V- sy^ 1 %. ^ 'o $ ^ \V $ ^ /, C- \' . ' / *b < ^ df X ^. ^ f* ^ *** ^- ', r -- V**' V * • ' s*. • . ■i J at, April IStb, 1864.— West's Building Hospital, Baltimore. Mi. 3o CONDITION OF RELEASED PRISONERS. 45 WRETCHED CONDITION OF UNION PRISONERS, RELEASED FROM RICHMOND. The following is a simple statement of facts from a gentleman of undoubted veracity : — The flag-of-truce boat New York arrived at the Naval School wharf, Annapolis, Maryland, this morning, Octo- ber 30th, 1863, from City Point, with one hundred and eighty-one paroled men. Eight of the men died on the boat, on its way hither. They had literally been starved to death. Never, in the whole course of my life, have I witnessed such a scene as these men presented. They were living skeletons ; every man of them had to be sent to the hospitals, and the surgeon's opinion of them is, that more than one-third of them must die. They are beyond the reach of medicine. I questioned several of them, and all stated that their condition has been brought on by the treatment which they have received at the hands of the rebels. They have been kept without food, and exposed, a large por- tion of the time, without shelter of any kind. To look at the attenuated and squalid condition of these poor men, and listen to their tales of woe and agony, as to how they have been treated, one would not suppose they had fallen into the hands of Southern Chivalry ! but rather into the hands of savage barbarians, destitute of all humanity or feeling. The following is a letter addressed to the editor of the Daily Chronicle, of AYashington, by Rev. E. W. II utter, Pastor of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, New Street, Philadelphia, in regard to the prisoners referred to in the above. 46 CONDITION OF RELEASED PRISONERS. Annapolis, Maryland, December 1st, 1863. Dear Sir: Although the statements respecting the extreme wretchedness of the Union prisoners returned from Eichmond, seemed to me to be so well authenti- cated as to preclude all possibility of doubt or mistake, I yet resolved to satisfy myself of their truthfulness, or otherwise, by actual personal observation. To this step I was prompted by no desire to gratify a mere idle curiosity, but to render to those poor men, if possible, all the good that might be in my power. " He that knoweth to do good," says St. James, "and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Nor are we, in our ministrations of mercy, to wait until occasions for their exercise present themselves at our doors, but, in imitation of our blessed Eedeemer, we are to seek them out. Actuated by motives such as these, I paid a visit to the Government Hospitals at Annapolis, and proceed to furnish you with a statement of the condition of the prisoners recently returned from Eichmond. In my visit there, I was most kindly assisted by Eev. H. C. Henries, the laborious and self-denying chaplain in charge of that place. Be assured, it is not possible to exaggerate the scenes there presented; they defy the descriptive powers of language. The pictorial repre- sentation in Harper's Weekly, so far from being an exaggeration, affords but a very inadequate view of these scenes of wretchedness. In my pastoral experience, I have stood at the bed-side of many dying sufferers — often have I &een the human frame painfully reduced by the ravages of consumption — but never before have my sensibilities been so shocked as at Annapolis. To look upon men who, a short time since, were robust and stal- wart men, not brutes — immortal men, created by a com- CONDITION OF RELEASED PRISONERS. 47 mon Father, and redeemed by a common Lord — to see such reduced to wasted and bony skeletons, by withhold' ing from them the " daily bread," for the production of which the Lord of heaven and earth sends his genial sunshine and his refreshing rains — Oh! this was a scene which, in this land of plenty, enriched by the superabundant goodness of God, I never expected to witness. Such scenes I did witness only to-day, in the hospitals at this place — men, from emaciated bodies, breathing out their spirits into the hands of God, whose death has been literally wrought by the murderous pro- cess of starvation. An unspeakable satisfaction to me was it, to be permitted, in company with the beloved Chaplain, to point a number of such dying starvelings to "the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world." In every instance, when it was in the power of these poor men to speak, the last lingering accents or their lips consisted of petitions to Christ for the rerni? sion of their sins, and in the supplication of blessings from the Almighty Ruler of the world on their beloved country. Yery few of these men, after their arrival here, have been able to articulate; they could only signify their wishes by looks and signs. From the few who were able to speak, it is a noteworthy fact, that I did not hear a solitary murmur of complaint that they had en- listed in the service of their country, or that, by the mysteriousness of Providence, they had been doomed, for such a cause, to die even so ghastly and horrible a death. Like the Apostles of our Lord, these heroic men seem content, in the prosecution of their noble work, to endure even worse things than a baptism of blood and a martyr- dom of fire — even a horror not confronted by the Apos- tles themselves, viz., Starvation. In my intercourse with these famishing victims of 48 CONDITION OF RELEASED PRISONERS. Southern barbarity, I was exceedingly anxious to learn their own impressions as to the causes that underlie the action of the Rebel Government toward themselves, — whether the treatment they had received at Richmond was voluntary or compulsory. If the former, it would, of course, be the fault of their enemies ; if the latter, their misfortune. With one accord, the answer was, that their dreadful condition was mostly voluntary, the result of a system of wanton and deliberate cruelty. The Rich- mond conspirators, our prisoners admit, are in straits, and have it not in their power to bestow upon them even a tolerable degree of care and attention ; but their con- dition is not so desperate, that they might not, if they wished, afford them at least as much daily food as would serve to sustain life. Their own destitution the rebels seize upon, not as a real and truthful justification of their inhumanity, but as a pretext ; and this they do, not in sorrow, but in the intense maliciousness of diabolism itself. They gloat over it, that, for the display of their fiendish cruelty, they have an argument plausible enough to quit themselves in their own wicked foregone con- clusions, however transparent its flimsiness to all the world beside. I stood at the bedside of a dying youth, from Tennessee ; I kneeled at his bedside in prayer ; he claimed to have made his peace with God, through faith in Jesus Christ. In the very article and hour of death, when all purposes are honest, and all secrets are revealed, I asked him : Do you think, my young brother, that the men in Richmond have starved you to death from choice, or were they driven to it from necessity ? His answer was, " God forgive them, they might have done better if they wished." The utterance of another was, " I know they could have given us more food than they did, from the amount they gave to the guards ; but they wished us CONDITION OF RELEASED PRISONERS. 49 to starve." One of their leading men said to me, " Libby Prison and Belle Island are our best generals — they are killing off more men than Bragg and Lee!" One other fact I learned most discreditable to the rebel authorities. Bell Island is a contracted patch of ground, consisting of only three or four acres, on which thousands of prisoners are crowded, with scarcely a foot of intervening space. The water they are compelled to drink is in close proximity to the sinks, and necessarily polluted and poisoned. This the prisoners are compelled to drink, in very sight of clear and wholesome water, which is running in perennial streams before their eyes. Their hardships are thus purposely aggravated, and under them, an iron constitution melts away as frost before a summer's sun. This, indeed, is the very refine- ment of cruelty. From another of the dying men, I learned the aston- ishing fact, that since the incarceration of our poor pri- soners at Eichmond, in no solitary instance has a woman appeared in their midst to minister even to our wounded and dying. From the "gentler sex," ordinarily so noted for the finer and better sensibilities of human nature, not one of our prisoners has received as much as a " cup of cold water" — nothing but insults and reproaches. How strikingly this contrasts with the kindness lavished by the ladies of the North on the suffering rebels whom the " accidents" of war have thrown into our hands ! After the battle of Gettysburg, numbers of ladies from Phila- delphia and elsewhere hastened to the scene, and dis tributed stores, to the amount of thousands, indiscrimi- nately — between the parties they made no distinction. Had they been monsters in human shape, they might then have suffered thousands of rebels to die of neglect ; but it sufficed for them to know, that although engaged 5 50 CONDITION OF RELEASED PRISONERS. in a gigantic iniquity — such as has not been paralleled in the annals of crime since the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary — these misguided men were nevertheless of a race of our universal manhood, redeemed by the blood of Christ. This consideration alone sufficed to secure them a passport to the enlarged sympathies and the most generous and substantial aid of our Christian ladies. This, as thousands can and do attest, was spontaneously rendered, ''without respect of persons," in no pharisaical spirit, but in that of unsophisticated truth and soberness. May we, who espouse the cause of the Union, thank God that such cruelty and inhumanity as are now under re view may not be charged to us ! To the conduct of the rebel conspirators it adds mon- strous aggravation, that these barbarities are being en- acted in Eichmond, under the immediate cognisance of the so-called " Confederate" authorities Had they ever occurred in the wilds of Arkansas or Texas, or among the Sioux savages on the Pembina, they might challenge some degree of palliation; but, when we call to mind that the voluntary starvation of defenceless men is occur- ring at Eichmond, within the sound of the voices of Jefferson Davis, Judah P. Benjamin, and their associates in crime, then does the bogus Confederacy itself become responsible for these atrocities to God and man ; and im- partial men, all the world over, who use all efforts to bewilder the human mind, by leading it into a mazy labyrinth of doubt, will reach the inevitable conclusion, that these men deserve the scorn of the civilized world, not to speak of the just vengeance of Heaven. Surely, surely, the vengeance of an incensed Omnipotence must ultimately overtake them ! Yery truly, your friend, E. W. HUTTER, Pastor of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, Phil'a. Private L. If. PARHAM, Company B, 3d "West Tennessee Cavalry. Admitted per Steamer New York, from Richmond, Va., May 2d, 1S64. I ied May K'th, 1864, from effects of treatment while in the hands of the enemy. — U. P. General Hospital, Div. No. 1, Annapolis, Me*. M CONDITION OF RELEASED PRISONERS. 51 RELEASED PRISONERS. Report of the Committee on the Conduct of the War on the condition of our released prisoners, after their confinement in the dens, and prisons, and unsheltered fields, at and near Richmond : — In Senate, Wednesday, May 9, 1864. Mr. Wade, from the Joint Committee on the Conduct and Expenditures of the War, submitted the following Report, with the accompanying testimony : — - On the 4th instant your committee received a commu- nication of that date from the Secretary of War, en- closing the Report of Colonel Hoffman, commissary- general of prisoners, elated May 3, calling the attention of the committee to the condition of returned Union prisoners, with the request that the committee would immediately proceed to Annapolis, "and examine with their own eyes the condition of those who have returned from rebel captivity." The committee resolved that they would comply with the request of the Secretary of War on the first opportunity. The 5th of May was devoted by the committee to conclude their labors upon the in- vestigation of the Fort Pillow massacre. On the 6th of May, however, the committee proceeded to Annapolis and Baltimore, to examine the condition of our returned soldiers, and took the testimony of several of them, to- gether with the testimony of surgeons, and other persons in attendance upon the hospitals. That testimony, with the communication of the Secretary of War, and the Report of Colonel Hoffman, is herewith submitted. The evidence proves, beyond all manner of doubt, a determination on the part of the rebel authorities, delibe- 52 CONDITION OF RELEASED PRISONERS. rately and persistently practised for a long time past, to subject those of our soldiers who have been so unfortu- nate 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 condi- tion, both physically and mentally, which no language we can use can adequately describe. Though nearly all the patients now in the Naval Academy Hospital, at An napolis, and in the West Hospital, at Baltimore, have been under the kindest and most intelligent treatment for about three weeks past, and many of them for a greater length of time, still they present literally the appearance of living skeletons — many of them being nothing but skin and bone. Some of them are maimed for life, from being exposed to the inclemency of the winter season on Belle Isle — being compelled to lie upon the bare ground, without tents or blankets — some of them without overcoats, or even coats — with but little fire to mitigate the severity of the wind and storms to which they were exposed. The testimony shows that the general practice of their captors was to rob them, as soon as they were taken pri soners, of all their money, valuables, blankets, and good clothing, for which they received nothing in exchange, except, perhaps, some old worn-out rebel clothing, hardly better than none at all. Upon their arrival at Eichmond they have been confined, without blankets or other cov- ering, in buildings without fire, or upon Belle Isle, in many cases with no shelter, and in others with nothing but discarded army tents, so injured by rents and holes as to present but little barrier to the winds and storms. On several occasions the witnesses say they have risen in the morning from their resting-places upon the bare earth, and found several of their comrades frozen to CONDITION OF RELEASED PRISONERS. 