exquisite, but Hale persisted in refusing to peach,
and called on his fellow-prisoners, many of whom were witnesses
of this refined villainy, to remember this when they got home.
Bowden grew exasperated at his victim's fortitude, and determined
to gag him. This he essayed to accomplish by fastening a heavy
oak tent-pin in his mouth ; and when he would not open his mouth
sufficiently—not an easy, operation—he struck him in the face
with the oaken billet, a blow which broke several of his teeth and
covered his mouth with blood!
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
265
On the other hand, some of the officers were as humane and
merciful as these wretches were brutal and cowardly, and all who
were my fellow-prisoners will recall, with grateful remembrance,
Captain Benjamin Munger, Lieutenant Dalgleish, Sergeant-Major
Rudd, Lieutenant McKee, Lieutenant Haverty, commissary of one
of the regiments guarding us, a whole-souled Fenian, formerly in
the book-business in New York, and still there probably, and one
or two others.
These officers were assigned in the proportion of one to every
company at first, but to every three hundred or four hundred men
afterwards, and were charged with the duty of superintending
roll-calls, inspecting quarters, and seeing that the men under their
charge got their rations; and the system was excellent.
During the month of July, four thousand three hundred and
twenty-three prisoners were entered on the records of Elmira prison,
and by the 29th of August, the date of the last arrivals, nine
thousand six hundred and seven.
The barrack accommodations did not suffice for quite half of
them, and the remainder were provided with "A" tents, in which
they continued to be housed when I left the prison in the middle
of the following October, although the weather was piercingly cold.
Thinly clad as they came from a summer's campaign, many of
them without blankets, and without even a handful of straw be-
tween them and the frozen earth, it will surprise no one that the
suffering, even at that early day, was considerable.
As I left, however, the contributions of the Confederate Govern-
ment, which, despairing of procuring an exchange, was taxing its
exhausted energies to aid the prisoners, began to come in.
An agent was in New York selling cotton for the purpose, and
many boxes of blankets and coarse clothing were furnished from
the proceeds of the sale.
This tender regard was a happy contrast to the barbarity of
Washington management, which seemed to feel the utmost in-
difference to the sufferings of its soldiers, and embarrassed their
exchange by every device of delay and every suggestion of stub-
bornness.
As I have spoken of the military government of Elmira prison,
it may not be inappropriate to pursue the statistical view, now that
I am in it, by a brief chapter on the Medical and Commissary
Departments, before I resume the thread of the more personal
portion of my narrative.
The chief of the former department was a club-footed little gen-
tleman, with an abnormal head and a snaky look in his eyes,
named Major E. L. Sanger. On our arrival in Elmira, another
surgeon, remarkable chiefly for his unaffected simplicity and virgin
ignorance of everything appertaining to medicine, played doctor
there. But as the prisoners increased in numbers, a more formal
and formidable staff was organized, with Sanger at the head.
Sanger was simply a brute, as we found when we learned the
266
Southern Historical Society. Papers.
whole truth about him from his own people. If he had not avoided
a court-martial by resigning his position, it is likely that even a
military commission would have found it impossible to screen his
brutality to the sick, although the fact that the United States hanged
no one for the massacre of Indian women and sucking infants
during the year 1865, inspires the fear that this systematic * * * *
of Confederate prisoners would have been commended for his
patriotism.
He was assisted by Dr. Rider, of Rochester, one of the few
" copperheads" whom I met in any office, great or small, at the
North. My association was rather more intimate with him than
with any one of the others, and I believe him to have been a com-
petent and faithful officer. Personally, I acknowledge his many
kindnesses with gratitude. The rest of the "meds" were, in truth,
a motley crew in the main, most of them being selected from the
impossibility, it would seem, of doing any thing else with them.
I remember one of the worthies, whose miraculous length of leg
and neck suggested "crane" to all observers, whose innocence of
medicine was quite refreshing. On being sent for to prescribe for
a prisoner, who was said to have bilious fever, he asked the drug-
gist, a "reb," in the most naive manner, what was the usual treat-
ment for that disease! Fortunately, during his stay at Elmira,
which was not long, there were no drugs in the dispensary, or I
shudder to picture the consequences. This department was con-
stantly undergoing changes, and I suspect that the whole system
was intended as part of the education of the young doctors assigned
to us, for as soon as they learned to distinguish between quinine
and magnesia they we're removed to another field of labor.
The whole camp was divided into wards, to which physicians
were assigned, among whom were three "rebel" prisoners, Dr.
Lynch, of Baltimore, Dr. Martin, of South Carolina, and Dr.
Graham, formerly of Stonewall Jackson's staff, and a fellow-towns-
man of the lamented hero. These ward physicians treated the
simplest cases in their patients' barrack, and transferred the more
dangerous ones to the hospitals, of which there were ten or twelve,
capable of accommodating about eighty patients each. Here every
arrangement was made that carpenters could make to insure the
patients against unnecessary mortality, and, indeed, a system, was
professed which would have delighted the heart of a Sister of
Charity; but, alas! the practice was quite another thing. The most
scandalous neglect prevailed even in so simple a matter as pro-
viding food for the sick, and I do not doubt that many of those
who died perished from actual starvation.
One of the Petersburg prisoners having become so sick as to be
sent to the hospital, he complained to his friends who visited him
that he could get nothing to eat, and was dying in consequence,
when they made application for leave to buy him some potatoes
and roast them for him. Dr. S. not being consulted, the request
was granted, and when, a few hours afterwards, the ro.i:-:ed potatoes
Treatmenttof Prisoners During the War.
267
were brought in, the poor invalids on the neighboring cots crawled
from their beds and begged the peelings to satisfy the hunger that
was gnawing, them.
When, complaint was made of this brutality to the sick, there
was always a convenient official excuse. Sometimes the fault
would be that a lazy doctor would not make out his provision re-
turn in time, in which case his whole ward must go without food,
or with an inadequate supply, till the next day. Another time
there would be a difficulty between the chief surgeon and the com-
missary, whose general relations were of the stripe characterized by
S. P. Andrews as " cat-and-dogamy," which would result in the
latter refusing to furnish the former with bread for the sick! In
almost all cases the "spiritus frumenti" failed to get to the patients,
or in so small a quantity after the various tolls that it would not
quicken the circulation of a canary.
But the great fault, next to the scant supply of nourishment, was
the inexcusable deficiency of medicine. During several weeks, in
which dysentery and inflammation of the bowels were the preva-
lent diseases in prison, there was not a grain of any preparation of
opium in the dispensary, and many a poor fellow died for the want
of a common medicine, which no family is ordinarily without—that
is, if men ever die for want of drugs.
There would be and is much excuse for such deficiencies in the
South—and this is a matter which the Yankees studiously ignore—
inasmuch as the blockade renders it impossible to procure any
luxuries even for our own sick, and curtails and renders enor-
mously expensive the supply of drugs of the simplest kind, pro-
viding they are exotics; but in a nation whose boast it is that they
do not feel the war, with the world open to them and supplies of
all sorts wonderfully abundant, it is simply infamous to starve the
sick as they did there, and equally discreditable to deny them
medicines—indispensable according to Esculapian traditions. The
result of the ignorance of the doctors, and the sparseness of these
supplies, was soon apparent in the shocking mortality of this camp,
notwithstanding the healthfulness claimed for the situation. This
exceeded even the reported mortality at Andersonville, great as
that was, and disgraceful as it was to our government, if it resulted
from causes which were within its control.
I know the reader, if a Northern man, will deny this, and point
to the record of the Wirz trial. I object to the testimony. There
never was, in all time, such a mass of lies as that evidence, for the
most part, could have been proved to be if it had been possible to
sift the testimony or examine, before a jury, the witnesses. I take,
as the basis of my comparison, the published report made by four
returned Andersonville prisoners, who were allowed to come North
on their representation that they could induce their humane Go-
vernment to assent to an exchange. Vana spes. Edwin M. Stanton
would have seen the whole of them die before he would give
General Lee one able-bodied soldier.
268
Southern Historical Society Papers.
These prisoners alleged (I quote from memory) that out of a
population of about thirty-six thousand at that pen, six thousand,
6r one-sixth of the whole, died between the first of February and the
first of August, 1864. Now at Elmira the quota was not made up
till the last of August, so that September was the first month
during which any fair estimate of the mortality of the camp could
be made. Now, out of less than nine thousand five hundred
prisoners on the first of september, three hundred and eighty-
six died that month.
At Andersonville the mortality averaged a thousand a month
out of thirty-six thousand, or one thirty-sixth. At Elmira it was
three hundred and eighty-six, out of nine thousand five hundred,
or one twenty-fifth of the whole. At Elmira it was four per cent.; at
Andersonville, less than three per cent. If the mortality at Ander-
sonville had been as great as at Elmira, the deaths should have
been one thousand four hundred and forty per month, or fifty per
cent, more than they were.
I speak by the card respecting these matters, having kept the
morning return of deaths for the last month and a half of my life
in Elmira, and transferred the figures to my diary, which lies be-
fore me; and this, be it remembered, in a country where food was
cheap and abundant; where all the appliances of the remedial art
were to he had on mere requisition; where there was no military
necessity requiring the government to sacrifice almost every con-
sideration to the inaccessibility of the prison, and the securing of
the prisoners, and where Nature had furnished every possible re-
quisite for salubrity.
And now that I am speaking of the death-record, I will jot down
two rather singular facts in connection therewith.
The first was the unusual mortality among the prisoners from
North Carolina. In my diary I find several entries like the follow-
ing:
Monday, October 3d.—Deaths yesterday, 16, of whom 11 N. C.
Tuesday, October 4th.—Deaths yesterday, 14, of whom 7 N. C.
Now, the proportion of North Carolinians was nothing, even ap-
proximating what might have been expected from this record. I
commit the fact to Mr. Gradgrind. Can it be explained by the
great attachment the people of that State have for their homes?
The second was the absolute absence of any death from inter-
mittent fever or any analogous disease.
Now I knew well that many of the sick died from this and kindred
diseases produced by the miasma of the stagnant lake in our
camp • but the reports, which I consolidated every morning, con-
tained no reference to them. I inquired at the dispensary, where
the reports were first handed in, the cause of this anomaly, and
learnea that Dr. Sanger would sign no report which ascribed to any of
these diseases the death of the patient! I concluded that he must have
committed himself to the harmlessness of the lagoon in question,
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
269
and determined to preserve his consistency at the expense of our
lives—very much after the fashion of that illustrious ornament of
the profession, Dr. Sangrado, who continued his warm water and
phlebotomy merely because he had written a book in praise of
that practice, although " in six weeks he made more widows and
orphans than the siege of Troy."
I could hardly help visiting on Dr. Sanger the reproaches his
predecessor received at the hands of the persecuted people of Val-
ladolid, who " were sometimes very brutal in their grief," and called
the doctor and Gil Bias no more euphonious name than "ignorant
assassins."
Any post in the medical department in a Yankee prison-camp is
quite valuable on account of the opportunities of plunder it affords,
and many of the virtuous "meds ' made extensive use of their ad-
vantages. Vast quantities of quinine were prescribed that were
never taken, the price (eight dollars an ounce) tempting the cupidity
of the physicians beyond all resistance; but the grand speculation
was in whiskey, which was supplied to the dispensary in large
quantities, and could be obtained for a consideration in any reason-
able amount from a "'steward" who pervaded that establishment.
I ought not to dismiss this portion of my description of matters
medical without adding that the better class of officers in the pen
were loud and indignant in their reproaches of Sanger's systematic
inhumanity to the sick, and that they affirmed that he avowed his
determination to stint these poor helpless creatures in retaliation
for alleged neglect on the part of our authorities! And when at
last, on the 21st of September, I carried my report up to the major's
tent, with the ghastly record of twenty-nine deaths yesterday,
the storm gathered, which in a few weeks drove him from the pen,
but which never would have had that effect if he had not, by his
rudeness, attained the ill-will of nearly every officer about the pen
whose good-will was worth having.
I ascend from pills to provender.
The commissary department was under the charge Of a cute,
active ex-bank officer, Captain G. C. Whiton. The ration of bread
was usually a full pound per diem, forty-five barrels of flour being
converted daily into loaves in the bake-shop on the premises. The
meat-ration, on the other hand, was invariably scanty; and I
learned, on inquiry, that the fresh beef sent to the prison usually
fell short from one thousand to twelve hundred pounds in each
consignment. Of course when this happened many had to lose a
large portion of their allowance; and sometimes it happened that
the same man got bones only for several successive days. The ex-
pedients resorted to by the men to supply this want of animal food
were disgusting. Many found an acceptable substitute in rats, with
which the place abounded; and these Chinese delicacies commanded
an average price of about four cents apiece—in greenbacks. I have
seen scores of them in various states of preparation, and have been
assured by those who indulged in them that worse things have been
eaten—an estimate of their value that I took on trust.
270
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Others found in the barrels of refuse fat, which were accumulated
at the cook-house, and in the pickings of the bones, which were
cut out of the meat and thrown out in a dirty heap back of tha
kitchen, to be removed once a week, the means of satisfying the
craving for meat, which rations would not satisfy: I have seen a
mob of hungry "rebs" besiege the bone-cart, and beg from the
driver fragments on which an August sun had been burning for
several days, until the impenetrable nose of a Congo could hardly
have endured them.
Twice a day the camp poured its thousands into the mess-rooms,
where each man's ration was assigned him ; and twice a day the
aforesaid rations were characterized by disappointed "rebs" in
language not to be found in a prayer-book. Those whose appetite
was stronger than their apprehensions frequently contrived to sup-
ply their wants by "flanking"—a performance which consisted in
joining two or more companies as they successively went to the
mess-rooms, or in quietly sweeping up a ration as the company filed
down the table. As every ration so flanked was, however, obtained
at the expense of some helpless fellow-prisoner, who must lose that
meal, the practice was almost universally frowned upon; and the
criminal, when discovered, as was frequently the case, was subjected
to instant punishment.
This was either confinement in the guard-house, solitary confine-
ment on bread and water, the " sweat-box " or the barrel-shirt. The
war has made all these terms familiar, except the third, perhaps;
by it I mean a wooden box, about seven feet high, twenty inches
wide and twelve deep, which was placed on end in front of the
major's tent. Few could stand in this without elevating the
shoulders considerably; and when the door was fastened all motion
was out of the question. The prisoner had to stand with his limbs
rigid and immovable until the jailer opened the door, and it was
far the most dreaded of the peines fortes et dures of the pen. In
midsummer, I can fancy that a couple of hours in such a coffin
would inspire Tartuflfe himself with virtuous thoughts, especially
if his avoirdupois was at all respectable.
Rev. Dr. I. W. K. Handy, of the Presbyterian Church of Virginia,
who was'arrested on an utterly frivilous charge and made a prisoner
at Fort Delaware, and whose evangelical labors among the
prisoners were so greatly blessed, has published a volume of 670
pages, entitled " United States Bonds," in which he gives a vivid
account of the indignities, cruelties and sufferings to which the
prisoners there were subjected. We regret that we have only space
for a brief extract. Under date of November the 6th, 1863, Dr.
Handy thus writes in his diary:
A letter is found in the Philadelphia Inquirer of to-day, giving a
terrible account of the sufferings of the Yankee prisoners at Rich-
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
271
raond. The statement is, palpably, exaggerated and highly colored,
and bears the impress of prejudice and great effort for effect. Al-
most every illustration adduced in the article will apply to Fort
Delaware, and to these may be added instances of individual cruelty
and oppression, which would put to shame the unscrupulous state-
ments of this writer, who claims to have been a Federal chaplain.
It has not been uncommon here for our half-clothed, half-fed
Confederates at the barracks to be ordered about in the coarsest and
roughest manner by their inferiors, and to be knocked on the head
with sticks, or to be stuck with bayonets, for the slightest offences;
and, sometimes (for no crime whatever), men have been shot at or
cruelly murdered by sentinels, who bore malice, and justified them-
selves upon the plea that they were trying to prevent escapes. Sick
men have been kept at the barracks until perfectly emaciated from
diarrhoea, without the necessary sick vessels, and have been obliged,
to stagger, through the quarters, to the out-house on the bank of
the river, with filth streaming upon their legs; and then, unable to
help themselves, they have fallen upon the pathway, and have been
found dead in the morning—victims of cruel neglect. Barefooted,
bareheaded and ragged men, tottering with disease, have been left
to suffer long for the necessary clothing or medicines, which might
have been abundantly supplied; men scarcely convalescent have
been made to walk from one end of the Island to the other in chang-
ing hospitals, thus bringing on a relapse in almost every case, and
have died in a few days thereafter. Physicians, in contract service,
have gone daily into the hospitals, saturated with liquor, and with-
out looking at the tongue or feeling the pulse, have tantalized the
poor sufferers with the prescription, "Oh, you must eat! You must
eat!" and without either furnishing them with medicine or meat,
have left them to die. Sick men, on entering the hospitals, have
been denuded of their clothing, and when getting a little better,
have been forced to walk over damp floors in their stocking-feet
and drawers to the water closet, at a remote end of the building—
thus exposing themselves to cold and the danger of a relapse. Men
have been dismissed from the hospitals to go to Point Lookout
without hat, shoes or blanket; hundreds have been exposed to the
danger of contracting the small-pox from coffins filled with loath-
some bodies, left for hours together on the wharf, whilst prisoners
have been embarking for exchange; the dispensary has remained
not only for days, but for weeks together, without some of
the most important and common medicines; prisoners have been
"bucked and gagged" for the most trivial offences; and the very
dead have been robbed of their last shirts, placed in rough coffins,
perfectly naked, and then hurried into shallow, unmarked graves.
Much of all this cruelty and inhumanity may not have been de-
signed by those highest in authority, and had they known it, might
not have received their sanction, but it has occurred under their
administration, and they are, to a greater or less extent, accountable
for it all. Were full details given in relation to these matters, they
272
Southern Historical Society Papers.
would be astounding and perhaps incredible. In this place they
are referred to with no disposition to exaggerate, nor to prejudice.
Some of them could not, perhaps, have been well avoided, but are
recorded simply as an offset to the " Chaplain's " details.
The murder of Colonel E. P. Jones by a sentinel is thus described
by Dr. Hardy in his diary, under date of July 3d, 1864:
A lamentable affair occured at " the rear," about dusk, this even-
ing. Many persons are now suffering with diarrhoea, and crowds
are frequenting that neighborhood. The orders are to go by one
path and return by the other. Two lines of men, going and
coming, are in continual movement. I was returning from the fre-
quented spot and, in much weakness, making my way back, when,
suddenly, I heard the sentinel challenge from the top of the water-
house. I had no idea he was speaking to me, until some friends
called my attention to the order. I suppose my pace was too slow
for him. I passed on; and as frequent inquiries were made in re-
gard to my health, I was obliged to say to friends, " we have no
time to talk; the sentinel is evidently restless or alarmed, and we
are in danger."
I had scarcely reached my quarters, before a musket fired; and
it was, immediately, reported that Colonel E. P. Jones had been
shot.
