Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1866-07-27
HORRORS OF POINT LOOKOUT AND EI.-
MIRA.

lottsVlile. (Va) ChT0nacle, TO see from
some competent hand an account of the
manner in which our Confederate soldiers
Jared as prisoners Of war, and we are. there
fore, happy to announce that Mr. M. A.
Kelley, of the Petersburg Index, has pub
ished in small and very readable volume
his experience of protracted confinement
at Point Lookout and EImira. There is
30 much said about AndersonvilIe and
Salisbury, that it is well to know how
these things were managed by the parties
whose virtuous Indignation hts been 90
much aroused against Captain WIZ and
, Maj,r Gee.
Ii is proper, however, to bear IN mind
that the opportunities for providing some
to'erable degree Of comE,rt to those held
ds prisoners of war were very different at
he North from what they were at the
South. For the last two years of the war
the population of the Southern Confedera-
cy were not only deprived of the luxures
Of life, but it was really a struggle to pro-
cure food of the plainest kind, Most per-
sous consumed no tea, coffee or sugar:
many lived without meat. Clothing was
OF the rudest material, and the wardrobes
OF the wealthiest exceeding scanty. BY
rigid block ,de the Federal ships and troops
rendered it ffcult to procure medici nes,
which, if obtained, were sold at fabulous
prices.
1t is we'll known also that our armies
subsisted on tue scantiest ra,ions and th at
frequently they were altnost in starving
condition.
AT the North there was everything in
ahundance-corn, wheat, pork, beef veg
etahle, woolen and cotton fabrics, medi-
cines. wines, fruits, tea coff 9, &c.
Notwithstanding this, at the prisons of
Point Lookout and Emira, where thou
sands of prisoners were Confined, our men
were always hungry, and in he winter
were never protected from the cold.
Mr.. Kelly gives the following as tho bill
of fare a, Point Lookout: For breakfast,
tour or five ounces Of meat (pork or bee,)
and slice Of bread and "ralber over half a
pint Of watery slop by courtesy called
sonp." This was all man got to eat in
twenty four hours.
At Elmira the ration Of bread was
pound per day. The meat rations on the
other hand was invariably scanty. at
sometimes ha ppened that the same man
got bones only for several successive DAYS."
Rats were eaten in numbers. 4 had seen.'
saws our author, "a mob of hungry 'Ret,s'
beseis- :he bone cart, and beg from the
driver fragments on which an August sun
had been burning for several days.
AlPo.nt Lookoat the water was 80 i'm
pregnated with some mineral as to offend
every nose, and induce diar:hGsa in almost
every case. 1t colors everything black IN
which it is allowed to rest, and scum
rises on the top Of a vessel if it is left
standing during the night, which reflects
the prismatic colors as distinctly as the sur
face Of stagnant pool There are 'wells'
outside tiesprison pen from which the
Federals supplied themselves With good va.
ter. .-
Speaking Of this same prison, the writer
says: During the soorchiug summer,
whose severity during the day is rs great
en that sand barren rs anywhere in the
Uhion north Of the Gall, and through the
hard winter, which is more severe at that
point than anywhere in the country. south
OF Boston, these poor fellows were conflh-
ed here in open. tents on the naked ground.
without plank. or handful of straw be-
tween them and the heat or the frost OF the
earth. And when, in the winter, a high tide
or an easterly gale would flood the pen,
and freeze as it Hooded. the slfferings of
the half clad wretcies usy ba easily imag-
ined. Many died outright, etc. Even the
wellclad sentiuels, although relieved every
tki::y :n;nstesa instead Of every twa hours,
IS is the army ruIs), perishsd, in some i'm
stances, aud others lost the feet and hands,
Though the teHible cold Of the season.
During all this, sesson the ration Of
wood allowed to each man was an aruiful
for Eve days, and this bad to cook for him
!las well as well as warm him.
s This WAS not all Only one blanket vas
allowed TO each man. { There we're regular
inspections, and every. extra: blanket, was
lssized.s s-,Hl - -, ,,:.ya<-.5,, ii
T + You could receive nothing 10. the, way:
tof clothing withcas giving up the : corss-i
tpondiug astielssvhich youimight shauoe 70
Ipossen. y All meney vas also taken assy.
Every third day thste wste negro asb-
tineis Oh duty, ahoss fnsoIence and brua.