53 death through the night ; and that many others would have met the same fate had they not walked rapidly back and forth through the hours which should have been de- voted to sleep, for the purpose of retaining sufficient warmth to preserve life. In respect to the food furnished to our men by the rebel authorities; the testimony proves that the ration of each man was hardly sufficient in quantity to preserve the life of a child, even had it been of proper quality, which it was not. It consisted usually, at the most, of two small pieces of corn bread, made in many instances, as the witnesses say, of corn and cobs ground together, and badly prepared and cooked; of perhaps two ounces of meat, usually of poor quality, and unfit to be eaten ; and occasionally a few black, worm-eaten beans, or something of that kind. Many of our men were compelled to sell to their guards and others, for what price they could get, such clothing and blankets as they were permitted to receive and have furnished for their use by our Government, in order to obtain suffi- cient food to sustain life ; thus, by endeavoring to avoid one privation, reducing themselves to the same destitute condition, in respect .to clothing and covering, as they were in before they received any from our Government. When they became diseased and sick, in consequence of this exposure and privation, and were admitted into the hospital, their treatment was little if any improved as to food, though they doubtless suffered less from exposure to cold than before. Their food still remained insuffi- cient in quantity, and altogether unfit in quality. Their diseases and wounds did not receive the treatment which the commonest dictates of humanity would have prompted. One witness, whom your committee examined, who had lost all the toes of one foot, through being frozen on Belle Isle, states that for days at a time his wounds were 54: CONDITION OF EELEASED PRISONERS. not dressed, and that they had not been dressed for four days when he was taken from the hospital and carried on the flag-of-truce boat for Fortress Monroe. In refer- ence to the condition to which our men were reduced by cold and hunger, your committee would give the follow- ing extracts from the testimony : — One witness testifies — I had no blankets until our uovernment sent us some. Quest. — How did you sleep before you received those blankets ? Ans. — We used to get together just as close as we could, and sleep spoon-fashion, so that when one turned over we all had to turn over. Another witness testifies : — Quest. — Were you hungry all the time ? Ans. — Hungry! I could eat anything in the world that came before us. Some of the boys would get boxes from the North, with meat of differeut kinds in them, and after they had picked the meat off, they would throw the bones away into the spit-boxes, and we would pick the bones out of the spit-boxes, and gnaw them over again ! In addition to this insufficient supply of food, clothing, and shelter, our soldiers, while prisoners, have been sub- jected to the most cruel treatment from those placed over them. They have been abused, and shamefully treated, on almost every opportunity. Many have been merci- lessly shot and killed when they failed to comply with all the demands of their jailors ; sometimes for violating rules of which they had not been informed. Crowded in great numbers in buildings, they have been fired at and killed by the sentinels outside, when they appeared at the windows for the purpose of obtaining a little fresh air. One man, whose comrade in the service and in CONDITION OF RELEASED PRISONERS. 55 captivity had been so fortunate as to be among those released from further torments, was shot dead as he was waving with his hand a last adieu to his friend. Other instances of equally unprovoked murder are disclosed by the testimony. , The condition of our returned soldiers, as regards per- sonal cleanliness, has been filthy almost beyond descrip- tion. Their clothes have been so dirty and covered with vermin, that those who have received these men have been compelled to destroy their clothing, and re-clothe them with new and clean raiment. Their boots and hats have been so infested with vermin that, in some instances, repeated washings have failed to remove them, and those who have received them in charge, have been compelled to cut all the hair from their heads, and make applica- tions to destroy the vermin. Some have been received with no clothing but shirts, and drawers, and pieces of blankets, or other outside covering; entirely destitute of coats, hats, shoes, or stockings; and the bodies of those better supplied with clothing have been equally filthy with the others, many who have been sick and in the hospital having had no opportunity to wash their bodies for weeks and months before they were released from captivity. Your committee are unable to convey any adequate idea of the sad and deplorable condition of the men they saw in the hospitals they visited, and the testimony they have taken cannot convey to the reader the impressions which your committee there received. 'The prisoners we saw, as we were assured by those in charge of them, have greatly improved since they have been received in the hospitals, yet they are now dying daily, one of them being in the very throes of death ; and your committee stood by his bed-side and witnessed the sad spectacle 56 CONDITION OF RELEASED PRISONERS. there presented. All those whom your committee ex- amined, stated that they have been thus reduced and emaciated entirely in consequence of the merciless treat ment they received while prisoners, from their enemies Physicians in charge of them — the men best fitted hy their profession and experience to express an opinion upon the subject — all say that they have no doubt the statements of their patients are entirely correct. It will be observed from the testimony, that all the witnesses who testified upon that point, state that the treatment they received, while confined at Columbia, South Carolina, Dal ton, Georgia, and other places, was far more humane than that they received at Richmond, where the authorities of the so-called Confederacy were congregated, and where the power existed, had the in- clination not been wanting, to reform these abuses, and secure to the prisoners they held, some treatment that would bear a feeble comparison to that accorded by our authorities to the prisoners in our custody. Your com- mittee, therefore, are constrained to say that they can hardly avoid the conclusion expressed by so many of our released soldiers, that the inhuman practices herein referred to, are the result of a determination, on the part of the rebel authorities, to reduce our soldiers in their power by privation of food and clothing, and by ex- posure, to such a condition that those who may survive, shall never recover so as to be able to enter into effective service in the field ; and your committee accordingly ask that this report, with the accompanying testimony, be printed, with the report and testimony in relation to the massacre of Fort Pillow — the one being, in their opinion, no less than the other the result of a predetermined policy. As regards the assertions of some of the rebel newspapers, that our prisoners have received at their Private EDWARD CUNNINGHAM, Company F, 7th Ohio Cavalry, Admitted from Flag-of-truce boat, April 18th, 1864.— West's Building Hospital, Baltimore, Mi. CONDITION OF RELEASED PRISONERS. 57 uands the same treatment that their own soldiers in the field have received, they are evidently but the most glaring and unblushing falsehoods. No one can, for a moment, be deceived by such statements, who will reflect that our soldiers who, when taken prisoners, have been stout, healthy men, in the prime and vigor of life, yet have died by hundreds under the treatment they have received, although required to perform no duties of the camp or the march ; while the rebel soldiers are able to make long and rapid marches, and to offer a stubborn resistance in the field. There is one feature connected with this investigation to which your committee can refer with pride and satis- faction ; that is, the uncomplaining fortitude, the undi- minished patriotism exhibited by our brave men under all their privations — even in the hour of death. Your committee would close their report by quoting the tribute paid these men by the Chaplain of the hospital at Annapolis, who has ministered to so many of them in their last moments, who has smoothed their passage to the grave by his kindness and attention, and who has performed the last sad offices over their lifeless remains. He says : — " There is one thing I should wish to state. All the men, without any exception, among the thousands that have come to this hospital, have never, in a single in- stance, expressed a regret (notwithstanding the priva- tions and sufferings they have endured) that they entered their country's service. They have been the most loyal, devoted, and earnest men. Even in the last day of their lives, they have said that all they hoped for was just to live and enter the ranks again, and meet their foes. It is a most glorious record in reference to the devotion of our men to their country. I do not think their patriot- ism has ever been equalled in the history of the world." 58 PRISONERS TAKEN AT CHICKAMAUGA. TREATMENT OF PRISONERS CAPTURED AT THE BATTLE OF CHICKAMAUGA DIARY OF A SOLDIER. Steward's Hospital, September 20th, 1863. At nine o'clock this morning, I was wounded and captured by the rebels ; was hurried to the rear as fast as possible, with quite a number of our wounded. We were taken to the Steward's Hospital, some three miles from the battle-field ; were put out upon the ground, with no shelter whatever, and a great many of us had no blankets. There were some eighty of our wounded at this place. Dr. Hamilton (rebel) came round and ex- amined our wounds. Some of the worst cases were washed, and partially dressed. Toward evening, all that were able were marched off — Captain Mc Williams and Lieutenant Cole, of the Fifty-first Illinois Infantry, were among them ; about sundown we were forced to believe our troops were falling back. The rebels are jubilant ; they say they have captured half of Kosecrans's army. September 21st. — To-day the rebels have been so jubi- lant on what they term the " Yankee rout," that they have taken no notice whatever of the men lying welter- ing in their blood, suffering beyond description. September 22d. — To-day we had a man die. Dr. Story (rebel) has been put in charge of all the Yankee wounded. He appears to be a gentleman, but as yet there has been nothing done for the wounded, who are suffering in- tensely. September 23d. — To-day the doctors dressed most of the wounds. Many of the men have shattered limbs, and* are suffering beyond description. We have had nothing to eat since we came here. PRISONERS TAKEN AT CHICKAMAUGA. 59 September 24th. — Two of our men died to-day. They had shattered limbs, and the worms had got into their wounds. Had they had proper attention they probably could have been saved. September 25th. — The rebels say they have driven Rosecrans over the river, also Burnside out of East Ten- nessee. The doctors are having a spree over it — no attention has been paid us to-day; there are two or three hundred rebel wounded here that have to be at- tended to first. One man died to-day. September 26th. — To-day we drew the first rations we have had since we came — a ration consisting of half a pint of corn meal and two ounces of beef, a miserable pittance for a hungry man. No doctor has been near to- day. Some of the men are suffering intensely ; the rebels don't seem to care how many of us die. Heavy firing heard in the direction of Chattanooga. September 27th. — We lost one man by death to-day. Two of the boys have had limbs amputated — both will probably die. The boys are suffering a great deal from their wounds ; mortification has taken place in many in- stances, while some have worms in their wounds. Many are very sick ; no medicine to be had. September 28th. — We lost two by death to-day ; arte- ries burst, surgeons absent — bled to death ! We have nothing to eat to-day. I believe they mean to starve us to death. It is a pitiful sight to see the haggard coun- tenances of the men. To-day they have sent two hun- dred rebel wounded to the hospitals. September 29th. — Dr. Hamilton told us, this morning, that arrangements have been made to send all through our lines. We drew rations to-day. September 30th. — To-day our boys are trading their pocket-knives and everything they can for rations. 60 PRISONERS TAKEN AT CHICKAMAUGA. There is scarcely five dollars among us. The miserable thieves robbed us of everything we had. To-day has been a day of intense suffering among our men. It has rained all day, and we have no shelter. October 1st. — It rained all last night ; we look like a set of drowned rats. Some of the boys are very sick ; many must die with such treatment. The sergeant of the guard procured a tent for eight of us. Dr. Story does all he can for us. We drew our pittance of corn meal to-day. October 2d. — "We expect to leave here to-day. I sin- cerely hope we will ; I long to be in God's country once more, and behold the good old flag again. The lice and filth here are intolerable. October 3d. — No signs of leaving yet. Dr. Story is doing his best to make us comfortable, but we have no bandages with which to dress our wounds. Two deaths to-day. October 4th. — To-day is very cold ; we have no blan- kets, hence there is a great deal of suffering from cold. Our rations have run out, and taking all things into con- sideration it would be hard to embitter our condition. October oth. — Heavy cannonading has been going on in the front all day. The Eebels say they are shelling Chattanooga. We learned to-day that the armistice was over, and that we would have to take a trip to Rich- mond ; the trip will doubtless kill quite a number of us. We got our mush to-day. Intense suffering from cold nights. October 6th. — We expected to leave here to-day for Atlanta, but for some reason the ambulances have not come. All we have to eat is mush, with little or no salt in it. Many are suffering from diarrhoea. October 7th. — To-day we drew rations of flour. Cap- PRISONERS TAKEN AT CHICKAMAUGA. 61 tain Foster, Forty-second Illinois, is baking bread. One of our men died to-day. We have lost fourteen by death since we came here. October 8th. — At nine A. M., this morning, we were stowed in lumber- wagons and hauled to Einggold, a dis- tance of eight miles, over the roughest road I ever travelled ; many of the men were so sick that they could not raise their heads. October 9th. — Last night they put one hundred and eighty of us into box-cars and brought us to Dalton, where we stopped for the night. We had to sleep in the cars ; and they gave us no supper. The night was very cold ; it was heart-rending to witness the suffering among the sick and wounded. This morning, we left for Dalton without breakfast, and arrived at Atlanta, Georgia, at six A. M. We were then taken to a military prison, where we now lie upon the ground, with no shelter and no fires. Our wounds have not been dressed for three days. The stench is awful. October 10th. — We are under the charge of our own doctors here, but the rebels won't furnish bandages to dress the wounds. I never suffered so from hunger in all my life. They have been promising us rations all day, and now they tell us it will be here early in the morning. The boys are selling their rings and every- thing they have for something to eat. October 11th. — We are a little more comfortable to- day; the surgeons have amputated several limbs, and dressed all the wounds. One man died this morning. On the 7th instant, one of our men was shot by the guard for going too near the fence. One of our officers is here, carrying around a thirty-two pound ball and chain. Several of the men are handcuffed. October 12th. — Two men died last night; the wounded 6 62 PRISONERS TAKEN AT CHICKAMAUGA. are doing pretty well under treatment of our surgeons. We get a little better rations, but not enough. Later — ■ All the wounded that were able, were taken out of prison and put in tents. Things are much more comfortable here. October 13th. — This morning the names of all those who are able to travel were taken. We start for Eich- mond to-morrow. We drew five days' rations to-night — ten crackers and half a pound of pork to a man. October 14th. — At two A. M. we fell in, marched down to the depot, a distance of one mile ; many of us had to go on crutches. There were over two hundred of us, and we were put into five box-cars. Only those who have experienced it know how we suffered on the train ; for eight days we were jammed up in these cars. One of our number died, and we had to leave several at hos- pitals on the road. Our five days' rations lasted only two, and those who had no money had to share with the rest. Bread was a dollar a loaf, and pies sold as high as two dollars. The 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th ; 19th, and 20th were spent in the cars. October 21st. — Arrived at Eichmond, and were put in Libby. Although we found this a miserable hole, it was much better than the filthy, lousy cars. When we got to Libby we were as nearly starved as men can be, and navigate. We drew our rations here, and got our wounds dressed, although no surgeon was there. October 2 2d. — To-day they have stopped our rations for punishment. Four men escaped from Castle Thun- der last night. We got grub from our officers, who are confined above, but we have to be very sly, as they allow no communications to be held between us and them. October 23d. — They still keep our rations from us. The wounded are doing pretty well, but we are all so PRISONERS TAKEN AT CHICKAMAUGA. 