The murder of Colonel Jones is the meanest, and most inex-
cusable affair that has occurred in the officers' quarters; or that
has come under my own observation since my imprisonment at
Fort Delaware. I did not see him fall; but have learned from
Captain J. B. Cole, who was an eye-witness to the whole scene, that
although he was standing within ten steps of the man that killed
him, he heard no challenge, nor any order to move on. The first
intimation he had of the sentinel's displeasure was the discharge
of the musket, and the simultaneous exclamation of the Colonel—
"Oh, God! Oh, God! My God, what did you shoot me for? Why
didn't you tell me to go on? I never heard you say anything to
me!"—and with a few such exclamations, he sank upon the ground;
and then fell, or rather rolled, down the embankment.
Colonel Jones has been in the barracks so short a time, that I
have not had the pleasure of making his acquaintance. I have
only learned that he is an intelligent physician, of considerable
property and influence, and that he is from Middlesex county,
Virginia. Since he came to Fort Delaware, he has been, constantly,
suffering with some affection of the feet, causing lameness.
At the time he was shot, he was hobbling along, with one shoe,
and was carefully stepping down a rough place, near the water-
house, buttoning his pants. He could not have been more than
twenty steps from the point of the musket. It is said that the
murderer seemed, all day, to be seeking an opportunity to shoot
some one. It is also reported that Captain Ahl was seen on the
top of the shanty, giving some orders, only a few moments before
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
273
the catastrophe. These are all the facts that I can learn, concern-
ing this melancholy affair, except that Colonel Jones has been taken
to the hospital, and that there is no prospect of his recovery.
Friday, 8th.—The boy who shot Colonel Jones is again on guard,
this morning; and it is reported that he has been promoted to a
corporalcy. He belongs, I think, to an Ohio regiment, is about
eighteen years old, and is known as " Bill Douglas."
Unusual watchfulness prevailed during the night. New sentinels
were on guard, in every direction. A noisy fellow tramped under
my window until daylight. Guards have been posted inside of
"the pen," and everything indicates apprehension, on the part of
the Yankees, and danger to the prisoners.
General Schcepf visited " the pen," accompanied by Captain Ahl,
and other officers. They were evidently excited, and moved
quickly from place to place. Some of the officers were anxious to
have an interview, ana pressed upon them for a word. I succeed-
ed in halting the General, and spoke to him myself, about the reck-
lessness of the sentinels, and the great danger to which I was
personally exposed just before the shooting last night. He referred
to the repeated attempts which had, lately, been made to effect
escape; spoke decidedly of his purpose to put a stop to the whole
thing; and excused the guards. " They shoot down any man," said
he, "who tries to get away."
Captain Ahl averred that Colonel Jones had been challenged;
and justified the sentinel. Several bystanders insisted, that he was
quietly returning from " the rear," and that there was no cause for
the murder. Ahl affirmed that he was near by when the shooting
took place, and that he had ordered the sentinel to fire at the first
man that stopped on the thoroughfare.
I appealed to General Schoepf, to hear a statement of the case;
and told him that I had always supposed him to be a humane
officer, and disposed to do what was right. He was evidently
embarrassed by the presence of Ahl; and nervously moved off
towards the gate, followed by his attendants. He was there sur-
rounded by another company of prisoners, who tried to get an au-
dience. He refused to hear them; and referred them to "Dr. Handy,"
urging as he went out—"He knows I want to do right."
Colonel Jones lingered a few hours, and died in great agony.
Dr. Handy has kindly placed in our hands his private letter-book
containing a large number of statements of prison experience by
his fellow-prisoners. We can only extract one of these.
STATEMENT OF KEV. GEORGE HARRIS, OF UPPERVIIXE, VIRGINIA.
On the morning of the 30th of August our quiet village was
thrown into excitement by a report of the approach of Yankees.
From the fact that private citizens had recently been arrested and
carried from their homes by raiding parties, nearly every male
inhabitant of the village felt it to be unsafe to remain at home;
274
Southern Historical Society Papers.
and I have reason to believe that I was the only man left in town
upon their arrival. I relied upon my sacred calling for security
from molestation, and as usual awaited in my own house their
coming. Shortly after their arrival, I observed a man coming
around my house to the back door, as though ashamed to approach
by the front entrance, and according to my usual custom, I ad-
vanced to meet him and learn his business, when the following
conversation ensued:
Yankee. Are you the man of this house?
Answer. I am.
Yankee. What's yer name ?
Answer. My name is Harris; what is yours?
Yankee. My name? Why my name is .
Then looking around, he espied some of the servants in the
kitchen, a detached building, and awkwardly moved off to see
them. I returned to my seat at my secretary and resumed my
occupation of reading. In a few minutes he returned, and leaning
against the lintel of the door, said: " Guess you can go with me.
"Go with you," said I; "Where shall I go with you?" "Up to
headquarters." I arose, took my cane, and walked about a quarter
of a mile to the main body of the command. The first officer with
whom I met was a brainless, conceited Lieutenant, whose name I
never learned. He, without any kind of salutation, accosted me
in a manner meant to be extremely scornful, and asked why I had
not sent Mosby word they were coming and wanted to meet him.
I said to him, " Sir, if you really wished to see Mosby, and desired
me to notify him of your coming, why did you not inform me of
the fact in time?" "Do you think he would have come?" he
queried. " It is extremely probable he would," I replied. He
ordered me then to be conducted to the Major. I was taken up to
his quarters, and there learned that the Eighth Illinois Cavalry,
commanded by Major Waite, a little dapper newspaper corres-
pondent formerly, as I have learned, were my captors. I demanded
of this man the cause of my arrest. He replied that he was carry-
ing out his instructions. I asked if I might know what those in-
structions were. He said, to arrest all men between seventeen and
fifty. I reminded him that I was a minister of the gospel, and
not subject to military duty. He replied, that if upon my arrival
in Washington that fact should appear, I would be released. He
ordered me to be taken to a Captain Townsend, who had charge of
the prisoners. I declared my purpose to return home for a change
of underclothing before I would consent to go, and he might use
his pleasure either to take my pledge to return, or to send a man
with me as a guard. Yankee-like, he preferred the latter alternative,
as, having no such regard for his own word as to prefer faithfulness
to a pledge to life itself, he could not believe it to be a trait in the
character of any other.
I was obliged to make my few preparations in the most hurried
manner, and having commended my family to God, I proceeded
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
275
to report myself to my captors again. I found on my return that
a large number of citizens had been picked up, among the rest,
General Asa Rogers, a gentleman over sixty years of age, and Rev.
0. A. Kinsoiving, of the Episcopal church. We were moved off, I
suppose, about 2 P. M., and proceeded to Aldie, about thirteen
miles. Here we halted, and immediately the men scattered to
plunder, and every hen-roost in the village was despoiled in a few
minutes. Women and children were running through' the streets,
some screaming, all looking for officers to protect them. Of the
nature and extent of their depredations we could only judge by
the declarations of such as passed us; all were crying that they
were being robbed of everything they had. After remaining here
long enough to sack the village completely, they hurried us on to
Mt. Zion Meeting House, five miles below Aldie, where we bivou-
acked on the ground, without blankets, and only a few hard crack-
ers—all any of us had had since morning—for supper. The
following morning they issued to us more of the " hard-tack," as
they termed it, and some salt pork, which we broiled by sticking
it upon the ends of twigs and holding in the blaze of the fire.
As soon as breakfast was over we were once more on the road,
and at a most rapid pace. Proceeding nearly to Drainesville, the
rear of the column was fired upon, when our gallant Major, dread-
ing an ambuscade, tacked nearly right about, and at an increased
speed proceeded nearly to Fairfax Courthouse, and then turning
again toward the Potomac, carried us on to Falls Church, halting
only about an hour in a very strong position to feed their horses.
Thus these gallant fellows who, about 700 strong, had started out,
as they said, expressly to catch Mosby, succeeded in capturing
thirty-two citizens, in stealing some twenty-five horses, robbing pri-
vate citizens along the whole line of their march of all kinds of
supplies, and through fear of an attack made, on their return, a
march of not less than forty-five or fifty miles in one day. On the
morning of September 1st, Major Waite took occasion to insult us
by his profane language and vain boasting of what he had done
and was yet to do. His pickets being fired on, however, the camp
was thrown into the utmost commotion, and we were hurried off
again toward Washington.
Owing to various delays, we were not brought to Washington
until afternoon. Near the city we were turned over to Captain
Berry and Lieutenant Trask, who treated us with the utmost polite-
ness, and seemed desirous to do all in their power to oblige us and
render us comfortable. On arriving in the city we were remanded
to the Old Capitol Prison, and paraded through the streets to show
to the good and loyal citizens of the capital of "the greatest nation
on earth," that the "good work was going bravely on." At the Old
Capitol our fare was horrible for several days; the meat given us
was putrid, and few of us could eat our bread with the meat before
us. A change for the better, however, took place pretty soon after
we had an interview with the superintendent, and the fare became
276 Southern Historical Society Papers.
pretty palatable. We were shown many indulgencies, too, until it
was ascertained that the most of us would not even take a parole
such as they were administering to many citizen prisoners; when
suddenly we were informed that we were to be sent off to Fort
Delaware, to be subjected at that abode of horrors to severe treat-
ment, in retaliation for treatment of a similar character alleged to
have been extended to citizens of the North in Southern prisons.
And here we are, exposed in a degree that threatens seriously our
health, if not the lives of some of our party. But "hitherto hath
the Lord helped us," and in Him is our trust; we will not fear what
man can do unto us.
Mr. Harris, one the most devoted and useful ministers in Vir-
ginia, contracted disease at Fort Delaware, from which he was a
great sufferer until, a few years after the war, death came to "set
the prisoner free."
The following deposition of Mr. T. D. Henry was originally
written at Oak Grove, Kentucky, in 1866, and was sent to us a few
weeks ago:
DEPOSITION OF T. D. HENRY.
Seeing that the Congress of the United States has appointed a
committee to investigate the treatment of Federal prisoners in
Southern prisons, I have determined, in my feeble manner, to give
an account of what I saw and know to be true, as happening in
Federal prisons. I was captured with General Morgan at Salen-
ville, Ohio, July 26th, 1863. After capture was carried to Camp
Chase, Ohio, where I remained about one month. I was then, to-
gether with all the prisoners at that place, carried to Camp Douglas, II-
linois. Prison life from September 1863, until the 12th of April
1864, was comparatively such as a man who, according to the fates
of war, had been captured might expect, especially when a captive
of a boasted Christian nation. Rations were of very good quality
and quantity, the only thing unpleasant was the various and severe
punishments which the commandant of the camp (Colonel C. V.
Deland) saw fit to inflict. If you bribed one of his guards or es-
caped by any other means, and was afterwards recaptured and
brought back, he would have you tied up by the thumbs just so as
the toe would reach the ground. I have known men punished thus,
until they would grow so deathly sick that they would vomit all
over themselves, their heads fall forward and almost every sign of life
become extinct; the ends of their thumbs would burst open; a surgeon
standing by would feel their pulse and say he thought they could
stand it a little longer. Sometimes he would say they had better
be cut down. If this failed to cause them to tell who assisted
them in escaping, they were then thrown into an iron-clad dungeon
ten by ten square, with a single window ten inches by ten. Think
of a man staying in this place forty or fifty days, when it was as
full as it could be, their only privy being a little hole in the floor,
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
277
from which all the odor arose in the room. When this failed a
sixty-four pound ball and chain was placed upon their leg, with
chain so short as to compel its wearer to carry the ball in their
hand, or get some one to pull it in a little wagon while they walked at
the side, the chain about twenty-eight inches in length. Some of the
balls were worn more than six months. A great many escaped by
tunneling. On one occasion a tunnel was discovered under the barrack
occupied by (Cluke's regiment) the eighth Kentucky cavalry. With-
out trying to find out who dug the tunnel, the whole regiment was
formed in column of eight deep, and a guard placed around them with
instructions to shoot the first man who sat down; this was just after
sun up; at two o'clock a man who had just returned the day before
from the small-pox hospital, unable to stand longer fell; a guard
saw him and fired; one man was killed dead, two others were
wounded, one of them losing an arm, as it was afterwards cut off.
This same fellow, who did the shooting, was promoted to a corporal's
position, whether for this act or not, it is impossible to say, for he
affirmed that he would not take $100 for his gun, as that was the
eleventh prisoner he had shot with it. This shooting was carried
to such an extent that if a man in going from his barrack to the
privy should stop at night he was shot at. If more than five were
seen together in the day,(or if two at night, the same thing occurred.
If any one was heard to whisper at night, or the least ray of light
was seen, the guard would fire into the barracks at once. In each
barrack there was only two stoves to two hundred men, and for a
stove to warm one hundred men, it was frequently red hot. When
taps were sounded (i. e. "lights out") the fire in the stoves could
not be put out immediately. The boys were afraid to go to the
stove, for some one was nightly killed in the attempt to extinguish
the light. A ball fired from a gun which would ordinarily shoot
a thousand yards, would, when fired at a close object, go through
three or four barracks, sometimes flattening itself against the bar-
rack, more often burying itself in the vitals of some sleeper, who
little thought that that was to be his last sleep on this earth. On
one occasion as the flag which floated in front of the commandant's
quarters was being hoisted the rope broke, letting the flag fall,
which being seen by the regiment to which I belonged (second
Kentucky cavalry), a terrific yell was given. This so incensed the
Yankees that a certain valiant Captain, Gaffeny by name, marched
his company, some eighty strong, up to our barracks; had the
regiment formed and went up and down the line kicking the men,
and swearing that his company, about eighty strong, could whip the
whole camp of about five thousand.
About this time Colonel Deland was ordered to the front. He
was succeeded by Colonel B. J. Sweet as commandant of camp,
Colonel Skinner as commissary of prisoners, and a fiend named
Captain Webb Sponable as inspector of prisoners.
From this time forward the darkest leaf in the legends of all
tyranny could not possibly contain a greater number of punish-
ments.
278
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Our whole camp was rearranged; the parapet guard were ordered
not to fire unless some one tried to escape; a police guard was
placed in the prison to do all the devilment which the infernally
fertile mind of Captain Sponable could invent; starvation was
carried on quite systematically. Our rations for breakfast consisted
of five ounces of bread and six ounces of fresh beef. As the rations
for two hundred men were boiled in a sixty-gallon kettle, it was
necessary in order to cook it done, to boil it to shreds. In fact there
was no more nutritious matter in it than in an old dish cloth, for
dinner one pint bean soup and five ounces of bread, this was our
living. This was not regularly issued, for the slightest offence
would cause the captain's direful anger to be aroused, and as he
would make most by stopping our rations this was quite a favorite
punishment.
His mildest punishment was to get a scantling two inches wide,
shave it down until it was only half inch thick on top and put legs
about seventeen feet long to it. (This horse, when finished, was
called Morgan). Now, for the slight offence of looking at a guard
the boys have been placed on this horse for hours, their feet hanging
down. Sometimes the Yanks would laugh and say, I will give you
a pair of spurs, which was a bucket of sand tied to each foot; also
to set the boys astraddle the roof of a dog house. I have seen men
who had been left in this condition until the skin and flesh was
cut nearly to the bone. Men in the winter would get so cold that
they would fall off. When warmed they were put back. Another
slight punishment was to saw a barrel in two, cut a hole in one
end so as to allow a man's head to go through, but leave the barrel
around his shoulders, then march him in the sun until the rays
reflected from the barrel would swell his head almost twice its
natural size. I have seen men's faces peel all over from this in-
nocent amusement of the guards.
If the least sign of water or spit was seen on the floor the order
was, " Come, go to the horse or point for grub," which was to stand
with the legs perfectly straight, reach over, and touch the ground
with the fingers. If the legs were bent in the least, a guard was
present with a paddle, which he well knew how to use. When the
guards grew weary of this punishment, another was to make the
men pull down their pants and sit, with nothing under them, on
the snow and frozen ground. I have known men to be kept sitting
until you could see their prints for some days afterwards in the
snow and ice. When they got weary of this, they commenced
whipping, making the men lay on a barrel, and using their belts,
which had a leaden clasp with sharp edge, the belt would often
gather wind so as to turn the clasp edgeways; every lick inflicted
thus cut entirely through the skin.
If more than five men were seen together, or if anyone was heard
to whisper t>r spit upon the floor, it was certain to be followed by
one of these punishments. Frequently men sick in barracks were
delirious; sometimes one or two in a barrack were crazy. These
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
279
were the cause of a whole barrack of men being mounted on a
horse or punished in other ways. Sometimes a guard would come
in, and swear he heard some one whispering. He would make
four or five men get up, with nothing but their underclothes to pro-
tect them against a climate where the thermometer stood twenty
degrees below zero. Shooting about this time was less frequent.
The fiends were satisfied with such punishment as would most
likely end in death. At this period we were reinforced by the
prisoners captured in front of Nashville. They, after being cooped
up in the cars four or five days, were nearly dead for water. The
hydrants were frozen up, and we had eaten all the snow inside the
prison. The poor fellows would lay down at or as close to the
dead-line as possible, and reach their arm through and pull the
snow to them. I saw one of the guards standing twenty-five steps
from a prisoner thus engaged shoot at him three times. Fortunately
the police guards were armed with pistols; had it been a rifle the
poor fellow must have died the first shot.
Think of a man's mind being racked by all of these punishments,
for the innocent suffered as well as the guilty, and as frequently,
when no one was to blame, were all punished; and it is almost a
miracle that anyone should have remained there twenty months
without losing his reason.
T. D. Henry,
Company E, Duke's Regiment, Second Kentucky Cavalry, General J.
H. Morgan's command.
Sworn to before me this third day of March, 1876.
Will. A. Harris,
Notary Public in and for San Bernardino county, State of California.
The following statement of Major Robert Stiles of Richmond,
Virginia, will be received by his large circle of friends and acquaint-
ances as the testimony of a gentleman " without fear and without
reproach."
statement of major robert stiles.
I was a prisoner of war at Johnson's Island and Fort Lafayette
from April to October, 1865, having been captured at Sailor's creek.
During this time I did not suffer seriously to my own person from
bad treatment, but saw and heard no little of the suffering of
others.
The Southern field officers were released from Johnson's Island in
May or June, but I was held a prisoner because I declined to take
the somewhat remarkable oath propounded to us, and refused to
give in addition my word of honor that I would say nothing
against the Government of the United States.
At Johnson's Island all the formidable nomenclature and enginery
of prison discipline were in vogue. We had our " dead line" within
and up some distance from the tall fence which formed " the pen,"
280 Southern Historical Society Papers.
which line, if a prisoner crossed, the guard, posted on a j>lank walk
near the top of the fence, was under orders to fire upon hirm. We had
our "lights out"—after which, if, for any cause, a lamp or fire was
lit, the guard had orders to fire upon the offending light. These
orders were sometimes executed with fatal result; and it was cur-
rently reported that at least one man of the guard had. been pro-
moted to a sergeantcy, for killing a wretched prisoner who, unable to
endure the frightful cold, had risen to kindle a fire. We had our
"black-hole" in which "refractory"prisoners were punished, solitary,
dark, damp and cramped.
