The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1864-06-23
tFrom the Cleveland Herald.
The Refinement of Murder,

Treason and murder are 6ttingly link
ed together in the estimation Of the
world. The latter is a natural conse-
quence Of the former, and the blacker
the treason the more ntrocious the
crimes that result from it. No treason D
has been greater than that of the South
ern rebels. No cruelties have been
more horrible aud fendish than those
inflicted by them on their wretched
victims.
We pass over the butchery at Fort
Pillow. 1t has not been equaled ex.
cept in the orgies Of savage tribes, but
even those horrid scenes fade into com
parative insignifcance beside the great
er cruelties elsewhere. True, unarmed
and unresisting men we're slaughtered
in cold blood and buried in graves Of
their own digging. True, wounded an d
helpless men were pinned to the earth
with bayonets, or flung into the river
to drown. True, children were killed
before their mothers eyes, and then the
screaming women knocked on the head
with muskets; but all this is compare.
lively excusable. The unhappy vic
Tins had defended themselves stubborn
y against their captors, and only yield.
ed when unable to hold out longer, de-
pending on the laws of nations, of civ
ilized war, and of common humanity
for their safety. The victorious force,
knowing nothing of national honor,
civilized warfare, or common humanity,
butchered their prisoners, as perhaps
some other savages might have done.
The victims Of Fort Pillow died and
were at rest, Their sufferings were
soon over. But the thousands of brave
men who at other places fell into the
hands of the enemy, and were taken to
Southern prisons, we're doomed to pro-
louged wretchedness and miserable
death. Better the sharp steel and the
murderous bullet on the banks of the
Mississippi, than slow starvation and
wasting disease in Libby prison or Belle
Isle.
1t is now many months since the
country was startled and shocked at the
report of the atrocities committed by
the rebel authorities on the Federal
prisoners in Richmond and elsewhere
1t was said that our men, thrown into
their hands by the chances of war, wore
being deliberately starved to death in
order to unfit them for service when
exchanged. The report was too mon
strous to be believed, aud was set down
as an exaggeration of some individ al
case into an entire system.
But the proof began to accumu1a
Escaped prisoners testified by their
physical condition to the truth of the
story, and at length, when an exchange
of prisoners was reluctantly permitted
by the enemy, all doubts were set al
rest. The crowd of emcaiated, enfeebled
imbecile, and dying wrecks of human
ity that arrived at Annapolis needed
no skilled pen to narrate the horrible
story of their wrongs. The ghastly
skeletons, still retaining o, semblance o
life, were more eloquent than words.
Death was already busy among them
They died like rotten sheep on theil
passage up from Fortress Monroe. -
They perished daily when taken undo
the care of the authorities at Annapo
lis, and when everything possible wa
done to restore them to health. OF th,
whole number received one third ar
expected to die from the effects of thei
cruel treatment, and no confidence i
expressed in saving more than one hall
Even these will be mostly ruined 70
life, their constitutions broken, an,
their bodies enfesbled with disease. Th
The murderers had done their work to-
we'll.
The Committee on the Conduct o
the War have visited these victims
have taken down their evidence, an
will soon spread it, in all its horribl
details, before the people. They hav
done more. Full length photograph
have been taken of number of the re
leased prisoners, and copies of thes
will accompany the reports, No wri
ten or printed account can convey
the mind so clear an understanding
the terrible sufferings of our unfortr
. nate brothers, cons, and fathers, as thei
unimpeachable Witnesses. No other e,