Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1866-08-30
From the Toledo Blade.
HON the IUItuU DIN0Nf
The eAndersOnvflle Horrors
staten ent Of 1.-TWO COnfeder-
ate Soldiers.

dte SOlOtcESs
A Southern trooper, who is afso Nir-
ginia gentleman. named GilmOr, has Witt
ten book detailing his adventures during
the four years of war, which has been pub
lshed and is being eagerly bought and read
by COpperheads: who hope to hnd TWO
things, tO-wit:-prOOf of the superiority Oh
the Southern over the Northern soldier, ana
denials of the cruel treatment oil Cmoh
prisoners. Another Southernor, Ambrose
+. Spencer, who held a position at Ander-
sonville. has likewise written book, which
is also success The first wish OF our
Democratic friends is more than gratified-
The brave GilmOr writes of battles won,
by himself of course, over five times his
number, of capturing single-handcd, nve
and ten at time, and killing.-why, the
fellow never felt satisfied at night unless he
had sent to their long homes at least a doz-
en- ''cowardly Yankees
But the Other-cXpectatiOn OF the Copper
heads who purchase the book is hardly re-
allied. GilmOr did visit Andersonyille-in
fact he held some position or other there
for short time, and Spencer was there al
most from the beginning. Each deyotes
chapter to the conduct Of the prison, from
which we propose to make liberal extracts.
~
1T will come out before long that the
large mortality in the Sothern prisons must
be attributed TO other causes than the want
of food"
We believe vou When Sherman got to
that point he found wealth of provisions,
enough. could the starving thousands who
sleep their last sleep there have got at it. to
have kept them in good condition and sent
them home to their friends well and hear
ty. But the terrible mortality Mr.. Gilmor
says was due
-"Chieflv to the unclean habits of the
prisoners themselves.
All of which is true. They were denied
that cheapest of all neccsSarieS, water, and
soap was unheard of and unknown. y
muddy streamlet ran through the stockadc,
but that was guarded, and the prisoners
were not allowed TO approach it. When it
rained the men would strip from their ema-
ciatcd forms the rags which hung about
them. and wash each other as best they
could. No guards could keep the rains of
heaven from falling--and as no shelter was
provided, the Confederate Government
could not prevent the dying men from
avaiiing themselves of It's benefits.
Mr. Spencer rcmarks:--
.'Dr. John L. Bates. who was on duty
there, SAYS that when he first entered a
ward of the hospital he was shocked. Men
were living. partially naked. dirty and lou
sy. in the sand. wasting under gangrene.
putrid from fever sores, and literally dying
from starvation. Crowded together i'm
small unscrviceable tents. they asked for Il
teaspoonful of salt; they begged for some
of the siftings of meal; they even entreated
to he allowed to gnaw "A bone rs they. lay
in their filth, destitude of medical attend
ance as of everything else. :
The efiluyium from the hospitals was sick
eningly offensive
Nakedness, dirt, lice, gangrenc. fever
sores and starvation, Is it wonderful they
died. Rather, is it not wonderful that any
escaped this accumulation of horrors?-
Thousands upon thousands exposed to the
heat of summer and cold Of winter, with
out shelter, without clothing, without fire
and without food, begging for salt, begging
for sif1ings of meal. for bones, anything TO
keep the srark of life from going out. Mr..
Spencer singles out soldier who came un-
der his personal observation. He was a
mere boy. only sixteen years old. The
story is best told by Spencer himself:
~ prisoner of but sixteen years of are,
down with both gangrene and scuryy. He
talked of and cried for absent mother, and
PRAYED for her tender hands and gentle care
to soothe his anguish or dress his sores.
and. as he moved his restless cmaciaicd
body. seeking repoSc that was denied
him. the sand would rub into his sores and
disfigure the very pollution that was de-
stroying him. Although it was against
specific orders to give the patents any food
or what might help their condition, yet the
doctor now and then smuggled into his lit
tie patients hand Il pOtatoe or a biscuit to
appcase his ravenOuS hunger; but, notwith
standing. TO Use the witness simple but
heart-rending words his sores gGngrened, and
that riM The scurry and ,rdnt Of teod and from
lice. he died.
The narrative continues, and grows in
interest, particularly TO those fathers and
mothers who mourn sons now occupying
unmarked graves in that PRISON.
Meanwhile the crowds within the stock
ade had attained the highest limits "a to
numbers which were reached during its
continuance. there being in the month of
September Sc, $50 in all. With this increase
there was n corresponding augmentation
of their suiferings. The rains OF tile an
tum season. together with tie constant
tread of SO many men. converted the iHte
rior az times into one vast bed of muddy
SluSh, nearly foot deep--an aggregation
of the scmi-liquid filth through which the
miserable prisoners trampcd in their unya-
rying round of pointlcss existence. Then
for some days the hot sun would pour down
upon this quagmirc, fcculent with putrc
faction, and draw from its depths vapors
saturated with the feted stencil which il ex-
halcd, and which corrupted the air they
had 10 inEalc.'
Comment on the above is unnessary.-
Thirty-six thousand four hundred and
eighty strong men, huddled together in a
stockake, with everything purposely with
drawn that they could live upon-doomed
to slow deaih-death by Starvation and
disease. They died by thousands and were
thus inferred:
''No box or coffin was permitted; no de
cent shrOuding even in the ragged blanket
was allowed. When
about twenty feet of mortality was huddled
side to side, lime was scattered upon the
bodies and the earth carelesslv thrown over
all. y few days of rain. or the depreda-
tions of animals, would here and there
leave exposed some luckless leg or arm or
head of the dead ones, and, as the torrid
heats of the summer suns poured down
their decavlng powers, talnt oil eiliuvlum
and corruption would pervade the atmos
phere for miles around. Here, over this
ghastly spot, could bc seen at almost any
time countless hosts of sluggish buzzartls.
There were a few people in Georgia who
pitied the starving men and sought to al
leviate their sufferings. They applied for
permission to convey food and medicines
to the sick in the hospital and were thus
met by General Windcr:
Cd d--n your mission Of mercy
wish that you and every other Id
Yankee sympathizer, and every Cd
id Yankee too were all in hell to-
gether."
The sympathiZers were not, of course, al
lowed to enter the prisons. Why should