The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-08-10

inches in depth, through which stalked and
staggered the esunt, hslfclsd vretches thus
confined. The stencil from the prison could
be perceived for two miles, and farmers liv-
ing in the neighborhood began to fear for the
health of their families.
As consequence of this the hospitals-fa-
cetious was Wcrtz in his horrible humanity
were crowded to repletion with the emaci-
ated, starved and diseased men who were
trundled into them.
The hospitals were constructed Of logs, un-
hewed, the interstices untitled and open, ad-
mitting the rain, without floor, cots, hunks
or blankets, filthy, and frted with the Tester
ing, putrid bodies of the sick, the dying, and
the dead. | once mustered the courage, i'm
PEELED by the earnest entreaties of q Northern
friend, to enter one Of them, to visit one who
was tenderly reared, and walked in the best
ranks of Connecticut society. | believed |
had seen, before this, what 1 deemed to be
human wretchedness in its worst forms.
thought that could nerve myself to witness
mortal agony and wretchedness and destitu-
tion as | had heard it described, without
blanching or trembling. But if all the
condensed horrors Of a hundred T" black
holes" F" had been brought before my mind to
prepare me for the ordeal, they would have
failed TO realize the facts as | saw them face
to face.
! cannot, in daily paper read by inno-
cenes and virtue, detail what met my sight
on the occasion | refer to. will not pollute
any page, save the records of the courts that
must try the culprit for the crime of torture
by disease and filth, with the details of that
carayansary of horrible, intentional slaughter.
For fear that some may think that have ex-
aggera,ed, an episode here will. perhaps,
dlspel such illusion. Convicted By the horri
bic fact that Was q stencil IN his nostrils, Gen.
Winder, then Commissary General of Pris-
ons, but having his headquarters at Ander
son,ille, was forced by decency, for this he
himself asserted, to ask the aid of the Pre-
siding Elder of the Methodist Church Of that
circuit, to adopt some means to alleviate the
miseries and soothe the wretehedness of the
poor inmates of that Andersonviie hospital.
This gentleman invoked the aid of the women
Of Sumpter county, who responded with
clothing, and necessaries only, for these alone
are allowed, TO the amount of four wagon
loads. Upon the day appointed, four ladies,
accompanied by their husbands, went to the
prison and sought from the Provost Marshal
Ii pass, to take their benefactions to the sick
prisoners. 1t was refused with q curse The
party proceeded to Winder's headquarters,
where Henry Wertz was in company with the
General. The demand for a pass was re-
pea;ed. Understand. the ladies were pres,
eni. and the reasons given why the party were
there, in accordance with Ninders special
request. To their astonlshment, they were
met with this reply: Cd d-n you. have
you all turned Yankees here p
"No. General, responded the spokesman
nt 10 not
are any here present: We have come, Is you
| requested us, through Rev. Mr.. d., TO bring
| necessary articles for the Federal hospital.
| and ask pass for the purpose of delivering
them"
! sits d-niie, | never gave permission
OF anything Of the kind Be off with you, all
of You
As if this fearless display Of martial yalor
and gentlemanly bearing was not sufficient,
Henry Mertz essayed 10 and did eclipse his
/, General IN profanity and indecency-and
here assert that if the lowest sinks of the most
abandoned parts of your city we're CLEANED
| they could not surpass the ribaid yulgarity
and finished profanity of this jailor, exhibited
in the presence oil refined and loyal
ladies.
| Shocked. terrified, beaten to the very dust
with modification, the party retired, and
I
levate the tortares of the dying Union sol
der, they gave their loads Of clothing and
food TO passing column of Federal prisoners
on their way to another place -Millen. They
at least had the satisfaction of knowing that
| some were benefited, even If they had failed
| in their efforts for those who most needed
| their assistance.
During the last winter was unusu
| ally cold for Georgia. when the ice made al
inch thick-no shelter, no blankets or clothes
no wood was provided for the wreiched in
mates of that prison. Squads were permitted
to the number Of thirty. TO 60 out under guart
daily, for one hoLr, without axes or any cut
ting tool, TO gather the refuse and rutiei
wood in the forests. and If they outstaid thei
time. they were tried by drumhead court mar
tal, charged with violating their parole, ant
if found guilty. were hung! | myself saw thre,
bodies hanging who we're thus executed. Poo
fellows, thought, God has taken pity upoi
you and given you deliveraaee from your erue
TAILOR. When you and he meet, at anothe
Judgment seat, woe TO him If his authority b,
insufficient for this taking of your lives
wretched though they be.
Ny house WAS the resort, or, should say
refuge. of most of the prisoners who mad
their escape from the stockade, and the tale
of starvation and distress which they toll,
would have melted an iron heart ] mus
close my hurried account of what had seen
1t is far from full not one-half has been told
by far the most has been kept back from yer,
shame, and in respect to your readers. hav,
not embellished. The pictures were 10,
rough, the characters too forlorn for TIL
flowers of rheteficto bloom in their presence
Broken hearts, crushed spirits and manhoo'
trampled ON may answer as fitting subjects 70
the romancer's pen, but the horrible reality
| 50 seldom seen, bnrns its images upon tn
beholders soul, that no other impressions
can efface, and they remain life-pictures in
! deed.