Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-06-27


prisons was small and all the local troops In and
around Richmond we're needed to meet the threat
ened attack. Had d prisoners escaped the wo-
men and children Of the city, as we'll as their
homes would have been at the mercy OF Eve
thousand outlaws. Humanity required that the
most summary measures should be used to deter
them from any attempt at escape.
A mine was prepared under the Libby prison
a sufficient quantity OF gunpOwder was put into
L. aud pains were taken to Inform the prisoners
that any attempt at e-cape made by them woald
be effectually defeated. The plan succeeded per
fcctly. The prisoners were awed and kept quiet. 7
Dahlgren and his party were defeated and scat
tered The danger passed away, and IN a lew
weeks the gunpOwder was removed. Such are
the facts. Your como ittee do not hesitate 10
make them known, feeling assured that the con-
science Of the enlightened world and the great
law of selfprfservatiOn will Justify oil that was
done by our country aud her officers.
CHARGE or INTENTIONAL STARVATION AND
CRUELTY.
We now proceed TO notice under one head, the
last and graYest charge made in these pubhca-
TONS They asser; that the Northern prisoners IN
the hands Of the Confederate authorities have
been starved, Oxen, inhumAnly punished, often
confined IN foul and loathsOme quarters, deprived
of fresh air ard eX rcise, and neglected and NAL
trea'ed in siCkneSs-and that eli this was cone
upon a deliberate. wi;ful and long conceived plan
the purpose OF d, stroyng the lives OF these prs-
Oners, or Of rendering lhem forever incapable OF
military service. This charge accuses the South
ern government Of a crime so honloe and I'M
natural that u could never have been made except
bv those ready 70 black.n with Islander men whom
they have long injured and hated. Your commit
tee feel bound TO reply 10 II calm but emphatl-
cally. They pronounce g false ia tact and IN de-
sign; false m the basis on which IL assumes 10
rest, and false in its estimate OF the motives
which have controlled the southern authorities
HUMANE POLICY OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERN.
MENT.
Al an early pesiOd in the present contest
the Confederate Government recognized their ,
Oh igatOn TO treat prisoners OF war with hu'
manlty and consideration. B9,Ore any laws were
passed on the subject, the Executive Department
provided such prisoners As !ell into their hands
with proper quarters and barracks TO shelter
them, ana with ratiOus lie sImS1n quantity and
quality rs those furnished 70 the Confederate sol
disrs no guaIded these ilis"Eers They a'sO |
showed an earnest wish 10 mitigate the sad con. !
dr. on Of prisoners OF var 10y syst IN Of tiir and
prompt exchange-and Z confederate Congress |
cO-Operated in these humane views by their act, !
approved On the 2lst day a. May 1851, they pro- |
Wded that all -7so' cis OF war taken whether 1
on land or at sea. during the pending hOstilities
with the United states, shall be transferred by |
the captors Or, m time 10 time, aud as often as
nyeuient TO tha Ieplrtmeat OF War and II shall !
be u duty Of the secretary of War, with the aI-
proval of the Prssident 10 issue such instructions
10 the QuartermasteT Ge eIal and his subOrdl- |
mates as shall provide for TIE safe custody and !
susteuauce of plisoaers Of war; aud the rations |
furnished prisoners Ot war snail be the same IN |
quantity and quality as those furnished 10 enlist
ed men in the army OF tie Conieieracy. such |
were the declared purpose and policy OF the I on
lederate Government towards prisoners OF war
and amid all the prvaiOns AID losses to which |
their enemies have sui je, ted them, they have |
sought 70 carry them INTO effect.
RATIOS AND GENERAL TREATMENT.
