Litchfield enquirer., 1864-09-01
..,.rn oe Exchanged Prisoners.


 The following article was published in the
 Daily Courant of Aug. 10th. As Lieutenant
 Buckley IS a native of this village, it will be
 read with interest
 Lieut. Charles Laurie, 12th c, ", recently vsl eased from Confederate prison life in Texas reached his home in this city Monday night Lieut.. William 5. Buckley came on with him
 as far as Bridgeport, from which place he started to visit friends in Litchfeid County, and
 will arrive here in . day or two. These ofh
 cers. with others, while on a reconnaissance
 opposite Pattersonville, La., were taken prs
 oners on the 28th of March, 1863. Taey were
 marched that day about twelve miles to camp
 Bisland, and were subsequently taken to w"
 Iberia, where they had the parole Q! !ne Iomn hsna
 and were treated well. After rem a'nlng neie
 short time they were transterreu ~ oamp
 Pratt, fnamed after the rebel Hen. " IoImer-
 1y of this city,) where they rema."eu % un'll 'ae
 Eonfederates retreated when they removed to
 xIavsnJr;s. At this place they were given ,cnsrters at the "Ice House" Ia hotel) temper
 ss,;Iv the proprietor of which refused to cook
 spytbine for them, but afterwards this same
 man, when Gen. Banks took possession of AL 1sxsndria, manifested his "uncompromising Joy ality" by taking the oath of allegiance, and left with the Union forces. The officers were then placed in the Alexandria jail, in a room used for the confinement of debtors, and kept there for about three weeks. Captain Todd. who Represented himself to be a brother of Mrs. Lincoln, was provost marshal of the town but some time afterwards gave himself up vol to the Union army and took the oath. From Alexandria Lieut.. Laurie and his com panidns were taken by boat to Shreveport and placed in iail. Eight of them, including re. l,brter for the New York Herald, were confn cd in cell, ten by twelve feet m size. which was constructed particularly for the accommo- dation of murderers. Here they spent eight days, and were then taken to a guard house where all the Confederate prisoners were i'm psisoued. They could not have been thrust a. mong more abandoned set of villains-the scum of the rebel army in that vicinity. Their food consisted of corn meal and beef, which was sent to them in bulk with orders to cook it as best they could. Without knives or forks and with few utensils for cooking. they exper- fenced many difficulties in appeasing their ap- petites. Alter two weeks spent in this guard house. they were given uch better quarters for about a month, but lest they should make themselves too comfortable, the rebel authori- 'ties caused them to be removed to another guard house when they again suffered many privations. Shortly after they were joined by forty odd prisoners, who had been captured by the rebels at Brashear City. After spending month or six weeks in these quarters Lieuts. Laurie and BuIkley. with forty eight others, were taken to Tyler, Texas, where they remain ed until the 9th of last month when they were taken to the mouth of Red River. and on the 22d uit. were exchanged. At Tyler they were confined in a stockade, aud fed upon corp meal and sTexas blue beef and salt,' and enjoyed the inesti,nahis privilege, now aud then of go- Chg out xcconpanied by Q guard and cutting sheir ewn wood for fuel. Their sufferings here in many respects, were great. No clothing was furnished them, and out of eight hundred officers and privates. who were exchanged, not one hundred had shoes, few, if any, had a whole shirt, lgauy had bat one leg to their pan taloons: :snd tsxeu ss 8 body, they presented the most shabby appearance possible. So mis- erabls was their condition that on arriving at New Orleans secession sympathizers, suppos. ing them to be rebel prisoners, cursed the U. $. government .'up and down" for permitting captivcs to be SO i'll treated.
 In comparison with this usnge 1t is proper to state the fact that when these much abused men were exchanged they could not fail to ob serve 'the 'nsatness which marked the rebel prisoners just released. All of them were~com- fortably cloth ed, the U. s. government having furnished them with wearing apparal, and many of the officers retained their swords, sash- es. esc. At New Orleans, Lieut.. Laurie saw a rebel captain who took part in the engagement at the time he was captured, and this shoulder strapped individual was enjoying parole which enabled him to do as he pleased within the city limits. He was dressed to kill through the kindness and condescenslon (?) of Uncle Sans oficials while our owh men as prisoners are confined in rebel bastiles and prisons. suffering for the smallest comforts of fife. 1t would seem that what is sauce for Il . Union soldier might be sauce for a rebel sol dier; but we seldom find it so. Rebels appear to be favored with beds of down, when Union ists sleep in damp dungeons. Yet kind treat lnent is perhaps the better course after all.