Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1864-12-09
frtutont gourrral.
--
NOVEMBER.

-: : y si eiie tio"eie, " "aNeo gne riPeh'
Now withered stalks and leaves bestrew til.
.f81 81 way, fa@
Forlorn memeHtoes Of sweet Summer reign
Through grove and hedgerQw no gay -plumsgee
Carols so joyously his evening song,
ta Nor fnarshy choir nor insect hum is heard;
- Roiceless and still are all that noisy throng.
! All nature ioyIess face and wasted form
And absent melodies too plainly tell
That winter grim, viii soon, with frost and storm
UsurP the place Of hefwe loved so well.
OF is there not some bright land, far away
Ger the cloud-hiIls, beyond the western sky,
z, Where suns can never set, nor end the day,
Z No- winter come, nor beauteous flowers def
Aht yes, there is a realm beyond our sight,
- = Above the skies, which for the lust remains.
= W here God shines forth, the Everlasting Light,
=, soripuss bright perennialsummern neigus.
The Union Prisoners Delivered at savannah
81 Their Wretched Gondition-How They Act.
ed and How they Looked.
- a few days ago we compiled statement
showing the condition of the rebel prisoners
that Were delivered up at Savannah TO the rebel
authorities. Since then about 1900 Union pris-
oners have been exchanged. One week ago to-
day, that number had been received. The fol-
iowtng IS description of them, written at Port
Royal under date of November %:
Our men were ragged beyond description
Some of them had nothing on them but panta-
? looms, and noticed one pair of inexpressibles
the legs OF which reached only part way to the
knees of the wearer. Others had their limbs
bound up with strips of blankets in place ofany
other covering. Still others, whose garments
had by great care been kept together, were COW
cred with vermin, which ratified from them like
l. L
selves at all were certainly the most pitiabe OBJ
jects ever beheld. They were covered with
Egangrenoas, fungus sores, harbors for worms
and maggots to crawl and wriggle IN. They
were doubled up as If IN permanent cramp.-
Some of them had their lips eaten away by their
loathsome disease and were unable to pronounce
their own names They were washed and
shaved, and furnished with new clothes; and
then, having been placed on clean cots. were fed
with biscuit, coffee and little milk punch.
g.sl have spoken Of the Joy these poor fellows
Manifested. One of them, so distorted by sour
Wy that his knees and chin touched each other,
exclaimed with great good humor as he was
brought in, am your man for half a matrass. %
Another, when his coffee was brought TO him,
and he was lifted SO that the fragrant cup might
reach his lips, broke out: @How are yon, Java2
You put me in mind of how / love Georgian. :"
Still another recognizing an old friend across
the cabin, cried out: 81 say, Jim what dye
think when ye saw the old fag?p Il didn't
think, only hollered, was the response. And
another, answered the same question, said, Twas
in Paradise, and couldn't say a word"
IA correspondent of the Times thus describes
the exchange, and the scene following:
As have informed you in a former letter, the
rendezvous for the exchanges is at Venus Point
ON the Savannah river, a bend of the stream
whence the spires and many of the houses of
the city of Savannah are visible. Our boats
are invariably the first at the rendezvous anchor
ed IN inid-riyer awaiting the rebel vessels whose
tardiness proceeds from the fact that it is only
at the proper tide certain distinctions of the
channel above can be crossed Finally they ap-
pear over the low marshes, belching their tIirgid
clouds of dense black smoke, and in half an hour
their uncouth, grotesque, towering shapes are
putting and wheeling near Us. COL Mulford i'm
mediately goes in a yawl boat to the Gen. Beau
regard small steamer used by Captain Hatch,
the rebel.agent, as the flagship of his transport
squadron, and after few moments consuItation
during which the rolls of the prisoners are trans
ferred, the two agents go together on board one
of the floating objects laden with tho released
men, and she iE at once laid alongside a neat
Union vessel and the poor fellows are tranship-
ped. lkl
Those OF them who are able TO move without
aid pass to the protection OF the old flag first;
then come those (alssl there are many of this
class, who hobble on erutches, and last the few
who helplessness requires that they should be
carried on stretchers. In all this operation
great formality is observed A number of rebel
civilians, with cards around their hats labelled
"Committee for the wounded" whose position
corresponds with our own Sanitary Commission,
accompany the boats from Savannah to attend
on the sick, and assist on the subject ofthe mat
ter in hand. A different course is forbidden.
and ifon either side there happen to be DISPOSE
tion to engage IN conversation, watchful guards
step up and ask that the conversation shall cease
1t is no uncommon thing to see a man who
has been so crippled by scrofula that crutches
were necessary to his locomotion, under the in
.hueDce Of his ecstacy at again being free spurn
from him his artificial supports and walk, for a
time as erect and as instantaneously as he whom
the Saviour miraculously cured by the healing
waters of Bethesda.
When the rebel boat moves on and the men
huddled together on the decks of our own
vessels all fully understand that the last link
winch bound them to rebeldom has been sever
ed; then rises hearty shouting and cheering
which only can be given under these circum-
stances. There is the music of intense grate-
fulness In it. Three cheers and tiger for the
old flag; three more and tiger for Col. Mulford
then comes burst of song, most often the words
!, being Rally round the Gag, boys, from near
from far, down with the traitor and up with the
star, and the rebels still within hearing, prob-
ably gnashing their teeth at the pointed person
alsallusion, but everybody else feeling that the
bad taste OF the happy fellows is excusable, even
though exhibited under the sacred folds OF flag
OF ftruce. Then yermin-infested rags till now
highly priced as the only cover for nakedness.
are rudely torn offand flung into the water or
cast with giee into the flaming furnances of the
steamers, and new clothes are issued and gen.
eral cleaning-tlme inaugureted. But the bath |
ing has long been needed, and scarcely comes
soon enough.
Many of the men, through illness or careless- |
ness are SO begrimed with filth that, were it not
Tor the dead color of the eblacked epidermis. thew
might be taken for the SONS of Ham.
The steamer Eliza Hancox one oftbe exchange
fleet has spacious deck, affording room for
dancing, and Terpsichore finds her votaries. |
even though they are tatterdemalions who |
dance not ungracefully in their streaming rags.
As soon as possible barrels of hot coffee are pre-
pared, and hams are cooked. and boxes Of hard
bread opened. Tor the refreshment of these men.
to whom decent food has been for long time
unknown. 1t is touching sight to see them.
each with his quart can, file by the steaming
coffee barrel and receive the refreshing draueht
whose taste has long been unfamiliar Itseems
scarcely possible that men should feelsuch child
ish Joy as they express in once more receiving
this common stimulant. And then, the hungry
glare which their CLASSY eyes cast upon the
chunks of ham as they clutch and devour their
allowance with wolf-like avidityI
These facts can only be understood by the
spectator in remembering that for months they
have been deprived of sufficient quantity Of
Palatable food and that the little they have re- |
celved has been rarely cooked, because in a |
country abounding with fuel, and gloomy with |
immense pine forests their iailors forbade them |
the poor privilege of adequate fires: At the |
prison pen near Millen, Georgia, for some weeks |
lnere mas been no meal or -four given to the pris-
oners and the sweet potatoes issued in lieu there
OF, have been eaten raw, because there was no |
ses. fs,-PO
Such Is the condition of the men whom we |
are now receiving ont of chivalrous Dixie
These the sons, brothers husbands and fathers
of the North. Men reduced to living sleIetoTs.
men almost naked; shOeless men, shirtless men,
hatless men; men with no other garments than |
an overcoat; men whose skins zre blackened /