Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-07-25


HEADoUARTERs sEcoSD WISCONSIN Battery
FoRT PHELPS, CHATTANOoGA, Tenn, July r. !
ED. CHATTANOOGA GAzETTE:-Yester-
day afternoon our battery was thrown into
a commotion by the sudden appearance OF
our comrade, Thomas Boyle, who was
taken prisoner at the battle of Chickamau-
H ga, and who made his escape from the
rebel prison at Americas, Georgia, on the
18th Of June, and after being recaptured
three times-once by bloodhounds-anda as
many times re-escaping, finally reached
our lines on the Chattahoochee river, on
the 9TH of July, after many hairbreadth
escapes and thrilling adventures. The
tale of horror he tells Of the suffering and
treatment Of our prisoners, is almost be-
yond belief The barbarous ages give no
| parallel to it. The sufferings undergone
! by our men at Belle Isle and Libby prison
were comforts to this. The statements of
Mr.. Boyle can be relied upon as true in
| their every respect; all who know him
will testify to his veracity. l make this
! assertion feeling that many will doubt
even the faint outline ! shall give of his
statements.
At the time of his escape there were
$4,000 Federal prisoners confined in a
stOckade inciosing twelve acres of ground,
through the centre of which runs q swamp,
which covers about three of said twelve
acres. The men are without blankets,
many of them almost nude, all dirty rag
ged, dirty and lousy. No soap is given
them. They have no tents or shelter, ex-
cept holes they dig in the ground with
Their hands, For roof they set sticks up
and lean them together at the top and COW
er them with dirt.
The water they have to use Is got from |
holes dug in the edge Of the aforemention-
ed swamp. The rations consist of three |
ounces Of meat per day, and piece of
corn bread four inches square. In lieu of |
the bread they get pint and a half of corn
meal, which they bake without salt, on
board before camp fire. Their meat
ration is very often minus, and sometimes
their bread and meal they then get one
pint ofrice cooked. Such treatment seems
almost too horrible for we'll, able bodied
men to endure. But when we know that
they are auffering from the worst form of
diseases, then the bare thought becomes
appalling. Nearly all of the Gettysburg
and Chickamauga prisoners that are yet
alive are suffering from seurvy in its worst
form.
Two-thirds of the whole $4,000 are suf-
Gering from the same dread disease Their
limbs are stiff and swollen until they are
black and blue; teeth loose and dropping
Dut, their. gums being loose and happy.
The soul turns sick from the awful picture
The hospitals differ from the stOckade only
n that they have tents for the.sick, but no
ents nor blankets-all lie on the ground. !
The surgeons have no medicines.
At the stockade there is an imaginary !
inc which if our men pass the rebel guard I
hoots; hence it is called the dead line
Many Of the men sufferings became so in
.olerable that they voluntarily cross this
inc and are shot Mr.. Boyle says he has c
many such scenes. Many of the
nen have become crazy through their {
,reat suffering and loss of all hope of an q
exchange Nearly all of them say that they I
nope Uncle Sam will not give one point {
rom the right to induce an exchange
They feel the loftiness of the principles [
hey are more than dying to sustain, and t
t nerves them to bear heroically a Il that
,ur far more than inhuman foe can put
lpOn thenl-until they sink into martyrs
rave. Does the country appreciate such
loble sacrifices? The dead are stripped
If all clothing, if there be anything but
ags on them-and then piled into cart !
md hauled to the burial ground and there
.ast into trenches feet wide, do depth,
md unshrouded, uncoflined, covered with
he cold earth. The mortality is very
great. 1t is to be hoped that some meas
Ire may be speedily found to give these
men their liberty. God is just and merei-
ul, and in him is our trust.
Respectfully yours,
II. S. HOWARD.