At this, as at all other Federal prisons, the rations of prisoners
were at sundry times reduced below the amount confessedly indis-
pensable to the maintenance of a man in full health—in retaliation
as was alleged for the starvation of Federal prisoners in Confederate
prisons. During my stay on the Island, the war being substantially
over, the discipline and management were more liberal, and the
ration, though meagre, larger than it had been; the sutler, too,
was open, and the few prisoners fortunate enough to obtain money
lived reasonally well, but the majority still suffered from lack of
food. After being an inmate of the pen for a few days and. observing
the really pitiful hunger and destitution, I organized a system of
collection from the messes who had money, and patronized the sut-
ler and distribution among the less favored who starved on the prison
ration. I fed from a hundred to a hundred and fifty men every
day, and this moment can well recall the scene at the daily distri-
bution. I would form them in line, count them off in squads or
messes of ten, appointing an orderly for each mess, and then
separating my provisions, consisting of scraps more or less frag-
mentary, into as many piles as there were orderlies, deliver one
pile to each orderly for distribution among his mess. After this
was done the poor fellows would break ranks and scuffle on the
bare ground under the table for the crumbs. These men were all
officers of the Confederate armies—most of them field officers.
The clothing issued to our prisoners was quite 9s scanty as the
rations, the post surgeon's certificate, that it was absolutely necessary
in each individual case, being required to entitle a man to an over-
coat—and that for Southern men exiled on a bleak island swept by
chill tempests, with the thermometer frequently more than twenty
degrees below zero. In order to get one of these certificates, a man
was required to stand in line in the open air scantily clad, waiting
his time to enter the surgeon's office and submit to an examination
to test the condition of his lungs, &c. It can readily be imagined
how many were saved from pneumonia and consumption by this
humane distribution of overcoats. It is well known that the sup-
ply of blankets was totally inadequate until the offer of our Gov-
erment to trade cotton for clothing for our prisoners was accepted..
Of course I did not personally suffer from exposure to cold, being
on the Island only during the spring and summer months, but
I not only heard of these scenes and regulations from many men
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
281
who had wintered on this desert isle, but just before my release, I
talked with a gentleman who had resigned or been removed from
the place of. post surgeon because of his repeated but fruitless
protests .that it was impossible to maintain men in health while
half fed and half clad, and who in particular had attempted to
evade the barbarous regulation about overcoats, by giving out cer-
tificates, as rapidly as he could write or sign them, that the bearer
needed an overcoat on the score of health.
At Fort Lafayette we were well fed; but I have never been able
to understand by what rule or principle of civilized warfare, an
honorable prisoner of war could De immured for weeks in a stone
casemate, among deserters, and prisoners under charges for viola-
ting the laws of war.
It gives me pleasure to state that I experienced great kindness
from some of the Federal officers during my imprisonment, and
especially from a Major Lee, who succeeded Colonel Hill at John-
son's Island. He had lost an arm I think in Gen. Sickle's corps at
Gettysburg. The surgeon of whose humanity mention was made
above, was not the only Federal officer who during my brief prison
experience protested to his superiors against the inhumanity of the
prison regimen.
The following statement can be vouched for as strictly accurate :
Rock Island Pkison, 1864-5.
By Charles Wright, of Tennessee.
I record here my experience in Rock Island Prison, simply as a
contribution to history. For the truth of what I state, in some
cases I refer to official documents, and in others I refer to thousands
of witnesses yet living.
The treatment of prisoners in Northern prisons is a subject that
has received little attention from the press, and consequently is
little understood. The charges of cruelty to prisoners, made with
such confidence against the South, on a recent occasion, for the
purpose of political aggrandizement, and which recalls the old
story of " Stop thief," where the thief bawled the loudest, makes
it necessary in common justice to ventilate the Northern prisons.
This could not have been done within the past eleven years for
obvious reasons.
The Federal soldier returning home to a land of plenty, his
necessities anticipated by benevolent associations, his spirits cheered
by the sympathy of a grateful people, and his services rewarded
with bounties and pensions by a generous Government, found
leisure and encouragement to recount his sufferings and privations
to eager listeners, and the air was filled with cries for vengeance on
his jailors. But the Confederate soldier returning home from a
Northern prison to a land of famine, found his substance wasted
and his energies enfeebled; disfranchised and beggared, he forgot
282
Southern Historical Society Papers.
his past sufferings in his present wretchedness; he had neither the
time to lament, nor the inclination to talk about his treatment in
prison; he was thankful if his health permitted him to labor for
those dearer to him than himself, and for the cripple and the in-
valid there was no resource. There was no lack of sympathy, but
his friends were the poor. Thus it happened that the cruelty prac-
tised in Northern prisons never came to light. The victor monopo-
lized the story of suffering as well as the spoils.
I arrived at Rock Island prison, Illinois, on the 16th January,
1864, in company with about fifty other prisoners, from Columbus,
Kentucky. Before entering the prison we were drawn up in a line
and searched; the snow was deep, and the operation prolonged a
most unreasonable time. We were then conducted within the
prison to Barrack No. 52, and again searched—this time any small
change we had about our persons was taken away and placed to
our credit with an officer called the Commissary of Prisoners. The
first search was probably for arms or other contraband articles.
The prison regulations were then read, and we were dismissed.
Rock Island is in the Mississippi river, about fifteen hundred miles
above New Orleans, connected with the city of Rock Island, Illinois,
on the East, and the city of Davenport, Iowa, on the West, by a
bridge. It is about three miles in length.
The prison was 1,250 feet in length by 878 feet in width, enclo-
sing twenty-five acres. The enclosure was a' plank fence, about
sixteen feet high, on the outside of which a parapet was built about
twelve feet from the ground. Here sentinels were placed over-
looking the prison. About twenty feet from the fence, on the in-
side, was what was called the " Dead Line "—at first marked with
stakes, afterwards by a ditch—over which it was death to pass.
The barracks were sixty feet from the fence, the width between
each barrack thirty feet, and streets one hundred feet wide between
each row of barracks. Two avenues, one the length of the prison,
and ninety feet wide, the other in length the width of the prison,
and one hundred and thirty feet wide, divided the space enclosed
into four equal divisions each containing twenty-one barracks,
making a total of eighty-four. These barracks were each one
hundred feet long by twenty-two feet wide, and contained three
tiers of bunks—platforms of rough plank for sleeping. About
fifteen feet of the rear of the room was partitioned off for a cook-
room, and was furnished with a stove and boiler. The main room
had two stoves for burning coal—this article being cheap and
abundant. Each barrack was constructed to receive one hundred
and twenty men. The sinks were first erected in the centre of the
streets, but afterwards built on the dead line; there being no sewer-
age, tubs were used, and details of prisoners every morning carried
the tubs to the river, a most disgusting duty. Town rd.« the end of
the war a sewer was made in one of the avenues extending to the
river, the prisoners being employed in blasting rock for that
purpose.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
283
The chief executive officers were a commandant of the post and
a provost marshal, the latter having the immediate care and gov-
ernment of the prisoners, assisted by a number of deputies. The
parapet was first guarded by a regiment of old men, called Grey-
beards, afterwards by the 197th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and from
July, 1864, by the 108th United States Colored Infantry. The duty
of calling the roll of prisoners was performed by several companies
of the Fourth Veteran Reserve Corps. These men were soldiers
who had seen service in various regiments, and on account of
wounds or other disabilities were formed into corps for prison duty.
Each barrack was in charge of a prisoner appointed by the provost
marshal, called the orderly of the barrack. All orders concerning
the prisoners were communicated to these orderlies by the provost
marshal. The roll was called three times a day, and the barracks
inspected every morning. One letter only could be written each
week, not to exceed a page, and no subject concerning the prison
or its regulations could be referred to. Newspapers were prohibited.
The last two precautions were, however, frequently evaded. Thrifty
Federal soldiers employed in the prison would receive a number of
letters collected by a prisoner, and mail them outside the prison
for a fee of twenty-five cents on each letter. Newspapers were
brought in by the same parties and sold for twenty-five cents a
number. Occasionally they were searched and discovered, and
tied up by the thumbs. Frequent searches were made of the
barracks for clothing. In these searches the provost marshal's men
would carry off whatever they considered surplus clothing, leaving
scant wardrobes to those unfortunates who had not prepared for
the visit by secreting their extra drawers, shirt, &c. The sutler of
the post supplied prisoners who had money to their credit with
the commissary of prisoners with such articles as they needed.
This was done through orders, the sutler's wagon delivering the
goods once a week. This arrangement, however, ceased as regards
any article of food, in August, 1864. I refer to the order in another
place.
The winter of 1863-4 was intensely cold. During this time some
poor fellows were without blankets, and some even without shoes.
They would huddle around the stoves at night and try to sleep.
The feet of those who had no shoes, or were poorly protected,
became sore and swollen, and in one case that I saw, mortification
no doubt ensued, for the man was taken from my barrack to the
hospital and died in a few days.
The severity of the weather caused cleanliness of person and
clothing to be disregarded by some, and as a consequence scarcely
a man escaped the itch. Early in 1864 the small-pox broke out in
the prison. The authorities were not prepared for the appearance
of this fearful disease—the hospitals not being finished. The in-
fected and the healthy men were in the same barrack. The disease
spread so rapidly there was no room in the buildings outside the
prison, and certain barracks within the enclosure were set apart for
284 Southern Historical Society Papers.
small-pox hospitals. Prisoners who had had the small-pox were
detailed for nurses to those who were sick. The surgeons vaccinated
the men at intervals, but apparently with little effect. The death
rate at this time was alarming. On the 9th March,. 1864, twenty-
nine men had died in the hospital from my barrack, which did not
have its full complement of men. I noted the names of the men
to that date. They are the following:
R. Shed, T. J. Smith, Allen Screws, D. W. Sandlin, Joe Shipp,
D. L. Trundle, J. H. Wood, J. J. Webster, J. J. Akins, Thomas
Pace, William Tatum, W. H. Dotson, W. R. Jones, C. E. Middleton,
R. R. Thompson, William T. St. John, Samuel Hendrix, Jere.
Therman, E. Stallings, E. Sapp, Thomas Burton, M. E. Smithpeter,
J. M. Ticer, J. L. Smith, John Graham, T. W. Smallwood, Jonathan
Faw, G. L. Underwood, C. R. Mangrum.
Now assuming the barrack contained one hundred and twenty
men, which was its full complement, the death rate to March 9,
1864, was twenty-five per cent.
The provost marshal's abstract for May 12,1865, has the following
figures:
Number of prisoners received, - - - 12,215
Died, - - - - - - 1,945
Entered United States navy, - - - 1,077
Entered United States army, (frontier service), 1,797
Released, ..... 1,386
Transferred, - - - - - 72
Escaped, ------ 45
Exchanged, - - - - 3,729
10,051
•Remaining in prison May 12, 1865, - - 2,}64
As all the prisoners were discharged in June, 1865, this date
(May 12) is near enough for our purpose. It shows that nearly
sixteen per cent, died during the eighteen months Rock Island was
used as a prison. This number (1,945) includes those who were
killed by the sentinels—the killed not being classified by the
provost marshal.
The number released (1,386) includes those who having offered
to join the United States navy or army were rejected by the
surgeons as physically disqualified. More than fifty per cent, of
the released were of this class. The balance were principally
Missourians, captured during Price's last raid. These claimed to
be Union men, and having proved their loyalty to the satisfaction
of the Secretary of War, were released by his order. The prisoners
transferred were officers. originally brought to Rock Island, but
afterwards sent to Johnson's Island or other military prisons.
In April, 1864, the sentinels on the parapet commenced firing at
the prisoners and into the barracks, and this practice continued
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 285
while I remained. I am ignorant as to the orders the sentinels
received, but I know that the firing was indiscriminate, and ap-
parently the mere caprice of the sentinels. Going to the sinks at
night was a knost dangerous undertaking, for they were now built
on the " dea<i line," and lamps with reflectors were fastened to the
plank fence—the sentinel above being unseen, while the man ap-
proaching the sink was in full view of the sentinel. Frequently
they would halt a prisoner and make him take off his pants in the
street, and then order him to come to the sink in his drawers, (if
he had any). I have heard the cocking of a gun presented at
myself while going to the sink at night, but by jumping into an
alley between the barracks I saved myself the exercise of walking
to the sink hi my drawers or from receiving the contents of the
gun. I find this entry in my diary on June 10,1864: "Attacked
with diarrrhoea in the night. Afraid to go near the sink." I can-
not say that the sentinels had positive orders to shoot on each
occasion, but that they received encouragement to do so, and were
relieved of all responsibility for such acts, is certain from the
following orders, which were publicly promulgated to the orderlies
of barracks by the provost marshal, to wit:
May 12,1864.—Ordered, that no prisoner be out of his barracks
after "taps."
May 13, 1864.—Ordered, any prisoner shouting or making a
noise will he shot.
It was noticed and discussed among the prisoners, that the
shooting was most violent immediately after a Confederate success.
I noted some cases that came under my own observation, but by
no means a complete list; in fact, the prisoners became so accus-
tomed to the firing from the parapet, that unless it occurred near
his side of the prison, a man would take little notice of it.
1864.
April 27—Prisoner shot by sentinel.
May 27—One man killed and one wounded in the leg.
June 9—Franks, Fourth Alabama Cavalry, killed last night at
barrack No. 12. He was shot by the sentinel on the
Parapet as' he was about to step into the street. His
body fell into the barrack, and lay there till morning.
The men afraid to go near him during the night.
22—Bannister Cantrell, Co. G., 18th Georgia, and James W.
Ricks, Co. F„ 50th Georgia, were shot by the sentinel
°ti the parapet. They were on detail working in the
ditch, and had stopped to drink some fresh water just
brought to them.
26—Prisoner shot in leg and arm while in his bunk at bar-
rU.ck 55.
During August, and part of September, I was confined to my
bunk with dysentery, and have few entries in my diary.
286
Southern Historical Society Papers.
1864.
September 26—William Ford, Co. D, Wood's Missouri Battery, of
barrack 60, killed by sentinel on the parapet.
He was returning from the sink, and shot through
the body at the rear of barrack 72.
26—T. P. Robertson, Co. I, Twenty-fourth South Caro-
lina, shot by sentinel on parapet, and wounded
in the back, while sitting in front of barrack 38,
about 8 o'clock this morning.
26—T. J. Garrett, Co. K, Thirteenth Arkansas, shot by
sentinel on parapet during the night while going
to the sink.
27—George R. Canthew, of barrack 28, shot by sentinel
on parapet.
28—Sentinel shot into barrack No. 12 through the
window.
October 4—Man killed in the frontier pen by negro sentinel.
21—I was taken out of the prison and paroled, to re-
main at headquarters of the post.
In none of the above cases were the men attempting to escape or
violating any of the known rules of the prison.
The firing of the 26th September was regarded as the parting
salute of the 197th Pennsylvania Volunteers, that regiment being
relieved at guard-mount by the 108th United States Colored In-
fantry.
The first call for prisoners to join the United States service was
in March, 1864. It was proposed to release all who offered to enter
the Navy, and were rejected by the surgeon. According to the
provost marshal's abstract 1,077 recruits were obtained. The next
call was on the 11th September, 1864. This was for the purpose
of organizing regiments for frontier service, that is, for the Indian
country. For a time very few availed themselves of this chance
to get something to eat, and repeated calls were made. At length,
a separate enclosure being built, it was announced that the gates
would be open all night, and candidates would be received at any
time. Then a remarkable change took place. The frontier service
became quite popular. Men who had ridiculed others for joining,
decamped during the night and enrolled themselves in the frontier
service. This latter arrangement partook rather of the character
of a private speculation. A certain Judge Petty, of the oil regions
of Pennsylvania, came to Rock Island with authority from the
President of the United States, and offered a bounty of $100 to
each man enlisted, with the assurance that such as were rejected
by the surgeon should be released. Each man enlisted was a sub-
stitute for a citizen of Venango, Clarion, and other adjoining coun-
ties of Pennsylvania, who had been drafted to serve in the United
States army. It was reported that these citizens paid $300 each to
Judge Petty to obtain a substitute, but whatever he received, I know
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
287
that only $100 each was paid the enlisted men for the frontier ser-
vice. Captain H. R. Rathbone, United States army, came from
Washington, and mustered the men into service. I was detailed
to assist in preparing the muster-rolls, and can vouch for all the
foregoing except the $300, which I leave with the citizens of Ve-
nango, Clarion, and other counties represented in the war by the
prisoners of Rock Island. If the report be true, Judge Petty
"struck oil" at Rock Island for 1,797 times $200, or $359,400.
Until June 1st, 1864, no reasonable complaint could be made in
regard to the food furnished the prisoners; but from that date until
June, 1865, the inmates of Rock Island were subjected to starvation
and all its attendant horrors. I know that this charge was denied
by the officers of that prison at the very time the atrocity was be-
ing perpetrated. God may forgive whoever caused the deed to be
done, but surely there is little hope for whoever denies it now. The
following is a copy of a circular from the Commissary General of
Prisoners, dated June 1st, 1864. It is the ration ordered for each
prisoner per day:
Pork or Bacon 10 ounces, in lieu of fresh beef.
Fresh beef 14 ounces.
Flour or soft bread.... 16 ounces.
Hard bread 14 ounces, in lieu of flour or soft bread.
Corn meal 16 ounces, in lieu of flour or soft bread.
Beans or peas 12 J pounds,
Or.rice or hominy 8 pounds,
Soap 4 pounds, - to 100 rations.
Vinegar 3 quarts,
Salt 3| pounds, .
Now all this means only bread and meat—sixteen ounces of the
former, and fourteen ounces of the latter; and we will add one-
hundredth part of eight pounds of hominy. For let the reader
observe that if hominy is issued, rice or peas or beans is not issued.
Here, then, we have only three articles of food according to the
official document, but in so far as that represents the quantities and
the kind of articles issued to the prisoners, it is a fraud; as Paul
wrote the Galations, " Behold, before God, I lie not." Here is what
the prisoners actually received:
Twelve ounces corn bread, four and a half ounces saltbeef (usually
unfit for human food). No man can conceive the effect of this diet.
To realize what he would eat at the end of a month he must expe-
rience this treatment for a month. Did the prisoners eat rats and
mice and dogs when they could get them? What would they not
eat? The cravings of hunger were never relieved. One continued
gnawing anguish, that sleep aggravated rather than appeased was
ever present. They did eat rats and mice to my knowledge.
The dogs were missing, and who will doubt that the starved
wretches, who ate rats, had feasted on the dogs. What difference
is there between my statement and the official circular? I say
twelve ounces bread; it says sixteen ounces. I say four and a half
ounces salt beef; it says ten ounces salt pork. I say two articles of
288
Southern Historical Society Papers.
food, the circular mentions three. The bread we received was made
of corn meal, in loaves shaped like bricks, and about as hard.
The salt beef had a most offensive odor. An orderly asked an
officer of the prison to step into his barrack and smell the beef;
he did so, but merely remarked he had often eaten worse. De-
pravity had reached its limit in his case, for he was doing violence
to his stomach in even smelling that beef.
I find this note in my diary July 10, 1864: "Nothing to eat till
one o'clock," and again September 18th: " Nothing to eat at all
this day." For some reason the bread wagon did not come in; the
bread was issued daily, and the meat which was issued every ten
days, had been consumed. There is not at first glance very much
difference between my statement and the commissary's circular,
and for a few days the difference in quantity would be immaterial,
but when the quality of the food, and the weary sameness through
many months is considered, even the commissary's allowance
would have been a sumptuous repast. Think of it for a moment.
We will take his bacon, and his beans, and his soft bread, that is
all to be sure, but what a meal, when compared with the stinking
salt beef, and the hard corn bread.
