Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-03-15
OUR EXCHANGED PRISONERS
Arrival of 664 at Annapolis.
of their Treat
1nent by the Rebels.
Reported Guupowder Plot to Blow up
the Libby Prison.
The Keepers at the Libby and mt
Belle Isle.

u f. g.
The Keepers at the Libby and mt
Belle Isle.
Especial Correspondence of the New York Times.l
ANNAPOLIS, Thursday, March 10, 1864.
The steamer City of New York, Captain
Chrisholm, arrived here yesterday with six
hundred and sixty-tour released Federal
prisoners from Richmond and Belle Isle,
| fOrty-eight of whom are officers.
Lieutenant Colonel James NJ. Sanderson,
Chief Commissary of Subsistence of the
First Army Corps, who is among them, fur
nishes us many of our particulars. lie ut
terly and fatty contradicts the statements
respecting the issue OF 'mule meat" at the
Libby, and adds that all such statements by
returned prisoners and letter writers, tend
to bring us into ridicule, and interfere ma
terially in the humane efforts sometimes
made to mitigate the real evils of the case.
He says, "by wasting our powder on these
shadows we fail to reach the substance"
Maj. Thomas p. Turner, the commandant
Of the Libby, was cadet at West Point for
two years preceding the war. He is very
| young man, but has the entire confidence
of the Confederate authorities; a strict SOL
dier and severe disciplinarian, but not en-
tirely unmindful of those virtues by which
alone, an enviable reputation is to be attain
ed. Dick Turner, however, the Inspector
Of the Prison, (who, by the way, is not
relative ofthe Major is ofa entirely differ
ent mould yet has some streaks of humani-
ty inhis composition, which brighten upon
acquaintance. His unexpected Kindness to
the footsore and weary prisoners he recap
tured after their attemptto escape with the
famous no." last month, is very gratefully
remembered.
Col. Sanderson discredits the statement
made by some negroes that thousand
pounds of powder have been placed in pit
under the prison to blow it up, with all its
inmates, in case of another attempt to res
cue the prisoners. But there is, neverthe-
less, much evidence to establish the fact
'Dick Turner has himself asserted it, and
among the enlisted men of the returned
prisoners there is one who was n clerk for
DR.. Wilkins, the Surgeon-in-C Chief of the
prisoners hospitals, who says that the Doc
tor told him that at least two hundred
pounds of powder had been placed under
the prison. There was also an article in the
Enquirer on the morning the prisoners left
| (March y, which in some degree confirmed
this evidt nee, stating that measures had
been taken by the Commandant of the prison
to render futile any attempt on the part of
the Federal authorities to rescue the pris-
oners of war. The editor was not at liber-
ty to state what those measures were, but
the public might rest assured that they were
e6tcdcious. In regard, also, to the few pris-
oners taken by them from Gen. Fitzpatrick,
the Whig demanded that they should be
'blo,on to atoms from the cannon's mouth"
1t is just to say, however, that these in
sane counsels are not likely to be followed;
but they serve to show the state of feeling
which constantly impels the Confederate
authorities to whatever course they NAV
pursue, and give some coloring at least to
the statement Of the inhuman design of
blowing up the prison.
The Commandant of Belle Isle, Lieuten-
ant Victor Bossieux, is said to be largo
hearted man; and were the whole treatment
of the prisoners to be confded to him, but
little cause of complaint would exist. But
holding very subordinate position, he
finds himself constantly trammeled in every
effort to improve or ameliorate their condi-
ton. The accommodations for sheltering
the prisoners is barely sufficient for six
thousand men, whilst eight thousand is not
an unusual number on the island Rations
are very insufficient and improper-days
and weeks frequently passing over without
the issue of a single pound of meat. The
bread, which is composed of unbolted corn
meal, and species of bean flour, is heavy,
indigestible and unpalatable. For few
weeks an extra quantity of this compound
was issued to the. men, but since the escape
of our prisoners this additional morsel has
been denied them, and the Evolutionary
pound (not of ''fiesh'') is again the sum to-
tai of their ''daily bread" Sometimes, by
way of variety, a cup of so-called bean
soup is served out to them, but to many the
recollections of meats are of by-gone days,
an indicoraat roo li1ofiOn nf which hoe Ell, 90
their release, proved fatal in many cases
many, if not all the cases of sickness now
in the hospital at Annapolis, being the re-
suit of return to wholesome diet.
nrelation to the delivery of supplies sent
by friends in the North to enlisted men in the
hands of the enemy, SO many difficulties
have been encountered, Notwithstanding
the most energetic action on the part Of
Lieut.. Bossieux and the National officers
composing the "Board of distribution"
that hardly tithe of them have ever reach
ed their proper destination. At this mo-
ment upward of five hundred, if not a
thousand, packages intended for private
soldiers still remain in the store-houses at
Richmond. This is~owing not so much to
adesire on the part of the Confederate au-
thorities to deprive them of their property,
but to the extreme difficulty of obtaining
sufficient transportationa of ascertaining
the whereabouts of the parties addressed
Under these circumstances, 1t has been
deemed proper by the gentlemen composing
the "Board of Distribution" who are now
here present, to recommend an entire sus- |
pension of these supplies. sn ce.,sesT
Wines, liquors, money, citizens clothing, |
files, saws, hatchets, and everything by |
which the prsonersmi ight effect their escape, |
are 'contraband," and doom the box or par |