63 » dirty and filthy it is a wonder we don't catch some con- tagious disease ; we can get no soap to wash with. October 24th. — This morning all the wounded were taken to the Alabama Hospital, and all those that were not wounded were sent to Belle Isle, to remain there until exchanged or starved to death, the latter the most pro- bable. October 25th. — "We are much more comfortably situ- ated than we were in Libby. We have a very good room, yet we have no blankets, and have to sleep on the floor. There is no medicine even here. October 26th. — Nothing of importance to-day. October 27th. — To-day they took the names of one hundred and eighty- five of the worst wounded to ex- change at nine P. M. We were put in a scow, and started for City Point. October 28th. — We are now on the flag-of-truce boat New York. The stars and stripes float proudly above us, yet it is a sorrowful sight to see the poor boys look like skeletons. I venture not more than ten of our number will weigh one hundred pounds. I fear quite a number of the boys will die ; they are beyond medical skill. October 29th. — I feel like a white man, now, the first time since I was captured. We are now in St. John's College Hospital. Each one of us had to take a good scrub, and were put into a clean shirt, after which the most welcome of all things came — a beautiful roast. I trust our troubles are ended for a season. 64 THE FOET PILLOW MASSACRE. THE FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR. Messrs. Wade and Gooch, the sub-committee ap- pointed by the Joint Committee on the Conduct and Ex- penditures of the War, with instructions to proceed to such points as they might deem necessary for the purpose of taking testimony in regard to the massacre at Fort Pillow, submitted the following report to the joint com- mittee, together with the accompanying testimony and papers. In obedience to the instructions of this joint com- mittee, adopted on the 18th ultimo, your committee left Washington on the morning of the 19th, taking with them the stenographer of this committee, and proceeded to Cairo and Mound City, Illinois, Columbus, Kentucky, and Fort Pillow and Memphis, Tennessee, at each of which places they proceeded to take testimony. Although your committee were instructed to inquire only in reference to the attack, capture, and massacre of Fort Pillow, they have deemed it proper to take some testimony in reference to the operations of Forrest and his command, immediately preceding and subsequent to that horrible transaction. It will appear from the testi- mony thus taken, that the atrocities committed at Fort Pillow were not the result of passions excited by the heat of conflict, but were results of a policy deliberately decided upon, and unhesitatingly announced. Even if the uncertainty of the fate of those officers and men, belonging to colored regiments, who have heretofore been taken prisoners by the rebels, has failed to convince the authorities of our Government of this fact, the testi FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. 65 mony herewith submitted must convince even the most sceptical that it is the intention of the rebel authorities not to recognise the officers and men of our colored regiments, as entitled to the treatment accorded by all civilized nations to prisoners of*war. The declarations of Forrest and his officers, both before and after the cap- ture of Fort Pillow, as testified to by such of our men as have escaped after being taken by him ; the threats con- tained in the various demands for surrender made at Paducah, Columbus, and other places; the renewal of the massacre the morning after the capture of Fort Pillow ; the statements made by the rebel officers to the officers of our gunboats, who received the few survivors at Fort Pillow — all this proves most conclusively the policy they have determined to adopt. The first operation of any importance was the attack apon Union City, Tennessee, by a portion of Forrest's command. The attack was made on the 24th of March. The post was occupied by a force of about five hundred men, under Colonel Hawkins, of the Seventh Tennessee Union Cavalry. The attacking force was superior in numbers, but was repulsed several times by our own forces. For the particulars of the attack, and the cir- cumstances attending the surrender, your committee would refer to the testimony submitted. They would state, however, that it would appear from the testimony that the surrender was opposed by nearly if not quite all the officers of Colonel Hawkins's command. Your com- mittee think that the circumstances connected with the surrender are such that they demand the most searching investigation by the military authorities, as, at the time of the surrender, but one man on our side had been injured. On the 25th of March, the enemy, under the rebel 6* 66 FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. Generals Forrest, Buford, Harris, and Thompson, esti- mated at over six thousand men, made an attack on Paducah, Kentucky, which post was occupied by Colonel S. G. Hicks, Fortieth Illinois Kegiment, with six hun- dred and fifty-five men. Our forces retired into Fort Anderson, and there made their stand, assisted by some gunboats belonging to the command of Captain Shirk, of the navy, successfully repelling the attacks of the enemy. Failing to make any impression upon our forces, Forrest then demanded an unconditional surrender, closing his communication to Colonel Hicks in these words : " If you surrender you shall be treated as prison- ers of war. But if I have to storm youi works you may expect no quarter." This demand and threat was met by a refusal. on the part of Colonel Hicks to surrender, he stating that he had been placed there by his Govern- ment to defend that post, and he should do so. The rebels made three other assaults that same day, but were repulsed with heavy loss each time ; the rebel General Thompson being killed in the last assault. The enemy retired next day, having suffered a loss estimated at three hundred killed, and from one thousand to twelve hundred wounded. The loss on our side was fourteen killed and forty- six wounded. The operations of the enemy at Paducah were charac- terized by the same bad faith and treachery that seems to have become the settled policy of Forrest and his command. The flag of truce was taken advantage of there, as elsewhere, to secure desirable positions which the rebels were unable to obtain by fair and honorable means ; and also to afford opportunities for plundering private stores as well as Government property. At Pa- ducah the rebels were guilty of acts more cowardly, if possible, than any they have practised elsewhere. When FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. 67 the attack was made, the officers of the fort and of the gunboats advised the women and children to go to the river, for the purpose of being taken across out of dan- ger. As they were leaving the town for that purpose the rebel sharpshooters mingled with them, and, shielded by their presence, advanced and fired upon the gunboats, wounding some of our officers and men. Our forces could not return the fire without endangering the lives of the women and children. The rebels also placed wo- men in front of their lines as they moved on the fort, or were proceeding to take positions, while the flag of truce was at the fort in order to compel our men to withhold their fire, out of regard for the lives of the women, who were made use of in this most cowardly manner. For more full details of the attack, and the treacherous and cowardly practices of the rebels there, your committee refer to the testimony herewith submitted. On the 13 th of April, the day after the capture of Fort Pillow, the rebel General Buford appeared before Columbus, Kentucky, and demanded its unconditional surrender. He coupled with that demand a threat that if the place was not surrendered, and he should be com- pelled to attack it, " no quarter whatever should be shown to negro troops." To this Colonel Lawrence, in command of the fort, replied that " surrender was out of the ques- tion, as he had been placed there by his Government to hold and defend the place, and should do so." No attack was made, but the enemy retired, having taken advan- tage of the flag of truce to take some horses of Union citizens, which had been brought in there for security. It was at Fort Pillow, however, that the brutality and cruelty of the rebels were most fearfully exhibited. The garrison there, according to the last returns received at head-quarters, amounted to nineteen officers and five 68 FOKT PILLOW MASSACRE. hundred and thirty-eight enlisted men, of whom two hundred and sixty-two men were colored troops, com- prising one battalion of the Sixth United States Heavy Artillery (formerly the First Alabama Artillery) of colored troops, under command of Major W. J. Booth; one section of the Second United States Light Artillery, colored, and one battalion of the Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry, white, commanded by Major W. F. Bradford. Major Booth was the ranking officer, and was in com- mand of the fort. On Monday, the 12th of April, the anniversary of the attack on Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, the pickets of the garrison were driven in just before sunrise, that being the first intimation our forces then had of any intention on the part of the enemy to attack that place. Fighting soon became general, and, about nine o'clock, Major Booth was killed. Major Bradford succeeded to the command, and withdrew all the forces within the fort. They had previously occupied some intrenchments at some distance from the fort, and further from the river. This fort was situated on a high bluff, which descended precipitately to the river's edge, the ridge of the bluff on the river side being covered with trees, bushes, and fallen timber. Extending back from the river on either side of the fort was a ravine or hollow, the one below the fort containing several private stores and some dwell- ings, constituting what was called the town. At the mouth of that ravine, and on the river bank, were some Government buildings containing commissary stores The ravine above the fort was known as Cold Creek Eavine, the ridge being covered with trees and bushes. To the right, or below, and a little to the front of the fort was a level piece of ground, not quite so elevated as the fori itself, on which had been erected some log huts, FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. 69 or shanties, which were occupied by the white troops, and also used for hospital and other purposes. Within the fort tents had been erected with board floors, for the use of the colored troops. There were six pieces of ar- tillery in the fort, consisting of two six-pounders, two twelve-pounder howitzers, and two ten-pounder Parrots. The rebels continued their attack, but up to two or three o'clock in the afternoon they had not gained any decisive success. Our troops, both white and black, fought most bravely, and were in good spirits. The gunboat No. 7, New Era, Captain Marshall, took part in the conflict, shelling the enemy as opportunity offered. Signals had been agreed upon, by which the officers in the fort could indicate where the guns of the fort could be most effective. There being but one gunboat there, no permanent impression appears to have been produced upon the enemy ; for as they were shelled out of one ravine they would make their appearance in the other. They would thus appear and retire as the gunboat moved from one point to the other. About one o'clock the fire on both sides slackened somewhat, and the gunboat moved out in the river to clean and cool the guns, having fired two hundred and eighty -two rounds of shell, shrap- nel, and cannister, which nearly exhausted the supply of ammunition. The rebels, having thus far failed in their attack, now resorted to their customary flags of truce. The first flag of truce conveyed a demand from Forrest for the uncon- ditional surrender of the fort. To this Major Bradford replied, asking to be allowed one hour to consult with his officers and the officers of the gunboat. In a. short time a second flag of truce appeared, with a communica- tion from Forrest, that he would allow Major Bradford twenty minutes in which to move his troops out of the 70 FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. fort ; and if it was not done within that time an assault would be ordered. To this, Major Bradford returned the reply, that he would not surrender. During the time these flags of truce were flying, the rebels were moving down the ravines and taking po- sitions from which the more readily to charge upon the fort. Parties of them were also engaged in plundering tile government buildings, and commissary and quarter- master's stores, in full view of the gunboat. Captain Marshall states that he refrained from firing upon the rebels, although they were thus violating the flag of truce, for fear that should they finally succeed in captur- ing the fort, they would justify any atrocities they might commit, by saying that they were in retaliation for his firing while the flag of truce was flying. He says, how- ever, that when he saw the rebels coming down the ravine, above the fort, and taking positions there, he got under weigh and stood for the fort — "I determined to use what little ammunition we had left in shelling them out of the ravine." But he did not get up within effective range before the final assault was made. Immediately after the second flag of truce retired, the rebels made a rush from the positions they had so treach- erously gained, and obtained possession of the fort, rais- ing the cry of "No quarter!" But little opportunity was allowed for resistance. Our troops, black and white, threw down their arms, and sought to escape by running down the steep bluff near the fort, and secreting them- selves behind trees and logs, in the bushes, and under the brush — some even jumping into the river, leaving only their heads above the water, as they crouched down under the bank. Then followed a scene of cruelty and murder without parallel in civilized warfare, which needed but the toma- FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. 