Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1865-08-17
NUMBER II.

| strictions, it is difficult to maintain health
and cleanliness among large body of men
what do you think was the condition of
| thirty-seven thousand halfnaked, ,halfstarv-
! ed men, without any police regulations, un-
! der no moral or restraining influences If
| the remnant who were finally allowed to
pass out of this military Golgotha were not
wild beasts, unwashed, befouled devils, no
! thanks are to be given to Henry Wertz for
lack of effort to produce such a cOnsumma-
ton.
When it rained as it does in that climate
almost continually during the spring and
fall months, the soil within the enclosure
was one mass Of loblolly, soft mud, at least
fifteen inches in depth, through which stalk
ed and staggered the gaunt, half-clad
wretches thus confined The stencil from
! the prison could be perceived for tlCO miles,
and farmers Gcing IN the neigi,bOrho0d began
TO fear for the health Of their families.
As consequence of this, the hospitals
-facetious was Wertz in his horrible hui
manity-were crowded to repIetion with
the emaciated, starved, and diseased men
who were trundled into them.
The hospitals were constructed of logs,
| unhewed, the insterstices untitled and open,
admitting the rain, without floors, cots,
hunks, or blankets, filthy and fetid with the
| fostering, putrid bodies Of the sick, the dy-
ing, and the dead Words fail, langua ge
is impotent to describe one of these dens of
disease and death. | once mustered the
courage, impellcd by the earnest entreaties
Of u Northern friend, to enter one of them,
! to visit one who was tcnderly reared, and
walked in the best ranks Of Connecticut So
ciety. | believed I had seen before this
what deemed to be human wretchedness
i'll its worst forms. | thought that could
nerve myself to witness mortal agony and
wretchedness and destitution, as | had
heard it described, without blanching or
trembling but if the condensed horrors of
hundred black holes had been brought
before my mind to prepare me for the or
deal, they would have failed to realize the
facts as | saw them, face to face.
cannot, i'll daily paper read by inno-
cence and virtue, detail what met my sight
on the occasion | refer to- | will not pol
lutte any page, save the records of the courts
that must try the culprit for the crime of
torture dy disease and filth, with the de-
tails Of that caravansary Of horrible, inten-
tional slaughter. For fear that some may
think | have exaggerated, and episode here
will, perhaps, dispel such Illusion Con,
victcd by the horrible fact that was a
stencil in his nostrils, General Winder then
Commissary General of Prisons, but having
his headquarters at Andersonville. was
forced by decency, not humanity, for this
he himself asserted, to ask the aid Of the
Presiding Elder of the Methodist Church of
that circuit to adopt some means to allevi-
ate the miseres and sooth the wretched-
ness Of the poor inmates of that Anderson-
vile hospital. This gentleman invoked the
cooperation Of the women Of Sumter coun-
! ty, who responded with clothing and neces-
saries only, for these alone are allowed to
the amount of four wagon loads Upon
| the day appointed, four ladies', accompan-
led by their husbands, went to the prison
and sought from the Provost Marshal a
pass, to take their benetactions to the sick
prisoners. 1t was refused with a curse.
The party proceeded to Winder's headquar-
ters, where Henry Vert was in company
with the General. The demand for a pass
was repeated. Understand, the ladies
were present, and the reasons given why
the party were there, in accordance with
Nindcrs special request To their aston
lshment, they were met with this reply :
" Cd d---n you, have you all turned Yam
KEGS here 7"
No, General" responded the spokesman
Of the party, II am not, as you know, nor
are any here present we have come, as
You requested us, through Rev Mr. D. to
bring necessary articles for the Federal
hospital, and ask Il pass for the purpose Of
delivering them
"It's id lie | never gave per-
mission for anything of the kind Be off
with you all Of you y
AS If his fearless display of martial val
or and gentlemanly bearing was not sulfi-
cicnt, Henry Wertz essayed to and did
eclipse his General in profanity and indcc-
ency-and | here assert that if the lowest
sinks Of the most abandoned parts of your
city We're CLEANED, they could not surpass
the ribald vulgarity and finished profanity
Of this jailor exhibited in the presence of
refined and "Ioyal" ladies'
Shocked, terrified, beaten to the very dust
with modification, the party retired, and
foiled in their efforts to succor the sick or
alleviate the tortures Of the dying Union
soldier, they gave their loads of clothing
and food to a passing column of Federal
prisoners on their way to another place
Millen. They at least had the satisfaction
OF knowing that some were benefited, even
if they had failed i'll their efforts for those
who most needed their assistance
During the last winter, which was unu-
sually cold for Georgia. when the ice made
an inch thick, no shelter, no blankets or
clothes, no wood was provided for the
wretched inmates of that prison Squads
| were permitted, to the number of thirty, to
go out under guard daily, for one hour,
without axes or any cutting tool, to gather
the refuse and rotten wood in the forests
and if they outstaid their time, they were
tried by drum-head court-martial, charged
with violating their parole, and if found
guilty, were hung l myself saw three
bodies hanging who were thus executed.
Poor fellows, thought, God has taken pity
upon you and given you deliverance from
your cruel Tailor. When you and he meet,
at another judgment seat, woe to him if his
authority be found insufficient for this tax
ing of your lives, ,wretched though they be-
My house was the resort, or,I should say,
refuge, of most of the prisoners who made
their escape from the stockade and the
tales Of starvation and distress which they
told would have melted an iron heart.
must close my hurried account of what
| had SEEN 1t is far from full not one hall