r<V42r 
 
 .1X5 
 
37t(i CoMiUESS, ) SENATE. j Rep. Com. 
 
 "-^ -Session. \ 
 
 ( Rep. Com 
 i No. 41. 
 
 E 468 
 .9 
 .U5 
 Copy 1 
 
 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 May 1, 1S62. — Resolved, That there be printed, iu addition to the usual number, for the 
 use of the Senate, lift}' thousand copies of the report of the joint committee on the con- 
 duct of the present war, without the documents. 
 
 Mr. Wade submitted tLe following 
 
 llEPOr.T. 
 
 The joint committee on tJie conduct (yf tlic j^rcsent rear hcg leave renfectfully to 
 submit a rcjwrt, in part, as follows : 
 
 Oil the 1st (lay of April the Senate of the United States adopted the follow- 
 ing resolution ; which was refeiTcd to the committee ou the conduct of the war : 
 
 Resolved, That the select committee on the conduct of the war be directed to collect the 
 evidence with regard to tlie barbarous treatment by the rebels, at Manassas, of the remains 
 of officers and soldiers of the United States killed in battle there ; and that the said select 
 committee also inquire into the fact whether the [ndian savages have been employed by 
 the rebels, in their milit;iry service, against the government of the United States, and how 
 Kuch warfare has been conducted by said savages. 
 
 In pursuance of the instructions contained in this resolution, your committee 
 have the honor to report that they examined a number of witnesses, whose testi- 
 mony is herewith submitted. 
 
 Mr, Nathaniel F. Parker, who was captured at Falling Waters, Virginia, tcs- 
 tilics that he was kept in close confinement, denied exercise, and, with a number 
 of others, huddled uj) in a room ; that their food, generally scant, was always 
 bad, and sometimes nauseous ; that the wounded had neither medical attention 
 nor humane treatment, and that many of these latter died from sheer neglect ; 
 that five of the prisoners were shot by the sentries outside, and that he saw one 
 man, Tibbitts, of the New York 27th regiment, shot as he was passing his window 
 on the 8th of November, and that he died of the Avound on the 12th. The perpe- 
 trator of this foul murder was subsef|uently promoted by the rebel government. 
 
 Dr. J. M. Homiston, surgeon of the 14th New York, or Brooklyn regiment, 
 captured at Bull Run, testifies that Avhen he solicited permission to remain on 
 th(; field and to attend to wounded men, some of whom were in a helpless and 
 painful condition and sufi'cring for water, he was brutally refused. They offered 
 him neither water nor anything in the shape of food. He and his companions 
 stood in the streets of Manassas, surrounded by a threatening and boisterous 
 crowd, and were afterwards thrust into an old building, and left, without suste- 
 nance or covering, to sleep on the bare floor. It was only when faint and ex- 
 hausted, iu response to their earnest petitions, they having been without food 
 for 24 hours, that some cold bacon was grudgingly given to them. When, at 
 last, they were permitted to go to the relief of our wounded, the secession sur- 
 geon would not allow them to perform operations, but intrusted the wounded to 
 Iiis young assistants, " some of them with no more knowledge of what they 
 
(.^ 
 
 2 BARBARITIES OF THE REBELS AT MANASSAS. 
 
 attempted to do than an apothecary's clerk;" {yid furtlier, "that these inexpe- 
 rienced surgeons pertbrnied operations upon our men in a most horrible manner; 
 some of them were absolutely irio-htful." " When," he adds, " I asked Doctor 
 Darby to allow me to amputate the leg of Corporal Prescott, of our regiment, 
 and said that the man must die if it were not done, he told me that I should be 
 allowed to do it." AVhile Doctor Ilomiston was waiting, he says a secessionist 
 came through the room and said, " They arc operating upon one of the Yankee's 
 legs up stairs." " 1 went up and found that they had cut off Prescott's leg. 
 The assistants were pulling on the Hesh at each side, trying to get flap cnougli 
 to cover the bone. Thoy had sawed off the bone without leaving any of the 
 flesh to form the flaps to cover it ; and with all the force they could use they 
 could not get flap enough to cover the bone. They Avcre then obliged to saw 
 off about an inch more of the bone, and even then, when they came to put in 
 the sutures (the stitches) they could not approximate the edges within less than 
 an inch and a half of each other ; of course, as soon as there was any swelling, 
 the stitches tore out and the bone stuck through again. Doctor Swalm tried 
 afterwards to remedy it by peifonning another operation, but Prescott had be- 
 come so debilitated that he did not survive." Corporal Prescott was a young 
 man of high position, and had received a very liberal education. 
 