71 hawk and scalping-knife to exceed the worst atrocities ever committed by savages. The rebels commenced an indiscriminate slaughter, sparing neither age nor sex, white or black, soldier or civilian. The officers and men seemed to vie with each other in the devilish work. Men and women, and even children, wherever found, were deliberately shot down, beaten, and hacked with sabres. Some of the children, not more than ten years old, were forced to stand up and face their murderers while being shot. The sick and wounded were butchered without mercy, the rebels even entering the hospital-building and dragging them out to be shot, or killing them as they lay there unable to offer the least resistance. All over the hillside the work of murder was going on. Numbers of our men were collected together in lines or groups and deliberately shot. Some were shot while in the river, while others on the bank were shot and their bodies kicked into the water, many of them still living, but unable to make any exertions to save themselves from drowning. Some of the rebels stood upon the top of the hill, or a short distance down its side, and called to our soldiers to come up to them — and as they ap- proached, shot them down in cold blood : if their guns or pistols missed fire, forcing them to stand there until they were again prepared to fire. All around were heard cries of " No quarter ! no quarter ! kill the d — d niggers, shoot them down!" All who asked for mercy were answered by the most cruel taunts and sneers. Some were spared for a time, only to be murdered under cir- cumstances of greater cruelty. No cruelty which the most fiendish malignity could devise was omitted by these murderers. One white soldier, who was wounded in one leg so as to be unable to walk, was made to stand up while his tormentors shot 12 FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. liim. Others who were wounded and unable to stand up, were held up and again shot. One negro, who had been ordered by a rebel officer to hold his horse, was killed by him when he remonstrated. Another, a mere child, whom an officer had taken up behind him on his horse, was seen by Chalmers, who at once ordered the officer to put him down and shoot him — which was done. The huts and tents in which many of the wounded had sought shelter were set on fire, both that night and the next morning, while the wounded were still in them — > those only escaping who were able to get themselves out, or who could prevail on others less injured than them- selves to help them out ; and even some of these, thus seeking to escape the flames, were met by these ruffians and brutally shot down, or had their brains beaten out. One man was deliberately fastened down to the floor of a tent, face upwards, by means of nails driven through his clothing and into the boards under him, so that he could not possibly escape, and then the tent set on fire. Another was nailed to the side of a building outside of the fort, and then the building set on fire and burned. The charred remains of five or six bodies were after- wards found, all but one so much disfigured and con- sumed by the flames that they could not be identified ; and the identification of that one is not absolutely certain, although there can hardly be a doubt that it was the body of Lieutenant Akerstoom, Quartermaster of the Thirteenth Virginia Cavalry, and a native Tennesseean. Several witnesses who saw the remains, and who were personally acquainted with him while living, have testified that it is their firm belief that it was his body that was thus treated. These deeds of murder and cruelty closed when night came on only to be renewed the next morning, when the FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. 73 demons carefully sought among the dead, lying about in all directions, for any other wounded yet alive, and those they found were deliberately shot. Scores of the dead and wounded were found there the day of the mas- sacre, by the men from some of our gunboats, who were permitted to go on shore and collect the wounded and* bury the dead. The rebels themselves had made a pre- tence of burying a great many of their victims, but they had merely thrown them, without the least regard to care or decency, into the trenches and ditches about the fort, or the little hollows and ravines on the hillside, covering them but partially with earth. Portions of heads and faces, hands and feet, were found protruding through the earth in every direction ; and even when your com- mittee visited the spot, two weeks afterwards, although parties of men had been sent on shore from time to time to bury the bodies unburied, and rebury the others, and were then engaged in the same work, we found the evi- dences of this murder and cruelty still most painfully. We saw bodies still unburied (at some distance from the fort) of some sick men who had been met fleeing from the hospital, and beaten down and brutally mur- dered, and their bodies left where they had fallen. We could still see the faces, and hands, and feet, of men, white and black, protruding out of the ground, whose graves had not been reached by those engaged in reinter- ring the victims of the massacre ; and although a great deal of rain had fallen within the preceding two weeks, the ground, more especially on the side and at the foot of the bluff where most of the murders had been com- mitted, was still discolored by the blood of our brave but unfortunate men, and the logs and trees showed but too plainly the evidences of the atrocities perpetrated there. 7 74 FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. Many other instances of equally atrocious cruelty might be enumerated, but your committee feel compelled to refrain from giving here more of the heart- sickening details, and refer to the statements contained in the vo- luminous testimony herewith submitted. Those statements were obtained by them from eye- witnesses and sufferers. Many of them, as they were examined by your committee, were lying upon beds of pain and suffering, some so feeble that their lips could with difficulty frame the words by which they endeavored to convey some idea of the cruelties which had been in- flicted on them, and which they had seen inflicted on others. In reference to the fate of Major Bradford, who was in command of the fort when it was captured, and who had up to that time received no injury, there seems to be no doubt. The general understanding seems to be that he had been brutally murdered the day after he was taken prisoner. How many of our troops thus fell victims to the ma- lignity and barbarity of Forrest and his followers cannot yet be definitely ascertained. Two officers belonging to the garrison were absent at the time of the capture and massacre. Of the remaining officers but two are known to be living, and they are wounded now in the hospital at Mound City ; one of them, Captain Porter, may even now be dead, as the surgeons, when your committee were there, expressed no hope of his recovery. Of the men, from three hundred to four hundred are known to have been killed at Fort Pillow, of whom at least three hundred were murdered in cold blood after the fort was in possession of the rebels, and Our men had thrown down their arms, and ceased to offer resistance. Of the survivors, except the wounded in the hospital at Mound FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. 75 City and the few who succeeded in making their escape unhurt, nothing definite is known, and it is to be feared that many have been murdered after being taken away from the fort. When your committee arrived at Memphis, Tennessee, they found and examined a man, Mr. McLagan, who had been conscripted by some of Forrest's forces, but who, with other conscripts, had succeeded in making his escape. He testifies that while two companies of rebel troops, with Major Bradford and many other prisoners, were on the march from Brownsville to Jackson, Tennessee, Major Bradford was taken by five rebels, one an officer, led about fifty yards from the line of march, and delibe- rately murdered, in view of all there assembled. He fell, killed instantly by three musket-balls, even while asking that his life might be spared, as he had fought them manfully, and was deserving of a better fate. The motive for the murder of Major Bradford seems to have been the simple fact that, although a native of the South, he remained loyal to his Government. The testimony herewith submitted contains many statements made by the rebels that they did not intend to treat ''home-made Yankees," as they termed loyal Southerners, " any better than negro troops." There is one circumstance connected with the events herein narrated which your committee cannot permit to pass unnoticed. The testimony herewith submitted dis- closes this most astounding and shameful fact : On the morning of the day succeeding the capture of Fort Pil- low, the gunboat Silver Cloud (No. 28), the transport Platte Valley, and the gunboat New Era (No. 7), landed at Fort Pillow under flag of truce, for the purpose of receiving the few wounded there, and burying the dead. 76 FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. While they were lying there, the rebel General Chal- mers, and other rebel officers, came down to the landing, and some of them went on the boats. Notwithstanding the evidences of rebel atrocity and barbarity with which the ground was covered, there were some of our army officers on board the Platte Valley so lost to every feel- ing of decency, honor, and self-respect, as to make them- selves disgracefully conspicuous in bestowing civilities and attention upon the rebel officers, even while they were boasting of the murders they had there committed. Your committee were unable to ascertain the names of the officers who have thus inflicted so foul a stain upon the honor of our army. They are assured, how- ever, by the military authorities that every effort will be made to ascertain their names, and bring them to the punishment they so richly merit. In relation to the reinforcement or evacuation of Fort Pillow, it would appear that the troops there stationed were withdrawn on the 25th of January last, in order to accompany the Meridian Expedition, under General Sher man. General Hurlbut testifies that he never received any instructions to permanently vacate the post, and deeming it important to occupy it so that the rebels should not interrupt the navigation of the Mississippi by planting artillery there, he sent some troops there about the middle of February, increasing their number afterwards until the garrison amounted to nearly six hundred men. He also states that as soon as he learned that the place was attacked, he immediately took mea- sures to send up reinforcements from Memphis, and they were actually embarking when he received information of the capture of the fort. Your committee cannot close this report without ex- pressing their obligations to the officers of the army, and FORT PILLOW MASSACRE. 77 many with whom they were brought in contact, for the assistance they rendered. It is true, your committee were furnished by the Secretary of War with the fullest authority to call upon any one in the army for such ser- vices as they might require to enable them to make the investigation devolved upon them by Congress. But they found that no such authority was needed. The army and navy officers at every point they visited, evinced a desire to aid the committee in every way in their power, and all expressed the highest satisfaction that Congress had so promptly taken steps to ascertain the facts connected with this fearful and bloody transaction, and the hope that the investigation would lead to prompt and decisive measures on the part of the Government. Y"our committee would mention more particularly the names of General Mason Brayman, military command- ant at Cairo ; Captain J. H. Odlin, his chief of staff; Captain A. M. Pennock, United States Navy, Fleet Cap- tain of Mississippi Squadron ; Captain James W. Shirk, United States Navy, commanding Seventh District Mis- sissippi Squadron ; Surgeon Horace Wardner, in charge of Mound City General Hosoital ; Captain Thomas M. Farrell, United States Navy, in command of gunboat Hastings (furnished by Captain Pennock, to convey the committee to Fort Pillow and Memphis); Captain Thomas Pattison, naval commandant at Memphis ; General C. C. Washburne ; and the officers of their commands, as among those to whom they are indebted for assistance and atten- tion. All of which is respectfully submitted. B. F. Wade. D. W. Goocn. Adopted by the committee as their report. B. F. Wade, Chairman. 7* PART II. PERSECUTION OF UNIONISTS IN THE REVOLTED STATES; OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS, ETC. PERSECUTION OF UNIONISTS IN THE REVOLTED STATES; OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS, ETC. PRELIMINARY. The volumes of history scarcely furnish a chaptei more replete with fiendish cruelty and atrocity, than do authentic accounts of the treatment of Unionists in the revolted States; while at the North, Secession sympa- thizers have generally been unmolested, have been allowed freely to express their opinions, and to discuss and condemn all measures employed for the suppression of the revolt, Unionists in the revolted states have been persecuted in every way, and subjected to every out- rage; have been shot down without ceremony, hung without trial, hunted with blood-hounds, and tortured without mercy. Indeed, violence and savage ferocity have characterized the rebellion from the beginning, and by these means mainly have the masses of the Southern people been overawed, and made to acquiesce in the revolt. This is so forcibly set forth in the following commu- nication from Captain D. H. Bingham, of Alabama, that we insert it in this place. (81) 82 INAUGURATION OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE REIGN OF TERROR. "When the rebellious states seceded in the fall and winter of 1860-1, the masses of the people were violently opposed to the measure, and in their primary meetings and social gatherings, expressed their opposition in no equivocal terms. Hence it was determined to inaugurate a reign of terror, in order to stifle the voice of opposi- tion, and secure uniformity of sentiment and action. As South Carolina was the first state to secede, so it was the first theatre of those barbarous cruelties which were designed to overawe the non-slaveholding popula- tion, who, however numerous, had few political rights, and no social position, and had been accustomed to be as submissive to the behest of the slaveholders as the negroes themselves. The reign of terror was introduced by putting forward that class of reckless and brutalized men, known as overseers and negro-drivers, who hav r e ever been found ready, at the bidding of their employers, the slaveholders, to engage in the most atrocious acts. This class of menials were organized into squads of half a dozen, more or less according to exigency or design of the service they were expected to perform, and their business was to ride through the different neighborhoods, and inquire into the sentiments of every poor man, and wherever they found one who expressed himself as willing to give the administration of Mr. Lincoln a fair trial, he was forthwith taken out and "Lynched," until he professed to renounce his sentiments. In this way was South Carolina revolutionized within twenty days. In other states, in which the non-slaveholding white population was proportionally larger, a somewhat differ- ent mode of operation was adopted to secure the same REIGN OF TERROR. 