Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-11-21
RUTLAND HERALD.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER IA, 1857.
of Usion Prisoners Of
WAR.

A medical work, Ro8 IN course OF pub
lieation in New York, smoodies some
information ON this still painful topic,
which cannot be without interest. IL
appears that DR.. joseph p. Jones OF
Augusta, Ga, WAS deputed by the Rich
mond authorities to go to Andersonville
and examine into the condition Of the
Union prisoners aud his report has been
extracted from by the author OF the
above mentioned work The Doc or,
writing under date OF Oct. 10, 1864, says
there were at that time more than Ave
thousand seriously i'll in the hospital
and stockade, and the deaths ranged
from ninety to one hundred and thirty
per day, while, since the establishment
OF the prison, on the oath OF February,
1854, over ten thousand prisoners had
died. He states that he made careful
examination OF the grounds, OF the
water, and Of all the other features Of
the prison, and In reference to the terri
bic Effects OF hospital gangrene, he says
"More than thirty hoasand were
crowded upon tteenty screen acres of land,
with little or no shelter from the Intense
heat OF s Southern summer, or from the
rain or dew, with coarse corn bread, from
which the husk had not been removed,
with scant supplies OF fresh meat and
vegetables, with little or no attention
to hygiene, with fostering masses Of
filth at the very doors OF their rude dens
and huts, with the banks of the stream
flowing through the stockade q filthy
uuagm!re Of human excrements, alive
with working maggots, generating by
their own filthy exhalations and excre-
lions, au atmosphere that so deterio.
rated and contaminated their solids and
fluids, that the slightest scratch OF the
surface, and even the bites Of small In.
sects were frequently followed by such
rapid and extensive gaug.ene as TO de-
stroy extremities, and even life itself ~
This testimony comes not from Inter
ested abolition officials" not from d
committee appointed by radical Con-
gress, but from surgeon OF the rebel
service to his government. 1t is an Of
hclal report, and as such cannot be
gainsayed. After this statement of q
rebel Iofficer, we think 1t will be in
vain for the Richmond government, j."
so called, or their advocates or apollo
gists to seek to explain away the re-
sponsibility OF JEFF Davis for the dis-
bolical treatment OF Federal prisoners,
and II the arbitrator could but get his
Just deserts at his trial which is to be
held in Richmond the present month,
this report alone, from one OF his own
hlrelipgs, is sufficient to make certain
his conviction, and the irhiciion OF the
death penalty as a punishment.
What makes the course pursued AZ the
Andersonvllle prison pen still more fiend.
ish, is the fact that The rebels were not
by force OF circumstances compelled TO
practice these cruelties,--they were per-
petrated with premeditated motive to
produce the results which .hocked s
civilized world, and sent mourning weeds
into tens OF Thousands OF families in
kNcI FStkiob SAA e1NANhya Wv
starvation of prisoners was policy de.
termined upon is attested by the fact
that when Gen. Sherman reached
the scene ST these horrible murders, he
found corn and meat enough, which
the flying rebels had been unable to car
~ with them, TO feed the inmates OF the
prison for msny months. The rebel au-
thorities intended TO kill our men, and
their bloodthirsty natures taught them
the most cruel methods to accomplish
their purpose And yet, in the face and
eyes OF all these facts, the Republicans
OF New York and Pennsylvania have
been so recreant TO duty the present fall
as to absent themselves from the polls
In considerable numbers, thus allowing
the party 10 elevate itself TO power in
those States, which, during the war, up
held the perpetrators of these atrocities,
and which, since its close, has exhausted
itself in spologizing for and defending
them.