Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1864-11-30
OUR RETURNED PRISONERS.
SHOCKING INnuMANlrY OF run REBELS

ers just exchanged at Savannah. arrived
at Annapolis. Nd. on Friday. The
steamer Atlantic brought 649 living skel-
e.ons and s dead bodies had been
buried in the sea- Our surgeons were ap-
palled at the wretchcd condition Of the
survivors. Not man among the num-
Der but had to be sent to the hospitals.
many to leave them only for the grave
yard. The $50 on the Blackstone were
in better condition, aud made the well
kin ring as they landed on the free shores
of Maryland.
A correspondent of the N. Y. Herald,
who witnessed the reception of our pris-
oners below Savannah, give this interest
ing account: rporf osslHertn
81 never in my life conceived of such
scenes of misery as some of our poor fell
lnws presented. They suffered from sour
Wy mostly; but was told that others,
worse off than those we received were
left behind because of the impossibility
of transporting them in safety. Yet
they were joyous beyond description as
they came once more beneath the folds of
the old flag. On the passage down the
Savannah river to Venus Point-the des-
ignation of the spot where the exchange
is in progressively were permitted to
make no demonstrations of joy. Cheer
ing, shouting, and singing were prohibited
by the rebel guards, who threatened to
fire into the crowd if the stringent rules
were violated. But when the vessels
we're dashed together, the air was filled
with jubilant shouts. and poor, emaciated
suffer ers, resting In the strong arms Of our
nurses mingled their feeble notes Of glad
ness with the lusty tones of the hale and
hearty as they were borne across the
gang planks to the decks Of the Union
craft.
"Our men were ragged beyond dcscrip-
ton. Some of them had nothing on but
pantaloons, and noticed, one pair of in
expressiblcs 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 Of any other
covering. Still others, whose garments
had by great care boon kept together, were
covered with vermiu, which ratified from
them like sand. The sick who were un-
able to help themselves at all, were GER
tainly the most pitiable objects ever he
held. They were covered with gangren-
ons fungous sores. harbors for worms and
maggots to crawl and wiggle in. They
we're doubled up as if in permanent
cramp. Some of them had their lips eat
ep away by their loathsome disease, and
were unable even to pronounce their own
names. They were washed and shaved,
and furnished with new clothes and then
having been placed upon clean cots, were
fed with biscuit. coffee and little milk
punch. The tempers of many of our
men, as well as their physical frames,
were worn out; and after getting taste
of biscuit and csffcc some of them cried
for more, as babies cry for breast milk
and yet they confessed that they had not
in any three days Of their Imprisonment.
eaten so much as they had just de-
voured."
Before our prisoners we're moved from
Andersonville, Ga. IL, 900 had been bur-
led there. Correspondence Of the rebel
surgeons there furnishes full proof of the
cruelty of their treatment Men in the
last stages of cmaciation from chronic di-
arrhea, received no nourishmeut whatev-
er, aud starved to death on the coarse ra-
tons which strong man would reject.
Others. suffering from gangreuc and ul.
GERS. were compelled to tester 10 putridity
without even sufficient water to cleanse
their loathsome sores. Week after week
the diseased and the dying we're kept
without shelter, and many of them with
out clothing, on the bare ground, exposed
to torrid sun by day and to heavy rains
at all times, i'll total disregard of the
earnest and almost despairing appeals
of kind hearted physicians for their re-
lief.