The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-02-19
Prison Pare i'm the SOuth-.Can 1t
be True!

We clip from the Springfield Mass. y
Republican, the following, which explains
itself:
CONDITION OF OUR PRISONERS. have
been no recent accounts from our prisoners at
Richmond, and they are not probably allowed
to write as to their real condition. The Boston
Journal gives letter from one Of the last 500
exchanged, Massachusetts soldier now in the
parole camp at Annapolis which confirms the
previous reports of the bad treatment of our
men at Belle Isle. He says:
Our daily ratious were one-half pound of
bread, one ounce of meat, one pint of soup.
In the morning our bread and meat were dealt
out to US, and in the evening one pint of bean
soup; sometimes in a pint of the soup we
would get about tablespoonful of beans; the
liquor tasted like dishwater. l have taken fifty
bugs and worms, some of them One-half inch
long, from one pint of soup; was often too
hungry to pick them out. Many OF the pris-
oners became so weak as to fall down while
walking about
Our bowels became so contracted that it was
impossible to stand erect but kept continually
bent over while walking. do not think l
measured more than three inches through from
my bowels to my back. When we drew our
rations, they placed guard over the swill bar
rels to keep the prisoners from eating the
swill. ooh! how many times have wished
could but get at the swil-tub at hOme!) All
the bones were saved and broken into small
pieces and boiled over to get all the substance
we could out of them; then we would toast
and eat them. One day we caught dog, and
would have killed and eaten him, but We had
not the fuel to cook him.
There were not tents enough for all. Hun
dreds of men were on the island for months
Wi NJ hoUa SpQu
300 or 400 turned into camp without the first
thing except the clothes on their back-nOt so
much as a blanket or even a tin cup to eat
their soup from. Hundreds died for want of
food, while others died for want of care in the
hospital For long time the sick in the hos
pital lay on the bare ground with neither
blankets nor anything uoder or over them, and
nothing to eat except what we had. Among
| the things which Uncle Sam sent us were sew
rial barrels of soda crackers. These the rebs
ate, and gave to the sick corn Tread made of
| nothing but corr and water stirred up and
baked. We Jared Ii tie better after our gov
ernment sent us food, but we did not get much
of it. Perhaps the prisoners in other places
had it. know the rebels gave some of it to
their own soldiers. We did not get the first
particle of the flour. Soon after the clothing
was sent all the guards came out in our uni.
form. ..tg
Can these statements be true? There
is something in the |" infelicity of the situ-
alton" OF affairs on both sides--of the
friends aud the foes OF the country which
gives some senblance Of truth to the above
strange story. Whatever feeling Of honor
and dignity the rebels may have possessed
at the commencement OF this war, it is
very plain that, like BOB ACRES courage,
it is :" fast oozing out at their palms" The
contemplate Vaccinations and falsehoods
which their public emissaries have resorted
to for the purpose of inducing foreign in
reference, is anything but in accordance
with their boasted chivalry, that threw
down the gauntlet and challenged us to a
single and fair fight. Their perverse as
sumption that they alone may use the ne
gro as an element of war-their piratical
| depredations at sea and guerilla incursions
on land-their distortion of facts and fiend-
ish persistence in ong-all these facts,
coupled with their irresponsible AID de-
moralized condition, intensified by degree
Of destitution which has won them the
sobrique. of "LEE's Miserables," have
proven to the world that any conduct,
however bad, on their part, will not sur
prise anybody at this late period in their
misconduct. ,g9,rr, 4. FIX, t.e
On the other hand, what are our au-
G.