83 object. In Alabama, particularly the northern portion of the state, vigilance committees were organized, self- constituted in many cases, under the pretence that the country was full of abolitionists, and that the officers of the law were inadequate to the protection of the people against these emissaries of the Lincoln Government. These vigilance committees had their secret conclaves, in which measures were discussed, plans laid, plots de- vised, charges manufactured. At first the free negroes particularly were assailed. They were unceremoniously dragged before the committees, tried in secret, con- demned, and led forth to execution without the public knowing for what, beyond the statement of the members that the evidence was sufficient. Among those who were thus condemned and executed, was an aged negro preacher, who had lived about Mooresville, Limestone county, Alabama. He was hung in February or March of 1861, his heart cut out and carried upon the point of a knife through the streets by a semi-barbarian drunk- ard ; and the public do not know, to this day, the evi- dence on which that negro was executed, beyond the mere assertion of the committee that they had evidence enough to hang him. The country, at the time, abounded with travelling foot-pedlars, mostly Germans and Italians, who imper- fectly spoke our language. They were inhumanly set upon by these human blood-hounds ; some were shot and found dead in the roads ; others were unceremoniously dragged before these committees, and ordered to leave the country. But these committees did not stop here; they pro- ceeded to assail the native white population when sus- pected of Unionism, robbing, torturing, shooting, hanging them without ceremony or form of trial. 84 INAUGURATION OF THE At the firing on Fort Sumter, the sentiment of the non-slaveholding population was decidedly Union. But in one month's time, by such appliances of violence and cruelty, this sentiment was extensively suppressed ; the more easily, as the few had been wont to control the many, and the many were dependent on, and wont to cringe to the few. Such were the means first employed to secure uni- formity of opinion and action, and bring the entire people under the domination of those who had contem- plated and been devising, during thirty years, the dis- memberment of the Eepublic. The next step was the organization, by the Eebel Con- gress, of "Partisan Kangers," or legalized guerrillas. Every cut-throat scoundrel at once became emulous of the distinction and power and plunder which the com- mand of a guerrilla band would afford, and set to work to raise a company, battalion, or regiment, according to his means and capacity. Thus originated the military career of such monsters of cruelty and crime as Forrest, a notorious gambler and negro-trader of Memphis, Ten- nessee ; of John Morgan, another gambler, and a robber and libertine, of Louisville, Kentucky ; of Eoddy, Biffles, Champ Ferguson, Frank Gurley, Quantrell, and a host of others of like character. The primitive object of the organization of the " Partisan Kangers" was the suppres- sion of the Union sentiment of the southern portion of the country; and the narrative contained in the following pages of their bloody atrocities upon Union men, women, and children, in East Tennessee, Northern Alabama, Kentucky, and other states, shows how fully this design has been carried into execution. MURDER OF MARSHALL GLAZE, JR. 85 MURDER OF MR. TURNER. A MOST brutal murder was committed upon a young man, named Turner, belonging to the Twenty-ninth Regiment Ohio Volunteers, on or about the 18th of July, 1863, near Port Republic, Virginia, by a rebel cavalry officer. As young Turner was passing, he was ordered by the officer to halt, and did so, when the ruffian de- liberately drew out his revolver and shot him through the heart, cursing him for being a d — d Yankee. When asked by one of his own party why he had killed the young man, he said that too many of the d — d rascals are getting away, and he was determined that none he had anything to do with should escape. The above comes from a prisoner, who saw the deed committed.* MURDER OF MARSHALL GLAZE, JR., AND OTHERS. On Monday evening, September 18th, 1863, from twenty to thirty Rebels went to the house of an old gen tleman by the name of Marshall Glaze, on Spring Creek, Virginia, and brutally murdered John McMullen, Mar shall Glaze, Jr., and a Union soldier who had been stopping at the house for some days, waiting for his discharge, being so infirm that he could not proceed further. Marshall Glaze, Jr., and two oi three soldiers from the Ninth Virginia Regiment, who were on their way home, had been invited to stop for the night at the house. They * From Captain J. E. Johnson, of New York. 8 86 MURDER OF REV. JAMES WEBSTER. went to bed in some out-buildings. During the night, a party of rebels came to the dwelling and demanded to be informed where the soldiers were. Not being answered, the rebels by some other means discovered the place where they were asleep, and immediately rushed upon them, killing McMullen, the discharged soldier, and young Glaze ; at the first fire. The other three were fortunate enough to break through the ranks of the murderers, and succeeded in making their escape. The rebels then went to the house of Mr. W. ISToyes in the neighborhood, and attempted to persuade, and finally to force, a young girl (no doubt for an evil pur- pose) to go with them. On her refusal, they deliberately shot her, and she instantly expired.* MURDER OF REV. JAMES WEBSTER. Rev. James Webster, who owned and lived on a farm in Virginia, a thorough Union man, but very cautious in expressing his views in regard to secession, was one day, while in his barn alone thrashing wheat, surprised by seeing a gang of armed guerrillas enter. He asked them what they had come for ? They answered, for him ; that he was a Union man, and they knew it, and they were going to carry him to Richmond. He protested against this, and tried to reason the case with them; but without avail. They laid hands upon him, and forced him to go with them, not allowing him a change of clothing, although he begged that privilege. They drove him three days without giving him a morsel of food, so that he actually died of hunger and exhaustion.f * From Mr. McWhorter, member of the House of Delegates of West Virginia, in 1863. f From A. B. Hough, of Virginia. OUTRAGES IN NORTH CAROLINA. 87 OUTRAGES ON UNION PEOPLE IN NORTH CAROLINA. In January, 1863, all the salt at Laurel Hill, North Carolina, near the Tennessee line, was taken possession of by the rebel authorities, and, in consequence, the salt in the region around of which they had not possession was selling at from seventy-five to one hundred dollars per sack. The commissioned officers of the rebel govern- ment declared that the Tories, a name they give to the Unionists in that portion of the country, should have none. They positively refused to give them the portion to which they were justly entitled when it was distributed. This outrage aroused the long-suppressed anger of the Union men, and they collected together and determined to take their portion of the salt by force if necessary. They proceeded to the place where it was kept (Marshall, North Carolina), and took what they considered their share. Shortly after, the Sixty-fifth North Carolina Regi- ment, under command of one Lieutenant-Colonel James Keith, was ordered to Laurel Hill to arrest the offenders. Samuel M. Allen was Colonel of the Sixty-fifth, but had been suspended for drunkenness, and therefore the com mand fell upon this Keith. Before the regiment arrived at Laurel Hill, those en- gaged in the salt seizure fled and were not to be found, and the innocent had to suffer in their stead. The fol- low ing persons were arrested: — Joseph Wood, about sixty years of age; David Shelton, forty-five; E. King, forty; H. Moore, forty; Wade Moore, thirty-five; Isaiah Shelton, fifteen ; Willie Shelton, twelve ; James Metcalf, ten ; Jasper Channel, fourteen ; Samuel Shelton, nineteen, 88 OUTRAGES ON UNION PEOPLE and his brother, aged seven; in all, thirteen. All of them protested against being arrested, and declared that they were innocent, and begged for a trial, that they might prove their innocence. Colonel Allen, who was with the regiment, said they should have a trial, and they were going to take them to Tennessee for that purpose. They all started off, thinking that everything would soon be right, but had proceeded only a few miles when they were marched from the road to a gorge in the mountains. Halting here, five of them were ordered to kneel down. A file of soldiers was then placed in front of them with loaded muskets. The terrible reality now flashed upon their minds that they were about to be murdered. Old Mr. Wood ex- claimed, "For God's sake, men, you are not going to shoot us? If you are, give us at least time to pray.' Colonel Allen was reminded of his promise. They were told that he was not in command, had no authority to make such promises, and that there was no time to be lost in praying. The word was given to fire. The old man and boys put their hands to their faces, and rent the air with their agonizing cries of despair. The soldiers hesitated to obey the command. Keith told them if they did not fire he would make them change places with the prisoners. Again the order was given, and the five men fell pierced with bullets. Wood and Shelton were both shot through the head, and their brains scattered upon the ground. They died without a struggle. The others lived a few minutes. Five others were ordered to kneel down — with them little Willie Shelton, who said, "You shot my father in the face ; please do not shoot me in the face I" He covered his face with his hands, and the order of "Fire!" was IN NORTH CAROLINA. 89 Five more fell. Poor little "Willie was wounded in both arms. He ran to the officer, and clasp- ing him around the legs, implored him to spare his life, saying, "You have killed my poor old father and my three brothers ! you have shot me in both arms ! I for- give you for all — I can get well again ; do let me go home to my mother and sisters!" What man, with a heart, could resist such an appeal ? But little Willie pleaded in vain. He was again dragged back to the place of execution, and again that terrible word "Fire!" was given. He fell dead, eight balls having penetrated his body. The remaining three were ordered to kneel down, and again the word "Fire!" was given, and they fell. Those in whom life was not entirely extinct were des- patched with pistols. The miscreants then dug a hole in the ground, and tossed the whole thirteen into it. Its depth was not suffi- cient, and some of the bodies of the murdered men lay above the ground. Sergeant N. B. Jay, a Virginian, but attached to this command, got up on the bleeding bodies and commencing to dance, cried out, "Some one pat Juba* for me, and I'll dance the d — d scoundrels down to and through hell." The grave was covered very lightly with earth. The next day the families of the murdered men heard of their fate, and search was made for their bodies. When the grave was found, the swine had rooted up one of the corpses, and partly devoured it. A portion of Keith's men went to Tennessee, and the others returned with Keith to Laurel Hill, and told the inhabitants that the murdered men were taken to Ten- nessee, to be tried in accordance with the pledge of Co- lonel Allen. By those who went to Tennessee many Union men * A negro song. 90 OUTRAGES IN NORTH CAROLINA. were killed along the way. Those who returned with Keith to Laurel Hill began to torture the wives of loyal men, to force them to tell where their husbands had hid the salt. The women refused to disclose anything. Then the inhuman wretches gathered together some hickory switches, and commenced whipping them until the blood was seen to run down their persons upon the ground. Mrs. Sarah Shelton, wife of E. Shelton, who escaped from the town, and Mrs. Mary Shelton, wife of L. Shel- ton, were whipped and then hung by the neck until life was nearly extinct. When let down, ;md consciousness had returned, they still positively refused to give any information. Martha White, an idiotic girl, was taken out and whipped, and then tied to a tree by the neck, and left there all day. Old Mrs. Eunice Riddle, aged eighty-five years, was inhumanly whipped, hung, and then robbed of a con- siderable amount of money. A great many others were threatened with torture. The daughters of William Shel- ton were requested to sing and play for them. They sang and played the national airs of the Union. Keith, learning this, ordered the ladies to be arrested, and sent a guard to the house, where they remained all night. Mrs. Sallie Moore, aged seventy years, was whipped with hickory switches until the blood ran down from her back to the ground. One woman, name forgotten, who had a child five or six weeks old, was tied to a tree in the snow, and her child placed in the door in her sight, the villains telling her that, if she did not tell where the salt was hid, she and her child would be kept in that position until they both perished. Sergeant K B. D. Jay, of Captain Rey- nolds's company, and Lieutenant R. M. Deever, assisted their men in the perpetration of these outrages. Houses MURDER OF A CXSE-ARMED MAN. 91 were burned over the heads of the Union people, and everything of value was stolen by these men. The perpetrators of these outrages were soldiers be- longing to the army of the Confederate States, and the men who commanded them were commissioned by the same government, and therefore the Confederate Gov- ernment had them in their control, and could have pun- ished them, if they did not sanction their acts; but the villains were looked upon as brave men for these acts of cruelty.* MURDER OF A ONE-ARMED MAN IN NORTH CAROLINA. By the battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,' the rebels suffered such a defeat that the Unionists of the South, growing bold, began to speak their sentiments aloud, in opposition to the rebel government. Particularly was this the case in Central North Carolina, so that three regiments were sent from the rebel army to overawe the people and quell the disturbance. Many acts of cruelty were perpetrated by these soldiers, causing serious skir- mishes between them and those Unionists who were lucky enough to have arms, and several lives were lost on both sides. Among the most atrocious acts committed by these soldiers was that practised upon a young man in Ran- dolph county, who, by some accident, had lost one arm, and was therefore not subject to conscription. They went to his house, and, under the pretence of getting him to show them the way to a neighbor's, decoyed him into a piece of woodland, where they brutally shot him. * Colonel Crawford, Vice-President of the State Convention, held at Nashville, Tenn., 18G3. 92 TREATMENT OF UNION SYMPATHIZERS. He was heard begging and imploring for his life at a great distance. His body was found three or four days afterwards, having from appearance received some seven or eight pistol-shots. From the marks of blood and the foot-prints, it ap- peared that they compelled him to run around them in a circle, shooting at him as he ran, trying to see how many times they could hit him without killing him. All this was done because he loved the Union* BARBAROUS TREATMENT OF UNION SYMPA- THIZERS IN THE REBEL ARMY. In the month of October, 1863, at Rapidan Station, four miles above Orange Court-House, Virginia, a young man belonging to Company B, Forty-fourth North Caro- Carolina Regiment (rebel), a Unionist, who had been conscripted, was inhumanly shot under the following circumstances : — Many of his regiment had deserted, and entered the lines of the Union army. Certain soldiers of other regiments, suspecting him to be a Union man at heart, to draw out his sentiments, told him that they would not belong to such a regiment, &c. At last, being irritated, he said " I don't care, if the whole regiment deserts." This was all they wished. They immediately reported his words to their officers, and he was arrested as a deserter, tried by a court-martial, and sentenced to be shot. He e7ideavored to explain in what manner he was constrained to use this language, and declared he had no thought of desertion. But they declined to listen to his * Bryan Tyson, author of the " Ray of Light." MURDER OF THREE BROTHERS. 