Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1865-08-23
MORE ABOUT ANDERSONyILLE.


Mr.. Ambrose Spencer has contributed
another painfully Interesting narrative in
relation to the inhuman monsters who tor
.ured our soldiers in the prison-pen at
Audersonyille, We reproduce the ma
terial portion Of his statement:
~ have referred to the quantity and
quality Of the food given to the prison.
ers, and have since been asked if the
country was really SO destitute Of provis-
ions as to require it. At the post-quar-
termaster's, at Amerieus, nine miles from
Andersonville, there was turned over to
the United States Government nearly
two hundred thousand pounds Of bacon
and an immense ar.o:.nt of core and
other produce; larger quantity was
stored at Albany, forty miles lower down,
and very considerable stores at Oglethorpe
eighteen miles above Andersonville.-
These arnoaa,s we're continually increas-
ing form tithes and purchases, so that 1t
viii be seen that there was no lack of pro-
visions in the country wherewith to furn-
ish the prisoners foua.
"f have heard much of what is termed
the "dead line;" few, however, know
what is meant by it. After the compile
ton of the prison and its use, those con-
fined there we're accustomed to approach
the stockade and look through the open
ings between the posts, or talk to outsid-
ers. After the assumption Of command
by Major Wirtz, he caused the prisoners
to be notified that if they approached
within thirty feet of the stockade, they
would be shot by the guards upon the
outside. This limit of thirty feet was
unmarked by ans line ,ehaterer it was
ideal, and to the arbitrary detatnina-
ton of men on guard, majority of
whom were as incapable Of Judging Of
distances, OF of this distance Of. thirty
feet, as were the poor prisoners who were
doomed if they tfsksgTess it. The con-
sequence was that weekly, yea almost dai-
ly, the prisoters we're shot doa7n BY the
guards, when these thought they had
trensceuded the imaginary line which
separated thirty y-seven thousand human
beings from eternity.
"Upon one occasion, prisoner who
bad been confined there for more than a
year, rendered desperate by hunger, want
and filth, preferring death to life so
unutterably miserable, after writing a
last fond letter to his wife in Indiana,
and biddiHE his friends around him fare
well, deliberately advanced towards the
side of the stockade, and calmly received
the well-directed shot Of the sentinel that
released his soul from the tortures which
he could not endure, ard which his man
hood sunk under.
"The southeast corner Of the interior
Of the stockade was the favoritc spot for
this kind of practice BY tie executors Of
Wirtz's will; for at this point the brook
or stream to which I have already refer
red entered the limits of the prison. Here
the water was less tainted ard befouled By
the drainage of the hill, ahd afforded
somewhat more palatable drink of course
this point was sought in preference to
any other. But woe tc the unfortunate
wretch who ever reached with his arm be-
tcfd the prescribed boinds, to dip up
cup of better water ttan the reeking cur
rent below him offered A sentinel's bull
let sent one more spirit Trembling to its
God, while the wretch's body lay prone
ana washed in the very wster that his
less fortunate comrades must drink, until
necessity forced its removal. How many
we're slain in this manner will never be
known until the records Of a book un-
scanned by mortal eyes be made up In fig
ures Of living light. ,, 81. :,
"a short distance from the stockade
was the field where the remains Of the
dead prisoners we're supposed to be bur-.
ried. As if the tortures and degradations
Of their wretehed life were sufficient, the
eliminating stroke was given " their
mode of interment. In long bitches,
scarcely two feet y depth,, without coffin
or cover, without the ordinary, decent
composing of their limb, but carelessly
hustled into the bed which was to be their
last, thirteen thousand and eight hundred
shrunken, ghastly bodies have been. tos-
IL ,nJ thoro <bav lio Gov ormv of