 The same witness describes the sufferings of the wounded after the battle as 
 inconceivably horrible — with bad food, no covering, no water. They were lying 
 upon the floor as thickly as they could be laid. '• There was not a particle of 
 light in the house to enable us to move among them." Deaf to all his appeals, 
 they continued to refuse water to these suffering men, and he Avas only enabled 
 to procure it by setting cups under the eaves to catch the rain that was frilling, 
 and in this way he spent the night catching the water and conveying it to the 
 wounded to drink. As there was no light, he was obliged to crawl on his hands 
 and knees to avoid stepping on their wounded limbs ; and he adds, " It is not 
 a wonder that next morning we found that several had died during the night." 
 The young surgeons, who seemed to delight in hacking and butchering these 
 brave defenders of our country's flag, were not, it would seem, permitted to 
 perform any operations upon the rebel wounded. " Some of our wounded," 
 says this witness, "were left lying upon the battle field until Tuesday night and 
 Wednesday morning. When brought in, their Avounds were completely alive 
 Avith larvaj deposited there by the flies, having laid out through all the rain 
 storm of Monday, and the hot, sultry sunshine of Tuesday." The dead laid 
 upon the field uuburied for five days ; and this included men not only of his 
 OAvn, the 14th regiment, but of other regiments. This Avitness testifies that the 
 rebel dead Avere carried off and interred decently. In ansAver to a question 
 Avhether the confederates themselves Avere not also destitute of medicines, he 
 replied, " They could not have been, for they took all ours, even to our surgical 
 instruments." Ho receiA-ed none of the attention from the surgeons on the 
 other side, "Avhich," to use his oavu language, "I should have shown to them 
 had our position been rcA-ersed." 
 
 The testimony of William F. SAvalm, assistant surgeon of the 14th New York 
 regiment, Avho Avas taken prisoner at Dudley's church, confirms the statement of 
 Dr. Ilomiston in regard to the brutal operations on Corporal Prescott. lie also 
 states that after he himself had been removed to Richmond, Avhen seated one 
 day with his feet on the Avindow-sill, the sentry outside called to him to take 
 them m, and on looking out he saAv the sentry Avith his musket cocked and 
 pomted at him, and withdrew in time to save his life. He gives evidence of 
 the careless, heartless, and cruel manner in Avhich the surgeons operated upon 
 our men. Previous to leaving for llichmoud, and ten or twelve days after ihe 
 battle, he saw some of the Union soldiers uuburied on the field, and entirely 
 naked. Walking around were a great many Avomen, gloating over the horrid sight, 
 ihe case of Dr, Ferguson, of one of the New York regiments, is mentioned 
 
BARBARITIES OF THE REBE8LS AT MANASSAS. 3 
 
 by Dr. Swalm. " When getting into lu's ambuljinco to look after his own 
 wounded ho was tired upon by tlic rebels. When he told them who he wag, 
 they said they would take a parting shot at him, which they did, wounding him 
 in the leg. lie had his boots on, and his spurs on his boots, and as they drove 
 alon^ his spurs would catch in the tail-board of the ambulance, causing him to 
 shriek with agony." An ofliccr rode up, and, placing his pistol to his head, 
 threatened to shoot him if he continued to scream. This was on Sunday, the 
 day of the battle. ^ 
 
 One of the most important witnesses was General James B. Ricketts, well 
 known in Washington and throughout the country, lately promoted for his 
 daring and self-sacrificing courage. After having been wounded iii the battle of 
 UuUlam, he was captured, and as he lay helpless on his back, a party of rebels 
 
