Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-09-04


Vile from the sth OF March until September l5
ls64; he thought Captain W erts assumed com
mand on or about she let Of April; on one occa
sion Wertr came into the stockade, when q GRIN
pie on crutche. approached and asked to go out
side, the request vas refused and the cripple salt
he would rather be shot than stay there; witnes.
soon heard Wertz hollow to a sentinel. tell that
man If be did not 60 back be would shoot him :
the man did not return. when the sentinel fred a
him and shot the cripple in the jaw, the crippl,
was known by the name Of Chickamsuga; Vert,
| aftcrward threatened to shoot the Others il the
did not 20 away; on another occasion, while the
prisoners were being divided into squads Of hun
I, bred in each squad. one OF the men, owing 70
sickness, did not fall in, Werlz threatened 70
shoot him and did shoot at him, tae ball passing
| through the mans hat; the prisoners were KEEP,
in the sun all day aud not allowed to procure
water il they did not give satisfactory account oi
| any one of their number missing, they were de-
priVed OF their ratons; this was the case for
| three days Early in July there was not suf-
| fceut room in The prison for the men TO stand
up; the limits we're enlarged on the north side;
| there we're AZ 900 prisoners there at one time
be had heard Werlx say he was killing more
Yankees than those who were serving at the
| front Witness had seen twenty Eve thirty
men shot over the dead line.
Cross examination, by the defense ere
|
commit other offences and was not a cripple, 10
whom you referred, one Of themi
| Answer-There were troublesome characters
there; but don't know whether that man be-
longed to them or not; don't think a cripple on
| crutch was good man 10 steal. Laughter. !
During further examination witness spoke OF
| q man at whom the seE;inels fired
Queston-Did you see the ball bit him?
Answer-A Mas must have very good eyes to
| see ball when il strikes a man; laughter, !
witness gave various instances OF men being shot;
one was shot while be was in bis tent, for merely
stretching his arm beyond the dead line; another
was shot at for treadng over the line; Wertz
ordered the sentinel to shoot the cripple some OF
those shot at were killed and others taken TO the
| hospital.
Jas. II. Davidson testified: He was member
| of the Iowa Cavalry and taken as prisoner to
Andersonvlle on the 9Th Of March; he described
| the filthy condition of the prisoners; for a week
| he drove the dead wagon sometimes twenty e ye
men we're thrown into il at time, and on his
| return he would bring wood and ratons in the
| grave cart; he had seen them with blankets,
shoes and shirts on them, sent there by the SAM
tary Commission, for the use Of our own men
Captain WeriE, he knew, made a breakfa on
| some of the crackers. cheese and beef sent there
| for our prisoners; be had seen four five hun
dred boxes al the depot with supplies; they were
| marked U ) ; IL was common TOR men TO be put
" the chain gang; one man died in the chain
| gang with all IRON collar around his neck he had
| seen hounds; there were two kinds. catch dogs
aud eul-terriers: one 81 the dogs badly tore the
| flesh from a man s leg; another man was hanging
| up his Clothes which he had washed. to dry; one
OF the pieces blew over the dead line; be stopped
beyond the line To get the piece when he was
| fred upon and shot in the breast. Another man
bad reached beyond the dead line for some
| crumbs of bread, when he shot in the head
| WerZ shot man a short time after he assumed
command of the prison. The latter was sick
| lying on the ground and asked W ertz something
when " erlz shot him Wertz remarked he was
killing more Yankees there than Lee was at
| Richmond. This was said Id August. Wertz
was at the time with ths witness in the grave
yard with wagon loaded with dead. Witness
had seen men starved to death. Food was so
scarce at one time that some OF them picked up
PARTICLES OF food that had already passed through
| the system Ga his cross examination by de
tense witness said the graveyard comprised % or
80 acres: when be left AndersonviIle on the / tn
OF September last, il was about two-thirds full
| Witness had never seen him shoot more than
one man: The grave diggers were Union sol
diers. The dead were buried about TWO feet aud
a half deep Some were buried with and some
| without clothing Witness had never seen any one
| Of the dead stripped before they were buried
| The men were buried in their clothes On one
occasion so bodies were put into a single grave.
Capt. j. II. Wright and Col Tanning, for
nerly OF the Confederate service, testified as to
| the signature of General Winder and Captain
Wertz to documentary return Of August last
which was exhibited to them
Major Hosman, Associate Judge Advocate
was sworn, aud testified that be obtained the
paper from the chief officer having custody of the
| rebel papers of the War Department. The paper
was read 10 evidence, and il as follows:
! CONSOLIDATED Return for the Confederate
States Military Prison at Camp Sumter, Georgia
tor the month of August, 1864 Prisoners on
hand on the last of August, % .9S5; in hospital
,S93; total 81 ,67e received from various places
3,U76; recaptured. 4; total. 3O.s2O, making a
total aggregate of "a $50. died during the
month Of August, 1913; sea, to other prisons
| twenty three; exchanged, twenty one, escaped
thirty; making 1861, of all of which there ara
on the 3lst OF August, in camp. % ,473; in hos
pital, 220; total. 81 693''
The same complaint has to be made against
the carelessness and ineHiciency of the guard oil
the thirty prisoners who escaped eleven of them
did 50 while on their parole Of honor not "a
escape. as long as they were employed to work
outside. The balance. nineteen, escaped, some
BY bribing the sentnels with greenbacks. some
by simply walking OF from the guard while re-
posted at night that are issued ia stockade in
day time. Perhaps twenty five more escaped
during the month. but they were taken up by
the dogs before the days return was male out
and for that reason they are not oa the list of
escaped nor recaptured. That only four were
recaptured is owing to the fact that neither the
guard nor the officers Of the guard reported a
man escaped The roll call in the morning
would show u man missing, but he would be toe
! far gone then to be tracked IA we have no
general court martial all such offences 90 IN
punished, or nearly so.
Signed II. WERTz,
Captain Commanding AndersonviIle.
On the paper is as follows: Respectfully for
warded to Gen. q. Cooper. Adjutant aud To-
spacior General
lSignedl JSo. 81. WMDKK.
Brigadisr General.
Sept 9Th. 1864
Thomas Hall testifed.-He belonged to the
Marine Corps be was prisoner at Anderson
vile; he had charge OF a squad of ninety pris
oners; but oaly one out of the entire number
survived; they gave him another squad; the new
stock of men died off rapidly; good many sunk
down from exhaustion and starvation, and could
not get up; Wertz threatened, il they did not
| rise, 10 blow the brains out Of the ID Yam
KEGS. Wertz threatened 10 ire grape aud can
! MISTER into them He had one man who
had one Of bis legs almost torn of BY the hounds
thereafter the sore appeared twice as large as
silver half dollar. and we're tiled with maggots
he heard. as remsrk. after the shooting Of a
= II %