Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1865-08-03
Gen. Butler ON the starvation
OGPrtsOners.

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Gen. B. +. Butler being called to respon,
to the toast, "Ow Voiunteers," said:
The Volunteers of the United State
Army--but another form Of words for tn,
Army Of the United States, as, with tb,
exception Of q handful, all the army wer,
volunteers.
How they have fought What battle
fields have been rendered illustrious by tbei
valor What tights have been preserved
by their consistency What benefits tc
mankind by their success How freedom
to all men has been secured as a result o.
their labors The pen Of history has pre-
served q record enduring forever.
/ 1t is fit on this birthday Of the nation
whose very existence is preserved by their
heroic patriotism, in our joyous commem.
Grafton, that we should honor them for their
services end mingle our congratulations
with theirs in praise upon the return Of
peace.
Would that they were all here to meet us
and receive our greeting. But alas in ev.
cry home 10y the mountain side, in the fer.
tile valley, or on the smiling plain as 10 the
crowded city, fondly eDdeared husband, a
revered father for whose coming orphans
have hoped and YEARLY watching wept, or
|
OF parental affection, shall never again fill.
In the far South, by the turbid river, 10
the sands of the Carolinas, or on plains and
amid the Wilderness of Virginia, there are
little mounds, fast disappearing under the
tooth of time, which contain all that is left
save our memories, to weeping sister, wife,
children, bereaved mother or country, of
our gallant, loyal, devoted soldiers, who
have died that the nation might live, even
so long as to celebrate as a people the re-
turn Of this day with its memories of patri.
otism and glory.
Would to God that the graves of these
loved ones were all we have to mourn. -
Death on the battlefield, or to those who
fall by disease even, in the path of duty,
has its selace where the cause cancti6es and
ballows it as the inevitable result of q strug-
gle for liberty and law. But look once
again On a sandy plain in the midst of
the pine forest bounded by murky swamp.
there is pit, filled with dead mems bones,
unnumbered, unHoted, uncounted, unre.
corded, unnoticed, without sepulture or the
sacred rights of burial. By thousands not
dead by the bullet, not stricken by disease
from the land of God-starved to death
with the cruel torture of hunger, amid
such plenty that an army of six myriads.
with its cattle and horses, could subsist on
the surplus provision of the country in a
rapid march past Andersonville- muir
dered with frost under the shadow of the
fat pines, which sang sad requiem to their
memories as the Winter winds moaned
through the branches, whose very signing
called up in frenzy the happy homes and
warm hearths Of the North to the wander
ing minds Of the dying martyrs.
Shall we do nothing but mourn and min
gle our tears with the sorrowed bowed ones
OF their homes, for these our heroes SO loved
and lost? Is there no responsibility for
these so great wrongs? Is idle grief and
useless sorrow all the solace that grateful
country and powerful people can give to
the sorrowing sister, widowed wife and
mourning mother for the brother, husband,
son, thus fondly, cruelty, basely murdered,
with the set purpose to deprive that country
of the service of its sodiersp
Shall VIC take to our hearts and to our
social and political fellowship the cruel jail
ers who did these wholesale murders by
famine and cold on our brothers and sons,
helpless prisoners Of war, entitled to food
and warmth by every law, municipal or ma
tions human or divine? Not in vengeance,
but in mercy; not in retaliation, but in pre-
caution; not in revenge, but in prevention,
that this thing may never be done again
among civilized men, as it never has been
done before by savage people, shall these
butchers be brought to condign punishment.
Who in all the world, philanthropist or
politician, editor or historian, soldier or
civilian has sent up or will send up petit
tion, that the keepers Of the murder pens,
Libby, Belle Isle, Mllen and Anderson.
vile, shall be pardoned The undried tears
of the sister OF every massacred soldier de-
mands their execution. The forlorn woe of
each lonely widow cries for it. Heavens
justice, the silent agony of every bereaved
mother mutely pleads that her sons MUIR
derer shall not blast her sight in life. All
nature and natures God by His Holy law
has decreed that the brothers murderer shall
not live. Who then shall stay the hand of
justice? Who shall stand between these
men and the penalty Of the law2 There is
none-not one.
But hold Is there no answer for these
prcjudged criminals2 Have they no ploa to
put in when so summarily arraigned at your
baI? Hear them in mercy and deal with
them in justice. Hear them as they answer
for their lives. "We, the jailors of Anderson.
vile, Libby and Belle Isle were but inferior
military officers. We did but carry out the
OTu6TS OF our supeTlOTS. Ii we nau TeIuseu
to do their bidding we should have been
court-martialed and hanged. We we're but
the hands to do what the heads willed.--
We but followed out the policy of Jefferson
Davis, the President Of the Confederate
States, to deplete by starvation the mmies
Of the United States, and only executed the
orders of Robert Il. Lee, Commander-in-
Chief Of our armies, to prevent reinforce
ments coming to you, our enemies, by ex-
change of prisoners Why hang us subscribe
500, 900 in New York as a testimonial to
him? What kind ofjustce in your Govern
ment is it to shut us up in prison for obey
ing his orders and permit him to retire to
his home in Virginia, like another Gin
cinnatus, returning not from serving, but
running his country?
"Why visit all your punishment upon ns2
We are peor iliterate meu--jailors. We
were not educated at the peoples expense
at West Psint, as were President Davis and
Gen. Lee We have never sworn fealty to
your flag in solemn service. We did not
hold, at the beginning Of the war, high
offices, civil or military, in the Senate and
army of the United States.
IF we were guilty of the death Of your
soldiers at Andersonville as subordinates,
were they net equally guilty as superiors?--
Beside, did they not bring on the war by
their action in the Senate and army, and