The Shasta courier., 1865-02-25
COU RIER.
Horrors of Rebel Prisons.
A paroled prisoner writes to the Hartford

A paroled prisoner writes to The Hartford
Post:
Il am paroed prisoner of war, just fror,
my Imprisonment in the bands of the rebels
with whom | have been prisoner for near
ly eight months. Tongue or pen cannot des-
cribe the horrible suifcrings the prisote-s
| had to endure during the hot Summer months
down in Andersonvlle, Ca, and, later in the
year, in Florence, S. c. 1t is hardly posi-
BILE to believe that in a civilized country deeds
of such terrible character could have been
committed. Nearly all the prisoners captur-
ed this last campaign were robbed of every
! thing they possessed, blankets included, and
then turned loose into that horrid pen down
in Andersonville, Ga, just like so many cat
| tie. There were thousands of men in the
hot Summer months who had nothing in the
world to protect them from the almost sccrch-
ing sun. Strong men were, in a single day.
struck down and died and were buried like
| dogs. Dead bodies could be found every
morning strewed along the little narrow
streets. | saw one instance myself of a man
waking up one morning and finding the BODY
Of poor fellow who had crept into the tent
| for shelter, lying across his legs. The priso
ners themselves grew hardened and lost all
feeling of humanity. | have seen poor fell
lows lying down close by the place where
the camp was supplied with water, calling
for drink. Our own men would never no
tice them, or if they did, it was to tell them
they could not drink cut of their cups, be-
cause they had the scurvy in their mouths
There was dead line created about twenty
feet inside the stockade, and if by accident
a prisoner would even put his hand inside
tins line. 1T was at the cost in nine cases out
N re iaf.A I
the chance of shooting u Yankee. One poor
fellow who had gone down to the brook after
pailiul of water, happened to lose his bal.
ance whist in the act Of lifting up toe water
and fell forward in the brook, his head going
underneath the dead line. A guard who
had been watching the opportunity, fired, j.,
and the ball entered his head he gave but
one cry the next moment his life's blood
was mingled with the waters of the brook. |
have also seen with my own eyes, men lying
on the ground dying eaten up alive by mag
gots. Oh, it was awful. it seemed as if
God had forgotten us altogether.
One of my comrades, as strong a man as
there was in the company, was struck bv the
sun, had the brain fever and in three davs
he died raving madman. | was myself
brought twice to TIE very gates of death by
the same terrible disease, but by the kind
ness Of a good God, my life was spared and
L am enabled once more to behold Gods
country. In Florence, South Carolina. our
treatment was quite as bad as in Georgia.
only being late IN the year, il was not so
warm. but here we suffered for want of food.
All we had daily was {. pint Of corn meal,
with salt occasionally. No meat ofany kind.
In fact it was just enough to keep body and
soul together. If ever the vengeance of Hea.
ven was earned by any race on the face of the
earth, 1t has been earned doubly earned by the
rebels. Humanity calls for if. the hundreds
and thousands Of sick and wounded in cur
hospitals call for it, the thousands and tens
of thousands OF our fellow soldiers whose bo.
dies now lie rotting in the long, lonely rows
in Georgia and South Carolina. all cry aloud
to Heaven for that vengenee which | firmly
believe will soon come like a whirlwind upon
the rebels ard crush them as we would a vi.
| per. l could go on and write for hours for
days and even weeks, and still not be able to
tell half the sa1erings we had to endure, but
as l said. neither pen nor tongue can des-
cribe it.'
A correspondent Of the Philadelphia Press
in an account of a visit to the returned pris
oners at Annapolis, gives the following fear.
ful description of the condition Of the men:
''All the men were filthy. ragged or max
ed, and swarming with vermin. They came
to Gods country with scarce enough
strength to articulate their joy. Their limbs
were palsied and stifened with scurvv
which marked them everywhere; their bodies
were smeared all over with the most revolt
ing filth, in which they were compelled from
sheer weakness to lie; their hair was matted
with filth Of the same character some, with
their limbs and bodies filthy as they were,
were swollen by dropsy to such en- enormous
tension as to suggest the idea of bursting to
the plying eyes that were ben. searchincly
upon them. Lice of great size swarmed over
ttem-ravenous, torturing-living in bur-
rows in the flesh, honey combing it all ever
with their dwelling places. They were al
most the bulk and shape of grains of wheat.
Their bites were keeE-their combined at
tacks excruciating. Others were, in addi
ton to these ills, afflicted with "ground
Sores" Their bones pierced through the
tightly drawn flesh, reduced bv starvation
and at the hips, shoulder blades and other
projecting portions of the body. these sores
were formed and peopled with hideous, Shiny
maggots, whose every motion was untold
agony to the unhappy sufferer, who had neith
er the means, the strength, nor, perhaps, in
the stupor of suffering, the will to remove
them. There were but few of these, however.
though, as the soldiers tell us, on their oaths,
such sights were quite common at Ander
son. But the poor victims died too fast for
any large number to accumulate at one time.
They might be seen at all points, gasplng
under the horrible pains. the maggots dis
porting, eating. piercing nearer, nearer, every
day TO the vltals. In some instances they
formed lines of communication between one
sore and another, by eating little conduits
for some distance under the skin. Through
these ways they travelled in lines, the living
arcade over them heaving up and down as
they moved. No care was taken of these
martyrs. no medicine given, no facilities for
even very moderate attempt at cleanliness,
and they died by scores, to be buried ike
brutes in great heaps, in unmarked graves.
Our friends of the Commission will soon pre-
sent these facts, and others far more horrible
in detailed way"