The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1863-11-20

A Gentlemen who has experienced tn
mIserles of Libby Prison at Richmond, give
an account of it in the New York Times.
"CloSe on to the canal, AID at the corne
OF Cary and DIST street, and within mile 0
Rockets" stand the torfd Libby Prison
The entire length Of the building on Car,
street Is l3j feet, with depth Of about 9t
'eet on 2lst street. 1t is divided into thre,
sections By stout brick walls, and is, on III,
side next to the canal, four stories, while or
Gary street it is bur three stories in hight
each Of the stories being divided into thre,
| ohlong low rooms Of Is by 60 feet. On tn,
ground tioor The room next TO DIST street j.
appropriated to the rebel guard. the EEK
one to the C;i0n officers, and the third is t!e
hospital. This is on the Gary street side. O,
front Of tie building. On the canal side
the lower story, Or ground floor, is the cook
Hou>e and receptacle for ;he dead, until a
sufficient number have accumulated to make
It worth while TO remove them, or until the
stencil becomes too great for the rebels
themselves to bear. On The second floor. in
the two rooms next to 2lst street. are over
four hundred Union soldiers. and in the
third room on the floor may be found the
remnant Of some 100 Union citizens. who
nave been incarce.ated since the commence
ment Of the var. Some few of these Prison
trS were QuahtrS, and were released on pay
ment of 5000 each The three rooms on the
upper floor contain at least two hundred
Union soldiers each. Four small sized win
dows al each eud of these rooms admit a
limited amount of light for about - feet.
leaving about 10 feet in the center Of each,
Nhtt@ print cannot be read in the davtime
Pgisor-le once admitted! to the Lib - never
leave II tOr an instant for any purpose, day
or night, except to be exchanged. or to be
carrled t. al unknown grave. There are i'll
constructed water-cl0sets in the rooms, " uiet.
owing to the continual bre king of the waste
pipes, emit most intolerabe eftiuvia. In
addition t. all this, The whole place is one
nest of the most abomlnable vernim. About
halt a ration Of fair bread and plate Of
small dark colored beans, Tor 'cow peas,)
twice day. is the usual fare, meat being
used only twice week, and then IN very
small quantities. 50 much for the Libby
Prison itself, bat all this is capped by the
Treatment received 10y the unfortunate in
mates.
Gen. Winder still retains the chief com
nand. though Capt. Turner is the command
ant Of the post at the Libby. Ih.s man,
though landed continually by the Richmond
papers for his Kindness to the prisoners, Is
cruelty itself. Every petty annoyance that
can be invented is tried in order that some
faction of b.cAin4 and gaesing, or putting
| in irons. az on bread and water. the otitnd,:
,C) have known him to threaten TO hang
one ndividu1l because he woald not get
twelve men to sweep the street in front OF
the prison, and he put foul meu in irons and
in d dark room, on bread and wster for IS
hours, Lecause they would moi ciean out ii.
stable Next in c.mm.nd Is Lt. E.iack,
who ,rwhen Col. Benedict was unable TO jeay 9
MS wretched bed, stood over him with rev
diver in his hand, and swore thar if he did
1ot szt up he would kick nm Out OF H."