Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1863-01-09

Oe FeieaSeu on parole before excnange, until
the said Butler shall have met with due punish
ment for his crimes.
And whereas. the hostilities waged against
this Confederacy by the forces OF the United
States, under command ct said Benjamin f.
Butler, have borne no resemblance to such war
fare as is alone permissible by the rules of in>
ternational law the usages of civilization, but
have been characterized bv repeated atrocities
and outrages, among the large number of which
the following may be cited as examples:
Peaceful and aged citizens, unresisting cap
tives and non-combatants have been confined
at hard labor with balls and chains attached to
their limbs, and are still so held in dungeons
and fortresses Others have been subjected to
like degrading punishment for selling medi-
cines to the sick soldiers OF the Confederacy.
The soldiers of the United States have been
invited and encouraged by general orders to
insult and outrage the wives, the mothers and
the sisters OF our citizens.
Helpless women have been torn from their
homes, and subjected to solitary confinement.
some in fortresses, and prisons, and one,
pecally, Or an island of barren sand, uGder O
tropical sun; have been fed with loathesome
rations that had been condemned AS unfit for
soldiers, and have been exposed to the ilest
insults.
Prisoners of war who surrendered to the na J..
val forces of the United States agreement
tnat they should be released on parole, have
been seized ard kept in close confinement.
Repeated pretexts have been sought or inven
ted for plundering the inhabitants of the cap.
tured city by fines levied and exacted under
threat of imprsoning recusants at hard labor
with ball and chain.
The entire population of the city of New
Orleans have been forced to select between star
vaton. by the confscaton of all their property
and taking an oath against conscience to bear
allegiance to the invaders of their country.
Egress from the city has been refused to
those whose forttude withstood the test, even to
lone and aged women ano to helpless children
and after being elected from their homes and
ribbed of their property, they were left &c
starve in the streets Or subsist on charity.
The slaves have been driven from the plan
tations in the neighborhood of New Orleans
till their owners would consent to share the
crops with the Commanding General, his brott
| er, Andrew ]. Butler, and other officers and
when such consent had been extorted, the slave,
have been restored to the plantations, and there
compelled to work under the bayontes of guards
of y. S. Soldiers.
Where this partnership was refused armed
| expe6itio have been sent to the plantation.
to rob them of everything that was susceptible
Of removal, and even slaves, tco aged or infirnl
for work, have, in spite of their entreaties, been
forced from the homes provided by the owners
and driven to wander helpless on the highway
By recent General Order No. 81 the entire
property in that part of louisiana, lying west O
the Mississippi river, has been sequestra.ed fol
coniscatiop, and officers have been assigned te
duty with orders to "gather up and collect toe
personal property, ard turn over to the proper
officers upon their rec:prs such of said property
as may be required for the use of the UuiteG
States army; to collect together all the other
personal property and bring the same to New
Orleans, and cause it to be sold at public auc
ton to the highest bidders, order which, i
executed, condemns to punishment, by starv g.
| tion, at least a quarter of million OF human
beings of all ages, sexes and conditions and
! Of which the execution, although forbidden te
| military officers by the orders of president
Lincoln, is in accordance with the ConGscatior
law Of our enemies which he has directed TO be
enforced through the agency OF civil officials
And finally, the African slaves have not only
been excited to insurrection by every license ol
ehcou rag enlent but numbers of them have ae'
| tually been armed for serviie war in its ma
ture far exceeding in horrors the most nerc
less atrocities of the savages. A
And whereas, the officers under the command
of the said Butler have been, ia many i1,stan-
ces, active and Jealous agents in the commits
sion of these crimes, and no instance is knoxl
| of the refusal ef any one of them TO partici
| pate in the outrages above narrated.
| And whereas, the President of the Unitet
States has, by public and official declaration
| slpnified not only MS approval of the effort Z.