When the order reducing the ration, dated June 1st, 1864, went
into effect, those prisoners who were fortunate enough to have
money to their credit with the commissary, could still obtain flour
from the sutler, and large quantities were brought in every week.
The commissary's journal would prove this, and at the same time
show the scarcity of bread within the prison.
Prisoners who had no money wrote to their friends for food; and
those who had no friends who were able to send them food, were
not all neglected; for the Christian women of the North came to
their assistance, with food and clothing; and continued active and
untiring, even in the face of official insolence, until the order from
the Commissary General of Prisoners, dated Washington, August
10th, 1864, cut the prisoners off from the outside world, and all
hope of assistance. No more food from friends; no more flour
from the sutler; no more clothing; no prospect of exchange; no
hope of release, no more visits from wife or mother. Under these
circumstances the wonder is that more men did not join the United
States army. Disease followed as a matter of course, and the death
rate is fully accounted for.
On the 10th October, 1864, being a British subject, I addressed a
protest to Lord Lyons, then the British minister at Washington,
from which I make the following extracts:
* * * I further declare that the food issued to us is unwhole-
some, insufficient and productive of disease; * * * that we are
strictly prohibited by circular No. 4, dated Office of Commissary
General of Prisoners, Washington, D. C., August 10th, 1864, from
receiving, by purchase or otherwise, vegetables or other provisions,
in consequence scurvy is prevalent and other diseases generated.
* * * Subject as I am to the pangs of hunger, to disease, to a
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
289
violent death, I appeal to your lordship to demand a mitigation of
the rigor of my present situation."
This was made known to the United States Government, by the
British minister, in a letter to Mr. Seward, dated October 20th, 1864,
in these words: * * * " Wright complains very much of the
quantity and quality of the food he gets as being insufficient and
generative of disease. I hope that nis case may be attended to,
and that I may hear something soon upon the subject."
A few days after this I was paroled to assist in the clerical du-
ties of the post adjutant's office, and remained there until released
in June, 1865.
It must not be supposed that my correspondence with the British
minister left the prison in the prescribed channel. I had tried that,
and found that certain letters of mine did not reach him. My
communications were smuggled out in the manner I have de-
scribed in this paper, and sent under cover to friends in St Louis
and Albany, who mailed them. I mention this because the Sec-
Tetary of War took some credit to himself for liberality in my case,
as will be seen from the following extract of a letter addressed to
Mr. Seward:
Wab Department, Washington City,
October 12th, 1864.
*♦ * * * ♦ * * * *
Mr. Wright makes no complaint of harsh treatment, and the pa-
pers which he presents show that the officers who have had him
in charge have rendered him every facility in submitting his
appeal.
♦ * * * * * * * * *
If Mr. Seward was misled by this statement in regard to my
treatment, he was certainly undeceived when he received the British
minister's note, dated October 20th, of which I have given an
extract.
The wretched condition of the prisoners at Rock Island was well
known to the citizens of Rock Island City and Davenport.
At the request of Judge Grant of the latter city, on the 20th of
September, 1864,1 made a faithful statement of the treatment and
condition of the prisoners; and for this purpose, in company with
others, I visited a number of barracks. The bread and the meat
were carefully weighed, and the quality of the food truthfully re-
ported. The judge desired a plain statement, without exaggeration
or comment, to use in an effort he was about to make at Washing-
ton to ameliorate the condition of the prisoners. As no change for
the better took place, the presumption is that Judge Grant did not
succeed in his benevolent mission. I have mentioned that the
officers of the prison denied the charge of cruelty, at a time when
the poor wretches within the walls were sinking under the starva-
tion diet I have described. That denial was made necessary in
5
290
Southern Historical Society Papers.
consequence of the following letter, which appeared in the New
York News in January, 1865:
[From a Private Letter.]
Chicago, Illinois, December 27, 1864.
* * * "The condition and suffering of the Rebel prisoners at
Rock Island is a source of agony to every heart not absolutely dead
to the feelings of common humanity and the scantiest Christian
mercy. There are from six to eight thousand confined here. Many
have taken 'the oath'—any oath to save themselves from actual
starvation. These released prisoners, though liberated at'different
intervals of time, all tell the same story. The allowance to each
man has been one small loaf of bread (it takes three to make- a
pound), and a piece of meat two inches square per day. This was
the rations! Lately it has been reduced. Think of it reduced I
All the released ones say that no man can live on the rations given,
and that there are men that would do anything to get enough to eat!
Such is the wretched, ravenous condition of these poor starving crea-
tures, that several dogs which have come to the barracks with teams
have fallen victims to their hunger, and they are trapping rats and
mice for food, actually to save life. Many of them are nearly naked,
bare-footed, bare-headed, and without bed-clothes; exposed to cease-
less torture from the chill and pitiless winds of the upper Missis-
sippi. Thus, naked and hungry, and in prison, enduring a wretch-
edness which no tongue can describe, no language tell, they suffer
from day to day—each day their number growing less by death—
death, their only comforter—their only merciful visitor!
God in heaven! Shall these things continue ? Can we hope for
success in our cause? Will a merciful and just God bless and
prosper it, if such cruel inhumanity is practiced by our rulers ?
May we not provoke a terrible and just chastisement at His hands?
No Christian heart, knowing the facts, can feel otherwise.
Many charitable persons, influenced by no other motives than
common humanity and Christian duty, have sent supplies of cloth-
ing to these prisoners, but they have not been permitted to reach
them. I have heard of sales of such clothing having been made
across the river at Davenport, at very low prices. Is it possible
that the authorities at Washington know of and approve these
things.
A good many have taken the oath, stating afterwards to citizens
that they did so really to save them from starvation. I learn that
there are about five thousand confined here, who have resolved to
die rather than do so. Although they are wrong, is there not a
sublime heroism in the adherence of these men, amid such trials,
to a cause which they believe to be right?"
This exposure was denounced by a Chicago paper as "An in-
famous Rebel falsehood," and "an attempt to justify the Rebels in
starving our prisoners." The Chicago journalist may be excused
on the ground of ignorance, but not so the officers of the prison;
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
291
as principals or as tools they committed this outrage on humanity
for the sake of their commissions, like the Irish jurors portrayed
by Curra*}( "Conscience swung from its moorings, and they sought
safety for themselves in the surrender of the victims."
But .hvrnger was not the only cause of suffering, clothing was
prohibited. The provost marshal took possession of all boxes and
packages addressed to prisoners—these were opened and examined—
and until August, 1864, with the exception of some pilfering, usually
reached the owner; but after that date, the prisoners were not per-
mitted to receive anything sent by friends or relatives. How much
clothing and-provisions fell into the hands of the provost marshal
and his men after August, will never be known. What they did
with the booty may be readily guessed, ©n tbe 22d February,
1865, three Confederate officers arrived, and distributed clothing to
the prisoners, but the worst part of the winter had then been en-
dured, fo* want of that covering the jailors had taken away. I
have given my own experience until October, 1864, but I know
that the suffering was even more terrible during the following
winter. In a climate where the well clothed sentinels were relieved
at short intervals to prevent their freezing to death, nature demands
a generous food to sustain life; but the last winter in Rock Island
prison presented a scene of destitution only to be equaled by a
crew of cast-aways in the frozen ocean, and this too where the
sound of Sabbath bells were heard. It was a pleasant sound to
many who felt that their troubles were nearly ended; it seemed a
prelude to the melody that awaited them in a better land. But to
those who could not die, whose vitality doomed them to suffer,
what a mockery the sound seemed to them; what rebellious thoughts
of God's injustice took possession of their souls, and would not
down while tortured with the cravings of hunger. I have realized
these things. I have noted one day that I tasted no food. It was
Sunday the 18th September, 1864. I was recovering from a severe
attack of dysentery. I was very hungry. The church bells were
ringing as I eagerly watched the great gate of the prison hoping it
would open, and the bread wagon would come in, but hour after
hour passed away, and there was no sign, evening came on and I
gave up all hope. I had lingered near that gate all day. Hunger
is delirium, and the gospel is not for the famished body. The good
men who sometimes preached for us had had their breakfasts. The
Government that sent us preachers would not send us bread.
292
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Dr. Handy has preserved in his letter-book an original copy of
prison rules at fort delaware,
which we give in full:
Headquarters Fort Delaware,
July 8th, 1864.
I. Roll call at reveille and retreat.
II. Police call at 7 A. M. and 4 P. M.
III. Breakfast call at 8 A. M.; dinner, 2 P. M.
IV. Sergeants in charge of the prisoners will exact from them a
strict compliance with the above calls, which will be regularly en-
forced, and must profnptly report to the officer in charge, the num-
ber present and absent, sick, etc.; and any who are guilty of in-
subordination, or any violation of the rules of this prison. They
must also notify their men that if they do not promptly obey any order
given them by a sentinel, officer, or men in charge of them, they will be
shot.
V. Sergeants in charge will be held responsible for the due exe-
cution of these rules, and for the regular accounting for the number
of their men.
By command A. Schoepf, Brigadier-General.
(Signed) George W. Ahl,
Captain and A. A. A. G.
We have received a paper from Mr. John A. Bateson, of Pioche,
Nevada, one of the Federal guard at Rock Island, which is a strong
confirmation of the above statement of Mr. Wright.
Mr. Bateson is vouched for by a district judge and a prominent
lawyer of Pioche as a gentleman of " perfect truthfulness and reli-
ability"; and he refers to a number of leading Republicans in the
Northwest, with whom he has always been politically associated,
"for an endorsement of his character as a staunch Republican and
honorable man."
His, therefore, is not "Rebel" testimony, but that of a Union
soldier, and " a truly loyal Republican," whom Mr. Blaine cannot
dismiss with the cry of "traitor."
testimony of a federal soldier.
Pioche, February 19, 1876.
During a period of ten months I was a member of the garrison
of the Rock Island Military Prison. There were confined there
about ten thousand men. Those men were retained in a famishing
condilion by order of Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. That
order was approved by Abraham Lincoln. It was read before the
inside garrison of the prison sometime in January, 1864. It was
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
293
read at assembly for duty on the 2d, in front of the prison. It
went into effect on the following day. It continued in force until
the expiration of my term of service, and, I have understood, until
the close of the war.
When it was read, Colonel ShafFner, of the Eighth Veteran Re-
serves, was acting Provost Marshal of Prisoners. I think that it was
Captain Robinson who read the order. It reduced the daily allow-
. ance of the captives to about ten ounces of bread and four ounces
of meat per man.
Some time in January a batch of prisoners arrived. They were
captured at Knoxville. Sixty of them were consigned to barracks
under my charge. They were received by me at about 3 in
the afternoon. One of the prisoners inquired of me when they
would draw rations. I told him not until the following day. He
said that in that case some of his comrades must die, as they had
eaten nothing since their capture several days before—the exact
period I cannot state. That evening at roll call one of the prisoners
exhibited symptoms of delirium. He moved from the.ranks, and
seemed to grasp for something, which I understood to be a table
loaded with delicacies. I returned him to the ranks, where he
remained until roll-call was over, when I left. On the following
morning he and two others were dead.
The mortality report among the new Rebs was extraordinarily large.
I think it amounted to about ten per cent, of the entire number. It
created an interest among the company commandants, and was the
subject of many expressions. From the Rebel orderlies I learned that
the symptoms in each case were the same. There was no complaint;
no manifestation of illness. Some dropped while standing on the
floor; others fell from a sitting posture. All swooned and died
without a struggle.
Some of the prisoners had money sent them. It was deposited
with the Provost Marshal, and their orders on the sutler were at
first honored, but supplies from this direction were soon prohibited;
the sutler's wagon was excluded from the prison. Supplies from
relatives of prisoners, consisting of clothes, food and stationery
came for some. The parcels containing them were distributed
from "Barrack Thirty. The boxes were examined, everything
in the shape of subsistence was removed, and the box and its con-
tents delivered to the prisoner; the food it contained was destroyed
before the face of the tantalized captive.
Small tufts of a weed, called parsley, grew under the sides of the
prison. It was over the dead-line, where prisoners dare not go.
At their earnest entreaty I have sometimes plucked and handed it
to some of them. They told me it was a feast. Squads of prisoners
under guard were sent to work in different parts of the Island.
They sometimes purchased raw potatoes and onions for their com-
rades suffering with scurvy. They were searched at the prison
gate, and those articles taken from them.
I am ready to swear that in my opinion the Knoxville prisoners
were starved to death.
294
Southern Historical Society Papers.
As to the torture endured by the scurvy patients, the shooting
of prisoners by the guards on the parapets, the smashing of their
skulls with revolvers by officers of the prison, such misfortunes are
incident to prison life, and neither the Government nor the Re-
publican party can be held responsible for them.
The weather on January 1st was the most intensely cold I ever
experienced; and from all parts of the prison came intelligence of
prisoners frozen to death. One died in one of my companies. He
was reported to me, and I placed my hand on the corpse; it was
frozen. This is the first time I have mentioned it. I cannot say
that he froze to death.
John A. Bateson,
115th E. V. R. C., Second Battalion.
We have a long
statement of john j. van-allen,
of Watkins, Schuyler county, New York, from which we make the
following extract:
Late in the fall of 1864, and when the bitter sleets and biting
frosts of winter had commenced, a relief organization was impro-
vised by some of the generous ladies and gentlemen of the city of
Baltimore for the purpose of alleviating the wants of those confined
in the Elmira Prison, where there were then several thousand pri-
soners.
I had the honor to be appointed by that organization to ascer-
tain the needs of the prisoners, to distribute clothing, money, etc.,
as they might require. I had formerly lived at Elmira, where I
studied my profession, but then (as now) I resided at this place,
twenty miles distant from Elmira, where I have resided for nearly
twenty-five years, and was well known at Elmira.
As soon as appointed I journeyed to that delightful paradise for
Confederate prisoners (according to Walker, Tracy and Piatt), and
stated the object of my visit to the commanding officer, and asked
to be permitted to go through the prison in order to ascertain the
wants of the prisoners, with the request that I might distribute
necessary blankets, clothing, money, medicines, etc.
He treated me with consideration and kindness, and informed
me that they were very destitute of clothing and blankets; that
not one-half of them had even a single blanket; and that many
were nearly naked, the most of them having been captured
during the hot summer months with no other than thin cotton
clothes, which in most instances • were in tatters. Yet he stated
that he could not allow me to enter the prison gate or administer
relief, as an order of the War Department rendered him powerless.
I then asked him to telegraph the facts to the War Department and
ask a revocation or modification of the order, which he did; and two
or three days were thus consumed by me in a fruitless endeavor
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
295
to procure the poor privilege of carrying out the designs of the
good Samaritans at Baltimore who were seeking to alleviate in a
measure the wants of the poor sufferers, who were there dying off
like rotten sheep from cold and exposure. The officer in com-
mand was an army officer, and his heart nearly bled for those poor
sufferers; and I know he did all in his power to aid me, but his
efforts, were fruitless to assist me to put a single coat on the back of
a sufferer. The brutal Stanton was inexorable to all my entreaties,
and turned a deaf ear to the tale of their sufferings. The only
proposition that could be entertained was this: If I would fetch
clothing only of a gray color (Confederate uniforms) I could place
it in the hands of some under-strappers of the loyal persuasion, as
well as such moneys as I might wish to leave in the same hands,
and they would distribute the same as they liked.
This could not be allowed to be done by the commanding officer,
but must be done by one of the loyal (?) gentry, who I became
satisfied would absorb it before any poor Confederate soldier would
even catch a glimse at its shadow; and I was actually forced to
give the matter up in despair.
The nearest I could get to the poor skeletons confined in that
prison, was a tower built by some speculator in an adjoining field
across the way from the prison pen, for which privilege a money
consideration was exacted and paid. On taking a position upon
this tower what a sight of misery and squalor was presented! My
heart was made sick, and I blushed for my country—more because
of the inhumanity there depicted. Nearly all of the many thou-
sands there were in dirty rags. The rain was pouring, and thou-
sands were without shelter, standing in the mud in their bare feet,
with clothes in tatters, of the most unsubstantial material, without
blankets. I tell the truth, and Mr. Charles C. B. Watkins dare not
deny it, when I say these men suffered bitterly for the want of
clothing, blankets and other necessaries. I was denied the privi-
lege of covering their nakedness.
The above statement needs no comment. The refusal of Mr.
Stanton to allow this high-minded, Northern gentleman to distri-
bute supplies among these destitute suffering prisoners, was of a
piece with his insolent reply to Hon. A. J. Beresford Hope, who
wrote for permission to use a sum of money raised by English
gentlemen to alleviate the condition of Confederate prisoners at the
North, and received for answer, that the United States Government
was rich enough to provide for Us prisoners, and needed no foreign help.
Yes! the United States Government was amply able to provide
for its captives; but it chose to adopt a system of cold-blooded
cruelty, and to seek to avoid the verdict of history by the most
persistent slanders against the Confederate authorities.
We give in full the following statement of a medical officer of
296 Southern Historical Society Papers.
the United States army, who was on duty at the Elmira prison.
His letter was originally published in the New York World, and
dated from Brooklyn, New York:
STATEMENT OF A UNITED STATES MEDICAL OFFICER.
To the Editor of the World :
Sir—I beg herewith (after having carefully gone through the
various documents in my possession pertaining to the matter) to
forward you the following statistics and facts of the mortality of
the Rebel prisoners in the Northern prisons, more particularly at
that of Elmira, New York, where I served as one of the medical
officers for many months. I found, on commencement of my duties
at Elmira, about 11,000 Rebel prisoners, fully one-third of whom
were under medical treatment for diseases principally owing to an
improper diet, a want of clothing, necessary shelter and bad sur-
sounding; the diseases were consequently of the following nature;
Scurvy, diarrhoea, pneumonia, and the various branches of typhoid,
all superinduced by the causes, more or less, aforementioned.
The winter of 1864-5 was an unusually severe and rigid one, and
the prisoners arriving from the Southern States during this season
were mostly old men and lads, clothed in attire suitable only to the
genial climate of the South. I need not state to you that this alone
was ample cause for an unusual mortality amongst them. The
surroundings were of the following nature, viz: narrow, confined
limits, but a few acres of ground in extent, and through which
slowly flowed a turbid stream of water, carrying along with it all
the excremental filth and debris of the camp; this stream of water,
horrible to relate, was the only source of supply, for an extended
period, that the prisoners could possibly use for the purpose of
ablution, and to slake their thirst from day to day; the tents and
other shelter allotted to the camp at Elmira were insufficient, and
crowded to the utmost extent—hence, small pox and other skin
diseases raged through the camp.
Here I may note that, owing to a general order from the Govern-
ment to vaccinate the prisoners, my opportunities were ample to
observe the effects of spurious and diseased matter, and there is no
doubt in my mind but that syphilis was engrafted in many in-
stances; ugly and horrible ulcers and eruptions of a characteristic
nature were, alas, too frequent and obvious to be mistaken. Small
pox cases were crowded in such a manner that it was a matter of
impossibility for the surgeon to treat his patients individually;
they actually laid so adjacent that the simple movement of one of
them would cause his neighbor to cry out in agony of pain. The
confluent and malignant type prevailed to such an extent, and of
such a nature, that the body would frequently be found one con-
tinuous scab.
