Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1862-05-14
THE REBEL oUTRAGEs AT MANASSAS.


The following important testimony relative
TO the Rebel ontrages at and subsequent to
the battle OF Manassas, was elected before
the Joint Committee on the Conduct OF the
! Present War -
| Mr.. Nathaniel +. Parker, who was captured
| ut Falling Waters, Virginia, testifles that he
| was kept in close confinement, denied cxer-
| else, and, with a number Of others, huddled
| up In u room that their food, generally scant,
was always bad and sometimes nauseous
! that the wounded had neither medical atten.
| tion nor humane treatment, and that many OF
| these latter died from sheer neglect that five
OF the prisoners were shot by the scntries out
| side, aud that he saw one man, Tibbtts, OF the
| New York Twenty y-seventh Regiment, shot as
he was passing his window on 9th Of Novem-
| ber, and that be died Of the wound on the 18th
| The perpetrator OF this fonl murder was sub
sequently romoted by the Rebel Government.
DR.. j. NJ. HomistOn, surgeon Of the Four
teGnth New York or Brooklyn Regiment cap
tuTed at Bull Run, testifies that when he solic-
tied permission to remain on the field and TO
attend to wounded men, some of whom were
in helpless and painful condition and suffer
ing tor water, he was brutally refused. They
offered him neither water nor any thing in the
shape of food. He aud his companions stood
in the streets OF Manassas, surrounded by
threatening and boisterous crowd, and were
left, without sustenance or covering, to sleep
on the bare floor. Ii 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 per-
mitted 10 go to the relief of our wounded, the
Secession surgeon would not allow them to
perform operations, but entrusted the wound
r to his young assistants, sSsome of them
w..h more knowledge of what they attempt
ed to do than an apothecary's clerk"
And further, ''thst these inexperienced sur
geons performed operations upon our men in
a most horrible manner; some of them were
absolutely frightful.'' "When,'' he adds, 81
asked DR.. Darby to allow me to amputate the
leg of Corporal Prescott, of our regiment, and
said that the man must die il it were not done,
be told me that should be allowed to do it,"
While DR.. Homiston waiting, he says a
SecessioniSt came through the room and said,
"they operating upen one of the Yankees
legs up stairs.'' 81 went up and found that
they had cut off Prescott's leg. The assistants
were pulling on the flesh at each side, trying
to get flap enough to cover the bone without
leaving any of the flesh to form the flaps to
cover it; and with all the force they could use
they could not get flap enough to cover the
bone. They were then obliged to off
bout inch more Of the bone, and even then,
when they came to put in the sutures, (the
sttches) they could not approximate the edges
within less than an inch and a 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 after
wards to remedy it by performing another OPP
Grafton, but Prescott had become so debilitat-
ed that he did not survive.'' Corporal Pres
colt was young man of high position, and
had received a very liberal education.
The same witness describes the sucriugs Of
the wounded after the battle as inconceivably
horrible with bad food, covering, no wa
ter. They were lying upon the floor as thick
" 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 suf-
fering men, and he was only enabled TO pro-
cure 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 con-
veying It to the wounded to drink. AS there
was no light, he obliged to crawl on his
hands and knees to avoid stepping on their
wounded limbs; and he adds, ssit is not a Won
der that next morning we found that several
had died during the night" The young sur
geons, who seemed to delight in hacking and
butchering these brave defenders of our coun-
try's flag, were not, it would seem, permitted
to perform any operations upon the Rebel
wounded.
.sSome of our wounded" says this witness,
severe left lying upon the battlefield until
Tuesday night and Wednesday morning
When brought in their wounds were complete
ly alive with Larvae deposited there by the flies
having laid out through all the rain storm OF
Monday, and the hot, sultry sunshine of Tues
day. The dead laid upon the field unbured
for five days; and this included men not only
of his own, the Fourteenth Regiment, but OF
other regiments. This witness testifies that
the Rebel dead were carried off and Inferred
decently. In answer to question whether