Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1867-04-19

and the latter insisting that Wirz was the
man who killed certain Union prisoner,
which irritsted the prisoner so much thai he
almost tainted, will still be remembered
That man (Gray) swore falsely and God
alone knows what the poor innocent prisoner
must have suffered at that moment. That
scene was depicted agld illustrated in the
Northern newspapers as il Wirz had broken
down on account of his guilt. Seldom has
a mortal suffered more than that friendlcss
and forsaSen man.
| Fearing lest this communication will be
too long, | will merely speak of the princi-
pal and most intelligent of those false wit
nesses, who testified to individual murder on
the part of Captain Wirz. Upon his testi-
mony the Judge Advocate in his final argu-
ment laid particular stress on account of his
intelligence. This witness prepared pictures
of the alleged cruelties of Captain Wirz,
which were handed the commission, and are
now on record, copies of which appeared at
the time in Northern illustrated newspapers.
He swore that his name was Felix de Ia
Baume, aud represented himself as a French
man, and granddaughter OF Marquis de La
fayette. After having so well testified and
shown so much zeal, he received a recon-
mendation signed by members of the COM
mission.
On the llth day of October, before the
taking Of the testimony was concluded, he
was appointed to a clerkship in the Depart
meni of the Interior. This occurred whilst
one Of the witnesses for the defense dun
can) was arrested In open court and placed
in prison before he had testified
After the execution of Captain Wirz some
Of the Germans recognized in de la Baume,
deserter from the seventh New York (Steu-
benz Regiment, whose name was not de Ia
Baume, but Felix Oeser, a native of Saxony.
They went to Secretary Harlan, and he dis
missed the imposter, an important witness in
the Wirz trial on the 2lst of November,
eleven days after the execution. Nobody
who is acquainted with the Conover testmo-
ny, in consequence Of which the President of
the United States was falsely induced to
place a reward of 100000 upon the head
of an innocent man, will be astonished at
the above disclosure of the character OF tes-
timony before military commissions. SO
much for charge No. III.
If from twelve to fifteen witnesses could
be found who were willing to testify to so
many acts of murder on the part of Wirz,
there must certainly have been no lack
of such who were willing TO swear to minor
olfenses. Such was the unnatural state of
public mind against the prisoner ut that
time, that such men regarded themselves
and were regarded as heroes, after testifying
in the manner above described; whilst, on
the other hand, the witnesses for the defense
were intimidated, particularly after one of
their number had been arrested.
But who is responsible for the many lives
that were lost at Andersonvile, and in the
Southern prisons? That question has not,
fully, been settled, but history will tell, on
whose heads the guilt for those sacrificed
hecatombs of human beings is to be placed.
1t was certainly not the fault Of poor Cap
tain Wirz, when in consequence Of medi-
cines having been declared contrabsnd of
war by the North, the Union prisoners died
for the want of the same. How often have
we read during the war that ladies going
South, had been arrested and placed in the
old Capitol prison by the Union authorities,
because some quinine, or other medicines
have been found concealed in their petit
coats! Our navy prevented the ingress OF
medical stores from the sea side, and our
troops repeatedly destroyed drug stores and
and even the supplies of private physicians
in the South. Thus, the scarcity of medi-
cines became general all over the South
Surgeon J. G. Pilot writes September 6,
1864, from Andersonvile this letter was
produced by the Judge Advocate in the
Wirz trial):
awe have but little more than the indi-
genous barks and roots with which TO treat
the numerous forms of disease to which our
attention is daily called. For the treatment
of wounds, ulcers ETC., we have literally
nothing except water. Our wards, some oi
them are wild with gangrene, and we are
compelled 10 fold our arms and look quiet
ly upon its ravages, not even having stmu-
lants to support the system under its depress-
ing influence; the article being so limited
in supply that it cdn only be issued for cases
under the knife"
That provisions in the South were scarce
will astonish nobody, when it is remember
ed how the war was carried on. Gen. Sher-
idan boosted in his official report that in the
Shenandoah Valley alone, he burned two
thousand barns filed with wheat and corn
and all the mills in. the whole tract of coun-
try; that he destroyed all factories Of cloth
and killed or drove of, every animal, even
TO the poultry, that could contribute to hui
man sustenance. And those desolations were
repeated in different parts of the South, anC
that so thoroughly. that last month, two
years after the end Of the war, Congress haC
to appropriate a million dollars, to save the
people of those regions from actual starva'
J ton. The destruction of railroads and 9th
er means of transportation, by which foot
could be supplied by abundant districts 4
those without it, increased the difficulties il
giving sufficient food TO our prisoners at An
dersonville.
The Confederate authorities, aware o
their inability to sustain their prison ers, in
formed the Northern agents of the grea
mortality and urgently requested that tn
prisoners should be exchanged, even withou
regard to the surplus which the Confederate
had on the exchange rolls from former ex
changes; that is, man for man. But ou
War Department did not consent TO an ex
change. They did not want to "exchang
skeletons for healthy men," Finally, when
' all hopes Of exchange were gone, Col. 0ud
the Confederate commissioner, offered earl
: in August, 1864 TO deliver up all the Feds
. raj sick and wounded, without requiring a
; equivalent in return, and pledged that th
9 number would amount TO ten or fifteen thou
$ sand, and, if it did not he would make u
i that number with well men. Although th
: offer was made in August, the transports
tion was not sent for them Ito Savannah
g until December, although he urged aud i'm
n plored TO use his own words) that hast
II should be made. During that very perio
n the most Of the deaths at Andersonville oC
y CURED. Congressman Covode, who lost tw
o sors in Southern prisons, will do well If
n inquiries who those skeletons" were whic
e the Hon. Secretary Of War did not want
l. exchange for healthy men. If he does
1t will hereafter be, perhaps less bitter aga in