 passing him cried out, " Knock out his brains, the d d Yankee." He met 
 
 General Beauregard, an old acquaintance, only a year his senior at the United 
 btates Military Academy, where both were educated. He had met the rebel 
 general in the south a number of times. By this head of the rebel army, on 
 the day after the battle, he was told that his (General Ilicketts's) treatment 
 would depend upon the treatment extended to the rebel privateers. His iirst 
 lieutenant, Ramsey, who was killed, was stripped of every article of his cloth- 
 mg but his socks, and left naked on the field. He testified that those of our 
 wounded who died in Richmond were buried in the negro burying-groMiid among 
 the negroes, and were put into the earth in the most unteeling manner The 
 statement of other witnesses as to how the prisoners were treated is fully con- 
 firmed by General Ricketts. He himself, while in prison, subsisted mainly 
 upon what he purchased with his own money, the money brought to him by his 
 wite. " W c had,'' he says, " what they called bacon soup— s.nip made of boiled 
 bacon, the bacon being a little rancid— which you could not possibly eat ; and 
 that for a man whose system was being drained by a wound is no diet at all." 
 In reply to a question whether he had heard anything about our prisoners being 
 shot by the rebel sentries, he answered : " Yes, a number of our men were shot. 
 In one instance two were shot ; one was killed, and the other wounded, by a 
 man who rested his gun on the window-sill while he capped it." 
 
 General Ricketts, in reference to his having been held as one of the hosta"-eg 
 for tlic privateers, states : "I considered it^bad treatment to be selected al a 
 hostage for a privateer, when I was so lame that I could not walk, and while 
 my wounds were still open and unhealed. At this time General Winder came 
 to see me. He had been a officer in my regiment ; I had known him for twenty 
 odd years. It was on the 9th of November that he came to see me. He saw 
 that my wounds were still unhealed ; he saw my condition ; but that very day 
 he received an order to select hostages for the privateers, and, notwithstanding 
 he knew my condition, the next day, Sunday, the' 10th of November, I was 
 selected as one of the hostages." " I heard," he continues, " of a great many 
 of our prisoners who had been bayonetted and shot. I saw three of them— 
 t^vo that had been bayonetted and one of them shot. One was named Louis 
 ±rancis, of the New York 14th. He had received fourteen bayonet wounds- 
 one through his privates— and he had one wound very much like mine, on the 
 knee, in consequence of which his leg was amputated after twelve weeks had 
 passed; and I would state liei-e that in regard to his case, when it was deter- 
 mined to amputate his leg, I heard Dr. Peachy, the rebel surgeon, remark to 
 one his young assistants, 'I won't be greedy; you may do it;' and the young 
 man tlid it. 1 saw a number in my room, many of whom had been badly am- 
 putated. The flaps over the stump were drawn too tight, and in some the bones 
 protruded A man by the name of Prescott (the same referr(>d to in th(^ t(^sti- 
 mony of Surgeon Homiston) was amputated twice, and was then, I think 
 moved to Richmond before the taps were healed— Prescott died under this 
 treatment. I heard a rebel doctor on the steps below my room say, ' that he 
 
4 BARBARITIES OF THE REBELS AT MANASSAS. 
 
 wislied he coulfl tnke out tlie hearts of the d d Yankees as easily as he 
 
 could take off their k\irs.' Some of the southern gentlemen treated me very 
 haudsotncly. Wade Hampton, who Avas opposed to my battery, came to see 
 me and behaved like a generous enemy." 
 
 It appears, as a part of the history of this rebellion, that General Eicketts 
 was visited by his wife, who, having first heard that he was killed in battle, 
 afterwards that he was alive but wounded, travelled under great difficulties to 
 Manassas to sec her husband. He says: " She had almost to fight her way 
 through, but succeeded finally in reaching me on the fourth day after the battle. 
 There were eight persons in the Lewis House, at ]\Ianassas, in the room where 
 I lay, and my wife, for two weeks, slept in that room ou the floor by my side, 
 without a bed. When we got to Richmond there were six of us in a room, 
 among them Colonel Wilcox, who remained with us until he was taken to 
 Charleston. There we were all in one room. There was no door to it. It was 
 much as it would be here if yoii should take oflt' the doors of this committee 
 room, and then fill the passage with wounded soldiers. In the hot summer 
 months the stench from their wounds, and from the utensils they used, was 
 fearful. There was no privacy at all, because there being no door the room 
 could not be closed. We were thei'c as a common show. Colonel Wilcox and 
 myself were objects of interest, and Avere gazed upon as if v/e were a couple of 
 savages. The people would come in there and say all sorts of things to us and 
 about lis, until I was obliged to tell them that I Avas a prisoner and had nothing 
 to say. On our way to Richmond, when we reached Gordonsville, many women 
 crowded around the cars, and asked my wife if she cooked? if she washed? 
 how she got there? Finally, Mrs, Ricketts appealed to the officer in charge, 
 and told him that it was not the intention that we should be subjected to this 
 treatment, and if it was continued she would make it knoAvu to the authorities. 
 General Johnson took my wife's carriage and horses at Llanassas, kept them, 
 and has them yet for aught I know. AVhen I got to Richmond I spoke to sev- 
 eral gentlemen about this, and so did Mrs. Ricketts. They said, of course, the 
 can'iage and horses should be returned, but they never were. " There is one 
 debt," says tin,? g;dlant soldier, "that I desire very much to pay, and nothing 
 troubles me so much now as the fact that my wounds prevent me from entering 
 upon active service at once." 
 
