Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1864-12-09
Our Returned Prisoners,


men lately imprisoned in Georgia have
arrived at Annapolis. Their condition il
thus described by a correspondent Of the
Philadelphia Inquirer:
"A majority of the men look compar.
atively well, but nearly all have the sour.
w. Their appearance is no evidence Of
their real condition. Many of them are
mere wrecks of hale, hearty men, and.
no doubt, will soon sink away. One man
whom | saw when be came into the ward
looking as though he would soon be about
as well as ever, yesterday at noon sat IN
and eat his dinner; was lively and chat
ted about the bogus confederacy, but at
five o'clock in the afternoon he was car.
ried out corpse.
One poor fellow who was as full of life
as though be had just come into posses
sion of a gold mine, had suffered long
from the scuryy. He was so happy to be-
once more among friends that, as he ex-
pressed it while be sat on the wharf wait.
ing TO be removed, 4 think my mind has
all left me, for now have a strange fan.
cy that I'm in Gods country, and yet I'm
10th to believe it, l asked him what
kind Of country he had come from or
had been in. He replied. 'Ah, aud be-
sure, my friend, if the devil reigns any,
where or owns foot of sile in Gods
world, its in the Confederacy. Issure.
ly God forsaken. territory
He showed me bis limbs. They were
not larger towards the ancle than a mau's
thumb. 1t was touching as well as ANU
sing to the bystanders to hear their re.
marks as they came off the boat. Ole
man when he reached the wharf, coming
from the gangway, jumping Up and
stamping with his feet, uttered the excla.
nation aud as though it came from bis
very soul, God bless the piece Of land
that I'm on now Another, Thank God
I'm in this country once more Others
would utter like EXPLANATIONS Of joy
and gratitude, such as Oh, what a bles.
sed hour is this ? 'Hurrah for tho
Union, I'm once more 10 itP Fourteen
months in Dixie, but never day more +
An Iti,hman as he walked OF said, sure
this is the happiss! day since liver came
TO Ameriky.'
We expect many more to arrive every
day for several days, unless Sherman
should by his onward movement 90 in-
terfere that they will hasten the prisoners
away to more secure places,
The information which these men give
concerning their sufferings and the cruel
~ practic-d toward them by the rebel
authorities almost staggers belief At
Camp Sumter, which is the prison camp
where they were confined at Anderson
vile, thirty odd thousand were held du-
ring the summer. Very few of these had
any shelter from the rain or burning SUI.
Their only resort was to dig holes in
the ground, and at each end excavate or
scoop out the earth from under, so as to
afford partial shelter Here two would
creep for lutte relief.
Their food we need not describe. II
is the same old story which we hear from
every one Who has ever been subject to
the tender mercies Of the authorities ia
the South Their ralions were seldom il
ever cooked. Peas and corn meal, or
corn meal with an occasional bit OF bacon,
and in very small portions, were the on.
ly articles furnished them.
The sufferngs they endured eau never
be imagined. As have gone around
and sat by their beds in the different
wards and heard their statements OF the
condition Of the poor fellows who we're
at Camp Sumter and at Andersonville,
and Camp Lawton at Millen, Georgia.
my very heart has ached, and have had
10 leave, that | might hear no more
The general testimony of these returned
prisoners ia, that large majority Of The
citizens in Savannah are for the Union.
and hope that Sherman may soon come
and take the place. God grant that he
may, and that he will soon deliver all our
starved, naked and dying men in their
hands,.