Smyrna times., 1865-09-20
The Horrors of AndersonvilIe.

! The trial OF Nirz, who had charge of the
slaughter-pen for Union prisoners at Ander-
! sonVllle, In Georgia, has brought out already a
m2ss OF testimony more than confirming the
most extravagant stories Of rebel cruelty that
reached us during the war. That the great
mortality o. fifteen thousand deaths out Of
thirty THOUSAND prisoners, in the short space OF
single year, was due to exceptional causes, NO
one can deny. What these causes were, suffi-
gently appears from the evidence now coming
forward. They were overcrowdlHg, insufficient
1000 and water, denial of shelter and clothing,
Imperfect hospital accommodations, deliberate
vaccination with deadly virus, and general cru
elty' manifested IN the needless shooting of
prisoners IN chaInlng, whipping and buck
ing them, and hunting them with blood
hounds 1t is proved that men, somc of them
cnpples were shot because they asked to be
permitted to go outside of the fetid den in
which they were confined Others were shot
While struggling to obtain water outside of the
stagnant pools, around which, with demoniac
ingenuity, their pen was built, and which were
covered with human excrement while the ap-
proaches to them were through morasses of
maggots foot in depth. Forests were near,
put the prisoners were not allowed to 20 to
them to cut tlmber for building or wood for
1uel DySentery, gangrene and scuryv sWept
away their hundreds daily, and during the cold
weather, when the dead carts came around in
the morning, the rotten rags that hid imper-
iiectIy the nakednesS of the wretched dead. adj
hered to the frozen ground while the poor
emaciated corpSes were torn away to be depos-
tied IN the shallow trenches wherein our sol
diers were hidden from sight An officer tes-
tines, that OF ninety men placed in his SQUAD.
but one was alive at the end Of six months
Another swears-let there be no false delicacy
In this awful matter-that he frequently saw
miserable, starving wretches searching among
the voldances of the sick for undigested scraps
OF food n dozen men, some suffering from
dysentery and loathsOme diseases, were chain |
ed together, so that all were obliged to follow
any one OF the number, at any hour of the day |
or night. who was obliged to obey the demands |
OF his dlstcmper. The hospitals were mere
dens, Insufficient III size, and without beds or
adequate attendance, The rebel surgeons |
sometimes, moved by that kindness of heart
winch Is the rule in their profession, sought to
Smuggle some simple anti-scorbutic, an onion
or lemon, to their wretched patients. but If
was at the risk Of certain reprimand, and prob-
ahie discharge If discovered. Two of these
IesCliy that from 70 to 50 per cent. of the
deatns could have been averted with ordinary
attention and treatment. That is To saw sur.
geons and physicians in the rebel service tell
us, under oath, that of the $4,000 Union dead
at Andersonvllle, at least $4,000 would have
Deen restored to their country and their friends
II ! the common and ordinary requirements ofl
humanity had been complied with. The men s
Swarmed with vermin. Sergeant Boston Cor {
Oett, ne under whose avenging bullet the as
SaSsln Booth fell, AYERS that there were men
SICK and disabled, who were literally deyoured 5
by vermln, and who might have recovered had t
It not been for the stings and annovancns t
"4Ich droYe them to Madness |
Dozens of witnesses testify to the uso of 8
to overtake escaped prisoners i
some of whom were brought in, horribly man, /
5led by the dogs, and who Afterwards died. A t
soldier who asked Wirz for some food alleging 9
ie mad been too ill to go for his miserable ra- I
ION, was struck over the head by the brute t
lnd SO injured that he became delirious. and e
hortly afterwards died. N''N
On the negro soldiers Wirz exhausted b;s ii
nI.aIignity. They were cruelty fiogged on the the IL
Ii5ghtest pretext The usual sal1tation of
!Irz, who, thank God is not of Amer;can or;-
IN was, You id Yankee sons Of b-s,' O
nj, on more than one occasion, he is proved ci
nave drawn his revolver and shot men who W
ad the manhood to expostulate against their W
oTrlDle treatment Occasionally he diyersi- n,
ed this congenial amusement by knockinr n n
lem down with the butt of his revolver, and n
lmplng on them, driving the heels of his bootS p
lto their wan and attenuated faces. It was =
0 IDLE boast OF his, that he was doing more n
wards using up the Northern armies than cv
uozen regiments at the front - 90