 The case of Louis Francis, who Avas terribly Avounded and maltreated, and 
 lost a leg, is referred to by General Ricketts ; but the testimony of Francis him- 
 self is startling. He was a private in the Ncav York 14th regiment. He says: 
 *' I was attacked by two rebel soldiers, and Avounded in the right knee Avith the 
 bayonet. As 1 lay on the sod they kept bayonetting me until I receiA^ed fourteen 
 Avouuds. One then left me, the other remaining over me, Avhen a Union soldier 
 coming up, shot him in the breast, and he fell dead. I lay on the ground until 
 10 o'clock next day. I Avas then remoA'ed in a AA-agon to a building ; my wounds 
 examined and partially dressed. On the Saturday fdloAving Ave AAcre carried to 
 Manassas, and from there to the general hospital at Richmond. My leg luiA-ing 
 partially mortified, I consented that it should be amputated, Avhich operation 
 was performed by a young man. I insisted that they should allow Dr. Swalm 
 to be present, for I AA'anted one Union man there if I died under the operation. 
 The stitches and the band slipped from neglect, and the bone protruded ; and 
 about two weeks after another (operation AA^as performed, at Avhich time another 
 piece of the thigh bone Avas sawed off. Six weeks after the amputation, and 
 before it healed, 1 was remoA'cd to the tobacco factory." 
 
 Two operations Avere subsequently porformed ou Francis — one at Fortress 
 Monroe, and one at Brooklyn, Ncav York — after his release from captivity. 
 
 Revolting as these disclosures are, it was when the committee came to examine 
 witnesses in reference to the treatment of our heroic dead that the fiendish spirit 
 of the rebel leaders Avas most prominently exhibited. Daniel Bixby, jr., of 
 
BARBARITIES OF THE REBELS AT MANASSAS. 5 
 
 Wa-sliiugton, testifies that he went out in company with Mr. G. A, Smart, of 
 Cambridge, Massachusetts, who went to search for the body of his brother, who 
 fell at Blackburn's Ford in the action of the 18th of July, They found the grave. 
 The clothes were identified as those of his brother on account of some peculiarity 
 in the make, for they had been made by his mother; and, in order to identify 
 them, other clothes made by her were taken, that they might compare them. 
 " We found no head in the grave, and no bones of any kind — nothing but the 
 clothes and portions of the ilesh. We found the remains of three other bodies all 
 together. The clothes were there ; some flesh was left, but no bones." The 
 witness also states that Mrs. Pierce Butler, who lives near the place, said that 
 she had seen the rebels boiling portions of the bodies of our dead in order to 
 obtain their bones as relics. They could not wait for them to decay. She said 
 that she had seen drumsticks made of " Yankee shinbones," as they called them. 
 Mrs. Butler also stated that she had seen a skull that one of the New Orleans 
 artillery had, which, he said, he was going to send home and have mounted, and 
 that he intended to drink a brandy punch out of it the day he was married. 
 
