Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-08-24
Letter from Junius Henri
BrOwne---Staaton the Grave
Digger OF Our sacrificed Men.

Digger of Our sacrificed Men.
The telegraph having given the substance
of letter by Junius Henri Browne the
noted prisoner of war and 'loyal' cores
pondent of the New York Tribune, we pub
lish it in full below:
Lately, Mr. Charles A. Dana, alluding in
the journal Of which he is the editor-in-
chief, to q statement in my recently pub
lished volume-"F -Four Years in Secessia"
that Edwin NJ Stanton is responsible for
the failure to exchange the thousands of
prisoners Of war held in the South, avoided
the question at issue, and entered into an
elaborate explanation to show that the
twenty months detention in captivity of
my conlrerc, Mr.. Albert ID. Richardson,
and myself, was in no manner attributable
to the Secretary of War. Neither of the
correspondents of the Tribune have ever
made any complaint, privately or publicly,
of his long captivity; and | should be deep
! ly mortified to suppose that any one would
think that, after we had escaped, we were
so lacking in good sense and humanity as to
murmur or make accusations against an of
ficcr Of the Government from mere personal
feeling, when tens of thousands Of captivcs
were pcrishing by systematic cruelty in the
. ItDtl IllSoilS VI tlt bOulli.
Mr.. Dana, as have said, does not under
take to meet the main and only important
question beyond the general and incidental
declaration that not one of all the prisoners
in the South could make Mr. Stanton re-
sponsiblc for the tortures he suffered in the
South. This is simply not true, as all who
had acquaintance with the administration
Of affairs in Washington during two years
previous to the close of the war must,
should think, have been aware.
MIR. Richardson and myself spent nearly
a week in'the National Capital after our es
cape, endeavoring to do all that was possible
for the release Of the brave menin the hands
of the enemy and every one we met tolc
the same story, that the Secretary of Wa,
was the obstacle in the way of the resump
tion Of the exchange.
Moreover. General Butler, in his speech
at Lowell, Mass, stated positively that h,
had been ordered by Mr.. Stanton to pu
forward the negro question to compicatC
and prevent the exchange Colonel A. Il
) Strcight, Of indianapolis, Indiana, fellow
prisoner with us in the Libby, told Mr.
Richardson after our return to freedom
that, in an interview between the Secretary
and himself the former declared to hin
the government could not afford to exchang,
ablc-bodied men for skeletons. Other Off
GERS and civilians, whose names | can no
now remember, have assured me that h
had used to them the same language, il
/ effect and there is no doubt whatever tina
G that was his policy and his determination
until the clamors of the people compcle,
5 him to retire from his barbarous position
0 Every one is aware that when the ex
n change did take place net the siuhtes
C alteration had occurred in the question, an
. that our prisoners might as well have bee
n relieved ~ or IL months before as at tn
resumption Of the cartel, which would hav
:, saved to the republic at least twelve or fl
c teen thousand heroic lives. That they wer
C not saved is due alone to Mr.. Edwin NJ
, Stanton's peculiar policy and doggcd OF
t stinacy; and as have remarked before, 1t
; is unquestlonably the digger Of the unname
; graves that crowd the vicinity of ever
e southern prison with historic and never to
be forgotten horrors.
| regret the revival Of this painful sub
jcct, but the gratuitous effort Of Mr.. DAM
to relieve the Secretary Of War from re
sponsibiIity he seems willing to bear, ant
which merely as a question of policy, indie
pendent Of ali considerations Of humonity
must be regarded as of great weight, ha,
, compelled ne to vindicate myself from The
charge Of making grave statements withou
"A due consideration.
e Once for all, let me declare that hav
d never found fault with any one because
If was detained in prison, for am well awai
&c that thai WIS matter In which no one br
:, myself, and possibly few friends, coul
IS feel any interest; that my sole motive 70
y impcaching the Secretary of War was tina
e the people of the North might know t
IS whom they were indebted for the col
blooded and needless sacrifice of thcrfather
and brothers, their husbands and their sons
JUNlUS HENRI BROWNE.
@ New York, August s, 1868.