Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1862-04-04
ALaau Among the ssoe.h


ing interesting account, in that paper, ofa visit
to the rebel prisoners at Camp Douglas
In common with all who could obtain pass
we have paid visit TO the rebels captured at
Fort DonelsOn, who are now held as prisoners
Of war at Camp Douglas. 1t was a compar-
atively mild day for the season, but we found
those who were not crOuching around the stoves
in the barracks shivering in the sum- many OF
them shaking as if with ague For few mo
nents, all our power of selEcontrol could
hardly keep down the laughter that threatened
/ TO sufOcate US, so ludicrous was the spectacle
/ they presented. Such motley company of
tatIerdemalions we have never before witness
ed. The very beggars that infest our back
yards and besiege our kitchen doors, make a
mole respectable appearance. The bats and
caps we're of every material, and Of all styles
imaginable and uninaginable. Butternut
homemade linsey, and Kentucky grey jeans
seemed the prevailing material Of their gar
ments. The coats were of all sorts, fashions,
and sizes, while for overcoats there were bed
blankets, horse-blankets, bed-quilts, quilted
petticoats, bagging fragments of carpet any
thing and everything that could be strapped
on, or wrapped around the shivering Southern
ers- talstafs s ragged regiment would have
TO look to their laurels il presence of the chiv-
airy at Camp Douglas, for more ragged coll
lection of men could not be scared up any
where in ChristendOm. They are d finer look
ing set of men, physically, than the city daily
press has represented them, though they all
have the sallOw complication of the South and
| show less power of endurance than our men.
We found them by DO means indsposed To-
soclality. They were ready and willing to talk,
and everywhere the most amicable discussions
were going on. At one place one of our own
citizens who had just returned from the field at
FOIt Donelson, whittier he had been sent by
the people of Chicago, was narrating some OF
the touching scenes he had just witnessed in
the hospitals, where he had received the mes
sages OF the dying, and eDdeavore5 TO goOthe
the sufferings OF the wounded. AS he spoke
of the anguish of fathers and mothers whom
he bad met searching the battlefield and the
hospitals for their dead and wounded sons, ma
ny rough fellow drew his ragged coat-Sleeve
over his eyes, or walked away 10 hide the tears
he could not repress. "Haye yoN mother"
we asked one tine-looking hoy of sixteen, whose
personal beauty shone through the rags and
dirt in which he was swathed, and who showed
unusual feeling. Yes" was the reply, with
monrnful shake of the head, "and that's the
worst Of it. l can stand anything, can, but
| she"-and he walked away, to avoid an utter
break down in tears aud sobs. Everywhere
politics were the subject of of conversation
slavery, the cause Of the war, its result the diff
| ference between the North and the south-ev-
erything connected with their present condition
and future prospects was discussed, and geuer-
ally with calmness and good feeling. The ig-
norance manifested by the great majority is in
credible TO any but an ear-witness Not half
of them read or write, large proportion
know but little of the geography of their own
| State, many cannot tell the name ofthe coun-
ty they lire in whea at home, while the ignor-
ant and uncOuth dialect, inevitably caught of
the negroes, betrayed itself in their speech
| As body they underderstand less what the
war Is aboEt than our ten year old children of
the north. The election of a sectional Presi
dent-trampling on the rights Of the South
shutting out the slaves from the territories
something about the tarif-the South was tired
of enrirhing the North at her expense-these
and twenty other causes were assigned as the
issues OF the fight. We found a group of near
| ly twenty surrounding the editor of the Cove
nant, and labOring to convince him that the
"war was caused by Abe Lincoln, who, after
he had promised in bis inaugural that he would
withdraw the troops from Fort Sumter and let
the South have it, just told a darned, blamed
| lie, and sent down reinlorcements of men and
provisions" We are inclined to the opinion
that the editor was not converted to this be-
lief,
The Tennesseeans appeared to have little oil
the spirit Of secession i'll them. Very few OF
them but seemed pleased that Nashville was
occupied by our troops, and they generally ex.
pressed the hope that Tennessee woald return
10 her allegiance 10 the Union, and then they
hoped TO be sent home, to peaceful life here
after. The Mississippians are less loyal as q
class, and more bitter towards the North, while
the Texans, who looked the dashing adventur-
Gus fellows they are, and who eyed US as thougl
they would like to get up un extempore hang
i ing on the spot, advocated slavery. defended
secession, declared they would do over again
just what they had done, and declared that i
beaten by the North in the end, they would die
by heir own hand, or leave the country; for
as one of them expressed it ''they had all ii
Texas rather live in -, (naming locality
supposed to be too hot for comlort,) than will
the 7 Yankees,"
There is much sickness in the camp, anC
some deaths have occurred, and there will bt
many more. The coughing everywhere is in
ceSsant, and sometimes browns conversation
They are well taken care of, and express sat
isfaclion with everything but ''the darned
blamed climate" which is mathematical at er
cry other breath, and n the most comical Ian
guage. Visitors are uniformly respectful Il
these fallen fues--there are 10 taunts, no rail
lery, no cpithets though we know our peopl
do not forget the thousand slain at Fort Don
elson, and the fifteen hundred wounded an,
MANNED for life, now groaning in the hospital
at Paducah, Mound City and CaiPo. Th
! prisoners are rationed and cared for as if the.
e were our own men, and aoYeHept is on foo
to supply those who can read with books an
/ papers. God grant that our brave brother
e imprisoned ut the South may receive simila
4 care nd kindness.
o We intend TO make other visits to Cam
2 Douglas, when the mud ofthat locality become
!. rordable. and thed We may have more 10 sa
concerning our unwilling guests, n. A. L.
i ABoLITloNIsM.--Our neighbor Of the Vince
d ing Press and our neighbor.in-law Of Ii
e Clarksburg Telegraph, the paper owned an
/, a