 Frederick Scholes, of the city of Brooklyn, New York, testified that he pro- 
 ceeded to the battle field of Bull Run on the fourth of this month (April) to find 
 the place where he supposed his -brother's body was buried. Mr. Scholes, who 
 is a man of unquestioned character, by his testimony fully confirms the state- 
 ments of other witnesses. He met a free negro, named Simon or Simons, who 
 stated that it was a common thing for the rebel soldiei'S to exhibit the bones of 
 the Yankees. " I found," he says, " in the bushes in the neighborhood, a part 
 of a Zouave uniform, with the sleeve sticking out of the grave, and a portion of 
 the pantaloons. Attempting to pull it up, I saw the two ends of the grave were 
 still unopened, but the middle had been prised up, pulling up the extremities of 
 the uniform at some places, the sleeves of the shirt in another, and a portion of 
 the pantaloons. Dr. Swalm (one of the surgeons, whose testimony has already 
 been referred to) pointed out the trenches where the secessionists had buried 
 their own dead, and, on examination, it appeared that their remains had not 
 been disturbed at all. Mr. Scholes met a free negro, named Hampton, who 
 resided near the place, and when he told him the manner in which these bodies 
 had been dug up, he said he knew it had been done, and added that the rebels 
 had commenced digging bodies two or three days after they were buried, for the 
 purpose, at first, of obtaining the buttons off their uniforms, and that afterwards 
 they disinterred them to get their bones. He said they had taken rails and 
 pushed the ends down in the centre under the middle of the bodies, and pried 
 them up. The information of the negroes of Benjamin Franklin Lewis cor- 
 roborated fully the statement of this man Hampton. They said that a good 
 many of the bodies had been stripped naked on the field before they were buried, 
 and that some were buried naked. I went to Mr. Lewis's house and spoke to 
 him of the manner in Avhich these bodies had been disinterred. He admitted 
 that it was infamous, and condemned principally the Louisiana Tigers, of General 
 Wheat's division. He admitted that our wounded had been very badly treated." 
 In confirmation of the testimony of Dr. Swalm and Dr. Homiston, this witness 
 avers that Mr. Lewis mentioned a number of instances of men who had been 
 murdered by bad surgical treatment. Mr. Lewis was afraid that a pestilence 
 would break out in consequence of the dead being left unburied, and stated that 
 he had gone and warned the neighborhood and had the dead buried, sending his 
 own men to assist in doing so. " On Sunday morning (yesterday) I went out 
 in search of my brother's grave. We found the trench, and dug for the bodies 
 below. They were eighteen inches to two feet below the surface, and had been 
 hustled in in any way. In one end of the trench we found, not more than two or 
 three inches below the surface, the thigh bone of a man which had evidently 
 been dug up after the burial. At the other end of the trench we found the shin- 
 bone of a man, which had been struck by a musket ball and split. The bodies 
 
6 BARBARITIES OF THE REBELS AT MANASSAS. 
 
 at the ends had been pried up. While digging there, a party of soldiers came 
 along and showed us a part of a shinbone, live or six inches long, which had the 
 end sawed off. They said that they had found it among other pieces in one of 
 the cabins the rebels had deserted. From the appearant^i of it, pieces liad been 
 sawed off to make finger rings. As soon as the negroes noticed this, they said 
 that the rebels had had rings made of the bones of our dead, and that they had them 
 lor sale in their camps. When Dr. Swalm saw the bone he said it was a part of 
 the shinbone of a man. The soldiers represented that there were lots of these 
 bones scattered through the rebel huts sawed into rings," &c. Mr. Lewis and 
 his negroes all spoke of Colonel James Cameron's body, and knew that " it had 
 been stripped, and iilso where it had been buried." Mr. Scholes, in answer to 
 a question of one of the committee, described the different treatment extended to 
 the Union soldiers and the rebel dead. The latter had little head-boards placed 
 at the head of their respective graves and marked; none of them had the appear- 
 ance of having been disturbed. 
 
