Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1865-08-11

OF an hye-W"ess-
Hesdi ~ u. VA
A feu davs since vo publ;sbed the com
,,a....;. p,.,,or ;, s;.nad
un''".'on "O" '0O'e
"s, which hrst appeared In the new iofk
Evening Posi-. Below we give another let
lar fran, tho s.ms nan. aadressed to the same
M, 49,, 49,. ,na..a
paper ine P'o'uie 10 no'i'u o"'' '"u00U' ''O'
Read II:
10 the Editor or tie Evening Post: .'FfF
You must permit me 10 enter my protest
against the position which your partiality
has assigned me, whom you term me a "Geor-
gia Planter" claim the more humble
position Of Georgia farmer" q distinc.
tion more apparent at the South than at the
North, and grade which does not entitle the
incumbent to the more aristocratic privilege
Of being called Twenty man." l am
only producer Of the staff Of life on lin
tied scale.
1 fear that may tire tho patience Of your
readers by continuing the subject Of my pre-
vious article, but am unwilling TO conclude
hurried narrative Of the horrors Of Ander-
sonville without placing on record my objec-
tions to the matter as we'll rs the spirit Of the
letter Of the counsel Of Major Wertz, pub
lished on the same day as my first communi-
cation. If they imagine that the sympathies
Of the nation can be restrained, or Its desire
for certain information repressed, by their
injunctions TO that effect, they and / read the
character Of the people very differently. II
they seek TO prevent n Judgment being passed
upon the conduct Of their client, they have
begun their efforts too late. 1t would have
been better If they had stifed the groans,
subdued the sighs, and stilled the death
struggles Of Wertz's victims, before the winds
waited them to the North, or they had
aroused the sensibilities and vengeance OF the
mourning mothers and sisters, who look in
vain for tidings Of the lost and tortured ones
who suffered under him. The counsel for
Wertz are probably paid for doing what they
have done, and so their impertinent request
will go for what it is worth. Ny task is self
imposed, and results from sincere convictions
of duty to Justice, to government, to human.
ity. .
L desire that the people Of the North should
know, from one who had constant opportuni
ties Of seeing, what amount of cruelty can be
exerted by one who had the power, and, /
fear. also the inclination, to practice il upon
men who. bv every law recognized by civil.
lied beings. were entitled to the mildest
treatment that safety would permit,
have referred to the quality and quantity
Of the food given to the prisoners. and have
since been asked II the country was really 90
destitute of nrov;sions as 10 yeouire II. Al
the most ouartermaster's MT Amerious nine
miles from Andersonyille. there was turned
over IN the limited States Goyernment near.
Iv two bundred thousand nounds of bacon.
and nm immense amount Of corn and other
nroduce. n Inroe quantity was stored At All.
banv forty miIes lower down. and yery con.
sidcrobIs stores nj Ouletborne, eiobteen m;le,
above Andersonyille' These amounts were
continuaIlv increas;no from t;tbes and nur.
cbases so that n will be seen that tbere wa,
no lack Of provisions in the country where.
with 10 furnish the nrisoners food.
have heard mueb of what Ia termed The
,sdead lima - Few bovever know what |,
,osant by n Aftsr the compilation Of tbe
prison and dur;ng ;ts use tbose confined tbsre
wers accustomea IN anproacb the stockads
and Iook tbronob the onen;nos betwesn ths
nosts or taIk 10 outsiders. After The ne.
sumnt;on of command NV Major Wertz he
c,used the nrisoners To be notified that n
thew npproached within thirty feet of tn,
stockade tbey would be shot by the guard,
upon the outside. This limit Of thirty feet
was unmarked by any line uhateper; It wa.
ideal, and left to the arbitrary determination
of men on guard, q majority of whom wer,
as incapable of judging of distances or o.
this distance of thirty feet, as were the pool
prisoners who were doomed IL they trans
crossed II. The consequence was that weekly
yes, almost daily, the. prisoners were shol
down by the guards, when these thought thai
they had transcended the imaginary lin,
which separated thirty.seyen thousand hu
man beings from eternity.
Upon one occasion a prisoner who had beer
confined there for more than year, rendered
desperate by hunger want and filth, prefer
ring death to life SO unutterably miserable
after writing last fond letter to his wife In
Indiana, and bidding his friends around hin
farewell, deliberately advanced toward tn,
side of the stockade, and calmly received tn,
well directed shot Of the sentinel that re-
leased his soul from the tortures which h,
could not endure, and which his manhoot
sunk under.
The southeast corner of tho interior of tn,
stockado was the favorte spot for this kinC
of practice by the executors of Wertz's will
for at this point the brook or stream to which
I have already referred entered the limits o
the prison. Here the water was less tainte,
and befouled by the drainage Of the hill, anC
afforded a somewhat more palatable drink
OF course, this point was sought in prefer
ence to any other. But woe to the unfortu
nate wretch who ever reached this with hi
arm beyond the prescribed bounds to dip VI
cup of better water than the reeking cur
rent below him afforded. A sentinel's bulle
sent one more spirit trembling to its God
while the wretch's body lay prone ant
washed in the very water that his less fortu
nate comrades must drink, until necessit,
forced its removal. How many were slain il
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