93 explanation, and ordered him to be put into confinement. The guard hurried him away, and in the course of a few- days he was carried out and shot. He met his fate like a brave man. Another soldier, belonging to a North Carolina brigade, was sentenced to death under similar circum- stances, and the authorities went so far as to tie him to a stake before they shot him.* MURDER OF THREE BROTHERS. In the summer of 1862, three young men, brothers, by the name of Anderson, not liking the way in which the Union men were treated in their vicinity, left their home, which was in Hawkins county, Tennessee, and attempted to make their way to the Union lines in Ken- tucky. They had reached Clinch river, about seventy- five miles above Knoxville, Tennessee, when they were surprised and captured by a band of Confederate cavalry, and inhumanly shot without mercy by their captors, who had been sent in pursuit of them. After killing them, they threw their bodies into the river, where, not long after, they were found, only fifteen miles from their desolate and forsaken home. The only reason assigned for this brutal murder was, that they were Union men, and were leaving the country .f * R. D Talley, Chatham Co., North Carolina. | Colonel R. Crawford, of Tennessee, one of the Vice Presidents of the State Convention, held in Nashville in 1863. 94 ASSAULT ON MR. W. C. GRIER. ASSAULT ON MR. GRIER, A KENTUCKY STATE SENATOR. Cincinnati, October 8th, 1862. L. W. Hall, Kavenna, Portage Co., Ohio. Dear Sir : In great distress of mind, I will attempt to recount to you the misfortunes and troubles I have recently had to encounter in Kentucky. I am now a refugee. The torch of the incendiary rebels has been put to my mills, my store, and my dwelling. All is consumed ; the labor of nearly twenty years is destroyed. On last Wednesday night the rebel cavalry of John Morgan, to the number of eight hundred, encamped within two miles of my place. Through the whole night they were momentarily expected to come upon us ; every person left the road and hid in the woods ; I could not do so, my wife was so near her confinement ; my anxiety for her kept me near my dwelling. To allay her fears for my safety, I had to appear to be absent. Nothing occurred during the night. As the morning dawned, I went further from my house, and took a view of the premises and the roads leading to them. I could see no rebels ; and I determined to see my wife, let the conse- quences be what they might. As I was near my door,, eight rebels suddenly appeared before me, with their guns presented to my breast, and took me a prisoner. Soon the whole rebel band was upon me. Morgan cursed the men for taking me a prisoner, saying " that he had ordered them to shoot me down upon sight." He then opened my store door, and told his men to rifle and lire it. I implored him not to do it, as it was so near my dwelling that it would also be consumed. I informed him of the condition of my wife; for myseif I asked ASSAULT ON MR. W. C. GRIER. 95 nothing ; but I begged him in common humanity not to destroy my wife and little children. He answered with a horrid oath that he intended to burn everything I had ; he would put fire to my house, and burn my wife and children up in it ; he would wipe out the whole Aboli- tion concern. This threat was applauded by many of his men, who said they went for killing men, women, and children. I was then placed upon a horse without a saddle, and conducted to the front of their column, and orders were again given to shoot me down if they were fired upon by bushwhackers, as they styled the Union men. I assured them that they would be fired upon if the people had any spirit, and I believed they had ; that when they saw the conflagration of their homes, they would way-lay and fire upon them, even if their number was ten times greater. After firing my property, he (Morgan) rode past me and said, pointing to the flames, " You find your loyalty to your Abolition Government pretty expensive, don't you?" Before we reached the woods, the captain of the men that took me prisoner, removed me from my position in the front, and placed me in his company near the rear. Immediately upon entering the woods they were fired upon. I was surprised that I was not shot. Morgan rode past and demanded the reason I was not shot, as he had ordered. They said they had not heard the order. He told them, if fired upon again, to shoot the prisoner. They then amused themselves by pointing their guns at me, and saying that they wished they might have the pleasure of shooting me. After some time we were ordered to advance, and were soon again fired upon. I heard the guns click behind me, and felt sure that my end was right then at hand. Their captain, John T. Williams, ordered them not to fire; he said that it was cold 96 ASSAULT ON MR. W. C. GRIER. blooded murder ; that his men had taken me prisoner , that he was not yet mustered into the service, did not belong to General Morgan's command, and would not obey him in this, but would take me to West Liberty and put me in jail till further orders. This was some relief to me, you may be assured. Thus we proceeded for nearly twelve miles, my friends, the Unionists, emptying a saddle every five minutes, and my captors setting fire to every Union man's house as they went along. At last they commenced falling close around me, and my guardian friend, the captain, said he could not save me any longer. I soon took advantage of the excitement prevailing, jumped from my horse and fled to the woods, unobserved, and thus made my escape. I reached where had been my home at dark, and found my wife had been carried by some kind ladies to an unoccupied house, and a physician present who said he would stay with her. It was not more than twenty minutes till Morgan's guerrillas were again upon me. I escaped through the fields to the woods, making my way for Portsmouth, thirty-five miles distant, my nearest point of complete safety, where I arrived next morning without food, sleep, or rest. I immediately came to this city, where there was owing me seventy-five dollars, with which I will purchase a Ballard rifle, and return to the vicinity of my family ; hide in the woods and caves, and pick off every " Butternut" I see until I can get my family away to some place of security. Why is all this persecution of me ? It is because I con- demned this wicked rebellion ; urged a vigorous prose- cution of this war, and in my place in the Senate of Ken-, tucky, opposed the temporizing policy of my own party. For this I am burned and hunted out of Kentucky. OUTRAGES IN KENTUCKY. 97 I am now unequivocally for confiscation, subjugation, extermination, hell and damnation. Yours respectfully, W. C. Grier. OUTRAGES ON THE PEOPLE IN THE MOUNTAIN DISTRICTS OF KENTUCKY. On the 12th of May, 1863, Colonel Gilbert started out with a detachment of the Forty -fourth Ohio Regiment, on an extensive reconnoissance from London, Kentucky, to ascertain the strength and situation of the numerous bands of guerrillas who were then prowling about that section of the country. He found them very numerous. They fled at the approach of the Forty-fourth, which followed in hot pursuit, but were unable to overtake them. His forces searched the country from London to Bar- boursville ; thence to Cumberland Ford, and along the Cumberland River from Williamsburg, south to Big Creek Gap. Detachments of Colonel Gilbert's men drove the rebel bands up Poor Fork to Yellow Creek, and also into the mountain wilds from Winchester up to the forks of Goose Creek. Colonel Gilbert's command cleared that portion of the country. The guerrillas seemed to have no taste for fighting, and fled in disorder whenever the Union sol- diers approached them. In the chase four or five were killed, and some sixteen taken prisoners. Colonel Gil- bert's command sustained no loss. The people were found to be very loyal. It was ascertained that the rebels were in the practice of inflicting all sorts of tortures to compel the women Q 98 OUTRAGES IN KENTUCKY. and children to tell them where they had hidden their corn, &c. They forced the men into their ranks, divested the women and children of all their clothing, even taking their shoes from off their feet. Major Moore found near Eed Eiver two men, divested of everything but their pantaloons, and almost starved. Lieutenant Shaw and others saw similar instances of bar- barous treatment. These Unionists were first reduced to want by Morgan and his men, and afterwards pillaged by the rebel hordes who were driven out by Colonel Gilbert, until starvation or flight seemed to be the only alternative left them. DEPREDATIONS IN KENTUCKY BY HUMPHREY MARSHALL'S AND CLUKE'S MEN. Gray Hawk, Jackson County, Ky., April 13th, 1863 Dear Sir : This leaves me lower in spirits than I have been since I have had a family. Some ten days ago, Cluke, with some five hundred men, came in through Proctor, in Owsley county, taking all the horses they could lay hands on. They came to my house, took a mule from me, and destroyed all the corn I had ; pas- tured on my wheat, and committed other depredations. On Tuesday, the 7th of this month, Humphrey Mar- shall's men, with the guerrilla band from Breathitt county, commenced coming into our county by Proctor, taking horses, cattle, and everything they could get hold of. They came on to Booneville ; burned the jail ; de- stroyed the records in the clerk's office; cut up the books and scattered them through the streets ; came to OUTRAGES IN KENTUCKY. 99 my house, took every horse and mule I had, numbering thirteen. Among those aiding this work were Jack May, Jerry South's son, Win. P. Lacey, James Hurd, and Kobert Allen. They pursued my two oldest sons up the branch stream from my house, shooting at them until their ammunition was nearly expended. Lacy then charged upon my oldest son with his musket in hand, cursing him, and swearing he would hang him. My son drew his pistol, shot Lacy through the arm, and into his canteen. Lacy threw up his hand and halloed " Don't." My son fired again, hit Lacy under the ear, and dropped him from his horse, dead. The boys then, the musket- balls still flying around them, ran down a steep cliff, which the horses of the marauders could not descend, and made their escape into the woods. The rebels, set- ting fire to my buildings, burned up everything I had, leaving my wife and children with nothing but the clothes they had on. My wife got down on her knees to them, and offered them one thousand dollars in cash if they would not burn the dwelling. They would not hear her. She then tried to get the things out of the house, but they kept her off with their muskets. Some few things, which she did get out, were taken from her, consisting principally of thirty-three bed-blankets. The balance all went to the flames. I was in Jackson county at the time, and am still here. My wife is in a school-house below where my house stood, with my three youngest children. My two boys are hid in the mountains, with nothing to eat, wear, or sleep on, except what the neighbors furnish them. My wife is also dependent on the charity of the neighbors. Neither of us can get to see the other, as the rebels are still passing. Mine, I understand, was the seventeenth house they have burned on the route up as far as my 100 MURDER OF JAMES M'CULLUM. place. I understand they have burned Clark's salt- works. How true tins is, J do not know. The damage reported to have been done so far up as rny house is cer- tainly true. My son came to me last night, and gave me all the particulars. I have begged and plead hard with the authorities be- low for help. One thing you know, and that is, the people here generally are so poor that they cannot get away, and if they could, how are they to subsist ? These counties that are suffering so much are the most loyal portion of the state. Clay, Owesley, and Jackson, which have furnished on an average five hundred volun- teers to the country, not one of whom is near enough to come to the rescue of their friends ; they are all at Vicks- burg, Murfreesboro, and other points out of the State. I have not seen my wife for some three weeks, and don't know what to do. "We have no meat or grain to live on here, and no horses or mules to take us away ; no means to buy with. All my papers, notes, accounts, deeds, and everything I had, are burned up, and I have not clothing even for a change. I am going to try to get through to my family to-night, if I can, and will in a few days decide what we will do. A number of fami lies must starve, if not soon rescued. Yours, truly, Abijah Gilbert. MURDER OF JAMES McCULLUM. On the 13th of February, 1863, a party of Confede- rate soldiers were sent with orders to conscript Mr. James McCullum, an honest, industrious, hard-working Union man, residing in Greene county, Tennessee. When they ATROCITIES OF CHAMP FURGUSON. 101 arrived in sight of his house he was engaged in feeding cattle. Seeing their approach, and knowing their pur- pose, he thought to evade them, and ran towards the barn. One of the party, without hailing or stopping him, which could easily have been done, brutally shot him through the neck, killing him instantly. His three little children, who were standing near, seeing their father had been murdered, ran to their mother, who was in the house, and told her. She ran out, shrieking, and wringing her hands in anguish. Approaching the mon- sters, who were sitting on the fence laughing at her agony, she asked them why they had killed her husband ? They answered, "Because he was a d — d Tory!"* ATROCITIES OF CHAMP FURGUSON. The annals of no civilized, nor even savage warfare, could furnish, perhaps, a parallel to the crimes and bar- barities of Champ Furguson. He boasted of having killed fourteen men ; and there is no question of the truth of his assertion. Having by some means managed to get command of a party of ruffians in their raids upon theUnion citizens of Tennessee, which were very frequent, he and his gang captured John Williams, William Delk, John Crabtree, and a negro man, at Mrs. Alexander Hough's, in Fentress county. Tying them together, they drove them to the house of William Piles, on Wolf Run. On the way, the murderers gratified their savage propen- sities by cutting splinters of wood and thrusting them into the unfortunate men's flesh, and cutting them oft' * From Colonel Crawford, one of the Vice-Presidents of the State Convention held in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1863. 