 The evidence of that distinguished and patriotic citizen, Hon. William Sprao-ue, 
 governor of the State of JUiode l.^land, confirms and fortifies some of the most 
 revolting statements of former witnesses. His object in visiting the battle field 
 w\ns to recover the bodies of Colonel Slocum »and Major Ballon, of the Rhode 
 Island regiment. He took out with him several of his own men to identify thev 
 graves. On reaching the place he states that " we commenced digging for the 
 bodies of Colonel Slocum and Major IJallou at the spot pointed out to us by 
 these men who had been in the action. While digging, some negro women 
 came up and asked whom Ave were looking for, and at the same time said that 
 'Colonel Slogun ' had been dug up by the rebels, by some men of a Georgia 
 regiment, his head cut oft', and his body taken to a ravine thirty or forty yards 
 below, and there burned. We stopped digging and went to the spot designated, 
 Avhere we found coals and ashes and bones mingled together. A little distance 
 from there we found a shirt (still buttoned at the neck) and blanket with lar^^e 
 quantities of hair upon it, everything indicating the burning of a body there. 
 W^e returned and dug down at the spot indicated as the grave of Major Ballou, 
 but found no body there ; but at the place pointed out as the grave where 
 Colonel Slocum was buried we found a box, which, upon being raised and 
 opened, was found to contain the body of Colonel Slocum. Tho%oldiers who 
 had buried the two bodies were satisfied that the grave had been opened ; the 
 body taken out, beheaded, and burned, Avas that of jMajor Ballou, because it 
 was not in the spot where Colonel Slocum was buried, but rather to the rio-ht of' 
 it. They at once said that the rebels had made a mistake, and had taken the 
 Lody of Major Ballou for that of Colonel Slocum. The shirt found near the 
 place where the body was burned I recognized as one belonging to Major Bal- 
 lou, as I had been very intimate witli him. We gathered up the ashes contain- 
 ing the portion of his remains that were left, and put them in a cofiin together 
 Avuh his shn-t and the blanket with the hair left upon it. After we had done this 
 we went to that portion of the field Avhere the battle had first commenced, and 
 began to dig for the remains. of Captain' Tower. We brought a soldier with us 
 to designate the place where he was buried. He had been wounded in the 
 battle, and had seen from the window of the house where the captain was 
 interred. On opening the ditch or trench we found it filled with soldiers, all 
 buried with their fiices downward. On taking up some four or five we discov- 
 ered the remains of Captain Tower, mingled with (hose of the men. We took 
 them, placed them in a coffin, and brought them home." 
 
 In reply to a question of a member of the committ(>e as to Avhether he was 
 satisfied that they were buried intentionally with their taces dowuAvard, GoA-eruor 
 Spraguc's ansAver Avas, " Undoubtedly ! Beyond all controversy!" and that " it 
 was done as a mark of indignity." In answer to another question as to what 
 their object could have been, especially in regard to the body of Colonel Slo- 
 
BARBARITIES OF THE REBELS AT MANASSAS. 7 
 
 cum, he replied : "Sheer hrntality, and nothing else. They aid it on nccomit 
 ot his courage and cliivahy in forcing- his regiment fearlessly and bravely upon 
 them lie destroyed about one-half of that Georgia regiment, which was made 
 up of their best citizens." When tlie inquiry was put whether he thou-ht 
 these barbarities were committed by that regiment, he responded, "by that same 
 regiment, as I was told." While their own deid were buried with marble head 
 and foot stones, and names upon them, ours were buried, as I have stated, in 
 trenches. This eminent witness concludes his testimony as follows : " I have 
 published an order to my second regiment, to which these officers were attached, 
 that 1 shall not be satisfied with what they shall do unless they give an account 
 ot one rebel killed for each one of their own number." 
 
 The members of your committee might content themselves by leavin"- this 
 testimony to the Senate and the people without a word of comment ; but'^when 
 the enemies of a just and generous government are attempting to excite the 
 sympathy of disloyal men in our own country, and to solicit the aid of fbrei-n 
 governments by the grossest misrepresentations of the objects of the war, and 
 of the ponduct of the officers and soldiers of the republic, this, the most start- 
 ling evidence of their insincerity and inhumanity, deserves some notice at our 
 hands History will be examined in vain for a parallel to this rebellion ao-ainst 
 a good government. Long prepared for by ambitious men, who were made 
 doubly confident of success by the aid and counsel of former administrations, 
 and by the belief that their plans were unobserved by a magnanimous people 
 they precipitated the war (at a moment when the general administration had 
 just been changed) under circum'^tances of astounding perfidy. Without a 
 single reasonable ground of complaint, and in the face of repeated manifestations 
 ot moderation and peace on the part of the President and his friends, they took 
 up arms and declared that they would never surrender until their rebellion had 
 been recognized, or the institutions established by our fathers had been 
 destroyed. The people of the loyal States, at last convinced that they could 
 preserve their liberties only by an appeal to the God of battles, rushed to the 
 standard of the republic, in response to the call of the Chief Magistrate. 
 
