The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1863-11-23

There appears to have been no exAcgerat:on Ia
the accounts already given In regard 10 abe cobd
ton of the negroes af the various coniaAbaHd ca-
In the Mississippi Valley. CoWsresated at these
depots, withc4,t employment, depsivrd of the.
food to which they have be.n accustomed, and o.,
ten without shelter or medical cars, these helpless
creatures perish as IL swept Oft ~ pfstiience.-
Vim. D. Batler, delegate of the United Staes
Christisn Commission, writes Z" Kew, Ds. w. G.
Eliot as follows respecting the neprass who
into VicksbuIg after the surrender Of eneiai Penn
beron, mostly from beyond JacksoasE
About the first of August the military authorities
became alarmed lest pestiicnce skoula break
out among them AMI extend to tho army re-
remptoYy orders Issued To at euce remove
across the river all negroes, OF every age ai
wheiher.siek or well, VII" were not IN some en
playment
One morning l went out 10 infoFm certain
ltedt. W, who, with an lnadrqaate force,
was executing the order. that one ofihcin in Tia,
Baptist church was dead, aud that naoiher " o.
man, was lying behind IA fence, dying. Ne told
me thai he had detailed. for the purpose Of femov
ing the negroes, 10 army wagons; that he had haul
ed them, well, sick aMt dead, with all their trans
10 the river, where he had steamer 10 convey
them across to point opposite the lower part at
the city that he had wagon to haul the dead
aud that some days he found az many as twent, !;
that In one house he fnuad six dead bodies, with
l living ones sitting and lying around the,n appar
emily unconscious of their situation. sHsies were
dug on the Tiver's bank and the dead buried. The
searching ont and removal of fhese negro.
Consumed about fifteen or twenty days About
three hundred We're thus removed III the low
grounds oppasiie Nickshnrs. and ts t1csa ia Hi.
weeds without any sbelier, ,'nndcr the care OF
nan VINO was appointed To organize them into
camp, and tparate small pox from the rcst
-in general to ,!o what he could for their relief
He was soon taken sick, and IA certain C.,Fonin -
was appointed to take chnree of all the contsa-
bands n and around Vie rha uiajp
| sooE1'rO>iratei by disease, but was at his work
again when left Vicksburg, August II. Captain
- appointed chaplain to take charge of those
who had hccn removed from the city, in place oi
the man who was first appointed.
fie entered upon his iators, but soon pros
trated with disease, and was conveyed across the
river In skff, whence he made his way to house
adjoining that of the United States Christian Com
mission. Here he was found alone and very sick.
He was invited to our house, where he was sill
remaining when [ left the city. The chaplain
t"!d me tliat these negroes had suffered ard
still suffering untold want and wrctchedncss; that
nearly 400 had died since he had taken charge of
them that from l6 Ia - die daily. Sometime
1hey would crawl Oft into the weeds a; d die.
where their bodies would he found only by the
stencil which arose from their decay. That there
was no white man with them but nephew Of his;
that rati"ns were furnished thenl by the Govern
ment, but sometimes he had difficulty in getttrC
them over the river that once they were five "ayS
without receiving any food, and the negroes in
their despair threatened 10 kill him. thinking the
iaui. was MS. lie also stated that they had no
tents or shelter except brnsil to shield them from
the sun, or storm, or dews OF night. Captain a
- stated to me that there were in his camp
: GOO, at Y"uiG's Point e.55l, on Papaw Island,
where he pGrp"scd gathering most OF them, ,et9
and on Blacks plantation, en- HE Yazoo, 2.4a0-
in all over l6,0 ,0e0. One morning ! went among the
wretched masses where they were hauled tn the
bank OF the river preparatory To being sent actos
tried in vain to md som. women who were able
10 work, as we wished their labor at our hOase.-
All were either sick or taking OF the sick. J
saw nothing hut one sad scene of misery. hope
you may be able 10 do more for these suffering is
norant beings than IL in my piw:r 10 devise, aud
that God may bless your forts.