The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1867-05-01

Illustrated papers. lie swOre that his
name was Felix de la Baume, and repre-.
seDted himself as Frenchman and. grand.
nephew of Marquis Lafayette, After hay.
ing so well testified and shown SO much
zeal, he received a recommendation signed
BY the members. of the commission. On
the llth day Of October, before the taking
OF the, testimony was concluded, he was
appointed to clerkship IN the Depart
ment of the Interior. This occurred whilst
one OF the witnesses for the. defense Dun-
CAM was arrested in open court and placed
in prison before he had testified. After
the execution of Captain Wirz some of the
Germans of Washington recognized in de
la Baume a deserter from the. Seventh
New York, (Steuben) Regiment, whose
name was mot de la Baume,. but Felix
Oeser, a native, of Saxony. They went to
Secretary Harlan, and he dismissed the
imposter and the important witness in the
Wirz trial on the 2lst of November, elev-
en- days after the execution. Nobody who
is acquainted with. the Conoverr testimony,
in consequence ofwhich the President of
the United States was false y induced to
place reward of 100000 upon the head
Of an innocent man, will be ,astonished at
the above disclosures. So much for char
ges No. 2. -
/. If from twelve to fifteen witnesses could
be found who were willing to testify to so
many acts Of murder on the part Of Wnz,
there must certainly have been no lack of
such who we're willing to swear to minor
offences. Such was the unnatural state of
public. mind against the prisoner at the
time, that such men regarded themselves,
and were regarded as heroes, after having
testified ill.,, the manner above described !;
whilst on the other hand, the wtnessessfor
the defence were inundated, particularly
after one of them had been arrested.
But who is responsible for the many
lives that were lost at Andefsonville, and
in the Southern prisons That question
has not fully been settled, but, history will
tell on whose heads the guilt for those sac
rifced hectacombs of human, beings is to be
placed. 1t was certainly not, the fault of
poor Captain Wirz, when, in consequence
of medicines having beed declared contra
band of war by the North, the Union pris-
oners died for the want of the saine.l How
often have we read during the war that. la
dies, going South, had been arrested and
placed in the Old Capitol Prison by the
Union authorities, because some quinine,
or other medicines, had been found con-
cealed in their petticoats Our navy pre-
vented the ingress of medical stores from
the seaside, and our troops repeatedly de-
stroyed drug stores, and even the sup
plies Of private physicians in the South.
Thus, the scarcity of medicines became
general all over the South. Surgeon j. G.
Pilot writes, September 6, 1864, from An
Jacksonville [this letter was produced by the
Judge Advocatein the. .Wirz trial 1--WE
have little more than the indigenous harks
and roots with which to treat the numerous
forms Of disease to which our attention is
daily called For the treatment of wounds
ulcers, &C., We have literally nothing but
water. Our wards, some of them. are, wild
with gangrene, AND We ore compelled to fold
our arms and look quietly upon its ravages,
not even having stimulahts to support the
system under its depressing influence; the
article being so limited in supply that it
can only be issued for cases under the
knife" -, ~. >, IL,
That p provisions in tahe South were
scarce, will astonish nobody, when it is re-
membered' how the war was carried on
General Sheridan boasted in his official
report that, in the Shenandoah Valley
alone, be burned two thousand barns filled
with wheat and corn, and all the mills in
the, whole tractof country; that. he de.
streyed all the factories of cloth, and killed
or drove off every animal, even to the ponl
try, that could contribute to human sts
tenance. And those desolations werere.
peated in different parts Of the South, and
that so thoroughly that last month, two
years after the end of the war; Congress
had to appropriate q million of dollars tc
save the people of those regions from actin
al starvation. The destruction of railroads
and other means of transportation. by
which food could be supplied by abundant
districts to those without it, increased thu
difficulties in giving sufficient food to ou
lprisoners. ~. sri ~ II
The Confederate authorizes aware o
their inability to maintain their prisoners
inforned the Northern agents Of the grea
mortality and urgently requested that thu
prisoners should be exchanged, even with
ont rooard to the surplus which the Con
federates had on the exchange roll from
former exchanges, that is, mar for man
but our War Department did not consep
to an exchange. They did not want to Eek
change skeletons for healthy men,, Final
| ly, when all hopes of exchange were gone
! Colonel Ould, the Confederate Commits
sioner, offered, early in August, 1864. t.
deliver up all the Federal sick and wounded
without requiring an equivalent in return
aud pledged that the number would amour
to ten or fifteen thousand, and, If it did not
he would make up that number with wei
men,, Although this offer was made il
August, the transportation was not sen
for them ITO Savanpah) until December, al
though be urged and i,hplored Ito use hi
own Words that haste should be made
During that very period the most Of thu
deaths at Andersonville occurred. Con
gresham Covode, who lost two sons il
Southern prisons, will do well if lie Inquire
who those skeletons, were" WHICH, tn
Honorable Secretary Of War did not wan
to exchange for healthy men! # he; does
1he will hereafter be perhaps, less bite
against The people, Of the South.
But has The North treated her Southern
prisoners SO well that she should lift up he
hands, and cry '..apathema" over the South
Mr.stanton reportsto Congress, July Is
1856, that Of Southern. prisoners there e die
Fin the North 26. 436, and Of Northern prise
ners in the South .22,516.,. What Q, fearfu
record! Over $4,000 Of prisoners dying j
the midst of plenty! Mr.. Stanton give
the total number of prisoners in the Mort
at 22O 1000, and in the South at 6,94o
Suppose this to be correct. though thi
statement comes certainly from no impartia
source, there died ofprisoners in the South
without medicines and provisions. the fit
part, and in the North, with medicines an
provisions, the eighth part. But in tn
number of Southern prisoners in the Mort
are probably included the paroled prisoner
efLee's, Johnston's and Smiths armies