 Every step of this monstrous treason has been marked by violence and crime. 
 No transgression has been too great, no wrong too startling, for its leaders 
 Ihey disregarded the sanctity of tlic oaths they had taken to'support the Con- 
 stitution; they repudiated all their obligations to the people of the free States- 
 they deceived and betrayed their own fellow-citizens, 'and crowded their armies 
 with forced levies ; they drove from their midst all who would not yield to their 
 despotism, or filled their prisons with men who would not enlist under their fla"- 
 They have now crowned the rebellion by the perpetration of deeds scarcely 
 known even to savage warftire. The investigations .of your committee have 
 established this fact beyond controversy. The witnesses called before us were 
 men of undoubted v(!raci'ty and character. Some of them occupy high positions 
 m the army, and others high positions in civil life. Differing in political senti- 
 ments, their evidence presents a remarkable concurrence of opinion and of Jud"-- 
 ment. Our fellow countrymen, heretofore sufficiently impressed by the generosity 
 and forbearance of the government of the United States, and by the tarbaroiis 
 character of the crusade against it, will be shocked by the statements of these 
 unimpeached and unimpeachable witnesses ; and foreign nations must, with one 
 accord, however they have hesitated heretofore, consign to lasting odium the 
 authors of crimes Avhich, in all their details, exceed the worst excesses of the 
 sepoys of India. 
 
 Inhumanity to the living has been the leading trait of the rebel leaders ; but 
 it was reserved for your committee to disclose as a concerted system tlujir insults 
 to the wounded, and their mutilation and desecration of the gallant dead. Our 
 soldiers taken prisoners in honorable battle have been subjected to the most 
 shameful treatment. All the considerations that inspire cliivalric emotion and 
 
8 BARBARITIES OF THE REBELS AT MANASSAS. 
 
 e-euerous consideration for brave men liavc been disregarded. It is almost 
 beyond belief that the men fighting in such a cause as ours, and sustamed by a 
 government which in the midst of violence and treachery has given repeated 
 evidences of its indulgence, should have been subjected to treatment never before 
 resorted to by one foreign nation in a conflict with another. 
 
 All the courtesies of professional and civil life seem to have been discarded. 
 General Beauregard himself, who on a very recent occasion boasted that he had 
 been controlled by humane feelings after the battle of Bull Run, coolly proposed 
 to hold General Kickctts as a hostage for one of the murderous privateers, and 
 the rebel surgeons disdained intercourse and communication with our own sur- 
 geons taken in honorable battle. 
 
 The outrages upon the dead will revive the recollections of the cruelties to 
 which savao-e tribes subject their prisoners. They were buried in many cases 
 naked, with theii- faces downward ; they were left to decay in the open an: ; 
 their bones were carried ofi" as trophies, sometimes, as the testimony proves, to 
 be used as personal adornments, and one witness deliberately avers that the head 
 of one of our most gallant officers was cut oif by a secessionist to be turned into 
 a drinking cup on the occasion of his marriage. IMonstrous as this revelation 
 may appear to be, your committee have been informed that during the last two 
 weeks the skull of a Union soldier has been exhibited in the office of the Ser- 
 geant-at-arms of the House of Representatives, which had been converted to 
 such a purpose, and which had been found on the person of one of the rebel 
 prisoners taken in a recent conflict. The testimony of Governor Sprague, of 
 Rhode Island, is most interesting. It confinns the worst reports against the 
 rebel soldiers, and conclusively proves that the body of one of the bravest 
 officers in the volunteer service was burned. He does not hesitate to add that this 
 hyena desecration of the honored corpse was because the rebels believed it to be 
 the body of Colonel Slocum, against whom they were infuriated for having dis- 
 played so much courage and chivalry in forcing his regiment feariessly and 
 
 bravely upon them. , , i , • • i 
 
 These disclosures establishing, as they incontestably do, the consistent inhu- 
 manity of the rebel leaders, will be read with sorrow and indignation by the 
 people of the loyal States. They should inspire these people to renewed exer- 
 tions to protect our country from the restoration to power of such men. They 
 should, and we believe they will, arouse the disgust and horror of foreign na- 
 tions against this unholy rebellion. Let it be ours to furnish, nevertheless, a 
 contras't to such barbarities and crimes. Let us persevere in the good work of 
 maintaining the authority of the Constitution, and of refusing to imitate the 
 monstrous practices we have been called upon to investigate. 
 
 Your committee beg to say, in conclusion, that they have not yet been enabled 
 to gather testimony iu regard to the additional inquiry suggested by the resolu- 
 tion of the Senate, whether Indian savages have been employed by the rebels in 
 military service against the government of the United States, and how such 
 warfare has been conducted by said savages, but that they have taken proper 
 
 fjteps to attend to this important duty. . 
 
 ^ B. F. WADE, Chairman. 
 
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