Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1865-02-14
q he frt&ma II,
Our Prisoners in the South.
Gythe Correspondent Of The N u Tribune


It sent back no echo. No man was exchanged
from IT, few escaped. We used 70 lonk-O
how earnestly that some nteIil2entahd Iu't
worthy voice might 20 vi to the Norto, ana leI
the condition OF thoss dying prisoners. Alter
our escape, when IL seemed impossible that We
could ali survive the trials and perls which en-
vironed us, We promised each other, repeatedly
and solemnly, that II any one OF us did live To
res ain home and freedom, be should give to the
mater hls earliest ana most elrnes Il rts
Wa have endeayOred, under the solemn lles u
an OATH 70 give The pLain, simple ltc =, without
exlpgerition or lOrlns, to the y 1'Vernmsnt
and tbs public That lne Rebels afe deliberate
ly killug our men by hunsr aud cold when
they have an abundance OF cora a'd i"e oFo
tru ,hs which cannot b. denied. Nhen the pre-
oners went there, they were newly captured
and ike the most OF our soldiers 10 tue hjd
yeung men 10 robust health. Yet, seventy days
later we lett them d,iag at the rae OF thirteen
per cent month NOR alty which II forty
eisht hours wouo depOpulalo any city IN the
world. unl send inhabi antt flying from il az
from I. pestlence Aud my associate, Mr.
Broyne, who had ths very best facilities Tor
knowiDg, testG that out ot an average OF near.
ly eight hJusand prisoners there we're NOT at
any one tune five hundred well men--in estimate
viii h the Rebe surgeon, toqlently aud em-
phatlcllIy cOnhrmej IN my 0wn hearing.
Mr. Lincoln weli-knOwn kInduese OF heart
makes him reluctant to adJp. measures OF s,yer-
ity. But surely 1t cannot Ds possible that his
strong sense Of justice and his peculiarly logical
mind, accept for II moment the n0nstrous prop
osison We cannot Ia!ion aHord to do
zpy iuhuman and uuchrlstlan thing therefore
we must shut our ears 70 the asonzlng cry
viii comes up from 20 many Southern prisons
The power y 10 our hands. Ne hold The
long end oi the lever. We have an excess Of
pf,sonefs, by at least fifteen OF twenty thousand.
We can exchange man for mau and get feialn
Rebels enough 10 insure the good treatment oil
any captiyes, black or white, whom they may
take hereafter. II exchange is lmpractl-a1o,
we can comyd them 70 stop this atrccious and
uste matte 0albarity. II any man believes that
we can afford to be inhuman AMI unchTistlan
70 the list extent, toward those who wear our
uniform and follow our Dag and ighE our bat
ties. but cannot aGJfd 20 exercise the least 50.
yerity toward men whose hands ere red with the
blood Of our breyest and best-ln short, that
Humanity ani Christianity require as to con-
pi,e az tho murder Of our own soidiers, then
NAV God mend his understanding
IL svery easy Tor weil.ed aud we'll clothed
Senators. IN their warm chamber, to riss up
from their cushioned chair. anl talk about llu-
nanty AID Christianity, wish they could be
prisoners themselves long enough to look al this
subject from the other side. | wish lhey could
live awhile among the daily and Nightly horrors,
which tor sixty days surrounded us, aud burned
into our memories like D hot iron. | wish they
could look in,o those foul pens at Salisbury,
which by a perye,sion Of the English tongue
are called hospitals; where oar poor iellowssre
crowded upon the cold, naked, filthy floors,
without one word oil sympathy or one tear Ut
affection without even thai degree OF warn III
and cleanliness winch ", give TO our dumb
beasts and Sc their wasted lorns and lhelr
sad, pl adlng yes. | visa they could wake AZ
any hour OF the night, aud hear on sll sides,
far and near, that terrible hack, " hack,
shack in whose pocumonlc tonga almost every
prisoner seems to be coughing his lie away. |
wish they could losk on the dead cart with It's
rigid ioms, pilep upon each other IKE logs-the
STARK, swaying arms-the white, CHASTITY faces,
with their dropped jaws and their staring stony
syes--as it rattl's along, bearing away s
pre ious freight, to be thrown into trenches and
covered with u lIIt.o earth think few hours
in the stiffness Of that garrison, enhyensd by
no hilarlty or athletic game, broken by no sound
oi laughter or c song, would change their
view vi the matter
are 90 lr, quent, because they are kindness itself
compared with this dying by inches, while the
BODY grows weaker and weaker, aud the NOR
bid, vacant, despalrlns mind pTeys upon itself
until the lamp Of life goes out Ii there nno
early relief in store lor those Salisbury prl''
onera, believe, before God it would bs mercy
TO them if their keepers, any morning, were to
draw them up in oe and shoot them, TO the
last man.
Mr.. Stanton ong-cherished theory-that w
can : afford to exchange well.ied, rugged men
for skeletons aud iuyaiids-that re urned sol
diers are ten times as valuable to tie keoels a;
70 us, because theirs, to man, Will he lneIlta-
bly, kept III the army, wbl.e the terms q many
OF ours have expired aud they viii not re enlist
lis, to chalac erIze II very mildly, ruh
cold u ,od one though 1t has a oer,aln grcs
of plausblllty. lis adoption COST as u TIT
very least, ten thousand lives Ii 1t was essen
tai 10 success, the country accepts II Wi n bowsc
head aud fearful eyes. us QUO Vi the n edtul sac
rihces ot the war. But II IT Was not noe lul
Who shall measure the load Of responsibility
Resting upon It's author? II we viii not ex
change, why don't We retalmte and il WI
will not retaliate, why don't we eI 'hAnge?
Several remedies are inaugursted or su gesled
Let us see II they are adequate ones
Reoels To investigate and "sdjust' the matter
But, 10 Salisbury ut least they are acting sys
temstlcally and with q well.dehned purpose
They don't want to adjust it. The ink IS hard
ly dry on the paper, IN which the Richmon
Goyernment refused 10 allow Commissioners
from each side, to visit their own prisons an
report upon their condition. II they found
=. e1pedlent' for i've gentlemen, wholly uncOr
nee, cd with the Government or with polite
and known throughout the world for their moo
Grafton, truthldlness, and Cnristaa philanthrC
ply, 10 learn tho secrets OF their prison hous
does any one su pose they will accept this prol
osition from Washington, with honest purpose
3, IL is announced that we are sending blauke
and food to our prisoners IN the South. WI
it require four years more OF bitter but unllo
experience to teach us that In all such mntu
arrangements The Rebels have us at 6isadya
tage because, while we may keep engage en
they always break them when self interest +
quire IL Even il they carried out the arrane
ment in good faith, our prlsone's are arly d
far IN the interior With theumost endeayOi
by tclegraphpg to and fro and stimulating ne
ttligent agents, It requires from twenty five
forty days to send little package from Ric
moud to Salisbury by express The Wnt
would be long past before blanket or a pou
shof food could reach the prisoners, and at
pre'ont rate OF mortality and enlistment 10
Rebel army, how many would be lsft7
Probably some OF the supplies will reach
prisoners lt ls morally certain that u lai
portion OF them will so to rcpleuish the imp
.l.aaa a.