Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1864-11-25

:
for they aCere starring!
They gnawed the very bones which
had been thrown away, sometimes break
ing them up for soup. They were glar
to get the refuse bread which was occa-
sionally thrown to them by the guards
They even ate the rats which burroweC
in the encampment. A dog, belonging
to an officer, straying into the enclosure
was caught and secreted, aud before he
could reclaim his property, it was torn
apart by the man who stole it, some Of il
eaten by himself, aud the remainder sold
to his comrades.
When a t length exchanged, many
were SO weak they had TO be carried
ashore on stretchers, and died in the
brief transit. Others tottered to the
hospital, with the little strength they had
remaining, only to die in few hours
Some Of them were found covered with
bad and extensive sores, caused by lying
on the sand. Many had lost their rea-
son, and were in all stages of imbecility.
One had become incurably insane in bis
joy at being delivered.
Often they acted ike children, and bad
to be taught the decencies of life, so long
had they been unhabtuated to them. A
number had partially lost their sight,
hearing, and speech. One man was
pointed out to the commissioners, who
had been so covered by vermin, that after
having been, as was supposed, thorough'
ly washed, his head even been shaven,
was laid upon clean bed, in ten minutes
the sheets and his clothing were again
covered with vermn. Aud this was not
peculiar to him. 1t was only an in
stance of the unavoidable condition of all.
In some cases they were SO eaten by lice
as TO very nearly resemble case of scsb-
bing from small pox, being covered with
sores from head to foot. Many had been
badly frost,bitlen, and came ashore with
'e partially amputated. Ia Que case il
was mentioned to the visitors that fro>
z foot fell of as man was being car
ried ashore
II will be enough for most people, that
he cap'ives were hungry day and night,
md suffered the gnawing pains of famine
with its dreams and delusions. 1t will be |
,nough that they became weak and ema-
lated to the degree in which they were
ound when excehnged. 1t will be enough |
hat they were poisoned by foul air ard !
ver-crowding and that they we're ex-
'osed in the depth of winter TO the cold |
Without shelter and without covering. Ii |
will be enough that thousands OF them
ecame hideously diseased, and that most
f them miserably perished.
On the other hand, the rebel prisoners
n federal custody, have been cleaned,
lothed, well fed, and exchanged in cap
al condition. When the Aag,ol-truce
oat landed within the rebel lines, the
wo systems confronted each other. On
ne side hundreds of feeble, emaciated
zen, ragged, filthy, hungry, diseased and
ying on the other an equal number of
.rong and hearty men, clad in the army
lothing of the government against which
ley bad fought, having been humanely
Ieltered, fed, cleansed of dirt, cured OF
'ounds and disease, and now honoPably /
-iurned to fight that government again.
The commissioners have been com
elled TO accept the conclusion that these
ltrages on humanity were the result, not
accident, want of supplies, or Local
buse of power, but of deliberate design
4 the part of the confederate govern
ent That abuse is, in all its forms, too /
eneral, too uniform, and too simultane-
Is to be otherwise than the result of a c
'eat Arrangement. One prison station y
like anothcr-one hospital resembles /
lother hospital. This has been made !
pecially apparent by intelligence that q
rs reached the public just as this inves- :
cation is closing, aud this report is being
ritten. 1t is the same story every h
here; prisoners of war treated worse =
an convicts, shut up either in suffoca- b
g buildings, or in outdoor enclosures, ;
thout even the shelter that is provided !
r the beasts of the field; unsupplied !
th sufficient food; supplied with food =
d water injurious and even poisonous U
mpelled TO live in such personal un- L
as to generate veImin COM d
He'd TO sleep on floors often covered 5,
th human filth, or on ground saturated h
th it; compelled to breathe an air op. 7
essed with an intolerable stencil hem 4
I'd in by fatal dead-line, and in hour
danger of being shot by unrestrained IL
d brutal guards; respondent even to
adness, idiocy and suicide sick of dis ii
ses ESQ congruous in character as 10 ap- ii
ar and spread like the plague) caused OF
the torrid sun, by decaying food, by f.,
h, by vermin, by malaria, and by cold Il
moved at the last moment, aud by hun -
eds at time, to hospitals corrupt as a cl
1ulchre, there. with few remedies, little Ill
re and no sympathy, to die in wretch al
ness and despair, not only among stran- w
RS, but among enemies too resentful to he
We pity or to show mercy. The con m
sion is unavoidable, therefore, that ~