The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1865-03-24

rere in g reduced condition that on
moro than one trip up on the short
passage Of ten miles from the Transports
70 tho city a. many Is five died. The
clothing Of the privates was in wretch
ed state of tatters and filth. -" The
mortality on the passage from Maryland
was very great, as well as that on the
passage from the prisons to the port
from which they started. 1cannot state
the exact number, butt think / heard
that three thousand five hundred were
started, and we only received about three
thousand and twenty~seven."
THE RATIoNs GIvEN1ro1FEDERAL PRI-
+ sONERS.
The evidence proves that the ratiohs
furnished to prisoners of war in Rich
mond and on Belle Isle have been neper
less than those furnished to the Confede-
rate soldiers who guarded them, and
have, at some seasons, been larger in
quantity and better in quality than those
furnished to Confederate troops in the
field. This has been because, until
February, 1864, the Quartermastcr's De
partment furnished the prisoners, and
often had provisions or funds, when the
Commissary Department was not so we'll
provided. Once, and only once, for a
few weeks, the prisoners were WITHOUT
meat; but larger quantity Of bread and
vegetable food was, in consequence, sup
piled to them. How often the gallant
men composing the Confederate army
have been without meat, for even longer
intervals, your committee do not deem
it necessary to say. Not less than six
teen ounces Of bread and four ounces of
bacon, or six ounces of beef together
with beans and soup, have been fur
nished per day to the prisoners. During
most of the time, the quantity of meat
furnished to them has been greater than
these amounts; and, even in times of
the greatest scarcity, they have received
as much as the Southern soldiers who
guarded them. The scarcity of meat
and Of breadstuffs in the South, in GER
tain places, has been the result of the
savage policy of our enemies in burning
barns filled with wheat or corn, destroy
ing agricultural implements, and driving
off or wontonly butcherins hogs and cat
tie. YET amid all these privations, we
have given to their prisoners the ratioLs
above mentioned 1t iswcll known that
this quantity of food is sufficient to keep
in health q man who does not labor
hard.
ERS FREEZING ON BELLE ISLE.
The statements of the " sanitary com
mission" as to prisoners freezing to
death on Belle Isle are absurdly false.
According to that statement, it was com.
mon, during a cold spell in winter, to
see several prisoners frozen to death
every morning in the places in which
they had slept. This picture, if correct,
might we'll excite our horror; but, un-
happily for its sensational power, it is
but clumsy daub, founded on the fancy
of the painter. The facts are, that tents
were furnished sufficient to shelter all
thepr;soners that the Confederate COM
mandant and soldiers on the island
were lodged in similar tents; that fire
was furnished in each of them; that the
prisoners Jared as we'll as their guards;
and that only one of them was ever
frozen to death, and he was frozen by the
cruelty Of his oaon .fellow prisoners, who
thrust him out of the tent in freezing
night because he was infested with YER
min. The proof as to the healthiness
of the prisoners on Belle Isle, and the
small amount Of mortality, is remar<a
BILE, and presents fit comment on the
lugubrious pictures drawn by the "sani
tarv commission either from their own
fancies or from the fictio7s put forth by
their false witnesses. Lieutenant Bos-
sioux proves that, from the establishment
of the prison camp on Belle Isle, in
June, 1862, to the 10th Of February,
1866, more than twenty thousand pri-
soners had been, at various times, there
received, and yet that the whole number
of deaths, during this time was only
one hundred and sixty~four. And this
is confirmed by the Federal Colonel
Sanderson, who states that the average
number of deaths per month on Belle
Isle was "from two to five-more FREE
quently the lesser number" The sick
were promptly removed from the island
to the hospitals in the city.
MINE UNDER THE LIBBY PRISON.
Your committee proceed next to no
tice the allegation that the Confederate
authorities had prepared mine under
the Libby prison, and placed in it a
quantity Of gunpowder for the purpose
of blowing up the buildings, with their
inmates, in case of an attempt to rescue
them. After ascertaining all the facts
bearing on this subject, your committee
believe that what was done under the
will meet a verdict of ap- |