9* 102 ATROCITIES OF CHAMP FURGUSON. close tc> their bodies. And to cause the poor fellows to travel faster, they pitched their bowie-knives into them. After arriving at Piles's, the villains tortured them by piercing them with their bayonets, and cutting off pieces of flesh until life was nearly extinct. When they tired of this, Champ Furguson despatched William Delk by actually hacking him to pieces with his bowie-knife; and his comrades killed the others with their guns and pistols. They had stripped them after having arrived at Piles's house, and all these tortures were inflicted upon them in a state of nudity, in the presence of Piles's family. The posts and fence around the yard were smeared with blood, which was seen for weeks after, showing that they compelled their unfortunate victims to run around the yard while they prosecuted their murderous work. Thence Furguson went to Elam Huddleston's, a well- known Union man, who, seeing him coming, fled into his house and fastened the door ; but, after exchanging some twenty shots with Furguson and his bandits, was at last wounded and captured. Furguson immediately, with fiendish malignity, ripped Huddleston open, and then the savage brute cut his heart out, alleging as an excuse for his brutality that Huddle- ston was acting the 'possum. From this he went to the dwelling of a man named Eoclgers, whom he found sick in bed. He told Eodgers that he had come to kill him. His little son hearing this, dropped on his knees, and begged in the most piteous manner that he would not kill his father. His petition, which, one would think, might have moved the heart of any man, made no impression on such a brute as Furguson, and he levelled his gun and shot the sick man in his bed. ASSAULT ON TWO AGED MEN. 103 The boy then began to cry aloud, when Furguson turned toward him with a pistol and shot him through the head, in the presence of the family. This child was but ten years of age. He then robbed them of an amount of money, took some horses, and left them to weep over their dead hus- band and father, sod, and brother.* ASSAULT ON TWO AGED UNION MEN IN EAST TENNESSEE. Washington, May 23d, 1864. Dear Sir : * * * * In the early part of March of this year, as our corps (the Ninth) was resting at Moose Creek, in East Tennessee, I stopped over night at a farm-house. In the evening the old man, speaking of the rebels and their cruelties, said to me, that they had burned one of his barns, driven off his cattle, burned his fences, and told him that if he made any fuss about it they would shoot him. One of the officers told his daughter, a young woman of eighteen, when she tried to save the barn, that if she did not keep quiet he would turn her over to his men. The old man told me that when our army retreated from Moose Creek, a few weeks before, the rebels tried to kill an aged neighbor of his, residing a short distance from his place. The next day I called on the neighbor, and found him in bed with his head bound up. With great difficulty could he speak. In the course of our conversation, he told me that when our army retreated from Moose Creek, a few weeks previous, the rebels * General J. B. Rodgers. 104 ASSAULT ON MR. JOHNSON. he softly draws a one-barrel Derringer pistol from his pocket ; raising his arm, he takes sure aim and fires the deadly shot ; the ball entering the back part and left side of the President's head, passes through and lodges in the left side of the brain. The ball was an unusually large one for a Derringer. As soon as the fatal shot was fired, Major Rathbone sprang from his seat, and looking around, saw through the smoke the desperate murderer, with a haggard and devilish look upon his countenance, standing between the door and his uncon- scious victim. As soon as Major Rathbone saw him, Booth shouted "Freedom." It is also reported that he cried "Revenge for the South." Major Rathbone nrade a spring toward him and seized him, but Booth was too strong and wrestled himself from the grasp, and made a violent thrust at the breast of Major Rathbone with a large knife. Major Rathbone parried the blow by striking it up, receiving a flesh wound several inches deep in his left arm between the shoulder and the elbow; the orifice of the wound was about an inch and a half in length, extending towards the shoulder. Booth, after stabbing Major Rathbone, rushed towards the front of the box ; Major Rathbone tried to grasp him again, but only succeeded in tearing his clothes as he leaped over the railing of the box. Finding that he was about to 308 THE ASSASSINATION PLOT. escape, Major Rathbone cried out in a loud voice, "Stop that man." Miss Harris also cried out at the same time, 1 ' Stop that man j won' t somebody stop that man? 7 ? After. Booth leaped on the stage, Major Rathbone turned to- ward the President. His position was not changed; hisi head was slightly bent forward, and his eyes closed as; if in sleep ; the Major supposing him to be mortally wounded, rushed to the door for the purpose of calling medical aid. On reaching it, he found it barred by a heavy piece of wood ; one end was secured in the wall, and the other resting against the panel of the door. In the mean time Miss Harris assisted two persons, wear- ing the uniform of naval surgeons, to climb into ihe box by reaching her arm down and pulling them up from the stage into the box. Major Rathbone having man- aged to get the door open, the President was carried out of the theatre, in an unconscious state, across the street to the house of Mr. W. Peterson, No. 453 Tenth street, where he was laid on a bed in a small back room on the first floor. In a few minutes Dr. R. K. Stone, the family physician, arrived and pronounced the wound mortal. The President, lingering in a state of uncon- sciousness died at half-past seven next morning (15th i of April,) mourned by all who knew him — the first martyr of universal liberty. After the President had been carried cut of the box, Major Rathbone assisted I Mrs. Lincoln, who was exceedingly excited, to leave the theatre. On arriving at the head of the stairs he was I compelled to call Major Potter to assist him to carry her over to the house where the President was lying. She remained with her husband until he breathed his last. The wound on the Major's arm bleeding profusely, he fainted after leaving Mrs. Lincoln, and was carried home in a carriage. THE ASSASSINATION PLOT. 309 As Booth jumped from the box, his spur caught the flag and tore off a piece, which stuck to his spur until he passed over nearly half of the stage. As he came down he fell on the stage, his back slightly towards the iaudiencc; but as he was rising, his face came in full view, when he cried "Sic semper tyrannis, 7 ' at the same time flourishing his knife. He ran behind the scenes, where he met William Withers, jr., leader of -the orchestra at the theatre, whom he struck upon the lleg, and turning him around, made two thrusts at him with the knife he held in his hand, one on the neck and one on the side, as ho went past him, rushing for the small door in the back of the theatre. Opening this, i ihe rushed out, and striking the boy who held his horse with the but of the knife, he mounted the horse, and putting spurs to him, galloped down the alley and es- caped. When J. Wilkes Booth left the ITerndon House, Payne started for the house of Mr. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State ; arriving before the time appointed, he stepped into the square just opposite, and there waited lor the time to roll around. At ten o'clock the watchman at the square going his rounds, seeing Payne still sitting there, requested him to leave. Going out at the southeast gate he mounted his horse, and riding up to the Secretary's house, which stood in the middle of the block, dismounted, and stepping up to the door, he rang the bell. In a few minutes it was answered by the waiter. On the opening of the door, Payne walked into the passage, carrying a small package in his hand, which he said was medicine from Dr. Verdi, (the Secretary's family physician ;) he said he was sent by Dr. Verdi with particular directions as to the man- ner the Secretary was to take the medicine, and must 310 THE ASSASSINATION PLOT. go up to the Secretary's room; the servant told hir that he could not go up. He (Payne) then replied that h must go up; must see him — must see him. The servant still persisted in his refusal, telling him it was agains his orders, and that if ho would give him the medicine he would tell the Secretary how to take it, if he woul< leave him the directions. Payne said that that woul< not do, and started to go up the stairs. The servan finding that he would go up, ran up past him to excus( himself if he was wrong in not letting him pass. Payne'; step being heavy on the stairs, the servant requestec him not to walk so heav} r , or he would disturb Mr. Sew ard. When he reached the landing of the first floor, Payne met Mr. Frederick Seward, who asked him his business. He answered that he wanted to see the Se- cretary. Mr. F. Seward told him that he could not, as his father was asleep at that time, and to give him the medicine, and he would take it to his father. "That will not do" returned Payne, "I must see him ; I must see him." Mr. F. Seward answered, "You cannot see him. " Payne continued, "I must see him." Mr. F. Seward still refused, saying ( ' I am proprietor here; I am Mr. Seward's son ; if you cannot leave the medicine with me, you cannot leave it at all." Payne finding that he could not pass, started toward the stairs as if to go down. The waiter started down before him, and had gone about three steps when, turning around, he remarked, "Do not walk so heavy." By the time the servant had turned half way around, Payne jumped back and struck Mr. Frederick Seward on the head ; on his repeating the blow, Mr. F. Seward fell, throwing up his hands ; after Payne struck Mr. Frederick Seward the second blow, THE ASSASSINATION PLOT. 3U the servant ran down stairs and into the street to give the alarm. Sergeant George F. Robinson (the Secretary's nurse) hearing the scuffling in the hall, opened the door of the room, where the Secretary was lying sick from wounds received a few days before by being thrown out of his carriage, to see what the trouble was. As he opened the door ho saw Payne standing close up to it. As soon as the door was opened wide enough Payne rushed in, striking Sergeant Robinson as he passed, knocking him down ; rushing up to the bed where the^helpless Secre- tary of State lay, he drew a large knife and made a lunge at the Secretary's head. The Secretary was sitting partially up in the bed, his head reclining a little to one side, so that as the knife descended it cut his face down on the left side and ran into the neck. Payne, to make sure that the job was complete, made another strike, cutting the Secretary on the other side of the neck. As soon as the nurse regained his feet, he ran to the bed and endeavored to pull the murderer off his helpless victim. As the nurse came up Payne turned upon him. They clinched, and while they were scuffling Major A. H. Seward came into the room, having been attracted by the screams of his sister. The gas being low as he entered the room, he saw what appeared to be two men, one trying to hold the other ; his first impression being that his father had become delirious, and that the nurse was trying to hold him, he ran up and took hold of Payne, and at once saw from his size and his struggles that it was not his father. He then thought that the nurse had become delirious, and was striking about the room at random. Knowing the delicate state of his 312 THE ASSASSINATION PLOT. father's health, he endeavored to shove the person he had hold of to the door ; as he was doing this, Payne struck him five or six tiines over the head with what he had in his left hand (a pistol,) supposed at the time to be a bottle or a decanter that he had seized from the table. During the scuffle Payne cried out "lam mad, I am mad." As the three neared the door Payne clinched his hand around the neck of the nurse and knocked him down with his fist; then giving a sudden turn, he broke away from Majtft Seward and rushed down the stairs to the front door, leaving his hat behind. On reaching the street he mounted his horse and rode rapidly away. Major Sew r ard did not realize the situation until after Payne was out of sight. As soon as the nurse could regain his feet he went to the bed and found the Secretary lying on the floor weltering in his blood ; assisting him in bed he sent for a surgeon. Surgeon General Barnes, hearing of the affray, went to the house and found the Secretary wounded in three places, and Mr. Frederick Seward in- sensible in the adjoining room, badly wounded in the head. Both the Secretary's and his son's wounds were considered very dangerous, but they have since recov- ered . The vengeance of a just God is sw T ift and sure. After Booth escaped from the theatre he was tracked through the south of Maryland, across the Potomac river into Virginia, to the barn of a man named Garrett, in Caroline county, where one of his accomplices, Herold, was captured, and Booth met his death, being shot in the head (by Sergeant Boston Corbett, of the lGth Now York cavalry) very near the spot where he (Booth) shot the President. After having been shot, he was ta- FIRING INTO A CHURCH. 313 ken out of the barn, it having been previously fired to make him surrender, if possible; and having been laid down on the porch of Mr. Garrett's house, he lingered about three hours, when he died, paying the debt he owed both God and man. When Payne escaped from the house of the Secre- tary of State, he wandered about the streets for two or three days when he was arrested at the house of one of the conspirators, Mrs. Surratt, on II street, near Sixth, dressed in the attire of a laborer. Having been fully identified, he was tried by a military commission, was fully convicted, and suffered the penalty of his crime on the gallows, with three other of the conspir- ators, Atzerott, Harold, and Mary E. Surratt, in the yard of the old Penitentiary building, at the foot of Four-and-a-half street, Washington, D. C, on the seventh day of July, 1865, between the hours of one and two o'clock p. m.* FIRING INTO A CHURCH. Comment is unnecessary on such an outrage as this. The mere fact of men firing into a church, indiscri- minately, upon unarmed men who were gathered to- gether to worship God, without the demand of sur- render, is enough. The following is a statement of Walter E. H. Fen- tress, acting master, commanding United States steamer Rattler, who was captured during the affray: On the 12th of September, 1863, as the steamer Rattler was lying off Rodney, Miss., I went on shore * See official record of the conspirators at Washington, D. C. 314 ANDERSONVILLE PKISON. to attend divine service, which was performed in a church not two hundred yards distant from the steamer, and in open view. * * * * We had just entered, and were seated in the church, when a squad of fifty cavalry dashed upon us, and opened fire from the win- dows and doors. I endeavored to stop this brutal fire upon unarmed men, but was fired upon by the fiends, and slightly wounded in the back. My hands were tied, and I was made fast to a horse and compelled to keep pace with them five miles. My treatment since my capture has been brutal. ANDERSONVILLE PRISON. [From the official report of the trial of Henry Wirz.] This horrible pen of misery and death will ever be remembered by those poor unfortunate creatures, who, through misfortune, were unlucky enough to be con- fined there; but who, through the kind providence of a merciful God, were snatched from the very claws of death, and permitted once again to breathe the pure air of freedom. Much has been said, and much will be said, about this place of woe. Fiction cannot, in its most extrava- gant rhetoric, overrate the sufferings and privations endured by our patriotic soldiers, who, at the tap of the drum, tore themselves from their homos, their wives, their children, and all that they held dear, and shouldered the musket to battle for the preservation of this great and glorious republic. Time may moul- der and decay other republics, but, with such soldieis, Private FRANCIS W. BEEDLE, Company M, 8th Michigan Cavalry, Admitted per Steamer New York, from Richmond, Va., May 2d, 1864. Died May 3d, 1801, from effects of treatment while in the hands of the enemy. — U. S. General Hospital, Div. No. 1, Annapolis, Mil. 3"> ANDERSONVILLE PRISON. 