Our investigations for this preliminary report 1
have been confined chiefly TO the rltions and |
treatmeat OF the prisoners OF war at the Libby |
and other prisons in Richmond and on Belle Isle. |
This we have done, because the publications TO
which We have alluded refer chiefly u them, ard \
because the RepOr, No. o. OF the Northern 1
Congress plainly intimates the belief that the /
treatment in and around Richmond was worte 4
than il was farther South. That report says II /
will be observed from the testimony that all the /
witnesses who testify upOa that point state that /
the treatment they received while confined at
Columbia, South Caroline, Dalton, Georgia, and
other places, was far more humane than that they
received al Richmond, where the authorities Il /
The sl-cal ed COntedeIacy WeIe cOngTegsted'
Report, P. 3.
ne etldence proves that the rations furnished
10 prisoners of war in Richmond and on Belle
Is,e. hav, been never less than those furnished 10
the Confederate soldiers who guarded them, and |
have al scme seasons been larger in quantity and
etter in quality than those furnished TO Con
f.darate troops in the field. This has been be-
cause until February 1864 the Quartermaster's
DEPARTMENT furnished the prisoners, and often
had provisions CT funds, when the Commisssry
Department was not so well provided. Once and
only once for a few weeks, the prisoners were
without meat, but a larger quantity OF bread
and vegetable food was in consequence supplied
10 them How often the gallant men composing /
the Confederate army have been without !
meat for even longer intervals, your com
uittee do not deem IL necessary to say. |
Not less than six cen ounces OF bread and four !
ounces Of bacon, or six ounces OF beei, together
with beans and soup have been furnished per day
20 the prisoners. During most Of the time the |
quantity Of meat furnished 10 them has been !
greater than these amounts; and even in times OF
tue greatest scarcity, they have received as much
"A, tie southern sOldi r. who guarded them. The
scalcty OF meat and of bread stutis in the South,
ia certain places has beea the result OF the saw
age policy Of our enemies in Burning barns tilied
" IA wheat or corn, destroying agricultural impe- |
me1ts and driving of or WantOnly butchefing |
hogs and cattle. Yet amid ell these privations, |
we have given 10 their prisoners the rations above
mentioned. IL is well known that this quantity
of food is su1ici. Mt TO keep in health a man who
does not labor hard. All the learned dispositions
of Dr. ElleTsle Wallace on the subject Of stsrva' |
ton. might have been spared, for they are all
founded on a false basis. ID will be observed
that few az any, Of the witnesses examined by
the "sanilarg commission speak with any accu- |
racy of the duanty lin weight Of the food actu
slly furnished e them. Their statements are |
merely cOnjectural and comparative and cannot
weigh against the positive testimony OF those |
who supsrintendsI the delivery OF large quanti- !
ties Of food, cooked and distributed according to
a fixed ratio, for the number Of men TO be fed.
FAIsEHooDs PUBLISHED AS TO PRISONERS
f,NTu Z or
The statements of the Sanitary Commission"
as TO prisoners freezing to death on Belle Isle are
absurdly false According TO that statement, 1t
was common, during a cold spell in winter, to
see seyeral prisoners frozen TO death every morn.
ing in the places in which they had slept. This
picture, if correct, might well excite our horror
bot unhappily for its Sensational power, 1t Is but
a clumsy daub, founded on the fancy Of the
uainter. The facts are, that tents wee furnished
uficient 70 shelter al the prisoners that tee
Confederate COmmandant and soldiers on the
Island were lodged in similar tents; thai IRE
W A. furnished in each Of them that the prisoners
fsrad as well as their guards aud that only one
of them was ever frozen TO death, and he was
frozen by the cruelty Of his own fellow prisoners
who thrust him out of the tent in freezing |
night because he was infested with vermin. The
proof as 70 the healthiness OF the prisoners on
Belle Isle, aud the small amount Of mortality, Is
remarkable and presents a ut comment on the
lnpubgious pictures drawn by the Sanitary
Commission" either from their own fancies, or
from the ctions put forth by their false Witnesses
lieut. BOssieux proves that from ths establish
ment of the prison camp on Belle isis in June
1850 20 the 10th Of February 1888, more than
twenty thousand prisoners had been at various
times there received, and yet that the whole num-
Der Of deaths during this time, was only ole hun.
dfed and sxty-four. And this is confirmed by
the Federal Colonel Sanderson, who states that |.
the average number Of deaths per month on Belle
a., Ev-as mo fraf l1,y h
lesser number" The rick were promptly removed !
from the Island 20 the hospitals in the city.
CHARACTER OF TIE NORTHERN WITNESSES.
Doubtless the Sanitary Commission" haze
been 10 some extent led astray by their own wit. |
nesses whore character has been portrayed by ,
General Neal Dow, and also by the editor of the |
New York Times, who, in his issue of January /!