The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1865-04-21
POETIC JUSTICE.

: The fire which licked out with forked
tongues of fame the heart of Richmond
on Monday last, which surged from James
river to the Capitol, from Belle Isle to
Rockets, which made the place scene of
indescribable desolation, left the Libby
Prison unharmed, though nearly all other
buildings around it were burned.
/ Libby Prison. What horrors have
been witnessed within its walls! What
sighs and groans. What prayers and
tears. What dying out of hope and
wasting away of body and mind. What
nights of darkness settling on human souls !!
Its door an entrance to a living charnel
hOuse-its iron grated windows the loop
holes of hell! Death was the warden
Whoever entered there stood on the verge
of the grave and met Death face to face.
This morning, accompanied by friends,
l visited the prison, which now contains
about five hundred rebel prisoners They
were peeping out from the grated windows
looking intently and sadly upon the
scene of desolation around them-a city
in ruins-still smoldering and smoking.
A large number were upon the root.
breathing the fresh air, and gazing upon
the fields beyond the James, green now
with the verdure of spring. Union pris-
Oners never had such liberty Whoever
approached the window bars or laid his
hand upon them, fell dead the next in
slant
There was crowd of women with
pals and buckets at the windows, giving
the prisoners provisions and talking freely
with their friends. who came not only to
the windows but the door. where the good
natured sentinel allowed conversation with
out restriction.
The officer in charge conducted our
party through the wards. The crowd of
filthy wrctches gazed upon lis with curios-
,ity, wondering what was the purpose OF
our visit. The air was fetid with vile
OdOrS, arising from the unwashed crowd
from old rags and filthy garmcnts-from
choked up uriial> and >ink>-from pud,lles
of filthy water which oozcd from the leaky
conductors, dripped through the floor, run
down the walls. sickening TO all the senses.
From this prison, on Sunday last, fifteen
hundred men were hurried to the tlag-oi-
truce boat, that they night be exchanged
before falling into our hands. Many
thousands of men have lived there month
after month. wasting away. starving. dy-
ing of fever. of consumption, of all dis
eases known to medical science-from in
sanity, despair and id!ocy-having no
communication with the outcr world. no
iood from friends. no sympathy. no COM
passion-denied everything. starved 10
death, tortured 10 death 10y rigor OF I'M
prisonment hv men whose hearts urew
harder from day to day till they became
iiendS i'll human form.
''Plea>e give me Il hit of bread. auntv.
| am starving" was the plea made one
day by i young soldier who SAW a NEGRO
woman passing the window He thrust
his emaciatcI hand between the bars and
clutched the lit which the kind hearted
colored woman chcertully gave him: but
before ii had passed between his teeth he
saw the brains OF hi> bcnct:lctre>S Spattered
upon the sidewalk 10y the sentinel.
Where on the PAGE of history is there
such damninc record of crime as that
written in Richmond-at Libby. at Belle
Isle, at Castle Thunder. the Jail and the
penltentlIry Andcr>onyillc and Sails
bury and Millen are parts of the Rich
mond record of crime-tor all orders were
issued from here.
AT the Jail Major Stevens. the Provost
Marshal, found Il crowd OF starving wretch
es-men. women and children, blacks and
whites, incarcerlted for petty crimes
What are YOU in here for" he ask
cd of little Girl.
"For stealing 4 piece of bread, sir.
| was hungry and my mother was starry
ing,' she replied, the tears starting down
her cheeks.
Major Stevens aScertained that nearly
all were imprisoned for petty Offences
driven 10 crime 10y neceSsity-and OPEN
ing the door, told them to 90 where they
pleased.
Barbarity and inhumanity are charac-
tcristics of slavery-which have shown
themselves on the plantation. in the slave
mart and in the prison-to slaves and
prisoners of war alike.
Il intend to treat the prisoners well.
They have murdered our men. but | shall
not retalliate except with Kindness" said
the officer who conducted us.
The prisoners were playing cards,
cooking their breakfasts, baking hoe cakes
by the fire.
1t was gratifying to see the flag of the
Union floating over that accursed prison
house, with the soldiers of the Union pac-
ing their beats before the doOrs-to see
the motley crowd peeping from the iron
barred windows. 1t was not a feeling of
resentment, but of satisfaction that at last
there was an end to human torture ON
that spot; that it should be longer the
prison house of despair.
How strange the action of the rebel
leaders. They burned the tobacco ware
houses that the tobacco might not fall i'll
to our hands; they destroyed the city
wantonly, reducing their best friends from
affluence to poverty and yet suffered Libby
prison to remain a monument of their i'll
! fanny They were anxious that 1T Should