Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-12-02

FRIDAY MOhNlNO, LEI. q
gufferings and Deaths of Our Soi-
diers I'm Soufherrl Prisons-The
Administration Responsible.
It is oftentimes betterto be slain outright
on the field of battle than to be taken
prisoner Of war. Most men Of mature age
are familiar with the horrors of British
prison ships, the Dartmoor prison, and the
Black Hole of Calcutta. But all these hor-
rors seem to have been combined, concen-
trated, and increased tenfold In Southern
prisons, especially In the largest one, the
prison at Andersonville, Georgia
We shall not 90 into detail of the suffer-
ings of our brave men at Andersonville.
These have been vividly sketched in arti-
cles we have already published. Some of
these descriptions may have been. and
doubtless are, exaggerated. But there has
evidently been among our soldiers at An
dersonville frightful amount of suffering
and death. This appears from the reports
of rebel Surgeons, and other credible
sources.
Nor shall we stop to inquire to what ex-
tent the sickness and mortality at Ander-
sonville were due to the negligence, excusa-
bleor willful, of the rebel authorities. The
Confederate Surgeons appear to have la
bored to bring about a better sanitary con-
dition in the prison. In order to diminish
the frightfully increasing mortality, sever
al thousands of the prisoners at Anderson
VILE were, as we are informed by the cor
respondent of "loyal" Northern jour
nal, early in September, removed by the
rebel authorities to Savannah, where there
sufferings were considerably alleviated.
Upon the breaking out of the yellow fever
at Savannah, the prisoners there were re-
moved to another point.
Whatever may have been the reason why
our men confined at Andersonville, were
not properly clothed, sheltered and fed,
and attended to when sick-whether from
inability or willful neglect on the part of
the rebel authorities-the record of their
horrible sufferings will make the blacklist
page in the history of this unhappy
war. Run over the frightful list of
the number of deaths daily during July
and August. Think Of thirty thousand
Of Northern soldiers, unaccustomed to
the climate, without change of cloth
ing, without shelter and often with nothing
bat the bare ground to sleep upon, cooped
up during the hot summer months in an
area Of some fifteen or sixteen acres one
third of which was marsh. No wonder
: that they died off at the rate of one hun
dred,a day, till more than one-third of the
whole number slept their last sleep. OF
the residue one-half at least, it is fair to
infer, have from scurvy and other camp dis
eases, either been struck by the hand of
death, or made invalids for life. So that
outof the thirty thousand prisoners, twen-
ty thousand have either persisted, or are
lost to the service Of their friends and their
country. q h5Gul W
We need not dwell upon the private grief
and suffering caused by this needless
slaughter and destruction of our men at An
dersonviIle. Twenty thousand of our brave
veterans, probably more, have fallen vic
tins to disease and death in the most horrid
shapes. Who is responsible for this? The
rebels may have their share of guilt in the
terrible tragedy but it is vain to attempt
to throw the entire responsibility upon reb-
el authorities.
I They have been willing from the first,
nay anxious, to exchange on equal terms
white men for white men. But our au-
thorities refused TO exchange, nay even de-
clined to accept our own men when paroled
by the rebels, unless the latter would agree
to exchange the few negroes they held as
prisoners of war on equal terms with white
men. Minor disputes arose; but this was
the main point on which the difficulty turn
ed, and prevented any exchanges Of con-
sequence being made until quite recent
period, and until disease and death had
made awful havoc among our men in South
ern prisons. &
Thus, for the sake Of few negro prison.
ers of war, more than ten times their num-
Der of Northern white men have been need
lessly and inhumanly sacrificed. We say
needlessly, because the end sought by this |
wanton cruelty to our white soldiers, has
not been attained-the negroes are still held |
by the rebels-and II the object had been |
gained, vould the release or return of a
few thousand black soldiers have justified,
or even palliated the cruel sacrifice of ten
times the number of white soldiers?
, This Administration viii be held by his
tory and posterity responsible for this
~.,If ~, mar, M to,,, n had caIlads into fha