The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1867-07-26
A LOYAL" HOWL.
The Rock Island & Moline Union says:

a ~ ~ 49, nv " Ne
The Rock Island & Moline Union says:
We are authorized by DIR. Gregg, Of this city
to say that the statement which the ARGUS makes
as to the treatment of rebel prisoners on Rock Is
land, IS UTTERLY AND UNoUALIFIEDLY FALSE
THROUGHOUT.
We doubt if DR.. Gregg ever made any
such sweeping statement,-if he did, ne
speaks of what he has no knowledge.
The Rock Island & Moline Union further
says:
No man in this community is better qualified
to speak on this subject than DIR. Gregg.
This is not true, for he was on duty with
the 5Sth Ill. Vols, in the field afterwards
prisoner at the south taken at Shiloh J,
and afterwards on duty with Mulligan's Bri
gadein Virginia, until nearly the close Of
the war, and cannot be good witness as to
the cruelties to which our article referred.
The Rock Island & Moline Union contin,
ues as follows:
He was himself prisoner for six months, IN
the hands of the rebels. After his exghange no
was assigned to duty among the rebel PRISONERS
ON the Island. t-
No, he was not assigned to duty among
the rebel prisoners on the Island, at that
time. Sometime after he was exchanged,
he got an appointment as surgeon in Multi
CAMS Brigade, and was stationed in Virgin
ia until near the close of the war. Some
time after that he was on duty at the pris-
on.
The Rock Island & Moline Union asserts
that DR.. Gregg says, of the rebel prisoners
at Rock Island
That they were not "starved," did not suffer
for the want of anything which the government
could furnish and that f'the head doctor never,
to his knowledge, uttered such barbarous senti-
ment as ''that he intended to starve them tthe
rebels) to death, in retaliation for the suerings
of our men, in the SOUTH"
We say they did suffer for what the gov
eminent could have furnished, viz: vegeta
bles to prevent the seurvy, and we further
say that the government was, at last, shamed
into permitting the rebels to purchase them
with their own money, and that, then, the
scurvy ceased. 1t was a very good idea to
put in the reservation, ''to his knowledge
in the last part of the sentence. "The head
doctor" did so declare, or else DR.. Brooke,
of Indiana, a surgeon on duty there at the
time, told us a falsehood. DIR. Brooke said
he was present and heard the remark. Dr.
Gregg, not being present, of course did not
hear it.
The Rock Island Moline Union asks:
Will the ARGUS deny DIR. Greggs statement?
The ARGUS viii deny the statement made
by the Union, as it says, for DR.. Gregg, and
has given some reasons, above, why Dir
Gregg, cannot know quite so much as the
Union claims. The ARGUS does not, for a
moment, believe that DIR. Gregg would
knowingly, MAKE wrong statement. But
the ARGUS knows very wei that he has moi
as good means of knowing what occurred il
the prison, until near the close of the war
as we have; that he can have no persona
knowledge whatever of transactions there
during the early part Of the existence of the
prison, and that he cannot know everything
which occurred at the prison even while h
was on duty there, a few hours in the da,,
time, towards the close of the war.
The position of the ARGUS is this: Con
gress should take precisely the same mean
to investigate alleged eruelties in northern
prisons that it does in southern PRISONS
viii the Union deny this position?
Congress refused to do this and then ap
pointed committee to take the testimon
of federal soldiers as to their treatment il
rebel prisons We claim that they shoulc
also take the testimony of rebel soldiers whit
were confined in northern prisons.
Mr.. IngersoA, of the Peoria district, las
winter, introduced resolution in the Hous
of Representatives, calling for an investiga
ton of all the facts relative to the treatmen
ofrebel prisoners in northern prisons, bu
the republican maj ority votedit down. Tn
Geneseo Republic, of this week, radica
paper, speaking of this matter, says
without the investigation which NJ. NIGER
SOILS resolution proposed, the country cannot Ger
tainly know whether these reports have any foun
dation in truth not, and it was therefore unfor
tanate that the resolution was lost. Their
should have been congressional action and re
ports in pursuance to the wish and resolution
MrINGERsoLL. . Il was unfortunate that thi
COMMISSIONERS not appointed 'rA VIM
Exactly 50. The same pains should /
taken to investigate and publish the facts
regard to the treatment of rebels in feeders
prisons, as of the treatment of federal prisol
ers in rebel prisons. = Will the Union der
this?