Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1862-03-14
Interview with Rebel Prisoners.

A Chicago correspondent of the New
York Post, who has visited the rebe
prisoners in Fort Douglas, thus give
his impressions of them;
"The prisoners all feel pretty thor
oughly whipped. They are disheartened
sick of the war. A few still brag of wha
is going to be done at Nashville, but the
most of them are chiefly anxious to know
how long they are to be kept here
They want TO get home. They feel the
power upon them. They are subdued.
Transferred from the sunny South to this
bleak and inho.pitable prairie, all five
hundred, and many fifteen hundred mile,
from home, hopeIessly out of reach OF
their brethren in arms, despairing for the
most part OF any exchange, doubtful of
their officers, completely mystiied by
what they see, so different from what they
had expected, dreading the long couline-
ment unused to constraint, they want to
get home on any terms. Some of them
talk about their families and their homes
with tears in their eyes. Nearly all
would 60 home on parole if allowed, and
be glad of the chance.
Some Of the Texans and Mississippi
ans are still defiant and boasting, and al
though they feel whipped, evince a dog
ged determination and a sullenness which
does not improve the expression of their
They have long wanted,
they say, to get out of the Union. They
hate the North, and they want the North
to hate them. I presume a large pro-
portion of the Mississippians and some of
he Texans have these feelings. But
,ome Of the Texans and nearly all the
Tennesseeans are loud in their protesta-
ions that they have been deceived that
hey really believed that Lincoln intend
ID to free all their slaves, and commit all
manner of atrocities on the Whites
Those l spoke with generally seemed to
hink that the onuS of the ofense was.
hat he was going to free the negroes and
care them there. IF he would free them
md expel them from the soil, there could
,e nothing more to their taste. This is
a singular fact.
The wild stories which were told these
poor wretches, and which they seem to
lave believed, are almost Incredible
)ne man thought our army was compos-
d of 'niggers and Germans Another
ad vague idea that they were some
ort Of nondescripts. Why said he, i
lought your folks was all Yankees and
boitonist7. But / see 'em there on
be field and they looked mighty material,
nd looked over thar, and saw one man
lnning along, ard over thar and saw
mother, and by - they were all inst
ke our kind o foIks-dawg -gone-it.'
Some display the usual Southern fer.
lily Of resources. OH said one, we
lers knowtd you Western men could t
1ht you are some like US mostly about &
ar; but I'd like to get hold of them {
ID Yankees once. They can't fight, '
low.'
The Tennesseeans were many of them r
reed into the ranks They did not b
ant to be drafted, and many waited t
It'll the day before the call was to be t
sued for the militia before they would e
list ana they are in high gloe at the c
ports now in circulation that Tennes- L
e is coming back into the Union. They L
ink that Tennessee had better have h
ne as Kentucky did! / conversed Il
,h one very intelligent man from Tex /
, who was raised in East Tennessee. Sc
e acknowledged freely that there was st
very large majority of Union men in r.
lst Tennessee. lie said that goods of Il
sorts, except sugar, we're very high, Il
d must be higher. Coffee was a dol Il
r pound. Small dry goods fxins,' 9
ch as tape, needles, thread, &c, were 1t
most entirely gone. He acknowledged a
2 efficiency Of the blockade by saying, tc
ow could it be otherwise, since nothing a
I go out and nothing come in| lie di
i gone into the war because be believ- to
it was his duty to go with the major ca
> But he would never have come to di
lt had he known he was going to fight of
ion men. Why said he, you are all ce
ion men. / supposed l was going 10 en-
It abolitionists.' ce
To-day an arrangement was made by IN
ich the officers we're secluded, and not NJ
lher subject to the annoyance of pro Io'
cuous visitors; so did not see any Of ma
m. / don't think, from all accounts, M
t lost much. They are generally ab
tinate in their prejudices, and do not ab
tate the communicative and cheerful he
Z ... r a. I