Some of these letters are directed to Capt. Wirtz, some to Gen. Winder, Jeff Davis and other officers. As dictated by them some would bring tears to a stone. All kinds of stories are narrated and handed to the first rebel who comes within reach. Of course they are never heard from.
Someone has much to answer for.
Among some of the Union prisoners, a bitter hatred developed for the Sec. of War. One prisoner asserted that there were organizations among the POWs at the Andersonville and Macon camps formed to assassinate Sec. Stanton upon their release. When the people of the North began clamoring for their loved ones who were languishing in POW camps to be exchanged, the Lincoln administration responded by accusing the Confederates of being responsible for the collapse of the exchange system. In response to Northern press reports about the atrocities, the Union commander of Rock Island Barracks, a POW camp in Illinois, ordered the rations of his rebel prisoners to be cut.