The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1864-08-19
The Federal Prisoners at Macon.

The Buffalo IN. Y. )Eapress says al,
has jus, been our pleasure to give the hand
OF welcome and congratulstion 10 one
whose adven: among rejoicing friends is
likr a resurrection from the dead. On
the Sis, Of October last, Captain r. G.
Hubbard, of the Eighiieth United States
colored troops( Colonel Weber's former
regimsDt). resident Of Water Veiley in
this county, was caught by a prowling
band OF bushwbaekers near Baton Rouge,
in Louisiana. Nothing was ever learned
Of bia fate and he has been nourned as
dead, until Tuesday evening last, when
be presented himself to his asionished ac-
quaintances here, having just accomplish.
ed his escape from nine months terrible
captivity.
':lle was first conveyed to Cahawba,
Ala, where be remained in prison FIVE
months. Two escapes which be made
during the time were luckless. In the
first instance, he was quickly recaught /;
in the second, making his way toward
Pensacola, one hundred and fifty miles
distant. be actually reached within thirty
miles OF that place, when again retaken--
pursued by blood hounds, which are KEEP,
buster nowadays in hunting Union men,
deser,ers and prisoners than they used tc
be in the good old times at niger catch.
ing - .......
"He was now. in the beginning Of May,
transferred 10 Macon, Ca, where all the
Union officers in rebel hands have latterly
been imprisoned. The company was
large, numbering fourteen hundred and
fifty five, when be dnally lef; the place.
Some Of them had been sixteen and sew.
enleen months in confnemt Mt, and have
lost all hope OF again breathing free air.
Escapes are frequent-and often through
the couDivance Of friendly guards--but
rarely successful the difficulty Of travel
ing unde,ected through the country, and
OF passing the lines, being almost insuper-
able.
1.-THE destitulion. Of clothing among
these officers Captain Hubbard describes
as. very sad. The quarters are as COM
fortress as can be, and the food wre,ched
but sufficient for lille. and they thank God
for that. The invariable daily ration,
from end to end Of the year, consists Of a
pint OF meal, third Of pound Of bacon,
a tablespoonful OF rice and three OF beans.
"Far worse is the condition of the En-
listed men imprisoned at Anderson, near
Americus--intinitely worse---terrible, in
deed. almost beyond imagination. Penned
like cattle, twenty eight thousand together
within an enclosure partly swamp, in the
, sickliest region Of the Gulf, without the
10 screen them from sun or rain-ihe bor-
rors of their situation might compare with
even those Of the Middle Passage
"During the wet season, an average ol
seventy dead bodies per day were dragged
from This human pen by brutal hands,
and carted to the burial OF beasts. in one
great pit. So crazed. and desperate, and
reckless OF life have these poor martyrs oI
the Union been made by their intolerable
sufferings, :ha! they kill one another upon
the slightest provocation, end homicides
have become so frequent that the saner
class among ,bem have been forced TO in
st,ute regular code of law within the
prison, with courts for its administration
which try, condemn and hang.
"Concerning the state of feeling in the
South, the testimony OF one who has had
such an experience as Captain Hubbard,
and who has observed with a keen intelli.
gence recognizable by any who converse
with him, is worth having. He says lha
the masses Of the southern people have
+ lost not one jo, of heart, hope, confidence
or resolution. Ifanything. they are more
; sanguine OF success than ever. Ignorant
infatuated and deluded by their leaders
I hey look upon each retrea! Of their armies
as a temporary yielding Of territory 10,
strategy's sake, to be speedily recovered
with interest. They talk of "A,lan,a'i
taking Sherman" instead of Sherman
taking Atlanta. They regard their indie
pendence as already achieved, and do no
dream Of peace except upon its recogni
tion."