The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1862-05-30

} wild and so long neglected streams making
> New England all over the sacred soil"-t
ask: sis them the Yanks ?" that it will b
safe for them to answer themselves in thei
own lingo: IT ARE !-Congregationalist.
REVOLVING DISCLOSURES.
How the Rebels Treat Our. Dead an,
1 Wounded.
Testimony Taken by the Committee ON tn
i Conduct of the War.
The following is the testimony taken b!
the Joint Committee of Congress on the Con
duct of the War, showing how horrible wer,
the atrocities committed by the rebels upor
our dead and wounded soldiers after the bat
tie of Bull Run.
In pursuance of instructions your commit
tee have the honor to report that they exam
lned number of witnesses, whose testimony
is herewith submitted.
MIR Nathaniel F. Parker, who was captured
at Falling Waters, Virginia, testifes that he
was kept in close confinement, denied exer
else, and, with number of others, huddled
up in room; that their food, generally scant
was always bad, and sometimes nauseous
that the wounded had neither medical atten.
ton nor humane treatment, and that many
OF these latter died from sheer neglect; thai
five OF the prisoners were shot by the sen.
tries outside, and that he saw one man, Tib
bits, OF the New York 9th regiment, shot
as ne was passing his window on the Sth OF
November, and that he died of wounds on
the 18th. The perpetrator of his foul mur.
der was subsequently promoted by the rebel
government.
A SURGEONS TESTIMONY.
DIR J. M. HomSton, surgeon of the 14th
New York or Brooklyn regiment, captured at
Bull Run, testiies that when he solicited per-
mission to remain on the field and to attend
to wounded men, some of whom were in a
helpless and painful condition and suffering
for water, he was brutaliy refused. They Of
ferred 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
LETT without sustenance or covering, to sleep
on the bare floor. 1t was only when faint
and exhausted, in response to their earnest
petitions, they having been without food for
twenty-four 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 surgeon would not
allow them to perform operations, but intrust-
ed it to his young assistants, "some of them
with no more knowledge of what they at
tempted to do than an apothecary's clerk -
And further, "that these inexperienced sur
seons performed operations upon our men in
most horrible manner; some of them were
absolutel y frighttul." "When," he adds. 81
aske1 DIR 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 should be allowed to
do it." While DIR Homiston wa. waiting, he
says secesslonist came through the room
and said, 'they are operating upon one of the
! Yankees legs up stairs" Il went up and
found that they cut off Prescott's leg. The
assistants were pulling on the flesh at each
side, trying to get flap enough to cover the
bone. They 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
not get flap enough to cover the bone. They
were 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 q half of each other. OF
course, as soon as there was any swelling the
stitches tore out and the bone stuck through
again. DR. Swain tried afterwards to remedy
1t by performing another operation, but Pres
colt had become so debilitated that he did
not survive" Corporal Prescott was a young
man of high position and had received a very
liberal education.
HORRIBLE SUFFERINGs OF OUR WOUNDED.
{ The same witness describes the sufferings
of the wounded after the battle as inconceiy-
ably horrible; with bad food, no covering, no
water. They were lying upon the floor as
thickly as they could be laid. "There was
not 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 was only able to
procure it by setting cups under the caves to
catch the rain that was falling, 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 step
ping 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 de-
tenders of our countrys flag, were not, il
would seem, permitted to perform any opera
tions upon the rebel wounded. "Some O.
our wounded" says the witness, "were left
lying upon the battlefield until Tuesday nigh,
and Wednesday morning. When broug gh
in, their wounds were completely alive with
Larvae deposited there by the flies, having
lain out through all the rain storm of Mon
day, and the hot, t,sultry sunshine of Tuesday.
The dead lay upon the field unburied for five
days; and this included men not only of hi
own, the fourteenth reg giment, but of othe
regiments. This witness testifes that tn,
rebel dead were carried off and inferred de
Gently. In answer to question whether tn
, confederates themselves were not also desti
tute Of medicine, he replied, they could no
have been, for they took all ours, even to ou
surgical Instruments He received none OF
the attention from the surgeons on the othel
: side, (which" to use his own language, "
5 should have shown to them had our position
been reversed"
The testimony of William F. Swain, as
sistant-surgeon of the 14th New York regi
ment, who was taken prisoner at Sudley'
e Church, confirms the statement of DIR Homis
I ton in regard to the brutal operations Of
Corporal Prescott. He also states that afte