The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1865-02-28
Conduct Of the War.
EXPERIENCE in REBEL PRISONS.
Testimony Of "Tribune" Correspond
p ents. pw 10
Shocking ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ing, PcstiIence and Famine. :

Conduct Of the War, by Albert d..
Richardson 'AAil2iH .iiHo2 5ii
/" / am a Tribune correspondent; was
captured by erebels May 8, 1868, ut
midnight, on hay-bale, in the Missis-
sippi river, opposite -Vicksburg. After
confinement in six different prisons, was
sent to Salisbury, N. c., February g.,
1864, and kept there until December
! lS, when escaped - airoo s zw
s,For several months Salisbury was
the most endurable rebel prison / had
seen. The six hundred inmates exer-
cised in the open air, were compartive-
| ly well fed and kindly treated but ear
ly in October ten thousand regularpris-
oners Of war arrived there, and it i'm
mediataly changed into ascene of cru
city and horrors. Ii was densely
crowded ,rations were cut down and
issued very irregularly friends outside
could not even send in plate Of food.
The prisoners suffered constantly, and
often intensely,for want of water, bread,
and shelter. '' a2aN ~ - .0I
"The rebel authorities placed all the
prison hospitals under charge of my
two journalistic comrades and myself
Our positions enabled us to obtain OK
act and minute information. Those who
had to live or die on the prison ration
always suffered from hunger. Very fire.
quently one or more divisions ofa thou
sand men would receive no rations for
twenty-four hours; sometimes they
were without morsel OF food for for
ty-eight hours. The few who had mon
ey would pay from five TO twenty dol
lars rebel currency for a little loaf of
bread. Most of the prisoners traded
the buttons from their blouses for food.
Many, though the weather was very
inclement, and SHOWS frequent, sold
coats from their backs and shoes from
their feet. was assured, on authority
entirely trustworthy, that the great
commissary warehouse near the prison
was filed with provisions that the
commissary found it difficult to obtain
storage for his flour and meal that
when subordinate asked the post
commandant, Major John IL. Gee,
Shall give the prisoners full rations?
No, God damn them, give them quar-
ter rations.' | know, from personal
observation, that corn and pork are
very abundant in the region about Sal
isbury. 5rn.r. To at.r o,,..s. .ob
"For several weeks the prisoners
had no shelter whatever. They were
all thinly clad thousands were bare
footed not one in twenty had either
overcoat or blanket many hundreds
were without shirts, and hundreds
were without blouses. At last one Sib-
ley tent and one 'A'tent were furnish
ed to each squad ofoone hundred. =
With the closest crowding these shell
tered about one-half the prisoners,
The rest burrowed in the ground, crept
under buildings, or shivered through
the nights in the open air, upon the fro
zen, muddy, or snowy soil, Ifthe reb-
els at the time of their capture had not
stolen their shelter, tents, blankets,
clothing and money, they would have
suffered little from cold. If the prison
authorities had permitted few hun
dred of them, either upon parole or un-
der guard, to cut logs within two miles
of the garrison, the prisoners would
have gladly built comfortable and am
pie barracks in one week. But the
commandant would never, in densely
wooded region, with the cars which
brought it passing by the wall of the
prison, even furnish half the fuel which
was needed.
] "The hospitals, were in horrible
condition. By crowding the patients
thick as they could lie upon the floor,
they would contain six hundred in
mates. They were always full to over
flowing, with thousands seeking admis-
sion in vain. In the two largest wards,
containing about two hundred and fifty
patients, there was no fire Whatever
The others had small fireplaces, but
were always cold. One ward, which
held forty patients, was comparatively
well furnished. In the other eight, the
sick and dying men lay upon the cold
and usually naked floor, for the scanty
straw furnished us, soon became too
filthy and full of vermin fer use. The
authorities never supplied a single blan-
ket, quilt, pillow, or bed, for those eight
wards; we could not procure even
brooms to keep them clean, or cold wa
ter to wash the faces of the inmates.
Pneumonia, catarrh, and diarrhae were
the prevailing diseases, but they were
directly the result of hunger and expo
sure. More than half of those who en-
tered the hospitals died in very few
days. The deceased, always without
collins, were loaded into q dead-cart,
. piled,upon each other like logs of wood,
and so driven out, to be thrown into a
trench and covered with earth.
"The rebel surgeons were generally
humane and attentive. They endeav.
ored to improve the shocking condition
lofth hospitals, but the Salisbury and
! Richmond authorities both disregarded
their complaints and protests. M
"On the 25th of November many Of
the prisoners had been without food
forty eight hours. Desperate from hun
ger, without any matured plan, a few
of them said, "We may as well die il
9 one way as another; Jet us break out o.
: this horrible place." Some ,gof then
I wrested theIguns from relief Of fifteer
: rebel soldiers just entering the yard
7 Killing two who resisted, and woundinl
7 five or six. Others attempted to opeI
? the fence, but they had neither ade
quate tools or. concert Of action. Be
; fore they could effect breach, every
Z gun inthel garrison was turned upor
II themf two field lpieces opened witt