Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1865-02-16

I ~ " 80 hL6S oaOe " <<-~A ~ = r<-A-<-N ~
who, the day before. had been openly
swearing he would "kfff some damn
ed Yankee YETI November 9th,
Luther Conrad, Of the 45th Pennsyl
vania Infantry, delfrious patient
from one Of the hospitals, was SINH
larly murdered. Nevember 3, q
chimney in one OF the hospitals fell
down, crushing several men under
it. -
Orders were Immediately given to
the guard toilet no one approach the
building on the pretext thai there
might be another insurrectior Two
patients from, that hospital I'd not
heard the order, and were returning
to their quarters, when I saw, SEN
tinel on the fence within twepty feet
of them, without challenging them,
raise his piece and firea killing one
and wounding the other. ! Major Gee,
at the time was standing immediate
" beside the sentinel, who must have
acted under his direct orders. De-
cember 16, Moses Smith, of the 7th
Maryland (colored) Infantry while
standing beside my quarters, search
ing for scraps offood from the sweep
ings of the cook house, was shot
through the head. There were very
many similar murdersl l never knew
any pretence even made ofinyestiga-
ting or furnishing them. Our lives
were never safe for one msmtnt.-
Any sentinel, at any hour of day or
night, could deliberately shoot down
any prisoners, or into any group of
prisoners, black or white, and he
would net even he taken off his post
for it. 20
Nearly every week an officer came
into the prison to recruit for the rebel
army. Sometimes he offered boun-
ties; always he promised good cloth
ing and abundant food. Between
twelve hundred and eighteen hun
dred of our men enlisted in two
months. was repeatedly asked by
prisoners, sometimes with tears in
their eyes. "What shall 1 do? /
don't want to starve to death. lam
growing weaker daily; if / stay here
l shall follow my comrades to the
hospital and deadhouse. If enlist
Imay live until / can escape"
L had charge of the clothing left
by the dead, AMI reissued it to the
living. l distributed articles of
clothing to more than two thonsand
prisoners, but when l escaped there
were fully five hundred without a
shoe or stocking, and more yet
with no garment above the waist ex
cept one blouse or one shirt. Men
came to me frequently upon whom
the rebels, when they captured them,
had left nothing Whatever except a
light cotton shirt and pair of light,
ragged cotton panIaloons.
The books of all the hospitals were
kept and the daily consolidated re-
ports made up under my supervision.
During the two months between Oc-
tober Is and December Is the aver
age number of prisoners was about
1900. The deaths for that period
were fully 1,5f0, or twenty per cent.
of the whole. brought away the
names of more than twelve hundred
of the dead; some of the remainder
were never reported; the others ]
could not procure on the day of my
escape without exciting suspicion.
AS the men grew more and more de
bilitated the percentage of deaths in
creased. / left about $500 remain
ing IN the garrison December Is, and
they were then dying at the average
rate of twenty eight day, or thir-
teen per cent a month.
The simple truth is that the rebel
authorities are numbering our sol
diers at Salisbury by cold and hun
ger, while they might easily supply
them with ample food and fuel
They are doing this Systematically
and l believe are killing intentional
ly, for the purpose OF either forcing
our Government to an exchange or
forcing our prisoners into the rebel
army.