The New York herald., 1862-01-18
Prisoner of war.
Care OF Gen. Winder,
Richmond Va,


Ave cent piece be enclosed in each letter to pay
JED Davis postage Letters &C., must remain open for
examination each letter must not contain more than
soper to whom letter s has gone further South
such letter will be forwarded to his new address ~
authorities In kshmond though r'poang ana ~ os.
nothing but United States money IN payment OF let
ters to Union prisoners. No shinpasters @e re-
ing Of good taste the part Of tbs. rebels.
Specie has almost disappeared from general rrcuaton
God worth twenty five to y cent?
ing the that may be received froY England and
United States Treasury notes se yecrety TO mer.
chants at premium of from ten TO nfveen per cent All
articles OF uxary, and even Of necessy except flour
and beef, exceedingly scarce Coffee sells at 81 per
pound butter, s0c hams, 2sc 70 SOC. Stationery OF
yery inferior quality is increased 200 per cent in price,
and at that Envelopes scarce that they
sonetimes extemporizsd with a pair Of scissors
Boots ard shoes selling at from 81 to $18 pair.
Confederate uniform coats cost $50 each, and a
whole suit is cheap at 500. Gold lace cannot be
for trimmings for officers uniforms Yellow braid has TO
be instead. Army blankets Of inferior quality sell
eight dollars the pair. Labor is at very high pre-
MUM The rebels destitute Of mechanics, and al
most all their engineers and machniss loyal Union
Mr. Gillette gives specimen OF shinplaster for
twenty cents payable by S. r. Cock at the othce Basin
Bank Richmond, Va, when presented in gums Of five
dollars But the paper is SO worthless that it camot
last until five dollars worth accumulated by any
Individual and nobody thinks Of accumuating five dol
lars worth under any circumstances and above all as
there Is specie TO redeem, these shnplasters
NAV be considered altogether frredsemable They
issued in sums varying from 1--WE cents to
dollar by corporations and by individuals An effort
made prevent individuals from issuing them, but
there other Of making change it fell to the
ground The Yankee prisoners contrive TO initiate these
shnplasters, and their work artistic than
that Of the genuine article the ignorant portion Of the
community preferred them to the others. This shows
that Yankees great In other things besides wooden
nutmegs and ditto hams.
The prisoners continually devisng new modes Of
raising the wind Among the more legitimate methods
the manufacture Of rings and other trnkes made
from the bones of the beef furnished them for
Our informant showed q neat specimen. In
fact, they manufactured almost everything essen
70: aIS
from the material found the premises. They put
together the tobacco presses that had been taken apart
packages, @ Stamped WIFE Yankee brands The hardest
substances were wrought By knives and rude hammers
tool with the Yankee passion for whitting its
very natural to them Some Of the men took 10 tailor
making cotnng from ne ana M od ~ enter enss
considerably the worse for wear and by the aid Of pegs
whittsd with knife, made them into q serviceable
par of shoes for himself. Our informant says
that ihe Union sentiment Il the increase and s
strong that if Virginia was not occupied by an i'm
rebel army the great body Of the people would at
once declare the tnon He says that they are now
beginning the Of their ways, and evi
dence he instances the revuision Of feeling in the popular
mind towards the prisoners When they first arrived
the populace had sympathy for them, and II any
individuals had dared to manifest Chris
tian feeling toward them, their property would have
been destroyed and their houses burnt their
heads. Now, however, Unionists begin TO be .
little Dolder, ana can care 10 express sympathy
for the prisoners, and TO send to them
articles OF comfort The rebel authority is maintained
in Virginia only by the rigorous military rule and
by thorough system Of espionage The reign of terr
universal and people are afraid TO utter their true
sentiments The government 70 be centred In
man. and that man is JEFF Davis. The prees s eeotuay
muzzled In Richmond II s entirely under the control
Of the War Department, and the newspapers pro-
hibited from publishing matters that have been
public talk for days. Almost eli their news ia cleaned
from the New YORK HERALD and other Northern papers
which they receive regularly through the agency Of
traitors.
Mr.. Gillette does not think much OF the defences Of
Richmond. Tho city is surrounded by earthworks on
three Sides the fourth side being bounded by the James
river. So far as he knows there guns these
works, but when he left the rebels organizing re-
gmen Of home guards for duty at the defences They
to rely their outer works. the lines Of the Poto-
mac in the vicinity Of Fortress Monroe and Western
Virginia In fact he thinks that the whole rebellion may
be crushed by one great victory.
There still 800 loyal Union soldiers in the South
waiting to be released exchanged. Out Of the whole
Of the prisoners taken but fifteen have proved disloyal
Their names were published in the HERALD Of the 9th
inst
Mr.. Gillette will be happy TO furnish, by mail to friends
Of the prisoners any information they may desire con.
cerning them His address is No. 81 West Thirteenth
street, New York.