The diet and other allowances by the Government for the use of
the prisoners were ample, yet the poor unfortunates were allowed
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
297
to starve; but why, is a query which I will allow your readers to
infer, and to draw conclusions therefrom. Out of the number of
prisoners, as before mentioned, over three thousand of them now
lay buried in the cemetery located near the camp for that purpose;
a mortality equal, if not greater than that of any prison in the
South. At Andersonville, as I am well informed by Mother officers
who endured confinement there, as well as by the records at Wash-
ington, the mortality was twelve thousand out of say about forty
thousand prisoners. Hence it is readily to be seen that range of
mortality was no less at Elmira than at Andersonville.
At Andersonville there was actually nothing to feed or clothe the
prisoners with, their own soldiers faring but little better than their
prisoners; this, together with a torrid sun and an impossibility of
exchange, was abundant cause for their mortality. With our pri-
soners at Elmira, no such necessity should honestly have existed,
as our Government had actually, as I have stated, most bountifully
made provision for the wants of all detained, both of officers and
men. Soldiers who have been prisoners at Andersonville, and
have done duty at Elmira, confirm this statement, and which is in
nowise in one particular exaggerated; also, the same may be told
of other prisons managed in a similarly terrible manner. I allude
to Sandusky, Delaware and others. I do not say that all prisoners
at the North suffered and endured the terrors and the cupidity of
venal sub-officials; on the contrary, at the camps in the harbor of
New York, and at Point Lookout, and at other camps where my
official duties from time to time have called me, the prisoners in
all respects have fared as our Government intended and designated
they should. Throughout Texas, where food and the necessaries
of life were plentiful, I found our own soldiers faring well, and to
a certain extent contented, so far, at least, as prisoners of war could
reasonably expect to be.
Our Government allowed the prisoners of war the following
rations: Twelve ounces of pork or bacon, or one pound of salt or
fresh beef; one pound six ounces of soft bread or flour, or one
pound of corn meal; and to every one hundred rations, fifteen
pounds of beans or peas and ten pounds of rice or hominy, ten
pounds of green coffee or five pounds of roasted ditto, or one pound
eight ounces of tea, fifteen pounds of sugar, four quarts of vinegar,
thirty pounds of potatoes, and if fresh potatoes could not be
obtained, canned vegetables were allowed. Prisoners of war will
receive for subsistence one ration each, without regard to rank;
their private property shall be duly respected, and each shall be
treated with regard to his rank, and the wounded are to be treated
with the same care as the wounded of our army.
How faithfully these regulations were carried out at Elmira is
shown by the following statement of facts: The sick in hospitals
were curtailed in every respect (fresh vegetables and other anti-
scorbutics were dropped from the list), the food scant, crude and
unfit; medicine so badly dispensed that it was a farce for the med-
298
Southern Historical Society Papers.
ical man to prescribe. At large in the camp the prisoner fared
still worse; a slice of bread and salt meat was given him for his
breakfast, a poor hatched-up, concocted cup of soup, so called, and
a slice of miserable bread, was all he could obtain for his coming
meal; and hundreds of sick, who could in nowise obtain medirn
aid died, " unknelled, uncoffined and unknown." I have in no-
wise drawn on the imagination, and the facts as stated can be
attested by the staff of medical officers who labored at the Elmira
prison for the Rebel soldiers.
Ex-MedicaL Officer United States Army.
We could multiply such statements as are given above almost
indefinitely.
We have the diary of the prison experience of Rev. L. W. Allen
(a prominent Baptist minister of Virginia), the diary of Captain
Robert E. Park, of Georgia, the narrative of Benjamin Dashiels, of
Colonel Snowden Andrews' Maryland Artillery, who was most in-
humanly punished at Fort Delaware for refusing to give the names
of friends in Maryland who were secretly ministering to the suffer-
ing prisoners, and a number of other MSS., which all go to prove
the points we have made. Indeed, it would be a very easy task to
compile from MSS. in our possession several large volumes on the
cruelties of Federal prisons. But we cannot now go into this sub-
ject more fully. Nor can we now even touch upon the cruelties
practiced towards civil prisoners who were arrested by the United
States authorities on mere suspicion, and treated with the utmost
rigor without even the forms of a trial.
We have on our shelves no less than eight volumes giving de-
tailed accounts of these false imprisonments, besides a number of
MS. accounts, and we may at some future time let our readers hear
" the tinkle of Mr. Seward's little bell."
But we cannot now give more space to the treatment received by
Confederates in Northern prisons. We think we have fairly met
Mr. Blaine's " issue," and that we have shown by incontrovertible
testimony that Confederate prisoners were cruelly treated in Northern
prisons, and that they did not "receive the same rations and
clothing as Union soldiers." And we have traced this cruel treat-
ment directly to the Federal authorities who were constantly
slandering the Confederate Government.
We now pass to a further discussion of the
exchange question,
for after all this is the real gist of the whole matter. The Govern-
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 299
ment that is responsible for the failure to exchange prisoners is
really responsible for the suffering which ensued on both sides.
We think we have already proven that this responsibility rests
with the authorities at Washington; but we will strengthen the
proof still further. We have published the cartel agreed upon on
the 22d of July, 1862, and have called attention to the fact that a
strict observance of its terms would have released all prisoners on
both sides within ten days of their capture.
Where difficulties arose in reference to particular classes of
prisoners, the cartel provided that these should be passed by until
they could be adjusted, and the cartel continue in force as to other
prisoners. This was done so long as the Confederates held the excess of
prisoners.
Soon after the signing of the cartel, a correspondence ensued,
which would unquestionably have stopped all exchange of pris-
oners had the Confederates not held a large excess of •prisoners. The
following
LETTER FROM GENERAL LEE
clearly sets forth the points at issue:
[Copy.]
Headquarters Army of the Confederate States,
Near Kichmond, Virginia, August 2, 1862.
To the General Commanding United States Arm J/, Washington :
General—In obedience to the order of his Excellency, the
President of the Confederate States, I have the honor to make to
you the following communication:
On the 22d of July last a cartel for a general exchange of pri-
soners of war was signed by Major-General John A. Dix, on behalf
of the United States, and by Major-General D. H. Hill, on the part
of this Government. By the terms of that cartel it is stipulated
that all prisoners of war hereafter taken shall be discharged on
parole until exchanged.
Scarcely had the cartel been signed when the military authorities
of the United States commenced a practice changing the character
of the war from such as becomes civilized nations into a campaign
of indiscriminate robbery and murder.
A general order, issued by the Secretary of War of the United
States, in the city of Washington, on the very day that the cartel
was signed in Virginia, directs the military commander of the
United States to take the property of our people for the convenience
and use of the army, without compensation.
A general order, issued by Major-General Pope on the 23d of July
last, the day after the date of the cartel, directs the murder of our
300
Southern Historical Society Papers.
peaceful citizens as spies,, if found quietly tilling their farms in his
rear, even outside of his limes.
And one of his BrigacBier-Generals, Steinwehr, has seized inno-
cent and peaceful inhabittants to be held as hostages, to the end that
they may be murdered in cold blood if any of his soldiers are
killed by some unknowm persons, whom he designated as " bush-
whackers."
Some of the military authorities of the United States seem to
suppose that their end will be better attained by a savage war, in
which no quarter is to bee given and no age or sex to be spared,
than by such hostilities as are alone recognized to be lawful in
modern times. We find •ourselves driven by our enemies, by steady
progress, towards a pracstice which we abhor, and which we are
vainly struggling to avoicd.
Under these circumstainces this Government has issued the ac-
companying general order, which I am directed by the President
to transmit to you, recognizing Major-General Pope and his com-
missioned officers to be :in a position which they have chosen for
themselves—that of robbers and murderers, and not that of public
enemies, entitled, if captuired, to be treated as prisoners of war.
The President also insltructs me to inform you that we renounce
our right of retaliation oin the innocent, and will continue to treat
the private enlisted soldi ers of General Pope's army as prisoners of
war; but if, after notice tto your Government that we confine re-
pressive measures to the punishment of commissioned officers, who
are willing participants i n these crimes, the savage practices threa-
tened in the orders allud ed to, be persisted in, we shall reluctantly
be forced to the last resort of accepting the war on the terms chosen
by our enemies, until tlhe voice of an outraged humanity shall
compel a respect for the recognized usages of war.
While the President considers that the facts referred to would
justify a refusal on our part to execute the cartel, by which we
have agreed to liberate am excess of prisoners of war in our hands,
a sacred regard for plighted faith, which shrinks from the semblance
of breaking a promise, precludes a resort to such an extremity.
Nor is it his desire to extend to any other forces of the United
States the punishment merited by General Pope and such com-
missioned officers as choose to participate in the execution of his
infamous orders.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully your obedient servant,
(Signed) R. E. Lee,
General Commanding.
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
Richmond, August 1, 1862.
General Orders, No. 54.
I. The following orders are published for the information and
observance of all concerned:
II. Whereas, by a general order, dated the 22d July, 1862, issued
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
301
by the Secretary of War of the United States, under the order of
the President of the United States, the military commanders of that
Government within the States of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, are
directed to seize and use any property, real or personal, belonging
to the inhabitants of this Confederacy, which may be necessary or
convenient for their several commands, and no provision is made
for any compensation to the owners of private property thus seized
and appropriated by the military commanders of the enemy:
III. And whereas, by General Order, No. 11, issued on the 23d
July, 1362, by Major-General Pope, commanding the forces of the
enemy in Northern Virginia, it is ordered that all "commanders
of army corps, divisions, brigades and detached commands, will
proceed immediately to arrest all disloyal male citizens within their
lines or within their reach, in rear of their respective commands.
Such as are willing to take the oath of allegiance to the United
States, and will furnish sufficient security for its observance, shall
be permitted to remain at their homes and pursue in good faith
their accustomed avocations. Those who refuse shall be conducted
South, beyond the extreme pickets of this army, and be notified
that if found again anywhere within our lines, or at any point in
rear, they will be considered spies, and subjected to the extreme
rigor of military law. If any person, having taken the oath of alle-
giance as above specified, be found to have violated it, he shall be
shot, and his property seized and applied to the public use":
IV. And whereas, by an order issued on the 13th July, 1862, by
Brigadier-General A. Steinwehr, Major William Steadman, a cavalry
•officer of his brigade, has been ordered to arrest five of the most
prominent citizens of Page county, Virginia, to be held as hostages,
and to suffer death in the event of any of the soldiers of said Stein-
wehr being shot by "bushwhackers," by which term are meant the
citizens of this Confederacy who have taken up arms to defend their
homes and families:
V. And whereas it results from the above orders that some of
the military authorities of the United States, not content with the
unjust and aggressive warfare hitherto waged with savage cruelty
against an unoffending people, and exasperated by the failure of
their effort to subjugate them, have now determined to violate all
the rules and usages of war, and to convert the hostilities hitherto
waged against armed forces into a campaign of robbery and murder
against unarmed citizens and peaceful tillers of the soil:
VI. And whereas this Government, bound by the highest obli-
gations of duty to its citizens, is thus driven to the necessity of
adopting just such measures of retribution and retaliation as shall
seem adequate to repress and punish these barbarities; and whereas
the orders above recited have only been published and made known
to this Government since the signature of a cartel for exchange of
prisoners of war, which cartel, in so far as it provides for an exchange
of prisoners hereafter captured, would never have been signed or
302
Southern Historical Society Tapers.
agreed to by this Governmentif the intention to change the war into a
system of indiscriminate murder and robbery had been known to
it; and whereas a just regard to humanity forbids that the repres-
sion of crime which this Government is thus compelled to enforce
should be unnecessarily extended to retaliation on the enlisted
men in the army of the United States, who may be the unwilling
instruments of the savage cruelty of their commanders, so long as
there is hope that the excesses of the enemy may be checked or
prevented by retribution on the commissioned officers, who have
the power to avoid guilty action, by refusing service under a Gov-
ernment which seeks their aid in the perpetration of such infamous
barbarities:
VII. Therefore, it is ordered that Major-General Pope, Brigadier-
General Steinwehr, and all commissioned officers serving under
their respective commands, be and they are hereby expressly and
specially declared to be not entitled to be considered as soldiers,
and therefore not entitled to the benefit of the cartel for the parole
of future prisoners of war. Ordered, further, that in the event of
the capture of Major-General Pope or Brigadier-General Steinwehr,
or of any commissioned officers serving under them, the captive so
taken shall be held in close confinement so long as the orders afore-
said shall continue in force and unrepealed by the competent mili-
tary authorities of the United States; and that in the event of the
murder of any unarmed citizen or inhabitant of this Confederacy
by virtue or under pretext of any of the orders hereinbefore recited,
whether with or without trial, whether under pretence of such cit-
izen being a spy or hostage, or any other pretence, it shall be the
duty of the Commanding General of the forces of this Confederacy
to cause immediately to be hung, out of the commissioned officers,
prisoners as aforesaid, a number equal to the number of our own
citizens thus murdered by the enemy.
By order. S. Cooper,
Adjutant and Inspector General.
Now here was a fine opportunity for the authorities at Wash-
ington to stop the cartel and charge the " Rebels " with bad iaith.
They would doubtless have done so had we not held the excess of
prisoners; but they simply indulged in a little high rhetoric, con-
tinued the cartel, and caused Pope to cease his high-handed
outrages. And so the cartel continued until July, 1863—the Fed-
eral authorities frequently violating its provisions, and the Con-
federates carrying them out to the letter.
The Report of Judge Ould, our Commissioner of Exchange, of
December, 1863, and the accompanying documents, fully sustain
this allegation, and we regret that our space will not allow us to
give these documents in full.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 303
We give the preliminary report, which indicates the points
made:
COMMISSIONER OULD's REPORT.
Confederate States of America,
War Department,
Richmond, Virginia, December oth, 1863.
Hon. James A. Seddon, Secretary of War:
Sir—I have the honor to submit the accompanying corre-
spondence between the Federal Agent of Exchange and myself:
I have selected from the mass of correspondence, such letters as
relate to matters of general interest, and especially to the subjects
of controversy between us.
1. Papers from one to twelve, inclusive, relate the arrest and de-
tention of non-combatants. The Federal authorities have persist-
ently refused to observe any reciprocal rule as to such parties.
Their military commanders seem to have been permitted to make
arrests of non-combatants without regard to their age, sex or situa-;
tion. After arrest, they have been thrown into prison and there
indefinitely retained, in most cases, without charges. I have per-
sistently contended that the whole subject of their capture of
non-combatants, should be determined by rule, and not by arbitrary
practice. This reasonable proposal, not receiving the assent of the
enemy, the Confederate authorities have been forced, in some
instances, to retain Federal non-combatants as a measure of re-
taliation.
2. Papers from thirteen to sixteen, inclusive, relate to the retention
of exchanged and unexchanged officers and men. There are
officers and men now in Federal prisons, who have been there ever
since the adoption of the cartel. I have brought to the attention
of the United States authorities again and again the names of some
of the parties who were confined in violation of the exchange
agreements. In 6ome cases, after long delay, the parties were re-
leased. Others, however, are still languishing in confinement.
3. Papers from seventeen to forty, inclusive, relate to the general
orders of the enemy and their connection with declarations of ex-
change. So anxious h as the Confederate Government been to remove
all obstacles to a general exchange of prisoners, that when the
computation and adjustment of paroles was made a subject of
difficulty by the enemy, we promptly agreed to determine the
whole matter in accordance with the general orders, issued at
Washington. This very liberal proposition has not been accepted
by the Federal authorities, I have, however, by virtue of the pro-
visions of the cartel, proceeded to make declarations of exchange,
upon the basis of those general orders. In those declarations of
exchange, I have not exceeded the valid paroles, which are on file
in my office. The reply of the Federal agent to my letter of
October 31st, 1863, was so personally offensive, that I was compelled
to return it to him without any answer.
304
Southern Historical Society Payers.
4. Papers from forty-one to forty-seven, inclusive, relate to the
confinement of General John H. Morgan and his officers in the
penitentiary, at Columbus, Ohio. Though the Federal agent on
the 30th of July, 1863, notified me that General John H. Morgan
and his officers would be placed in close confinement, he informed
me two months afterwards, that "theUnited States authorities had
nothing to do with the treatment that General Morgan and his com-
mand received when imprisoned at Columbus."
5. Papers from forty-eight to fifty-seven, inclusive, relate to the
detention of surgeons. Before the date of the cartel, surgeons were
unconditionally released after capture. That rule was first adopted
by the Confederate commanders, and was subsequently followed by
the Federals. Some time ago, one Rucker was indicted by a grand
jury in Virginia, for several felonies. Although Rucker was never
a surgeon in the Federal service, the enemy held Surgeon Green of
the Confederate navy, in retaliation. This caused retaliation on
our part, in return, and surgeons were afterwards held in captivity
on both sides. In this instance, the Federal authorities proved
that they were ready to sacrifice their own medical officers in an
endeavour to secure the release of a felon in no way connected
with their medical service. Rucker having recently escaped from
jail, the surgeons on both sides have been released.
6. Papers from fifty-eight to sixty-three, inclusive, relate to persons
captured upon our rivers and the high seas. By agreement made
with the Federal Agent of Exchange, all such who were captured
before December 10th, 1862, were declared exchanged. In spite of
that agreement, some of our pilots and sea captains were kept in
confinement. The correspondence will fully show the refusal of
the Federal authorities to adopt any fair and reciprocal rule, as to
the further exchange of such persons.
7. Papers numbered sixty-four and sixty-five, show the preten-
sions of the enemy as to such persons as have been tried under the
laws of a sovereign State for offences against the same.
8. Papers from sixty-six to seventy-two, inclusive, embrace all
the correspondence in which General E. A. Hitchcock has borne a
part. It seems there are two commissioners of exchange on the
part of the Federal Government. How far the authority of each
extends, or how far one is subordinate to the other, has not as yet
clearly appeared. The future may, perhaps, explain that they may
be put to separate uses. The last letter of General Hitchcock, bear-
ing date November 23d, 1863,1 returned, with the following en-
dorsement, to wit: " Protesting that the statement of facts contained
in this paper is incorrect, I return it to its author as unfit to be
either written or received."
With this brief notice of the correspondence, I respectfully sub-
mit it as my report.
Respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
Ro. Ould, Agent of Exchange.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
305
We can only cull a letter or two from this correspondence, which
we hope some day to publish in full as a triumphant vindication
of the course of our authorities :
lieutenant-colonel ludlow to mr. ould.
Headquarters Department op Virginia,
Seventh Army Corps,
Fort Monroe, Virginia, April 8,1863.
Hon. Robert Ould, Agent for Exchange of Prisoners :
Sir—The best mode of arranging all questions relating to
exchange of officers, is to revoke, formally, or informally, the
offensive proclamation relating to our officers.
I simply ask that you say, by authority, that such proclamation
is revoked. The spirit of that proclamation was the infliction of
personal indignities upon our officers, and as long as it remains
unrepealed, it can be at any moment put in force by your authori-
ties. What assurance have we that it will not be ?
I earnestly desire a return to the cartel in all matters pertaining
to officers, and until such be the case, and uniformity of rule be
thereby established, our exchanges of officers must be special.
Some of our officers, paroled at Vicksburg, were subsequently
placed in close confinement, and are now so held. If, hereafter,
we parole any of your officers, such paroles will be offset against
any which you may possess. At present the exchanges will be
confined to such equivalents as are held in confinement on either
side.