315 ours will stand as long as God permits this planet to be inhabited by man. They needed not the second call to rally and sustain the honor of that flag that now, thank God ! waves proudly over every foot of soil from the great St. Lawrence to the noble Rio Grande, and from the angry Atlantic to the calm Pacific; and proudly may it wave over that soil, made twice dear to us by the blood of thousands upon thousands of heroic men, who bravely laid their bosoms bare, and fear- lessly marched to the cannon's mouth to sustain its honor. Palsied be the arm and withered the hand that dare pull down that proud emblem of human lib- erty and lay it in the dust. The stockade, inside of which the prisoners were confined, was located by Captains R. B. and W. S. "Winder, and was commenced in the latter part of No- vember or early part of December, 1863, and was built of roughly hewn pine logs, about eight inches in diam- eter, inserted in the ground about five feet, and pro- jecting above the ground fifteen feet, enclosing an area of five hundred and fifty by two hundred and sixty yards, and surrounded by earth-works, with six and twelve-pound guns mounted on them, all point- ing towards the stockade, for the benefit of the pris- oners if they attempted to escape. The fiend who commanded this famous prison (whose name will go down to posterity as one of the blackest-hearted villains that ever was permitted to breathe God's pure air) was one Henry Wirz, a fugi- tive from justice, who held a commission as captain in the army of the Jeff. Davis oligarchy, and a fit subject to carry out the damnable designs of such men as Jeff. Davis and his satellites. It appears that he had abso- lute control over the whole prison. Ho issued all 316 ANDERSONVILLE PRISON. orders, and such was his tyranny that he would not even allow a surgeon to enter the stockade to see the sick without first applying to him for a pass, and this it appears he seldom granted. His office was above the stockade, and was a frame building, over the door of which were the following words : " Officer in Com- mand of Andersonville Prison.' ' The villain's soul was so deadened to all feelings of humanity, that it seemed he took delight in inventing schemes to torture the poor creatures who were so unfortunate as to be placed in his hands, after being captured while battling for the most sacred rights of man. The following are the names of the most prom- inent tortures : Dead-Line, Stocks, Chain-Gang, Thumb -Torture, Bucking, Gagging, Vaccination, Sun-Torture, Whip- ping, and Starvation ; which I will endeavor to de- scribe as far as my knowledge of them extends, com- mencing with the — Dead Line. — This place of torture was a slight- made railing, which ran parallel with the stockade (in- side) and at a distance of about twenty feet from it. Wirz, with a half dozen other men, layed it out in the latter part of April, 1864, it is said, by authority of the Rebel General Winder. Wirz issued the orders to the guards to shoot the prisoners if they were seen crossing, or even reaching over it. The guards desig- nated to commit these willful murders were stationed on a platform, which ran around the stockade on the outside of it near the top, enabling the guard to look over into the prison. An inducement, in the shape of a thirty days' furlough, was offered to the guards to commit these murders. Whenever a new guard was put on, Wirz could be seen going around giving them ANDERSON VILLE PRISON. 317 special instructions in regard to shooting the prison- ers. On one occasion he was seen going up to one of the guards, who was on the platform near where a small creek ran across this accursed line, and, in tones loud enough to be heard, told the guard to shoot any d n Yankee that even reached over the line. Just as he had finished giving the order, one of the prison- ers reached over the line for some water; the guard seeing him, raised his gun and fired, killing the poor fellow instantly. As a matter of course the guard was immediately relieved. The guards, before entering upon duty, received special instructions not to warn any of the prisoners to go back if they attempted to cross the line, but to shoot them down like dogs. If the guards did not strictly obey this order they were severely punished. The prisoners on entering the stockade were not informed of the existence of the dead line, and thereby a great many of them were launched into eternity while ignorant of committing any trespass or violating any order. Whenever a pris- oner was shot Wirz could be seen mounting the plat- form, and going up to the guard, would congratulate him for being so prompt in carrying out his orders; and, as a matter of course, he would be relieved for his brave act by this humane commander ! When any of the prisoners were shot inside this line, his comrades were afraid to go over and get the body; for, if they did; they would suffer the same penalty. Therefore the body would lie there until ordered by Wirz to be taken away. The guards were not restricted to shooting of the prisoners, even if they were not near the dead line; but, if they were so inclined, they were permitted to fire into the stockade among the prisoners. It was a 318 ANDERSON VILLE PRISON. frequent occurrence for tbe prisoners tu hear the re- port of a gun in the night, and whtn they awoke in the morning would find one or more of their comrades lying dead on the ground with a bullet hole in him. The first man who suffered death after this accursed line was established was an insane German. He had just drawn his ration, and was returning with it, when he dropped his bread, which rolled inside of this line. He was in the act of stooping under the line to pick it up, when, one of the guards seeing him, he shot him, killing him instantly. At the junction where the creek ran through this line of death the railing was broken down. The prisoners used to congregate there in large numbers to get water, as it was clearer there than at any other place on the stream, and there many a poor creature suffered death, by being accidently crowded over the line by his comrades, unintentionally, in their eagerness to get pure water. The prisoners had also dug a number of wells inside the stockade, and one of these was near the line; and here also many a pooriellow paid the penalty of death by be- ing unfortunate in reaching over or getting too near this line. . None but fiends could be guilty of such brutality. The Stocks. — These instruments of torture, it ap- pears, were situated between the stockade and Wirz's headquarters, and were composed of thick boards or planks, two of which were placed upright with an- other across the top of them, in which was made a hole large enough for a man's head to protrude. "When a prisoner was brought out to be put in the stocks, if he happened to have a hat on, it was taken away by the guards, and his head thrusted through this hole, ANDERSONVILLE PRISON. 319 with his face turned towards the sun; and, thus secured, the arms of the victim would then be streched out to their utmost extent, and placed in holes made in the up- rights for that purpose, and there fastened. In most in- stances the feet of the poor sufferer would scarcely touch the ground, and in this position he would be kept all day long. Food would generally be withheld from them while they were in the stocks, thus hasten- ing death. Some who had constitutions like iron would live through it. It is known that this incarna- ted devil (Wirz) has kept men in these accursed things for two and three days at a time, and very often they would become senseless, and remain in this condition a long-time before they were taken out; and often they would not be taken out until they were quite dead. The faces of those who died in the stocks were quite black, as if they had been strangled or choked to death. There were as high as eight men in these stocks at one time. It did not matter whether it was raining or not, the victim's face would be turned up- wards. A great many of the poor sufferers, after they were taken out of the stocks, would linger for a short time and die from the effects of it. The stocks designated as the spread-eagle stocks, were constructed on the same plan as the others, only with an addition of holes for the feet of the prisoner; his arms and feet would be stretch to their utmost extension, and then fastened. These stocks would hold two persons. There was still another mode of stock torture. These I designate as the feet stocks, and were constructed of plankst with holes in them about a foot from the ground. The feet of the prisoner would be placed in these holes and there fastened. Through great exer- 320 ANDERSONVILLE PEISON. tions, the person thu s punished could sit up ; but in most cases they were compelled to lie down, with their backs upon the ground, and their faces exposed to the sun. The person placed in these stocks generally had a ball and chain attached to his arms. Chain Gang. — This mode of torture like the stocks was of a varied nature, there being different gangs, and these varied in numbers. The first, or main gang, con- sisted of twelve or sixteen men, and these were subdi- vided into fours, which were placed in double files or two ranks. Iron collars were fastened on the necks of the men, then a small chain extended from the collar of one man to that of the other, and so on until the whole four were linked together. A chain was then attached to the inner leg of each of the four men, one end of which was secured to a sixty-four pound ball which they were compelled to carry. Then a small ball and chain was attached to the other leg of each man. To complete this net- work of chains a large chain ran between the ranks, extending the entire length of the gang, thus uniting the several subdivis- ions. This chain was secured to the smaller chains which connected the several files. It mattered not whether the prisoners were sick or not they would be put in the gang. There was a case where one poor creature was put in one of these gangs, who was very ill with the chronic diarrhoea, and who was kept there until he was so weak that he could not move; he was then taken out, but a ball and chain was kept on him until he died, which was a few days after he had been taken out of the gang. The second gang was composed of about five men, who were chained to a large ball and kept standing in the sun. At times one man would be chained to a ANDERSONVILLE PRISON. 321 hundred pound ball. The men were kept in the chain gang from twenty-five to thirty days, being liberated one hour out of every five, so that they could endure the torture the longer. When the men were sentenced to the chain gang they were taken to the blacksmith's shop, where col- lars and shackles would be riveted on them. This damnable torture was in full operation until General Stoneman made his raid toward Andersonville, then Wirz, through fear, broke it up. Thumb Torture. — This mode of torture was as fol- lows : The prisoner's hands were placed together, and a stout cord tied tightly around their thumbs, then their arms would be raised as high above their heads as they could reach, the cord thrown across the limb of a tree or post, erected for that purpose, in this manner the victim would be drawn up until he was compelled to stand on his tip-toes, and they barely touching the ground, and would be kept in this posi- tion for a long time with nothing to lean against. The poor sufferer when cut down would drop down on the ground entirely exhausted ; after being released ho could not use his hands for months, they being much swollen. Bucking. — This punishment was inflicted in the following manner: The prisoner's wrists would be tied together with a stout cord; they were then obliged to sit down and bend over in order to thrust the knees between the arms, a stick was then put over their arms and under their knees, and in this position they were compelled to sit. The effects of this torture upon the persons thus punished was terrible ; their limbs would become perfectly paralyzed, and remain so for some days. 322 ANDERSONVILLE PRISON. Gagging. — This torture was inflicted as follows : The prisoner's arms would be tied behind their backs with a cord secured around their elbows, and drawn as tightly together as possible, without absolutely breaking their limbs, so that the sufferers could not reach their months with their hands; then they would be compelled to open their mouths, a and bayonet or a strong stick (the bayonet is generally used) would be inserted between their teeth. A cord was then fastened to one end of the bayonet or stick, and run around the back of the head, and generally drawn so tight that it compelled the victim to keep his mouth wide open, causing him the most excruciating pains. While enduring this torture the victim's tongue would be- come so swollen that when let loose he would not be able to 'speak for many days. In many instances the prisoners would be bucked and gagged at the same time, thereby the torture became almost unindurable. Vaccination. — This torture was one of the most damnable of tortures that fiends could devise. As the process of vaccination is known to almost every per- son it is useless to explain it here. Suffer me to say that all the prisoners were ordered by Wirz to endure this torture. If any of the prisoners refused they were immediately put into the stocks or chain gang, and kept there until they consented to submit to un- dergo the process of vaccination. It is well known that the art of vaccination has in all preceding ages been used for a blessing to mankind, but in this case the villain used the rankest of poison, thus reversing this humanly intended purpose, making it a curse, and causing the most excruciating tortures. The surgeons would congregate together in the evening and exult over the number of prisoners that Private CHARLES R. WOODWORTII, Company G, 8th Michigan Cavalry, Admitted from Flag-of-truce boat, April 18th, 1864.— West's Building Hospital, Baltimore, Md. 51 ANDELSONVILLE PRISON. 323 each had poisoned during the day by vaccination, say- ing that the}' had been ordered by Wirz to do it, and they were in for killing or disabling as many of the d d Yankees as possible. This vaccination pro- duced different results ; on some it would create sores (such as are produced by the disease itself) on their bodies and under their arms as large as a man's hand. On others the flesh would rot all round the place where the vaccine was inserted, gangreen would very often set in, and then the arm of the prisoner would have to be amputated. Vincent Halley, of the 7 2d New York volunteers, saw, at one time, one hundred and fifty cases where gangreen had set in ; he remarks, that the sores on their bodies were awful to behold. Samuel Andrews, saw men who had become insane from the effects of vaccination, and would wander around, suffering the most intense agony until they fell down and -died. Wirz visited the grave-yard one day with some visiting surgeons, who examined the bodies of some of the men who had been brought out to the grave 1 yard that day, by cutting their heads open,