The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1865-02-28

ended, the guards upon the fence on
each side Of us, with deliberate aim, f.
red into the tents upon helpless and in
nocent men. They killeSsin all, fifteen,
and wounded sixty, not one-tenth of
whom had taken part in the attempt,
many ofwhom Were ignorant OF it un.
ill they heard the guns. la6s'iil y Z
Deliberate, cold-blooded murders
Of peaceable men, where there was no
pretence that, they were breaking any
prison regulations, were very frequent.
\ I" October .l6, Lieutenant Davis, Of
l5sth New York infantry, was thus
shot dead by aiguard who, the day be
fore, had been openly swearing that
he would. kill some damned Yankee
yet Noyember 6, Luther Conrad, of
the 45th Pennsylvania infantry, a dclr-
ious patient from one of the hospitals,
was similarly murdered. November 3,
chimney in one of the hospitals fell
ldown, crushing several men under it.
Orders were Immediately given to the
guard to let no one approach the build
ing, ON pretext that there might be an-
other insurrection. Two patients from
that hospital had not heard the order,
and were returning to their quarters,
when 4 saw sentinel on the fence, not
twenty feet from them, without chal-
lenging them, raise his piece and fire,
killing one and wounding the other
Major Gee, at the time, was standing
Immediately beside the sentinel, who
must have acted under his direct or
deTs. 'o--'E. -'f ,u,fGs 10 .
"December l6, Moses Smith, of 9TH
Maryland (colored) infantry, while
standing beside my quarters, searching
for scraps oftfood from the sweepings
of the-coskv house, was, shot through
the head. There were very many SIM
| liar murders. never knew any pre-
tence even of investigating or punish
ing them. Our lives were not safe for
one moment. Any sentinel, at any hour
of the day or night, could deliberately
shoot down any prisoner, or into any
group of prisoners, black or white, and
he would not even be taken off his post
| for il. .f 3dl r .osuotl t-r9g af- q,
1" Nearly every week an officer came
into the prison to recruit for the rebel
army. Sometimes he offered bounties;
always he promised good clothing and
abundant food. Between twelve hun
dred and eighteen hundred of our men
enlisted in ten months. i was repeat
edly asked by prisoners, sometimes
with tears in their eyes, What shall /
do? l don't want to starve to death.
am growing weaker daily. If l stay
here, | shall follow my companions to
the hospital and the dead-house. If |
enlist, / may live until / can escape
II had charge Of the clothing left by
the dead and reissued it to the living
/ distributed articles of clothing to
mo than ten thousand prisoners, but
when / escaped there were fully five
hundred without without shoe or
stocking, and more yet with no gar
ment above the waist except one blouse
or one shirt. Men came to me frequent
! ly upon whom the rebels, when they
captured them, had left nothing what
ever except a light cotton shirt and a
pair of light, ragged cotton pantaloons.
, "The books OF all the hospitals were
kept, and the daily consolidated reports
made up, under my supervision. Du
ring the two months between October
Is and December ls, the average mum.
Der of prisoners was about 1900. The
deaths for that period were fully 1900,
or t,oeaty per cent. 0fthe whole. brought
away the names of more than twelve
hundred of the dead; some of the re-
mainder Were never reported the 9TH
ers could not procure on the day of
my escape without exciting suspicion.
AS the men grew more and more debil-
itated, the percentage of deaths increas-
ed. / LETT about 6 500 remaining in the
garrison, December Is, and they were
then dying at the average rate twen-
ty-eight a day, or thirteen per cent.
month.
The simple truth is, that the rebel
authorities are numbering our soldiers
at Salisbury, by cold and hunger, while
they might easily supply them with am
pie food and fuel. They are doing this
Systematically, and 1 believe intention
ally, for the purpose of either forcing
our Government to an exchange, or
forcing our prisoners into the rebel ar
N.Y.
The following is the testimony be-
fore the committee of Junius Henri
Browne; ea
81 am q journalist by profession ;
have been since the breaking out of the
war an army correspondent of the New
York Tribune; was captured in that
capacity in the middle of the Mississippi
river, while running the batteries OF
Vicksburo on the night of May 8, 1868,
our expedition having been destroyed
by the rebel siege guns. Twas held
prisoner some twenty months, having
in that time been an occupant of seven
Southern prisons the last being the
S alisbury IN. C.) penitentiary, " here !
was kept with my co-laborer, Albert ID.
Richardson, for almost eleven months !;
making my escape therefrom in his COM
pany on the night of December ls, 1864.
"The treatment of our prisoners was
bad enouge everywhere, but it was so
barbarous and inhuman at Salisbury for
two months previous to my escape that
/ regard; exposure thereof duty /
owe to the thousand who still remain
there. Early in October from nine to