I hope you will soon be able to remove all difficulties about
officers by the revocation I have mentioned.
By reference to the map, you will see that Fort Delaware is en
route to Fort Monroe. It is used as a depot for the collecting of
prisoners, sent from other places for shipment here, and is, from
its peculiar position, " well adapted for convenience for exchange
If any mistake be found in the account of men paroled by
Lieutenant-Colonel Richards, at Oxford, Mississippi, on the 22d
of December, 1862, it can be rectified when we meet.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Wm. H. Ludlow,
Lieutenant-Colonel and Agent for Exchange of Prisoners.
mr. ould to lieutenant-colonel ludlow.
Richmond, April 11th, 1863.
Lieutenant-Colonel William H. Ludlow, Agent of Exchange:
Sir—Your letters of the 8th instant have been received.
I am very much surprised at your refusal to deliver officers for
those of your own who have been captured, paroled, and released
by us since the date of the proclamation and message of President
306
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Davis. That refusal is not only a flagrant breach of the cartel,
but can be supported by no rule of reciprocity or equity. It is
utterly useless to argue any such matter. I assure you that not
one officer of any grade will be delivered to you until you change
your purpose in that respect.
You have charged us with breaking the cartel. With what sort
of justice can that allegation be supported, when you delivered
only a few days ago over ninety officers, most of whom had been
forced to languish and suffer in prisons for months before we were
compelled by that and other reasons to issue the retaliatory order
of which you complain ? Those ninety-odd are not one-half of
those whom you unjustly hold in prison. On the other hand, I
defy you to name the case of one who is confined by us, whom
our agreement has declared exchanged. Is it your idea that we
are to be bound by every strictness of the cartel, while you are at
liberty to violate it for months, and that, too, not only in a few
instances, but in hundreds ?. You know that our refusal to parole
officers, was a matter exclusively of retaliation. It was based only
upon your refusal to observe the requirements of the cartel. All
that you had to do to remove the obnoxious measure of retaliation,
was to observe the provisions of the cartel and redress the wrongs
which had been perpetrated.
Your last resolution, if persisted in,.settles the matter. You
need not send any officers to City Point with the expectation of
getting an equivalent in officers, so long as you refuse to deliver
any for those whom we have released on parole in Tennessee and
Kentucky. If captivity, privation, and misery are to be the fate
of officers on both sides hereafter, let God judge between us. I
have struggled in this matter, as if it had been a matter of life and
death to me. I am heartsick at the termination, but I have no
self reproaches.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
Robert Ould,
Agent of Exchange.
Judge Ould thus closes his correspondence with Colonel Ludlow:
mr. ould to lieutenant-colonel ludlow.
Confederate States of America,
War Department,
Richmond, Virginia, July 26, 1863.
Colonel William H. Ludlow, Agent of Exchange :
Sir—Your communication of the 22d contests my declara-
tion of exchanges of officers made on the 17th instant. You say
" the cartel pro.vides for the exchange of equal ranks, until such
are exhausted, and then for equivalents." If you had been at
Fortress Monroe, where you could have seen the cartel, instead of
New York, from which your letter is dated, you would have written
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
307
no such paragraph. There is nothing in the cartel which contains
any such doctrine, or which favors it. Every provision is against
it. Your own and my practice have been opposed to it. I again
say to .you what I have already stated in my communication of
the 17th instant, that your assent is not needed to the declared ex-
change, and I shall not notify the officers, whom I have declared
exchanged, as you request. I have allowed you' to declare ex-
changes when the number of prisoners in our hands has been the
greater. This has been the case from the day when we first met
in the fall of last year, to the capture at Vicksburg. Now, when
you have scarcely received official advices of your superiority in
prisoners, you boast of the fact, and declare that I cannot give an
equivalent for the general officers I have declared exchanged. The
point you make is worth nothing, even as you have stated it. You
know we have no lieutenant-generals or major-generals of yours
in our hands. For that reason I have declared them exchanged
in privates or inferior officers at your election. I had the right,
under the cartel, to make the choice myself, but I preferred that
?ou should do it, and therefore, I gave you the notification which
did. If, at any time, you present officers for exchange who have
been paroled, and we have no officers of similar rank on parole,
you can declare their exchange in privates. If, at this time, you
have any officers of the rank I have declared exchanged, or of any
other rank, or if you have any particular organization of privates
or non-commissioned officers whom you wish exchanged, you have
only to state such fact and your selection will be approved. If
you hold the paroles of our officers of any rank as you state, you
have only to present them, and whatever is in our hands, whether
on parole or in captivity, will be freely given in exchange for them.
You say you have again and again invited me to a return to the
cartel. Now that our official connection is being terminated, I say
to you in the fear of God—and I appeal to Him for the truth of
the declaration—that there has been no single moment, from the
time when we were first brought together in connection with the
matter of exchange to the present hour, during which there has
not been an open and notorious violation of the cartel by your
authorities. Officers and men, numbering over hundreds, have
been, during your whole connection with the cartel, kept in cruel
confinement, sometimes in irons, or doomed to cells, without
charges or trial. They are in prison now, unless God, in His mercy,
has released them. In our parting moments, let me do you the
justice to say that I do not believe it is so much your fault as that
of your authorities. Nay more, I believe your removal from your
position has been owing to the personal efforts you have made for
a faithful observance, not only of the cartel, but of humanity in
the conduct of the war.
Again and again have I importuned you to tell me of one officer
or man now held in confinement by us, who was declared ex-
changed. You have, to those appeals, furnished one—Spencer
308
Southern Historical Society Papers.
Kellog. For him I have searched in vain. On the other hand, I
appeal to your own records for the cases where your reports have
shown that our officers and men have been held for long months
and even years in violation of the cartel and our agreements. The
last phase of the enormity, however, exceeds all others. Although
you have many thousands of our soldiers now in confinement in
your prisons, and especially in that horrible hold of death, Fort
Delaware, you have not, for several weeks, sent us any prisoners.
During those weeks you have dispatched Captain Mulford with
the steamer New York to City Point, three or four times, without
any prisoners. For the first two or three times some sort of an
excuse was attempted. None is given at this present arrival. I do
not mean to be offensive when I say that effrontery could not give
one. I ask you with no purpose of disrespect, what can you
think of this covert attempt to secure the delivery of all your
prisoners in our hands, without the release of those of ours who
are languishing in hopeless misery in your prisons and dungeons ?
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
Robert Ould,
Agent of Exchange.
Though there were these difficulties in reference to exchange,
and these evasions and violations of the cartel' by the Federal
authorities, the paroles given captured prisoners were respected
until July, 1863, when the following order was issued by the
Federal Secretary of War:
War Department,
Adjutant-General's Office,
Washington, July 3, 1863.
General Orders No. 209.
1. The attention of all persons in the military service of the
United States is called to article 7 of the cartel agreed upon July
22d, 1862, and published in General Oorders No. 142, September
25th, 1862. According to the terms of this cartel all captures must
be reduced to actual possession, and all prisoners of war must be
delivered at the places designated, there to be exchanged or paroled
until exchange can be effected. The only exception allowed is the
case of commanders of two opposing armies, who were authorized
to exchange prisoners or to release them on parole at other points
mutually agreed upon by said commanders.
2. It is understood that captured officers and men have been
paroled and released in the field by others than commanders of
opposing armies, and that the sick and wounded in hospitals have
been so paroled and released in order to avoid guarding and re-
moving them, which in many cases would have been impossible.
Such paroles are in violation of general orders and the stipulations
of the cartel, and are null and void. They are not regarded by the
enemy, and will not be respected by the armies of the United
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
309
States. Any officer or soldier who gives such parole will be returned
to duty without exchange, and, moreover, will be punished for
disobedience of orders. It is the duty of the captor to guard his
prisoners, and if through necessity or choice he fails to do this, it
is the duty of the prisoner to return to the service of his Govern-
ment. He cannot avoid this duty by giving an unauthorized
military parole.
3. A military parole not to serve until exchanged must not be
confounded with a parole of honor to do or not to do a particular
thing not inconsistent with the duty of a soldier; thus a prisoner
of war actually held by the enemy may, in order to obtain exemp-
tion from a close guard or confinement, pledge his parole of honor
that he will make no attempt at escape. Such pledges are binding
upon the individuals giving them; but they should seldom be given
or received, for it is the duty of a prisoner to escape if able to do
so. Any pledge or parole extorted from a prisoner by ill usage is
not binding.
4. The obligations imposed by the general laws and usages of
war upon the combatant inhabitants of a section of country passed
over by an invading army closes when the military occupation
ceases, and any pledge or parole given by such persons, in regard
to future service, is null and of no effect.
By order of the Secretary of war.
[Signed] E. D. Townsend, A. A. G.
TJpon this order General J. A. Early, in a recent communication,
makes the following eminently just comments:
It is very manifest that that order was issued for the purpose of
embarrassing General Lee's army with the guarding and feeding
of the prisoners, amounting to several thousand, then in our hands;
and in consequence of the order, information of which reached us
immediately, General Lee sent a flag of truce to Meade on the 4th
of July, after the close of the battle, with a proposition to exchange
prisoners. The latter declined the proposition, alleging a want of
authority to make the exchange, or, from his own views of policy,
he positively declined to entertain the proposition; I am not certain
which.
According to the laws of war in the earliest ages a captive in war
forfeited his life. Subsequently, in the cause of humanity, the
penalty of death was commuted to slavery for life; and this con-
tinued to be a law of war for more than one-half of the Christian
era, notwithstanding it has been so often said that slavery disap-
peared in Europe before the spirit of Christianity; in fact, it was
the vast number of captives in war reduced to slavery from among
the Sclavi or Sclavonians, in the eighth century, under that bul-
wark of the Church, Charlemagne, that caused the distinctive and
modern appellation of "slaves" to be applied to all those held to
involuntary servitude. In the age of chivalry, when knights-
310
Southern Historical Society Papers.
errant, and more especially the Crusaders, wanted money more
than they did slaves, they sold their slaves their freedom; and the
practice of releasing prisoners for a ransom was resorted . to, and
continued to be a law of war until a comparatively modern date,
when, with the growth of regular armies, the practice of releasing
prisoners on parole became a recognized rule of civilized warfare
among Christian nations. It has never, however, been a law of
war that the obligation of a prisoner to observe his parole depends
upon the assent of his own Government; but, on the contrary, the
right of a prisoner to obtain his release from captivity by giving
his parole of honor not to serve against his captors until exchanged
or otherwise released is derived from the fact that by his captivity
he is placed beyond the protection of his Government, and there-
fore has the right to provide for his own safety by giving the re-
quisite pledge, and all civilized nations recognize the binding force
of that pledge or parole.
The rule is laid down by Vattel, pp. 414 and 415, as follows:
" Individuals, whether belonging to the army or not, who happen
singly to fall in with the enemy are, by the urgent necessity of the
circumstance, left to their own discretion, and may, so far as con-
cerns their own persons, do everything which a commander might
do with respect to himself and the troops under his command. If,
therefore, in consequence of the situation in which they are in-
volved, they make any promise, such promise (provided it do not
extend to matters which can never lie within the sphere of a pri-
vate individual) is valid and obligatory, as being made with com-
petent powers. For, when a subject can neither receive his sover-
eign's orders nor enjoy his protection, he resumes his natural
rights, and is to provide for his own safety by any just and honor-
able means in his power. Hence, if that individual has promised
a sum for his ransom, the sovereign, so far from having the power
to discharge him from his promise, should oblige him to fulfil it.
" The good of the State requires that faith should be kept on such
occasions, and that subjects should have this mode of saving their
lives or recovering their liberty.
"Thus, a prisoner who is released on his parole is hound to ob-
serve it with scrupulous punctuality, nor has the sovereign a right
to oppose such observance of his engagement; for had not the pri-
soner thus given his parole he would not have been released."
The same doctrine is laid down by publicists generally.
The question of exchange of prisoners is a matter for agreement
between the opposing powers, but the question of the parole is not.
The paroles stipulated for in the cartel of July, 1862, were paroles
with a view to subsequent exchange, and the stipulation did not
create the right of a prisoner of war to be released from captivity
on his parole, that existed prior to and independent of the cartel.
It existed by virtue of a "higher law" [if I may be permitted to
use a phrase so much in vogue in former times among those who
now attach so much importance to unwavering fidelity to the Con-
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 311
stitution, in their view of it], than an order from the Federal Sec-
retary of War—the law of self-preservation. If I had found myself
at any time during the war a prisoner in the hands of the enemy,
about to be dragged to a Northern prison, where I am sure con-
finement for a very short time would have killed me or run me
mad, and my captors had been humane enough to release me on
my parole of honor not to serve again until exchanged, I am sure
I would have thought my Government more barbarous than the
enemy if it had required of me a violation of my parole and a re-
turn to duty without exchange; but I feel confident no such dis-
honor would ever have been required of me by that Government,
for I do know that the paroles of some of my own men, captured
at Williamsburg on the 5th of May, 1862, more than two months
before the cartel was adopted, and for special reasons paroled with-
in a week of their capture, were respected, and they were regularly
exchanged.
Mr. Stanton, in issuing the order of the 3d of July, 1863, violated
the laws of civilized warfare, and the statement contained therein
that the Confederate Government ("the enemy") had pursued the
same course was a mere pretext to give color to his own unwar-
rantahle act. But for that order all the prisoners captured by us
at Gettysburg, amounting to fully six thousand, would have been
paroled; and, in fact, the proper staff officers were proceeding to
parole them, and had actually paroled and released a large num-
ber of them, when the news came of the order referred to. Why
did Mr. Stanton object to the parolling of those prisoners? and why
did he prefer that they should be confined in prisons in the South—
"prison pens," as Northern Republicans are pleased to call them—
rather than that they should be sent to their own homes on parole,
there to remain in comfort until duly exchanged, if it was not to
embarrass the Confederate Government with the custody and sup-
port of them, regardless of any consideration for their health or
their lives? If he did not think proper to exchange Confederate
prisoners in his hands for them he could have refused to do so;
and certainly their presence at their own homes could have done
no harm to his cause; most assuredly not more than their confine-
ment in a prison, in a climate to which they were unaccustomed.
If the rule asserted in his order is among the laws and usages of
war, then it must follow that if General Lee had not been able to
guard or feed the prisoners in his hands he would have had the
right to resort to that dread alternative to which the first Napoleon
resorted in Egypt when he found the paroles granted by him not
respected, ana destroy the prisoners in his hands. If any of the
prisoners brought from Gettysburg, or subsequently captured, lost
their lives at Andersonville, or any other Southern prison, is it not
palpable that the responsibility for their deaths rested on Edwin
M.Staunton?
In consequence of the order one division commander, who fell
into our hands, wounded, whom we could have brought off, though
312
Southern Historical Society Papers.
at the risk of his life, and a large number of other prisoners who
were paroled (two or three thousand), were returned to duty in the
Federal army without exchange; and among them was a Colonel,
who pledged his honor that he would surrender himself and his
regiment (paroled at the same time) if the validity of the parole
was not recognized by his Government.
Unfortunately, the capture o.f Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and
the captures at Gettysburg, now gave the Federal Government a
large excess of prisoners actually in hand, and enabled them to
carry out the policy which they had all along evidently preferred.
Instead of fulfilling the terms of the cartel, they cooly notified
Judge Ould that henceforth "exchanges will he confined to such equiva-
lents as are held in confinement on either side." The plain meaning of
this was that the Federal Government treated as a nulity the terms
of the cartel, and the large number of paroles which the Confederates
held against them, and proposed to exchange man for man of those
actually in prison, which would have released every single prisoner
held by the Confederacy, and left some thousands of our own
brave soldiers to languish and die in hopeless captivity, notwith-
standing the fact that the Confederates (carrying out the terms of
the cartel) had already paroled their equivalents of Federal soldiers.
The Confederate Commissioner, of course, indignantly rejected this
proposition, and the subsequent correspondence until August 10th,
1864, abounds in earnest efforts on the part of Judge Ould to in-
duce the Federal authorities to return to the cartel, and their
quibbles, excuses, and evasions. We very much regret that we
have not space to publish this correspondence in full. Indeed we
could desire no better vindication of the Confederacy than the
publication of every letter which passed between the commissioners.
Our cause suffered nothing in the hands of our able and high-
minded commissioner, Judge Ould.
On the 10th of August, 1864, seeing the hopelessness of effecting
further exchanges on any fair terms, Judge Ould wrote the letter
(which we gave in our last number), proposing to accept the terms
offered by the other side, and to exchange man for man of actual
captives.
Notwithstanding the fact that this was their own proposition, and
would have worked largely in their favor as it ignored the thou-
sands of paroles held by the Confederates and would have released
all Federal prisoners and have left a large number of Confederates
in captivity, the Federal authorities never deigned to give an answer
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
313
to this letter. They would neither carry out the terms of the parole,
nor abide by their own proposition when it was accepted.
There were various complications which arose during the suspen-
sion of the cartel, but the plain meaning of them all was that the
Federal Government had deliberately adopted as their war policy
the non-exchange of prisoners.
We will briefly notice several of these complications.
In December, 1863, Major-General B. F. Butler was appointed
Special Commissioner for the exchange of prisoners on the part of
the Federal Government. The infamous conduct of this officer in
New Orleans had excited the detestation of the civilized world,
and had caused the Confederate Government to declare him an
outlaw. And yet Mr. Stanton, in selecting an agent to overcome
difficulties in the way of exchange, passed by all of his other officers
and selected this most obnoxious personage. What fair-minded
man can doubt that the object in selecting this agent was really to
prevent an exchange f But in their eager desire to effect an exchange,
the Confederates finally determined to treat even with General
Butler, and accordingly Judge Ould went to Fortress Monroe and
had a protracted interview with him. To do General Butler justice,
he seemed even more liberal in the matter of exchange than his
superiors had been, and after a full discussion of all the points at
issue a new cartel was agreed upon.
When all of the points had been agreed to on both sides, and
copies of the new cartel made, Judge Ould said to him: " Now,
General, I am fully authorized to sign that paper in behalf of my
Government, and we will close the matter by signing, sealing and
delivering it here and now." General Butler replied that he had
not the authority to sign the paper, but would refer it to his Govern-
ment, and use all of his influence to induce its approval. Lieutenant-
General U. S. Grant disapproved of the arrangement, and the
Federal Government refused to confirm it. We have the proof of
this in several forms.
We clip the following from a Northern paper published not long
after the close of the war:
General Butler said at Hamilton, Ohio, the other day, that while
he never answered anonymous newspaper attacks, he felt it his
duty here at Hamilton to refute a slander which had been circu-
lated from this platform a few days ago by a gentleman of standing
in advocating the election of the Democratic candidate.
He has chosen to say that I am responsible for the starvation of
314
Southern Historical Society Papers.
our prisoners at Belle Isle and Andersonville, by refusing to ex-
change soldiers because the Rebels did not recognize the negroes in
our service as regular soldiers.
I don't propose to criticise anybody, or to say who was right or
who was wrong, but I propose to state the exact facts, because it
has been widely charged against me, that in order to rescue the
negro soldiers I preferred that 30,000 of our men should starve
rather than agree that the negro should not be exchanged.
