Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-08-15
REREL TREATMENT OF PRIsONERg.
Direct Testimony.


Cary g. Strong of the 4th Ohio Cavalry
writes to the Cincinnati Commercial, Civ
ing an account of what our soldiers suffer.
He was taken prisoner at Chicamauga,
thence to Atlanta and finally to Richmond.
He recites his sad story as follows:
From Atlanta we were sent in hog-cars
to Richmond, Uia Augusta, Georgia, COlum-
bia South Carolina, and Raleigh, North
Carolina, and were incarceratgd on that
aearthly hell" Belle Island, on the lst of
November. There our ralions consisted of
about ten ounces Of bread, made of corn
and-cob meal and cold water, and half
baked, and from one TO two ounces of beef,
or halt pint eff soup, either rice or corn
pea soup. We lay in the bitches two
weeks BET re we got tents, and many a
night have 1 paced the streets TO keep from
freezing, ali our extra clothing having
been taken long before. Here commenced
course OF tortures not equaied in bIrbari-
ty by the lnquIsition of the ages. A slow
but sure death, by gradual starvation; the
rehned cruelty of which the most vivid
Imagination can not picture or pen de-
scribe. Men were often knocked sensless
by clubs in the hands of our brutal keepers,
for crowding upto the gate at ration time,
in their eagerness to draw rations. Pris-
oners were very often shot by the guards
for no provocation whatever. will give
an instance that particularly remember.
| A guard sold a prisoner II pie Overthe bank
Tor ten dollars Confederate money, and
| raoaivpd a ty-ant11.-AA-- u ---0r' - SIC
ESe ethahgE, ten dollars Confederate money,
he shot the man dead and wounded anorh-
er; he loaded his gun hastily, and fired
into camp the second time.
Not man wasssadmitted to the hospital
until he WAS so low that he had to be car
ried to the doctor in a blanket. The ap-
pearanee of the qceH was heartrending 10
behold. They were almost To a nan SO
emaciated that they more resembled skele-
tons than living men, and moved about so
perfectly listless and hopeless life, to; that
many, seemed u grisvious burden. Vermin
/ with all was thicker than gnats around
new paint. We were allowed no change
in cur clothes, and l, like the rest, wore
the same clothes during my stuy-in my
case, over six moths. When Generxl
Butler placed his rebel prisoners on Point
Lookout, the Richmond authorities began
| GlONulAlA Jul 4AlGlA 4AOiA LllG Clll DTlsOUS
and hospitals on the island, until over o.
00J were inclosed in pen Of l,ss than FIVE
acres, and not shelter for one third of them.
during January and February, among
these poor fellows it was common to find
| thgir nearest neighbUrs of the night frozen
dead in the morning. l have seen US
many eleven carried cut in one morning,
who were frozen to death the night previ-
Gus, and five or six dead was common oe-
currence During that time, there were
hundreds without hats, caps, blankets,
shoes or over, OF while one day rain, next
ice half an inch I. lex and then snow two
or three inches ard they compelled to hear
it all without shelter, often with no fire.
and never with enough to keep them
warm. A prisoners burial was, if possible,
more brutal than their treatment while
alive. I have seen from one Ofour dump
ed into hole together, without the least
show of a coffin or covering of any kind,
the dirt shoveIed in and left without head
board or other mark Bodies often laid at
the hospital sometime before being inter-
red. One instance l will cite. January
10, have the following; Seven men lay
nine days outdoors, at the hospital, and
last II 5ht the hogs got at them and tore
them to pieces" A dog belonging to the
LieItt nant commanding the Island was
Ill -.ll-t esad mart saw eaten raig and all
our Ia ions were StOppeu twenty fur hours
IN consequenoe. Men were bucked uovvn
for no Ohenss but Deggfng OFv,ss,,
Bile to stand up on being released. Men
tied up by the thumbs for the same oAense
was of common occurrence. The most aw-
fui narrative is tame, compared with reali-
ty. It is the deliberate purpose of the
hell-hounds to make all who live through
the course Of torture unfit to again enter
the service. By the official reports Of the
city hospitals during january and Februa-
ry,2, 800 were admitted and of that num-
Der, over 1850 died Of all the boxes sent
by friends a, home, not one in a hundred
ever reaches the owner, but are used, at
least in part, to feast their returned friends,
who come in exchange for our poor skele-
tons, that are lucky enough to get
through.
was released and reached America the
20th of April, and God grant that 1 may
never run that gauntlet of death again.
of the whole party with whom came
through Just ten besides myself did not 90
to the hospital, and at least one third Of the |
whole were carried from the boat.