New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1862-04-24
NUMBER A.


The baltimore correspondent Of the New York |
Herald writes to that paper concerning the Con
tederate prisoners taken at Winchester and now
confined in the Baltimore Jail az follows:
The most of them have been in the Confederate
service for the last nine or ten months and are
now reenisted for the war. have conversed with
most Of the above oficera, and find them to be
highly intelligent men, and some of them have the
manners of highly educated and polished gentle
men. On their arrival here they were placed in
present. The city jail is a building Of enormous
proportions, built of stone, with white marble
facings. 1t is about the size and hight OF the Me-
tropotan Hotel in New York, and its magnificent
towers and turrets give it more the appearance Of
castle of feudal times than Of prison. On en-
tering its spacious corridors, found the prisoners
grouped around one of Gen. Dixi's clerks, who
was taking down their names. The men were not
at all dsnclined to converse, and talked freely Of
the battle in which they had been taken prisoners.
| They are all comfortably clothed. and appar-
| emily in good spirits. They all had Virginia bank
| notes, amounting in the aggregate to $500 or
$500, but stated they had not been paid for the
last two months. Having been allowed to do so,
| many of them sent their Virginia bank notes out
| to-day and had them exchanged for United States
money or silver at a heavy discount. at present
! they have to put up with the common Jail fare
brown bread to eat, and molasses and water, under
| the name of coffee, to drink. But arrangements
| are being made by the military authorities here
| by which they will have proper food. Their wash
! ing will be done for them, and everything else
| done to render them comfortable The men are
to be allowed to walk in the spacious yards of the
Jail, and the officers will be paroled and allowed
to go about the city.
The officers who were in the battle of Manassas
| declare that the battle of last Sunday was far
| boodier that, and far more hotly contested. They
marched from Mount Jackson TO Strausburg, and
from Strausburg to near Winchester, where they
met Gen Shields forces and the battle took place.
inter, from what they said that 1t was Gen. Jack
| sons idea that Gen. Banks was endeavoring to
| form junction with Gen. Mcclellan at Centre
vile, and that in order to prevent this at least
| to retard it, Gen. Jackson return to Winchester
and fought this battle.
The officers speak in the highest terms of Gen.
| Jackson. They say he never sends his men into
battle, but always leads them, and then the men
follow his example.
officers generally thought of our Generals the Off
GERS answered that Gen. Mcclellan was regarded
as the first General in America, with the single ex
ception of Gen. Beauregard. But as to our other
| Generals they claimed they were not equal to
theirs. The war of the Abolitionists on Mcclellan
: was watched with the greatest interest at the
$ South. 1t was believed there that if the Aboli
y tionists succeeded in getting Mcclellan deposet
from the chief command, there was no man in the
: North who could control the Northern armies il
d such way as to defeat the Southern armies. l
is generally believed BY the officers OF the Confed
>, | crate army that President Lincoln now control
Il | the movements of the Union armies, and that th
victories Of these armies, the fruits OF Mcclellan
e plans, are overland without the controlling
4 mlnQ tldL has utIttOlole pidAuCu tle ChuIpdisu
, the Union armies will be beaten in detail.
u During the whole day the Jail has been besieget
It by crowds of persons in all conditions OF life anx
e ious to see the prisoners. None, however, excep
= relatives are allowed access to the inside. Man,
ladies' call in their carriages and not being allowe
I | to enter, walk past the windows, looking at thu
y prisoners through the bars.
r The editors of the Maryland News sheetgpuh
a lish the above and append the following com
| ments:
e There is nc doubt of the general correctness 0
d the above statement, as it is confirmed from othe
sources. Upon one point however, the writer
entirely wrong. The prisoners have certainly NJ
l. been restricted to prison fare brown bread an
6 molasses and water. The sympathes of larg
o number of our citizens were freely ELECTED in the
o behalf The sum of nearly five thousand dollar
was subscribed for their relief, and whatever tn
military authorities may have done, it is certai
l. that others, by permission of the authorities, hav
Y sought to provide most literally for the comfort
Il these young Virgnians, many of whom hav
friends and not a few relatives, who reside in h
J. city. 1t is now understood that the prisoners ar
J. to be removed at an early day to Fort Delaware
!. They, we are assured, will greatly regret tn
:. change, whatever may be the reasons that actual
! the Government in ordering their removal.