Whatever I might have thought it best to have done, I am only
here to-day to say that I did not do it. The duties of Commissioner
of Exchange were put in my hands. I made an arrangement to
have an exchange effected—man for man, officer for officer. I
communicated my plan to General Streight, of Indiana, who is
here to-day, and who had then just escaped from the Libby. I
told him how I proposed to get our negro soldiers out of rebel
hands.
We had 60,000 or thereabout of their prisoners. They had
30,000 of ours, or thereabout. I don't give the exact numbers, as I
quote from memory; but these are the approximate numbers.
I proposed to go on and exchange with the rebels, man for man,
officer for officer, until I got 30,000 of our men, and then I would
still have had 30,000 of theirs left in my hands. And then I pro-
fiosed to twist these 30,000 until I got the negroes out of the Rebels.
Applause.] I made this arrangement with the Confederate Com-
missioner. This was on the 1st of April, before we commenced to
move on that campaign of 1864, from the Rapid Aim to the James,
around Richmond. . At that time the Lieutenant-General visited
my headquarters, and I told him what I had done. He gave me
certain verbal directions. What they were I shall not say, because
I have his instructions in writing. But I sent my proposition for
exchange to the Government of the United States. It was referred
to the Lieutenant-General. He ordered me not to give the Con-
federates another man in exchange.
I telegraphed back to him in these words:
" Your order shall be obeyed, but I assume you do not mean to
interfere with the exchange of the sick and wounded ?"
He replied: " Take all the sick and wounded you can get, but
don't give them another man."
You can see that even with sick and wounded men this system
would soon cause all exchanges to stop.
It did stop. It stopped right there, in April, 1864, and was not
resumed until August, 1864, when Mr. Ould, the Rebel Commis-
sioner, again wrote me: "We will exchange man for man, officer
for officer," and saying nothing about colored troops.
I laid this dispatch before the Lieutenant-General. His answer,
in writing, was substantially: " If you give the rebels the 30,000
men whom we hold, it will insure the defeat of General Sherman
and endanger our safety here around Richmond." I wrote an
argument, offensively put, to the Confederate Commissioners, so
that they could stop all further offers of exchange.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
315
I say nothing about the policy of this course; I offer no criticism
of it whatever; I only say that whether it be a good or a bad
policy, it was not mine, and that my part in it was wholly in
obedience to orders from my commanding officer, the Lieutenant-
General.
Upon another occasion General Butler used this strong language:
" The great importance of the question; the fearful responsibility
for the many thousands of lives which, by the refusal to exchange,
were sacrificed by the most cruel forms of death; from cold, starva-
tion, and pestilence of the prison pens of Raleigh and Anderson-
ville, being more than all the British soldiers killed in the wars of
Napoleon • the anxiety of fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers, wives,
to know the exigency which caused this terrible—and perhaps as
it may have seemed to them useless and unnecessary—destruction
of those dear to them, by horrible deaths; each and all have com-
pelled me to this exposition, so that it may be seen that these lives
were spent as a part of the system of attack upon the, rebellion, de-
vised by the wisdom of the General-in-chief of the armies, to de-
stroy it by depletion, depending upon our superior numbers to win
the victory at last.
" The loyal mourners will doubtless derive solace from this fact,
and appreciate all the more highly the genius which conceived the
plan and the success won at so great a cost."
The New York Tribune will also be accepted as competent
authority. Referring to the occurrences of 1864, the Tribune edi-
torially says:
"In August the Rebels offered to renew the exchange, man for
man. General Grant then telegraphed the following important
order: 'It is hard on our men, held in Southern prisons, not to
exchange them, but it is humanity to those left in the ranks to
fight our battles. Every man released on parole or otherwise be-
comes an active soldier against us at once, either directly or indi-
rectly. If we commence a system of exchange which liberates all
prisoners taken, we will have to fight on till the whole South is
exterminated. If we hold those caught, they amount to no more
than dead men. At this particular time, to release all Rebel pris-
oners North would insure Sherman's defeat, and would compromise
our safety here.'"
Here is even a stronger statement from a Northern source:
"New Yobk, August 8th, 1865.
"Moreover, General Butler, in his speech at Lowell, Massachusetts'
stated positively that he had been ordered by Mr. Stanton to put forward
the negro question to complicate and prevent the exchange. *****
Every one is aware that, when the exchange did take place, not the
slightest alteration had occurred in the question, and that our pris-
oners might as well have been released twelve or eighteen months before
316 Southern Historical Society Papers.
as at the resumption of the cartel, which would have saved to the Republic
at least twelve or fifteen thousand heroic lives. That they were not saved
is due alone to Mr. Edwin M. Stanton's peculiar policy and dogged
obstinacy / and, as I have remarked before, he is unquestion-
ably the digger of the unnamed graves that crowd the vicinity
of every southern prisonwithhistoricand never-to-be-forgotten
horrors.
"Once for all, let me declare that I have never found fault with
any one because I was detained in prison, for I am well aware that
that was a matter in which no one but myself, and possibly a few
personal friends, would feel any interest; that my sole motive for
impeaching the Secretary of War was that the people of the loyal
North might know to whom they were indebted for the cold-blooded and
needless sacrifice of their fathers and brothers, their husbands and their
sons.
" Junius Henri Browne."
General Butler also produced upon another occasion the follow-
ing telegram, which ought to be conclusive on this question:
" City Point, August 18th, 1864.
" To General Butler—I am satisfied that the chief object of your
interview, besides having the proper sanction, meets with my entire
approval. I have seen, from Southern papers, that a system of
retaliation is going on in the South, which they keep from us, and
which we should stop in some way. On the subject of exchange,
however, I differ from General Hitchcock; it is hard on our men
held in Southern prisons not to exchange them, but it is humanity
to those left in the ranks to fight our battles.. Every man released
on parole, or otherwise, becomes an active soldier against us at once,
either directly or indirectly. If we commence a system of exchange
which liberates all prisoners taken, we will have to fight on until
the whole South is exterminated. If we hold those caught, they
amount to no more than dead men. At this particular time, to release
all Rebel prisoners North would insure Sherman's defeat, and would
compromise our safety here.
"U. S. Grant,
" Lieutenant-General."
We think that the above testimony settles beyond all controversy
that General U. S. Grant, Secretary Stanton, and Mr. Lincoln, were
responsible for the refusal to exchange prisoners in 1864.
But the following extract from the
testimony of general grant
before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, given February
11th, 1865, may be added as an end of controversy on this point:
Question. It has been said that we refused to exchange prisoners
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
317
because we found ours starved, diseased, unserviceable when we
received them, and did not like to exchange sound men for such
men?
Answer. There never has been any such reason as that. That
has been a reason for making exchanges. I will confess that if our
men who are prisoners in the South were really well taken care of, suffer•
ing nothing except a little privation of liberty, then, in a military point
of view, it would not be good policy for us to exchange, because every man
they get back is forced right into the army at once, while that is not the
case with our prisoners when we receive them. In fact, the half of our
returned prisoners will never go into the army again, and none of
them will until after they have had a furlough of thirty or sixty
days. Still, the fact of their suffering as they do is a reason for
making this exchange as rapidly as possible.
Question. And never has been a reason for not making the
exchange ?
Answer. It never has. Exchanges having been suspended by
reason of disagreement on the part of agents of exchange on both
sides before I came in command of the armies of the United States,
and it then being near the opening of the spring campaign, J did
not deem it advisable or just to the men who had to fight our battles to re-
enforce the enemy with thirty or forty thousand discipilined troops at that
time. An immediate resumption of exchanges would have had that
effect without giving us corresponding benefits. The suffering said
to exist among our prisoners South was a powerful argument against
the course pursued, and I so felt it.
We had intended to discuss full}'
THE NEGRO QUESTION
in its bearing upon exchange of prisoners, but find that we have
barely space to state it. When the war began the Federal Govern-
ment distinctly declared that it had no power and no desire to inter-
fere with slavery in the Stales. But as it progressed the slaves were
not only declared free, but were enlisted as soldiers in the United
States armies. The question at once arose whether the Confederate
Government should recognize these captured slaves as prisoners of
war, or should remand them to their masters, from whom they
had been forcibly taken. The Confederates, of course, took the
ground that as both the constitution of the United States and that
of the Confederacy recognized slaves as the property of their own-
ers, when these slaves were abducted and enlisted in the Federal
army, their masters had a right to reclaim them whenever and
wherever they could recapture them.
General Butler says that he was directed by his Government to
put forward this question offensively, in order to stop exchanges; but
318
Southern Historical Society Paperi
even General Butler agreed to a cartel which virtually settled, or
at least postponed the question, and we have most abundant
evidence that this was a mere subterfuge to prevent exchange.
Nor are we able at present to enter more fully into the
efforts of the confederacy to effect an exchange.
The mission of Vice-President A. H. Stephens, in 1863, resulted
in failure, because Vicksburg and Gettysburg made the United
States authorities feel that they were in a position to refuse even
an audience to the " Rebel" commissioner.
General Lee's overtures to General Grant and to the Federal
Government (through the United States Sanitary Commission)
were equally futile; and the delegation of Andersonville prisoners,
which Mr. Davis paroled to visit the President of the United States
and plead for an exchange, were denied an audience, and were
spurned from Washington, to carry back the sad tidings that their
Government held out no hope of their release.
We have a letter from the wife of the chairman of that delegation
(now dead), in which she says that her husband always said that
he was more contemptuously treated by Secretary Stanton than he ever
was at Andersonville.
We add upon this point the following letter in the Philadelphia
Times, which was elicited by the recent discussion:
Clifton, Pennsylvania, February 7th, 1876.
I am certainly no admirer of Jefferson Davis or the late Con-
federacy, but in justice to him and that the truth may be known,
I would state that I was a prisoner of war for twelve months, and
was in Andersonville when the delegation of prisoners spoken of
by Jefferson Davis left thereto plead our cause with the authorities
at Washington; and nobody can tell, unless it be a shipwrecked
and famished mariner, who sees a vessel approaching and then
passing on without rendering the required aid, what fond hopes
were raised, and how hope sickened into despair waiting for the
answer that never came. In my opinion, and that of a good many
others, a good part of the responsibility for the horrors of Ander-
sonville rests with General U. S. Grant, who refused to make a fair
exchange of prisoners.
Henry M. Brennan,
Late Private Second Pennsylvania Cavalry.
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
319
We will close our case, for the present, with the following im-
portant testimony, which should surely, of itself, be sufficient to
settle this question before any fair tribunal:
LETTER OF CHIEF-JUSTICE SHEA.
The New York Tribune of the 24th January, 1876, publishes the
following letter from Judge Shea, which was called forth by Mr.
Blaine's accusations on the floor of the House of Representatives.
The Tribune introduces the letter, with the following additional
comments:
Chief-Justice George Shea, of the Marine Court, who sends us an
interesting letter about Jefferson Davis, was, as is well known, the
principal agent in securing the signatures of Mr. Greeley, Gerrit
Smith, and others to Mr. Davis's bail bond. The essential point of
his present statement is that Mr. Greeley and the other gentlemen
whom he approached on that subject were unwilling to move in
the matter until entirely satisfied as to Mr. Davis's freedom from the
guilt of intentional cruelty to Northern prisoners at Anderson ville;
that Judge Shea, at the instance of Mr. Greeley and Vice-President
Wilson, went to Canada to inspect the journals of the secret sessions
of the Confederate Senate—documents which up to this time have
never passed into the hands of our Government, or been accessible
to Northern readers; that from these secret records, including
numerous messages from Davis on the subject, it conclusively
appeared that the Rebel Senate believed the Southern prisoners
were mistreated at the North; that they were eager for retaliation,
and that Davis strenuously and to the end resisted these efforts ;
and that he attempted to send Vice-President Stephens North to
consult with President Lincoln on the subject. No more important
statements than these concerning that phase of the civil war have
been given to the public. They shed light upon the course of Mr.
Greeley and other eminent citizens of the North; and it seems to
us clear that, on many accounts, the Rebel authorities owe it to
themselves and to history to give to the public the documents
which Judge Shea was permitted to see. It is not likely that they
will have any material effect upon the fate of Mr. Davis, or upon
political questions now pending. But they are of vital consequence
to any correct history of the rebellion, and their revelations, if
sustaining throughout the portions submitted to Judge Shea,
might do as much to promote as the late Andersonville debate did
to retard the reconciliation of the sections.
To the Editor of the Tribune :
Sir—I apprehend no one will accuse me with having ever har-
bored disunion proclivities, or of any inclination toward secession
heresies. But truth is truth, justice is justice, and an act of pro-
posed magnanimity should not be impaired by both an untruth
320
Southern Historical Society Papers.
and an injustice. The statement in the House of Representatives
on Thursday last, made by General Banks during the debate on
the proposed amnesty bill, was more entirely correct than, perhaps,
he had reason to credit.
What I now relate are facts: Mr. Horace Greeley received a letter,
dated June 22d, 1865, from Mrs. Jefferson Davis. It was written
at Savannah, Georgia, where Mrs. Davis and her family were then
detained under a sort of military restraint. Mr. Davis himself,
recently taken prisoner, was at Fortress Monroe; and the most
conspicuous special charge threatened against him by the " Bureau
of Military Justice" was of guilty knowledge relating to the assas-
sination of President Lincoln. The principal purpose of the letter
was imploring Mr. Greeley to bring about a speedy trial of her
husband upon that charge, and upon all other supposed cruelties
that were inferred against him. A public trial was prayed that the
accusations might be as publicly met, and her husband, as she
insisted could be done, readily vindicated. To this letter Mr.
Greeley at once forwarded an answer for Mrs. Davis, directed to the
care of General Burge, commanding our military forces at Savannah.
The morning of the next day Mr. Greeley came to my residence in
this city, placed the letter from Mrs. Davis in my hand, saying that
he could not believe the charge to be true; that aside from the
enormity and want of object, it would have been impolitic in Mr.
Davis, or any other leader in the Southern States, as they could
not but be aware of Mr. Lincoln's naturally kind heart and his good
intentions toward them all; and Mr. Greeley asked ine to become
professionally interested in behalf of Mr. Davis. I called to Mr.
Greeley's attention that, although I was like-minded with himself
as to this one view of the case, yet there was the other pending
charge of cruel treatment of our Union soldiers while prisoners at
Andersonville and other places, and that, unless our Government
was willing to have it imputed that Wirz was convicted and his
sentence of death inflicted unjustly, it could not now overlook the
superior who was, at least popularly, regarded as the moving cause
of those wrongs; and that if Mr. Davis had been guilty of such
breach of the rules for the conduct of war in modern civilization,
he was not entitled to the right of, nor to b)e manumitted as a mere
prisoner of war. I expressed the thought that my services before
a military tribunal would be of little benefit. I hesitated; but
finally told Mr. Greeley that I would consult with some of our
common friends, whose countenance would give strength to such
an undertaking, if it was discovered to be right, and that none but
Republicans and some of the radical kind were likely to be of
positive aid; indeed, any other would have been injurious. It
occurred to me, from recollecting conversations with Mr. Henry
Wilson, the previous April, while we were together at Hilton Head,
South Carolina, that if Mr. Davis were guiltless of this latter
offence, an avenue might be opened for a speedy trial, or for his
manumission as any other prisoner of war. I did consult with
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
321
such friends, and Mr. Henry Wilson, Governor John A. Andrew,
Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, and Mr. Gerrit Smith were among them.
The result was that I thereupon undertook to do whatever became
feasible. Although not in strictness required to elucidate our
present intent, it is, nevertheless, becoming the history of the case
simply to mention that Mr. Charles O'Conor was, from the first,
esteemed the most valuable man to lead for the defence by Mr.
Greeley and Mr. Gerrit Smith. A Democrat of pronounced repute,
still his appearance would import no partisan aspect to the great
argument, and would excite no feelings but those of admiration
and respect among even extreme men of opposite opinion. Public
expectation looked to him, and soon after it was made known that
he had already volunteered his services to Mr. Davis. Mr. 0'Conor's
course during the war was decided, understood, and consistent, but
never offensive nor intrusive; his personal honor without reproach;
his courage without fear; his learning, erudition, propriety of pro-
fessional judgment conceded as most eminent.
There was a general agreement among the gentlemen of the Re-
publican party whom I have mentioned that Mr. Davis did not, by
thought or act, participate in a conspiracy against Mr. Lincoln; and
none of those expressed that conviction more emphatically than Mr.
Thaddeus Stevens. The single subject on which light was desired
by them was concerning the treatment of our soldiers while in the
hands of the enemy. The Tribune of May 17th, 1865, tells the real
condition of feeling at that moment, and unequivocally shows that it
was not favorable to Mr. Davis on this matter. At the instance of
Mr. Greeley, Mr. Wilson and, as I was given to understand, of
Mr. Stevens, I went to Canada the first week in January, 1866,
taking Boston on my route, there to consult with Governor Andrew
and others. While at Montreal, General John C. Breckinridge
came from Toronto, at my request, for the purpose of giving me
information. There I had placed in my possession the official
archives of the Government of the Confederate States, which I read
and considered—especially all those messages and other acts of the
Executive with the Senate in its secret sessions concerning the care
and exchange of prisoners. I found that the supposed inhuman
and unwarlike treatment of their own captured soldiers by agents
of our Government was a most prominent and frequent topic.
That those reports current then—perhaps even to this hour—in the
South were substantially incorrect is little to the practical purpose.
From those documents—not made to meet the public eye, but used
in secret session, and from inquiries by me of those thoroughly
conversant with the state of Southern opinion at the time—it was
manifest that the people of the South believed those reports to be
trustworthy, and they individually, and through their representa-
tives at Richmond, pressed upon Mr. Davis, as the Executive and
as the Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy, instant recourse
to active measures of retaliation, to the end that the supposed
cruelties might be stayed. Mr. Davis's conduct under such urgency
7
322
Southern Historical Society Papers.
and, indeed, expostulation, was a circumstance all-important in de-
termining the probability of this charge as to himself. It was
equally and decisively manifest, by the same sources of information,
that Mr. Davis steadily and unflinchingly set himself in opposition
to the indulgence of such demands, and declined to resort to any
measure of violent retaliation. It impaired his personal influence,
and brought much censure upon him from many in the South, who
sincerely believed the reports spread among the people to be really
true. The desire that something should be attempted from which
a better care of prisoners could be secured seems to have grown so
strong and prevalent that, on July 2d, 1863, Mr. Davis accepted the
proffered service of Mr. Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice-President,
to proceed as a military commissioner to Washington. The sole
purpose of Mr. Davis in allowing that commission appears, from
the said documents, which I read, to have been to place the war on
the footing of such as are waged by civilized people in modern
times, and to divest it of a savage character, which, it was claimed,
had been impressed on it in spite of all effort and protest; and al-
leged instances of such savage conduct were named and averred.
This project was prevented, as Mr. Stephens was denied permission
by our Administration to approach Washington, and intercourse
with him prohibited. On his return, after this rejected effort to
produce a mutual kindness in the treatment of prisoners, Southern
feeling became more unquiet on the matter than ever; yet it clearly
appears that Mr. Davis would not yield to the demand for re-
taliation.
The evidence tending to show this to be the true condition of
the case as to Mr. Davis himself was brought by me and submitted
to Mr. Greeley, and in part to Mr. Wilson. The result was, these
gentlemen, and those others in sympathy with them, changed their
former suspicion to a favorable opinion and a friendly disposition.
