The daily clarion. [volume] (Meridian, Miss.) 1863-1866, 1865-10-11
From the New Orleans South.
The Othav Ride.

&Ag OInCI GSAN~'
Hr. Editor Judging from the s.s1e
ments constantly put forth by the hau-
ic i press of the North, one mlght co!ne
to the conclusion that ali the hardsnlps
and sufferings Of prisoners, during the
late war, were confined exclusively to
those in the hands of Confederates.
With vicious pertinacity those papers
assert that, notwithstanding Feoerai
soldiers, in Southern prisons, were treat
ed with the most barbaric cruelty. yet
Confederate soldiers in Northern prisons
were 'humanely treated, well FED, anu
comfortably clothed" These lying state,
ments have been repeated so often, ana
no contradictions appearing, that many
Southern people have come to me con
clusIon that the cruelty OF the Con :
crate Government and the humanity OF
the Federal, as stated by the Radlcal
press, must be true
| am aware. Mr.. Editor, that by cores
should now be by gones-tbat all should
endvav to soften the prJudices ana
smooth the asperities engendered by Inc
war but, sir, can it be expected that,
in the face OF so much Northern sian
der, we will remain silent on the sub
ject OF Federal treatment of Con'eder
ate prisoners, when it can be easily shown
that most wanton cruelties were endured
by Confederates IN Federal prisons. Let
those who have suffered in Camp Chase,
Fort Delaware, Elmira, and dozen 9TH
er "prison pens" of the North, speak
out through the press, and we shah have
seeming evidence of the fact that Con-
federate prisoners OF war were not treat
ed with humanity, not well fed, not COM
fortably clothed
months prisoner of war, and> bears
fresh in his memory the recollection OF
insults starvation, and inhumanlty,
which he bore in common with thou
sands of his comrades. Those who were
in Fort Lafayette last winter will remem-
Der forever the wanton cruelty which
caused the death of Lieutenant Ander-
son, of Arkansas. He was confined with
forty other prisoners, in Caselnate No. g,
of that bastile. Though suffering from a
wasting disease, he was compelled to live
on the prison fare and when so worn
and exhausted for lack of proper Jnour'
ishment as to be uaable to eat any of his
rations, he begged to be sent to TIE hos
pital, and this dying. mans request was
heartlessly refused He fingered few
days longer. Urgent representations OF
the case were made to the Commandant
of the prison, (Col. Burke) but in vain
and the man died-died in that miserable
dungeon of actual starvation AS we stood
arond his emaciated corpse, we felt that
his cruel death was sad instance of
"man's inhumanity TO man"
In the same Fort, during the summer
of '64, a Confederate prisoner of war
named Copeland of the 18th Georgia
Cavalry, was taken with small pox. At
ter dely ofsome days, he was removed
from the dungeon to the hospital near
Fort Hamilton. There he lay for weeks
suffering from that loathsome disease,
and all that time he was chain ID to the
post of the cot on which he lay Think
ofthat ye who hold up your hands in
holy horror at the mention of men being
'bucked" at AndersonVille. About the
same time, another Confederate, named
Cnilds, of the same commands mild,
effeminate youth of eighteen years-was
attacked with measles, and he was COM
PEELED to wear a ball and chain, weighing
twelve pounds, during his illness But
yet we hear the statement again and
again repeated, with brazen effrontery,
that Confederates were humanely treated
in Federal prisons.
was prisoner in Fort Delaware when
the shameful murder of Col. Jones, of the
Georgia militia, took place, and the event
is remembered with horror by any pris-
oner sonfined there at the time. The
colonel had violated no rule of the prisoz
but was simply returning from the rear
to his quarters. Being an old man, in
feeble health, he was obliged to proceed
slowly, bofure descending some steps, he
halted moment to rest, when he was
deliberately fred at by a sentry on, the
platform outside, and shot dead Such
horrible occurrences were said to be
frequent in the 'privates' pen" on the
same island 1/t
Similar inhumanities and atrocious
crueltles were experienced mere or less
in all the Federal prisons, Of which there
Is legion of witnesses in the South. Let
the recorda of mortality in Elmira during
last winter be brought to light, and even
the people of the North would stand
aghast at the thought that, in the midst
of country teeming with provisions and
fuel, strong membrane Southe rn men.
were starving and freezing to death, day
after day. How many of the intrepid
Afabamians captured at Fort Morgan and
sent north last winter, perishel of cold
and hunger, or of diseases superinduced
by these terrible weapons OF death =
how meny returned 10 their homes with
death in their very bones Bring forth
the testimony of the few survivors of the
doomed six hundred Confederate officers
subjected to lingering tortures on Morris
Island last year, and what black record
of demoniac cruelty to prisoners of war !!
Enc ugh of this melancholy detail. But
in the name of truth and peace, let us of
the fallen Confederaoy hear no more of
the amazingly humane, treatment which
prisoners received at the hands of Federal
gaolers, in contrast with the heartless
cruelties practiced in southern prisons
Let the past be buried deed, and we dare
assure those bitter, Southern hating radi
Gals that they will gain vastly thereby.
w C. w. 94L /
Late Lieutenant C. S. A. /
New Orleans, Sept. %, 1865.
WHAT They AsE.-ln announcing the
return of Sir Morton Peto and party
from their tour, the Herald says :"Among
the gratifying results of this visit will be
the laying of n double track on the