The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1864-12-17
Oar Soldiers and the Rebel Pris-

Our correspondent from Annapolis, whose
letter published to day will startle the pub
lie, has admitted that he is unable to describe
the suffering of our returned soldiers from
the Rebel prisons, yet the picture he has
drawn seems too terrible to be true. But
the story is not exaggerated. 1t presents
merely the vague outlines of that gigantic
horror which the most vivid imagination is
unable to conceive. For months the rumors
and isolated facts which have reached the
North of the condition of our prisoners IN
the Rebel States have aroused Il universal
Indignation and sympathy to which this rev.
citation will give new strength.
Our soldiers are Just. Long suffering has
not made them vindictivc, and they admit
that from the veteran, of the Rebel army they
had good treatment. They speak in high
praise of the efforts made by many of the
Rebel surgeons to lessen their misery; but
their testimony and condition arc conclusive
proof that they have been subjected to cruel
ties which would do credit to the invention
of the fiends. The Northern farmer gives
his dog better food and lodging than our
soldiers received from the iailors Of the re-
bcllon. They were shot down by their
guards for sport, or because their mere shad-
ows in the sun passed beyond established
lines. The punishment for slight olfcnScs
was often derivation Of fool and water; on
the pretcncc that a tunnel was being dug to
enable the prisoners to escape, the jaors at
Andcrsonvlle stopped the r;tionS of the en-
tire camp for three days, and many men
who had been half starving for weeks perish
ed. This vas wholesale murder officially
sanctioned, and the wantonneSS of the bar.
barity is disclosed by the fact that no tunnel
had been dug. Sick men were denied med.
icnc: dead men were refused collins. and
haricd in tiers three deep in shallow graves.
Fuel, food. water, clothing. could not be
obtained in quantities sufficient to support
life. Iu.these pens Death revealed in carn.
VAL and not the least hidcouS part of the
horrid pageant was the Rebel recruiting Off
Ger with his bri}.e of Il crust of bread. To
the strong man starving the choice was only
between treason and the grave, and many
soldier who had entered the Union army for
his country's sake alone now levels his gun
against it, Who shall blame him for the
act?
These sufferers have acquitted the veteran
Rebel soldiers Of guilt in this matter. and
we abSolvc the people of the South. Com
mon faith i'll humanity forhids us to believe
tina. they knew OF the Satanic torturcs in
tliccd by their agents But the Rebel Gov
eminent is convicted of this daboliSm.-
1hr blood of the martyrs stains the brow o!
every man in authority who knew of their
agony aAd did not try to lessen it. 1t is
known that the very surgeons in the Rebel
service revealed the condition of the prisons
10 the Richmond Government, land pctiioncd
for food, medicine. and clothing. The Gov
crNmcnt knew the mscrirs Of It's prisoners.
The Panlcmonium of Belle Isle shamnd its
own capital. The evidence of its own cru
city was forced upon it. Yet. with DELHI
crate indifference or a calculating malignity.
ii established this prison system. and for
more than two years has added to its hor-
r"rS. Can it plead poverty as an excuse for
the starvation of its prisoners? No. 1t
boasts Of its resources. and in rctutation of
the theory of its military exhaustion points
To the granarcs of Georgia and Alabama.
the Observation-Disclosures of Great Bvitain and
the commiSsariat of lis armics.-ihH. Press.