The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1865-05-31

--Whatevor disposition may be made
of tho chief actors in the rebellion, OF
whatever ''policy" may DO adopted in re-
gard to them, there is one class Of cul-
prits who, we trust, will have justice I'm.
tempered by mercy. We mean those
devils in human form, who were guilty
of the murder, tho deliberate murder o.
our prisoners, by starvation and other
modes, which savoges under the worst pro.
vocation could nos be guilty Of We give
below evidence taken at the trial of the
conspirators. 1t is noticeable that the
more this matter is investigated the worse
it appears. 1t is n religious duty to hunt
out every one of these who can be reach.
cd. They have no business on thi:
earth. Turn them over to Parsor
Brownlow
The following is tho testimony referred
! 70:
Major Marsh testified that he was ar
officer in Maryland regiment from 1861
to March 81, 1864. He was a prisoner
and was confined in Libby prison from
June Is, 1868, until March u, 1864
he was detained when captured two
weeks at Winchester on account of i'll
health, but his health improving he was
| compelled to march to Staunton; was
treated kindly on the road by his escort /;
at first the rations at Libby prison were
small but tolerably fair; half loaf Of
bread was given each man with four
ounces Of meat and several spoontuls OF
rice; after tour months meat as a rcgu-
lar thing was stopped then they were
deprived of wheat bread and furnished
with what was called corn bread, very
coarse; had known prisoners to be with
ont meat three or four weeks at time !;
they had few potatoes of the worst
character; q meeting of the prisoners
was held and rcmonstrance sent to the
authorities, but Col Ould replied that
the treatment was good enough, and bet
ter than the rebel prisoners had.
After being there iivo months witness
was taken sick with the dropsy from his
bad treatment and sent to She hospital,
where he saw men brought in from Belle
Isle in starving condition, and out of 40
at least 8 or = died the first night; the
surgeon told him their condition was pro-
duced by want of proper treatment; two
of our prisoners escaped, which made
Major Turner, who was in charge of the
prison, become passionate and insulting 4;
he removed them from the hospital to
Libby prison in wet room sorle Of the
sick were in dying condition, and were
compelled to remain there "a hours with
out cots or morsel to eat rs Il punish
mcnt for the escape of the two officers /;
n Col Fowler, OH being demonstrated
with, said the treatment was too damn
good for Yankees; a man could not pos
sibly live on the rations; for days the
prisoners lived on what was called corn
bread, which APPEAR to be meal and
bran, mixed and cooked in rough con-
dition, OH that and water alone.
Capt. Emery testified substantially to
the same treatment the money belong
ing to prisoners was taken from them,
and therefore they could not buy food /;
tho bearing of the keeper was very rude,
CURING and abusing tho prisoners; after
the battle Of Chicamauga, 10 or l6 of the
sick were tied on a cart to prevent their
falling of, although there wero ambulan-
ces near by not in use they were tied on
like sacks of grain the committee of the
rebel senate knew Of this horrible treat
ment, but did not notice them in their
visits; witness asked Turner for medicine
but he said he had none to give; an in
spcctor of the prison named Turner said
that the object Of the treatment was to
kill thNprisoners, adding that sit is good
enough for you; you had no business to
come here; il had command would
Lang all of you"
Benjamin Sweeney, formerly color
sergeant in the army and a prisoner OF
war for five months at Belle Isle in 1868,
testified that there were about $50
prisoners there : witness was there in
winter half had shelter, aud about half
enough food to lire on; witness had seen
men starved to death the bodies of those
who died were allowed to lay or 0 days
in trenches without being buried they
would not allow the prisoners to bury
them; witness had asked special permits
sion to do so and had been refused he
helped to carry out ten to twenty per day ;
saw mon shot down without cause or pro-
vocation; witness weight was reduced
from ITO to l23 pounds; didn't think he
would have lived there more than month
longer.
William Bell, who was a prisoner al
Andersonville tor eleven months, test.
fed that the treatment was very poor
the men had NJ shelter. but were com.
PEELED to live in cwamps; their blankets
and caps and their clothing in general,
and their money, was taken from them
the ra.ions were about half pint of corr
meal, two ounces of bacon, and bali a
spoonful of salt for twenty-four hours, the
bacon being InAggoty once in a while
they got hold Of good piece of meat,
but not very often the treatment killed
the men or rapidly the largest number
Of deaths in q day to his recollection
was 1873; starvation was the cause the
n 4