The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1864-09-03
Treatment of Prisoners.

Four representatives of the Union sol
dicrs now prisoners of war to the rebels,
and concentrated at Andersonville, Ga.
have just proceeded to Washington TO state
their condition to the Government, and see
if some measures cannot be instituted for
their speedy exchange. In their memorial.
our soldiers state that
''Col. Hill. Provost Marshal General.
Confederate States Army. at Atlanta. stated
to one of the undersigned that there We're
thrty-tivc thousand prisoners at Anderson
Vile, and by all accounts of lnitcd States
soldiers who have been confined there. the
number is not overstatcd by him. These
thrty-tivc thousand are confined i'll field
of some thirty acres, enclosed by a board
fence heavily guarded. About one-third
have various kinds of indifferent shelter :;
but upwards of twenty thousand are wholly
without shelter. or even shade of any kind.
and are exposed to the storms and rains
which are of almost daily occurrence the
cold dews of the night. and the more terri
bic effects of the sun striking with almost
tropical ierceneSs upon their unprotected
heads This mass of men ioStc and crowd
each other up and down the limits of their
enclosure, in storm or sun. and others lie
down upon the pitiless earth at night with
no other covering than the clothing upon
their backs, few of them having even a
blanket.
Upon entering the prison. every man is
deliberately stripped of money and other
property and. as no clothing or blankets
are ever supplied to their prisoners by the
rebel authorities. the condition of the APP
parel of the soldiers, just from an active
campaign, can be easily imagined. Thou
sands are without pants or coats. and hun
dreds without even Il pair of drawers to
cover their nakedness.
70 these men. as indeed to all prisoners,
! there is issued three-quarters of bread or
meal and once ghth of pound of meat
per day. This is the entire ration, and upon
it the prisoners must live or die. The meal
| is often unsited or sour. and the meat such
as in the North is consigned to the soapma-
| ker. Such are the ratous upon which Union
soldiers are fed by the rebel authorities. and
by which they are barely holding to life
But to starvation and exposure. to sun and
storm, add the sickness which prevails to a
most alarming and terrible extent On an
average one hundred die daily. 1t is i'm
possible that any Union soldier should know
all the facts pertaining to this terrible
mortality. as they are not paradcd by the
| TtltI uulHDlIiltS. t'uNH StdttlItFlS do tut
following made by - -. speaks elo-
qucnt testimony. Said he: of twelve OF
us who were captured, six died four are in
the hospital, and ! never expect to see
them again. There are but two of us left.
In 1862, at Montgomery. Alabama. under
far more favorable circumstances, the pris
oners being protected by sheds, from one
hundred and fifty to two hundred grew sick
from diahrna and chills, out of seven hun
dred The same per ccntage would give
seven thousand sick at Andcrsonville. II
needs no comment, no efforts at word-p paint
ing, to make such n picture stand out boldly
in most horrible colors.
Nor is this all. Among the i'll fated o.
the many who have suffered amputation in
consequence OF injuries received before cap
ture, sent from rebel hospitals before theil
wounds were healed, there are eloquent wit
nesses of the barbarites of which they are
victims. If to these facts is added this
that nothing more demoralizes soldiers and
develops the evil passions of man than star.
walton, the terrible condition Of the Union
prisoners at Andersonvile can be readily
imagined. They are fast losing hope, and
becoming utterly reckless of life. Numbers.
crazed by their sufferings, wander about in
a state of idiocy; others deliberately cross
I the ''deaI line ard are remorselessly shot
, dowu,