They were from this time kept informed of each movement as
made to liberate Mr. Davis, or to compel the Government to bring
the prisoner to trial. All this took place before counsel, indeed
before any one acting on his behalf, was allowed to communicate
with or see him.
The Tribune now, at once, began a series of leading editorials de-
manding that our Government proceed with the trial; and on
January 16, 1866, incited by those editorials. Senator Howard, of
Michigan, offered a joint resolution, aided by Mr. Sumner, "recom-
mending the trial of Jefferson Davis and Clement C. Clay before a
military tribunal or court-martial, for charges mentioned in the
report of the Secretary of War, of March 4,1866." It will be in-
teresting to mention now that if a trial proceeded in this manner,
I was then creditably informed, Mr. Thaddeus Stevens had volun-
teered as counsel for Mr. Clay.
After it had become evident that there was no immediate pros-
Eect of any trial, if any prospect at all, the counsel for Mr. Davis
ecame anxious that their client be liberated on bail, and one of
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
323
them consulted with Mr. Greeley as to the feasibility of procuring
some names as bondsmen of persons who had conspicuously op-
posed the war of secession. This was found quite easy; and Mr.
Gerrit Smith and Commodore Vanderbilt were selected, and Mr.
Greeley, in case his name should be found necessary. All this
could not have been accomplished had not those gentlemen, and
others in sympathy with them, been already convinced that those
charges against Mr. Davis were unfounded in fact. So an applica-
tion was made on June 11, 1866, to Mr. Justice Underwood, at
Alexandria, Virginia, for a writ of habeas corpus, which, after argu-
ment, was denied, upon the ground that "Jefferson Davis was
arrested under a proclamation of the President charging him with
complicity in the assassination of the late President Lincoln. He
has been held," says the decision, "ever since, and is now held, as
a military prisoner."' The Washington Chronicle of that date in-
sisted that " the case is one well entitled to a trial before a military
tribunal; the testimony before the Judiciary Committee of the
House, all of it bearing directly, if not conclusively, on a certain in-
tention to take the life of Mr. Lincoln, is a most important element
in the case." This was reported as from the pen of Mr. John W.
Forney, then clerk of the Senate, and is cited by me as an expres-
sion of a general tone of the press on that occasion. Then, the
House of Representatives, on the motion of Mr. Boutwell, of Mas-
sachusetts, the following day passed a resolution " that it was the
opinion of the House that Jefferson Davis should be held in cus-
tody as a prisoner and subject to trial according to the laws of the
land." It was adopted by a vote of 105 to 19.
It is very suggestive to reflect just here that, in the intermediate
time, Mr. Clement C. Clay had been discharged from imprisonment
without being brought to trial on either of these charges, upon
which he had been arrested, and for which arrest the $100,000 re-
ward had been paid.
This failure to liberate Mr. Davis would have been very dis-
couraging to most of men; but Mr. Greeley, and those friends who
were acting with him, determined to meet the issue made, promptly
and sharply, and to push the Government to a trial of its prisoner,
or to withdraw the charge made by its board of military justice.
The point was soon sent home, and was felt. Mr. Greeley hastened
back to New York, and the Tribune of June 12, 1866, contained, in
a leader from his pen, this unmistakable demand and protest:
"How and when did Davis become a prisoner of war? He was
not arrested as a public enemy, but as a felon, officially charged,
in the face of the civilized world, with the foulest, most execrable
guilt—that of having suborned assassins to murder President Lin-
coin—a crime the basest and most cowardly known to mankind..
It was for this that $100,000 was offered and paid for his arrest.
And the proclamation of Andrew Johnson and William H. Seward
offering this reward says his complicity with Wilkes Booth & Co.
is established 'by evidence now in the Bureau of Military Justice.'
So there was no need of time to hunt it up.
324
Southern Historical Society Papers.
" It has been asserted that Davis is responsible for the death by
exposure and famine of our captured soldiers; and his official po-
sition gives plausibility to the charge. Yet while Henry Wirz—a
miserable wretch—a mere tool of tools—was long ago arraigned,
tried, convicted, sentenced, and hanged for this crime—no charge
has been officially preferred against Davis. So we presume none
is to be."
The Tribune kept up repeating this demand during the following
part of that year, and admonished the Government of the increas-
ing absurdity of its position, not daring, seemingly, to prosecute a
great criminal against whom it had officially declared it was pos-
sessed of evidence to prove that crime. On November 9th, 1866,
the Tribune again thus emphasized this thought:
"Eighteen months have nearly elapsed since Jefferson Davis was
made a State prisoner. He had previously been publicly charged
by the President of the United States with conspiring to assassinate
President Lincoln, and $100,000 offered for his capture thereupon.
The capture was promptly made and the money duly paid; yet, up
to this hour, there has not been even an attempt made by the Go-
vernment to procure an indictment on that charge. He has also
been popularly., if not officially, accused of complicity in the virtual
murder of Union soldiers while prisoners of war, by subjecting
them to needless, inhuman exposure, privation and abuse; but no
official attempt has been made to indict him on that charge. * *
A great government may deal sternly with offenders, but not
meanly; it cannot afford to seem unwilling to repair an obvious
wrong."
The Government, however, continued to express its inability to
proceed with the trial. Another year had passed since the capture
of Mr. Davis, and now another attempt to liberate him by bail was
to be made. The Government, by its conduct, having tacitly
abandoned those special charges of inhumanity, a petition for a
writ was to be-presented, by which the prisoner might be handed
over to the civil authority to answer the indictment for treason. In
aid of this project, Mr. Wilson, chairman of the Committee of
Military Affairs, offered in the Senate, on the 18th of March, 1867,
a resolution urging the Government to proceed with the trial. The
remarkable thoughts and language of that resolution were observed
at the time, and necessarily caused people to infer that Mr. Wilson,
at least, was not under the too common delusion that the Govern-
ment really had a case on either of those two particular charges
against Mr. Davis individually; and a short time after this Mr.
Wilson went to Fortress Monroe and saw Mr. Davis. The visit
was simply friendly, and not for any purpose relating to his libe-
ration.
On May 14th, 1867, Mr. Davis was delivered to the civil authority;
was at once admitted to bail, Mr. Greeley and Mr. Gerrit Smith
going personally to Richmond, in attestation of their belief that
wrong had been done to Mr. Davis in holding him so long accused
Treatment of Prisoners During the War. 325
upon those charges, now abandoned, and as an expression of
magnanimity toward the South. Commodore Vanderbilt, then but
recently the recipient of the thanks of Congress for his superb aid
to the Government during the war, was also represented there, and
signed the bond through Mr. Horace F. Clark, his son-in-law, and
Mr. Augustus Schell, his friend.
The apparent unwillingness of the Government to prosecute,
under every incentive of pride and honor to. the contrary, was
accepted by those gentlemen and the others whom I have mentioned
as a confirmation of the information given to me at Montreal, and
of its entire accuracy.
These men—Andrew, Greeley, Smith and Wilson—have each
passed from this life. The history of their efforts to bring all parts
of our common country once more and abidingly into unity, peace
and concord, and of Mr. Greeley's enormous sacrifice to compel
justice to be done to one man, and he an enemy, should be written.
I will add a single incident tending the same way. In a consul-
tation with Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, at his residence on Capitol Hill,
at Washington, in May, 1866, he related to me how the chief of
this "Military Bureau" showed him "the evidence" upon which
the proclamation was issued charging Davis and Clay with com-
plicity in the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. He said that he re-
fused to give the thing any support, and that he told that gentle-
man the evidence was insufficient in itself, and incredible. I am
not likely ever to forget the earnest manner in which Mr. Stevens
then said to me: " Those men are no friends of mine. They are
public enemies; and I would treat the South as a conquered coun-
try and settle it politically upon the policy best suited for ourselves.
But I know these men, sir. They are gentlemen, and incapable of
being assassins."* Yours, faithfully,
George Shea.
No. 205 West 46th Street, New York, January 15, 1876.
And now it only remains that we make a brief
summing up
of this whole question of the treatment of prisoners during the
war. We think that we have established the following points:
1. The laws of the Confederate Congress, the orders of the War
Department, the regulations of the Surgeon-General, the action of
our Generals in the field, and the orders of those who had the im-
mediate charge of the prisoners, all provided that prisoners in the
hands of the Confederates should be kindly treated, supplied with
the same rations which our soldiers had, and cared for when sick
in hospitals placed on precisely the same footing as the hospitals for
Confederate soldiers.
* Note.—This and the former statement concerning Mr. Stevens are confirmed to me by
his literary executor and biographer, Hon. Mr. Dickey, of Pennsylvania.—G. S.
326
Southern Historical Society Papers.
2. If these regulations were violated in individual instances, and
if subordinates were sometimes cruel to prisoners, it was without
the knowledge or consent of the Confederate Government, which
always took prompt action on any case reported to them.
3. If the prisoners failed to get their full rations, and had those
of inferior quality, the Confederate soldiers suffered in precisely the
same way, and to the same extent, and it resulted from that system
of warfare adopted by the Federal authorities, which carried deso-
lation and ruin to every part of the South they could reach, and
which in starving the Confederates into submission brought the
same evils upon their own men in Southern prisons.
4. The mortality in Southern prisons (fearfully large, although
over three per cent, less than the mortality in Northern prisons), resulted
from causes beyond the control of our authorities—from epidemics,
&c., which might have been avoided, or greatly mitigated, had not
the Federal Government declared medicines " contraband of war "—
refused the proposition of Judge Ould, that each Government
should send its own surgeons with medicines, hospital stores, &c.,
to minister to soldiers in prison—declined his proposition to send
medicines to its own men in Southern prisons, without being re-
quired to allow the Confederates the same privilege—refused to
allow the Confederate Government to buy medicines for gold,
tobacco or cotton, which it offered to pledge its honor should be
used only for Federal prisoners in its hands—refused to exchange
sick and wounded—and neglected from August to December, 1864,
to accede to Judge Ould's proposition to send transportation to
Savannah and receive without equivalent from ten to fifteen thousand
Federal prisoners, notwithstanding the fact that this offer was ac-
companied with a statement of the utter inability of the Confede-
racy to provide for these prisoners, and a detailed report of the
monthly mortality at Andersonville, and that Judge Ould, again
and again, urged compliance with his humane proposal.
5. We have proven, by the most unimpeachable testimony, that
the sufferings of Confederate prisoners, in Northern "prison pens,"
were terrible beyond description—that they were starved in a land
of plenty—that they were frozen where fuel and clothing were
abundant—that they suffered untold horrors for want of medicines,
hospital stores and proper medical attention—that they were shot
by sentinels, beaten by officers, and subjected to the most cruel
punishments upon the slightest pretexts—that friends at the North
were refused the privilege of clothing their nakedness or feeding
Treatment of Prisoners During the War.
327
them when starving—and that these outrages were perpetrated not
only with the full knowledge of, but under the orders of E. M.
Stanton, U. S. Secretary of War. We have proven these things
by Federal as well as Confederate testimony.
6. We have shown that all the suffering of prisoners on both
sides could have been avoided by simply carrying out the terms
of the cartel, and that for the failure to do this the Federal authori-
ties alone were responsible; that the Confederate Government
originally proposed the cartel, and were always ready to carry it
out in both letter and spirit; that the Federal authorities observed
its terms only so long as it was to their interest to do so, and then
repudiated their plighted faith, and proposed other terms, which
were greatly to the disadvantage of the Confederates; that when
the Government at Richmond agreed to accept the hard terms of
exchange offered them, these were at once repudiated by the
Federal authorities; that when Judge Ould agreed upon a new
cartel with General Butler, Lieutenant-General Grant refused to
approve it, and Mr. Stanton repudiated it; and that the policy of
the Federal Government was to refuse all exchanges, while they
"fired the Northern heart" by placing the whole blame upon the
■"Rebels," and by circulating the most heartrending stories of
" Rebel barbarity " to prisoners.
If either of the above points has not been made clear to any
sincere seeker after the truth, we would be most happy to produce
further testimony. And we hold ourselves prepared to maintain,
against all comers, the truth of every proposition we have laid down in
this discussion. Let the calm verdict of history decide between the
Confederate Government and their calumniators.
328
Southern Historical Society Papers.
litBtoml paragraphs.
Oub March Number has excited great interest, and has received the
wannest commendation from the press generally throughout the South.
Some of the Northern papers have contained very kindly notices. We have
seen no attempt to refute the points made; and we would esteem it a favor
if our friendswould forward us anything of the kind which they mayobserve.
We have letters from leading Confederates warmly endorsing our array of
documents and facts, and have reason to feel that in defending the Confede-
rate Government from the charge of systematic cruelty to prisoners, we have
rendered a service highly appreciated by our Southern people.
Our Subscription List is steadily increasing; but we can find room for
other names, and beg our friends to help us swell the number of our
readers.
Valuable Contributions to our archives are constantly coming in. A
patriotic lady of this city (Mrs. Catharine P. Graham) has recently presented
us with war files of several Richmond papers. She refused to sell them for
a large price, and insisted on giving them to our Society.
John McRae, Esq., of Camden, S. C., has placed us under the highest
obligations by presenting the following newspaper files :
Charleston Courier from May 1856 to February 1.865.
Richmond Dispatch from April 1861 to April 1864.
Charleston Mercury from July 1859 to February 1865 and from Novem-
ber 1866 to November 1868.
Columbia Daily Carolinian from 1855 to October 1864.
Charleston Daily News and " News and Courier" from June 1866 to
this date.
Camden Journal from January 1856 to this date.
Southern Presbyterian from June 1858 to this date.
And Dr. J. Dickson Bruns, of New Orleans, has sent us a bound volume
of the Charleston Mercury for 1862.
We have received recently other valuable contributions, which we have
not space even to mention.
Our present number has been delayed by causes over which we have
had no control; but we think that we can promise that hereafter our Papers
will appear promptly near the latter part of each month.
Editorial Paragraphs.
329
A Confederate Roster has been a desideratum exceedingly difficult to
supply. The capture, or destruction, of so large a part of our records has
rendered a compilation of a full and correct Roster a work of almost insuper-
able difficulty. We are happy to announce, however, that Colonel Charles
C. Jones, Jr., of New York (formerly of Savannah), who has been for some
ten years patiently at work on such a Roster, has brought his labors to a
conclusion, and has generously placed his MSS. at the disposal of the Society.
It shows the marks of patient and laborious investigation, and (so' far as we
are able to judge) is much more accurate and complete than could have been
expected. We propose to begin its publication in our next number, and to
have it stereotyped, and so arranged that it can be bound, wheu completed,
into a neat volume, which will be a most valuable addition to our War
History.
We desire that each and all of our readers should keep before them the
fact that there is an Association incorporated by the State of Virginia, whose
trust it is to obtain funds for a monument to be erected at Richmond in
memory of General Robert E. Lee. We will not offend good taste by offer-
ing a word in commendation of this effort to do honor to the great captain;
we the rather assume that every reader of these Papers will gladly and
promptly forward a liberal contribution to the Treasurer at Richmond. The
Association is administered by a Board of Managers composed of the Gov-
ernor of Virginia, the Auditor and the Treasurer. The Hon. R. M. T.
Hanter is the treasurer, and Col. S. Bassett French is the secretary of the
Board. Address, Richmond, Va.
The " Lee Memorial Association," with headquarters at Lexington,
Va., has been quietly working for its simple object, which is to decorate the
tomb of Lee. Having secured Valentine's splendid recumbent figure of Lee—
which is, beyond all question, one of the most superb works of art on the con-
tinent—they are now raising funds with which to build the Mausoleum which
is to contain it. Surely the admirers of our great chieftain ought to supply
at once the means necessary for this noble object. Send contributions to the
Treasurer, C. M. Figgatt, Lexington, Virginia.
, Book Notices.
Cooke's Life of General R. E. Lee. D. Appleton & Co., New York.
This book was published in 1871, and has been so long before the public
that it need now receive no extended review at our hands. Colonel Cooke
wields a facile pen, and his books are always entertaining. There are errors
in the strictly Military part of this biography which a more rigid study of the
official reports would have avoided; but the account given of General Lee's
private character and domestic life is exceedingly pleasing and very valuable.
We are glad to note that an (unintentional) injustice done to the gallant
General Edward Johnson, in the account of the battle of Spotsylvania Court-
330 Southern Historical Society Papers.
I
house, which appeared in a previous edition, has been corrected in the edition
before us.
A Military Biography of Stonewall Jackson. By Colonel John Esten Cooke.
With an appendix (containing an account of the Inauguration of Foley's
statue), by Rev. J. Wm. Jones. D. Appleton & Co., New York.
Cooke's Life of Jackson was originally published during the war, and was
rewritten, and republished in 1866. The enterprising publishers have brought
out a new edition with an Appendix adde\ which contains a full account
•of the Inauguration of Foley's statue, inc' ling the eloquent address of
Governor Kemper, and the noble oration or Rev. Dr. Moses D. Hoge. The
book is gotten up in the highest style of the printer's art, the engravings add
to its attractiveness, and we hear it is meeting with a large sale.
It is to be regretted that the publishers lid not give Colonel Cooke the
opportunity of revising and correcting his work, for while the book is very
readable, and gives some exceedingly vivid pictures of old Stonewall on his
rawbone sorrel, there are important errors in the narrative which ought by
all means to be corrected.
Personal Reminiscences. Anecdotes and Letters of General R. E. Lee. By
Rev. J. Wm. Jones, D. D. D. Appleton & Co., New York.
We cannot, of course, give an unbiased judgment of this book. But we
may say this, that the letters of General Lee, which the author was so fortu-
nate as to secure, are among the most c. rming specimens of letter-writing
in all the wide range of Literature, and rat the view of his private, domes-
tic, and Christian character thus given p esents him to the world as one of
the noblest specimens of a man with who- God ever blessed the earth. And
so large a part of the book is made up ,.t these private letters, and of the
contributions of others, that even we may say, without impropriety, that we
would be glad to see the book widely circulated—more especially as a part
of every copy sold goes into the treasury of the " Lee Memorial Association"
at Lexington.
We may add that the steel engravings of General Lee and Mrs. Lee iu
this book are the best likenesses of them we have ever seen, and that the
publishers have gotten up the volume in superb style.
General Joseph E. Johnston's Narrative. D. Appleton & Co., 2Tew York.
General Johnston wields one of the most graceful, trenchant pens of any
man who figured in the late war, and whatever difference of opinion may
honestly exist concerning controverted points upon which h<e touches, all
will desire to read this really able narrative, and to place it among the com-
paratively few books which one cares to preserve for future reference and
study. As it has been intimated that General Johnston is now preparing a
revised and enlarged edition, in which he replies to criticisms which have
been made upon his Narrative, we shall look forward with interest to its
appearance.
Other Book Notices are crowded out, and will be given hereafter.
....... ,•(,. . . ( ,v.'■•!« •:>•* ' ■Jill'- • ll'I M ./
••,.1 - I' . •)'. I . •> i.' i
• . - ..«!•- ' .»
. -Mla/i I 1.11,.,.,. .I-,.,' I i| I. •••
• • • v-H.lli, I.I. I I
n.iti • • ■
, ,,*■ *•>,