, 1865-10-09
NORTH CAROLINA.
From Columbia. to Salisbury.

NORTH CAROLINA.
From Columbia. to Salisbury.
The Salisbury Stoeknde-Tt& Past and
Present Condllton-How Men Died
and were Hnr1ed-Unfonism Of SAll.-
bnry-Four Carolina Toxyns-Co1lI%.
alou Between the Whites and the Nc
groes In The Up-countrr.
From our Special Correspondent
SA1laHuRI, n. c. Sept - 1853
salisbury-of hateful notoriety, Of sharp
and painful memory to hundred Thousand
heartst salsbury-cursed Of men dying Of
cold and starvation, cursed Of men driven mad
by Aendish tortuEel salisbury-one Of the
horrible names an unclean and infamous usur~
pation carved in It's sinful aud osthesome
monument
TIE SALISBURY MILITARY PRISON
1t is comely enough little town, Tapped in
pleasant country, but one can uerer forget
its elaughter.yard. Ton sec its site from the
car window as you come up from the South.
It's Southwestern corner came down to within
fifly feet Of the rnf1road track. It's North
western curner came up to the town line, and
Is scarcely eighty rods from the principal
hotel. The enclosure contained SIX Or seven
acrrs. Its Western and Southwestern lines
were straight, and something like thirty-five
or forty rods long. Its Eastern line was also
straight, but much shorter. 1ts Northern
line was Irregular. The fence was ten or
twelve feet high. Just inside 1t IVES ditch,
varying In width from six to ten feet, and Ia
depth from three to six feet Within the walls
we're an old cotton factory, brick and three
story, and It's dozen small out-bpildtngs. Also
within 1t were about 4 hundred large oak
trees Here for q year or more was the Sails
bury military prison Here were at one
time fifteen OF sixteen thousand Union
soldier prisoners-herded within this small
enclosure like sheep, tortured with internal
malignitg, cheated Of food when the store
houses half 4 mile away were bursting with
rations, eheated Of shelter when at the upper
end Of town were fifty or sixty thousand feet
Of lumber lying useless-though originally In
tended for this use; cheated OF fuel when nlag-
niGcent forests were almost within rine shot!
The poor wsetches fought for bones like dogs.
One boy went crazy, and ate nearly all the
1esh from his arm below the elbowi To save
themselves from storm and cold they bur
rowed in the earth like wild animals; and
the keeper went round Of d morning and
stirred up the mass In each hole to Sec how
much Of It had died during the night! Il Is
beyond all human comprehension why Divine
Mercy permitted these things to be. The
number OF deaths nm as high rs scyenty-fye
per day; In one period Of eight days 521 were
; tumb1td out for the dead wagon for three
! months the daily average vas not less than
forty. In the aggregate, the rebellion nur-
dered here over eevcn thousand men! one
; wonders that fire from heaven did not destroy
the place Yet this was the best Of the Con-
federate military prisons, and the authorities
prided themselves on It's efficient manage.
mcnt-
aDoes ye call dis yer horrible:'' asked .
~ calls 1t beautiful now since Stoneman pol.
iehcd it up.'' Indeed flame nad wrath did
their work well. The walls Of the old factory
stand intact, but roof and floors and FindoTs
arc all gone. Two Or three Of the out-dwel9-
ings show crumb1ing walls, hut the others are
tumbled npon the ground. Some Of the oak
trees are already dead and Others are dying.
The fence shows only line Of post~stumps
and post-holes- The ditch has been partially
filled. The we'll which supplied, the prison 10
no more used. Three-tourths Of the great
pen Is covered With sprawllug 1reweed, Of
fenkiye alike to sight and smell There Is sat-
tslaeion IN ~ ttis yst sgns many Eetnain aae 9f
in strolllng about, the broken bowl OF an
carthen pipe, the wellwotn blade Of
belt knife, even the regulation button
Of a soldiers coat. Here Is where
the earth was seooped away to make a
give drait for fire; there yoa see where
other bricks were hid TO furnish heated sur
face for cooking purposes. Treadiug at nm
dom ovcr ground on which there IS neither
grass nor vegetation, yon seem often 10 IND
yourself walking On yielding soil; Here we're
, tlc holes N which men lived. They were all
filed, but the filing OF few was done 60 in.
perfectly that it Is easy enough to see what
/; ihcy were. From three to five feet deep, IT.
regularly circular In shape, from two to si1
feet in diameter On top, with sides so scooped
under that the bottom diameter was general
ly half larger than the other-thh is what
they were In such foul mud-loles as these
the rebellion murdered our soldiers. Night
and uoznlng the dead wagons CAME
saw'd three, md four, and five big wagons
loaded Of = mosnin' right often, said. the
dragged 'em about by tho legs and arms Just
like "a If they'd been dead hogs; and none
on 'c1n had much clothes on and their hair
was al full Of red mud; aud thett
heads swung over the sides Of the wagon ;
nnd the felless they crack heaa With theh
id Yankee and then laugh and they dldn',
take no more care on 'c1n thnn II they d beer
dead hogs"
Down the road where those poor bodiei
were thus hauled walked to the place O.
their burial. There is good view Of tht
|
iull sight Of hundreds Of acres Of very hearJ
forests, Niaa long slope to the southwest, {
| little muddy brook, a sharp nscent OF forty o.
tify feet, and there they were tumbled on
into the trenches =" I hccrd how 'twaa done,
| eaid an elderly while man who came alon:
while / sat on the fence, ~ heerd how 'tWa
done, an cum over yer one sun'ay 70 se
was It as bad as The soldiers said 'twas
Twas q cold an nasty evenin', kir, m the.
nj caught ZEN up, one man to the aTms AMI
one 10 fAe legs, mn slung 'cm III from tn
, wagon /: an sofne on 'eu said one man Wasn'
dead, but they jist flung him IN with the rest
never cum yer no more, siE, III the Yankee
rot this yer fence bullt.' It Is a quie
and pretty spot, forty rods from the rail
Tpad. seventy OF eighty rods from the oil
factory, half mile or SO from town. Th
enclosure Is ncarly square, and about half q
acrc In extent. Around 1t is q neat, strou!
aud high board fence-the oak posts hayin'
already done service in the prison stockade
. The ground slopes gently to the eastward IL
some oaks in the southeastern some tWcnt
E o. thlrty twelve loot high pines: I told o.
cx~coufederate captain, whom talked Wit
ut the hotel, wLai stories had hentd abou
the treatment Of the dead bodies, aud aske
: him u he Supposed they could be tn: IN Who'll
= 1nany Alabama fellows up here, aud the MaJo
in command WAS id villain anyhow, an
= / reckon there were some right bad thing
r I. done but our people here protested agains
INTO III. Davis, and Gems. Lee md jackson
!, twas better after that" ! understood hir
TO refer to. the citizens Of Salisbury BY fh
t Afferwnrds. faid to a Captain Of the On
6 Hundred and T~enty-Eghth Indiana, wh
iIas beon on duty here shout three mouth