The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-10-07
The Union Prisoners in Georgia.

pointed by the $4,000 Union prisoners in
Georgia, to intercede with the President
for an exchange, left New York for WASH
ington to prosecute their mission. The
Chairman of the delegation, E. W. BoATE,
is in such debilitated physical condition,
owing to long imprisonment, that he has
resigned his position to Mr.. TRACY, in the
following letter:
Prescott Tracy, Esq, SD ". 7 Vols:
My DEAR TRACY-It is with the deepest re-
greet, find the illness under which I labor is
Of such nature that l am denied the pleasure,
as well as singular honor, of accompanying
my brother Commissioners upon our sacred
mission to Washington.
had cherished the hope Of being able as
Chairman of our delegation, to communicate
verbally the facts relative to the state of our
suffering soldiers at Camp Sumter, to the Ex-
ecutive, and help you to describe the almost
incredible wretchedness of these brave men, in:
Their unaccountably prOtracted imprson-
ment in the swamps Of Georgia;
Their terrible privations;
Their food unit for human beings;
Their drink (their only drink) swamp water
filed with untold impurities;
Without shelter of any kind from the fierce
tropical sun and the heavy rains which alter
nately prevail in that region;
Their miserable clothes, insufficient even for
the purpose of common decency;
The confinement of 1000 human beings
within an area Of some seventeen acres, with q
pestilential swamp running through the camp;
Without any facilities for keeping the person
clean;
The fact that our sick when removed to hos
pital are utterly devoid of any sort of accom-
mediation, and often three weeks at time
without particle of medicine;
The fearful amount of disease and the fright.
full mortality consequent upon such unprece-
dented suferings;
The despair. the mental imbecility, the mad
ness which have been the result to so many of
those unhappy prisoners, thousands of whom
are confined for periods OF from ten to seven
teen months, and thousands of whose terms of
service have long since expired-tacts which
add TO the horrors of the picture.
These things, with others equally excrutiat-
ing, had hoped to be able to assist you in i'm
pressing upon the mind of our Chief Magis-
trate, conscious that he could not listen to the
tale without making an effort to rescue from
their horrible position the brave, but unfortu-
nate men who are thus suffering for their de-
votion to tie Union. My hopes, however,
have turned out to be in vain. So tar as am
concerned, the appeal Of the $4,000 prisoners
in Camp Sumter must be silent and ineffective,
my medical adviser Dr. John Lynch, strictly
prohibiting me from taking part in any excite.
ment, owing to the state of my health gcner-
ally; my left lung nearly gone, and my sight
80 impaired as to be only one degree removed
from total blindness. all the result of eleven
long weary months spent in the bull pens of
the Southern Confederacy.
In your hands, however, the cause will suffer
nothing. Your great intelligence, your long
experience and intimate acquaintance with
military life, your perfect knowledge Of all the
facts of the case. and your deep sympathy for
the poor fellows we have left behind us, evil
IDENTITY fit you for the high and holy mission
upon which we have been sent. To you, there
FORE resign the honored position as Chair
man of our delegation, which 1 earnestly beg
you to accept, conscious that you will do all
that could wish and far more than could be
able to accomplish.
I am, my dear Tracy. yours truly,
EDWARD W. BOATE.
NEw York, Sept. 16, 1864.
The appeal of these $4,000 prisoners has
been before the administration and the
country for nearly month, and as yet it
receives no answer from Washington. Our
War Department declines to accept the
rebel offer to exchange man for man, So
hcitor WHITIIa and Gen. But LIB having
decreed that no exchanges can be made
until the question of the status of few
negro prisoners-a "mere fraction" as
the New York Times says, "even Of the
solored prisoners taken lis permanently
decided. And thus our soldiers are left to
their fate-a fate worse than death. They
are dying at the rate of over hundred a
day, while at any moment Mr.. LINCOLN
might set them free, under an arrange
ment which would not even affect the
status of the few negroes to whose inter-
ests he sacrifices the lives of thousands Of
whites.