Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-02-10
Starvation Reduced to a system.
A Terrible Tale OF Horrors.

seut TO Salisbury, n. C., February 3,
1864, and kept there until December ~,
1864, when ] escaped. For several
months Salisbury was the most endur-
able rebel prison | had seen. The SIX
hundred inmates exercised in the open
air, and we're comparatively well fed
and kindly treated But early in Oeto-
Der ten thousand regular prisoners Of
war arrived there, aud il Immediately
changed into q scene Of cruelty and hor-
rors. IL was densely crowded; rations
we're cut down and very irregulariy
issued friends outside could not even
send in plate OF food the prisoners
suffered constantly, and often intensely,
for want Of water, bread, and shelter.
The rebel authorities placed all the
prison hospitals under charge Of my
two journalistic friends aud myself
/ Our position enabled Us to obtain exact
and minute information. Those who
| had 10 live or die on the prison rations
always suffered from hunger. Very fre-
| quently one or more divisions of th9us-
/ and men would receive no rations for
! twenty-four hours; sometimes they we're
! without q morsel Of food for forty eight
/ hours The few who bad money would
pay from FIVE to twenty dollars, rebel
currency, for little loaf Of bread Most
prisoners traded the buttons from their
bIouses for food. Many, though the
weather was very inclemeut, aud SHOWS
| frequent, sold coats from their backs
| and shoes from their feet Yeti was
assured, on authority entirely trnstvor'
/ thy, that the great eommIssary ware
house, near the prison, was filled with
provisions; that the commissary found
Il difficult to obtain storage for bis liour
and meal, that when a subordinate
asked the Post Commandant, Major John
IL. Gee, shall give The prisoners full
rationsY he replied, mo, - -
them, give them quarter ratiOnA
know from personal observation, that
corn and pork are very abundant about
Salisbury.
For several weeks the prisoners had
no shelter whatever They were all
thiniy clad; thousands we're barefoolsd
Not one in twenty had either overcoai
OF blanket Many hundreds we're with
out shirts, and hundreds more without
blouses. At last one Sibley tent and one
"a tent were furnished TO each squad
OF one hundred With the closest
erowding these sheltered about one-hall
the prisoners The rest hurrowed in the
ground, erept under buildings, or shiv-
cred through the nights in the open air
upon the frosty, muddy or snowy soil
II the rebels, al the time of their cap
ture, had noi stolen their blankets, shell
ter tents, and money. they wonld have
suffered little from cold IL the prison
authorities had permitted few hundred
Of them, either upon parole or undei
guard, to cut logs within two miles o
the garrison, the prisoners would hav'
gladly built comfortable aud simple bar
racks in one week But the command
ant would never, 10 u densely woode,
region, with the cars which brought j
passing by the wallis OF the prison, evel
furnish half the fuel which was needed
The hospitals were in a horrible
condition. By crowdng the patients
thick as they could upon the hoor the,
would contain six hundred inmates
They we're always full 20 overilowing
with thousands seeking admission II
vain. In the two largest wards, con
{ tanning Jointly about two hundred an
= City patients, there was no fire what
4 ever; the others had small replaces
but we're always cold One ward, whie
q held forty patients, was comparativel
+ we'll furnished In the other eight III
e sick and dying men lay upon the col
aud usually naked floor, for the scant
straw furnished US soon became to
filthy and full of vermir for use Th
e authorities never supplied a sing
e blanket, or quilt, or pillow, or bed to
. those eight wards; we could not proeur
!. even brooms to keep them clean, {
cold water TO wash the faces Of the il
8 mates. Pneumonia, catarrh aud d
y arrhea were the prevailing diseases, bI
" they were directly the result Of hungS
: and exposure. More than half who e.
: tered the hospitals died ia very fe
= days The deceased, always withoJ
collins, were loaded into a cart, pile
te upon each other like logs OF wood, an
N so driven out, to be thrown into a trent
and covered with earth.
" The rebel surgeons were general
humane aud attentive. They endsavo
ed 10 improve the shocking condition
@ the hospitals, but the Salisbury AZ
Richmond Authorities both disregarde
u their complaints and protests.
D. On November 25th many Of the pr
to oners had been without food for fort
d eight hours. Desperate from hun1c
n without any matured plan, few Of the
is said, 4" we may as well die IN one way
n another; let us break ont OF the horrit
i. place. Some Of them wrested the gu
.e from a relief Of fifteen rebel soldie
n Just entering the yard, killing two. "
2. resisted aud wounding fve or six. 0th>
e attempted to open the fence, but. th
n had neither adequate tools nor conct
n of action Before they could effect
be breach every gun in the garrison '
IS. turned upon them; the ield-pieces ope
n. ed with grape and canister, aud th
is. dispersed to their quarters Five m
W utes from the beginning the attempt y
ouelled. aud scarcely single prison
NJ TO be seen in the yard My own qu
nd ters were hundred and Fifty yards fri
he the scene of the insurEection in {
TT vicinity there had been no participant
al at all in il; and yet for twenty minu
be after it was ended, the guards upon
fence on either side Of us, with delib
- ate aim, fred into the tents upon be
,y, less aud innocent men, They killed,
of all, fifteen, and wounded sixty, not o
De- tenth Of whom had taken part in the
raj tempt-many of whom we're ignorant
ip- it until they heard the guns
Deliberate, cold-blooded murders
led peaceable men, where there was no 7
as tence that they were breaking any pri
lri, regulation, were very frequent On
ent tober Is. Lieut.. Davis, of the l5Sth
Y. Infantry, was thus shot dead b,
guard who, the day before, had Q
had openly SWEARING that he would
her some - Yankee yet Noyembe
nth Luther, Conrad Of the 45th Pennsy
MIA Infantry, was similarly murde
November 3, chimney in one OF
;ed- hospitals fell down, crushing sew
had men under il
Orders we're Immediately gwen to