Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-08-30
Cruelty to Prisoners.

Not the least evil, by any means, the de,
feated party in any conflict of arms must
suffer, is the gross misrepresentation which
must be borne in silence OF under unavail
ing protest. That much was done on both
sides during the late war between the Uni
ted and Confederate States, which cannot
| be justified by The rules of civilized war
fare, is certainly true, and that these ex-
cesses should be, and will be, condemned
by good people, whether the perpetrators
wore the uniform of the government or
were clad in "rebel gray" Immediately
after the war it was quite natural that the
excuses of the defeated party should be
paraded in print, distorted and exaggerated
to suit the excited and exasperated mass
who demanded victims to appease their
wrath. It was equally to be expected that
the ignoble deeds of the conQuerors should
be temporarily lost sight of amidst the
garlands of victory. and the plaintive muir
muir of suffering TRAITORS" should be
drowned amidst paans which greeted their
success.
to the South that in this carnival of frenzy
and madness, when charges were preferred
for every conceivable crime against every
Confederate officer possible, from the i'm
sassination of President LINCOLN, through
the entire catalogue, that with one single
exception the whole have been abandoned
or proved to be groundless before the mill
tary tribunals which have investigated
them. Those committed by the successful
party will never form the subject of official
inquiry, and since the solemn denial of
Congress that none were committed, it may
be disloyal to entertain them, but they will
yet find more substantial and permanent
abode than the indellible stamp they made
upon the hearts of their victims When
the passions and prejudices of the times
have passed away, and when success or
defeat warps not the Judgment Of the his
torian, their truthful recital may mantle
the cheek with shame and present record
of which future generation will have no
reason to be proud.
It is not our purpose or desire to refer
to subjects, however, which bring up I'M
pleasant "reminiscences and arouse unpleas-
ant feelings, and We have only introduced
them to spread before our readers Incl
dents and letters which tend to throw light
upon question by which the South has
been made to suffer in reputation.
The execution of Major WIRz for cruelty
to prisoners, was the extreme length to
which the Government could go to fasten
upon the Confederacy the charges for
which he was punished. Events are rapid
~ substantiating his innocence, which he
died protesting. In the attempt to clear
themselves of the failure to accept the offer
of the Confederate authorities for the ex-
change of prisoners, or the refusal for many
months to receive the Federal sick and
offered without exchange, because
the Confederate Government had neither
proper hospitals nor food for them, the
Federal officers may yet establish, for the
benefit of history, who was responsible for
the sufferings at AndersonvilIe and other
Southern prisons.
General GRANT, in accordance with the
strategy which he had adopt
I'd to g crush the rebellion, was opposed |
20 the exchange of prisoners, and gives his
reasons in the following letter addressed to |
General BUTLER, which the latter publish
es as q defense for his action:
Gerry POTNT AupuSt ~ 1894
" To GENERAL BUTLER am satisfied that the |
chief object OF your interview, besides having the
proper sanction, meets with my entire approval. |
have seen, from Southern papers, that a system |
Of retaliation is going in the South, which they
keep from us, and which we should stop in some |
way. On the subject of exchange, however, diff |
fer from General Hitchcock; it is hard on our i
men held in Southern prisons not to exchange |
them but it is humanity to those left in the ranks
to fight our battles. Every man released on pa |
role, or otherwise, becomes an active soldier |
against US at once, either directly indirectly
II we commence a system of exchange which |
hberates all prisoners taken, we will have to fight
on until the whole South is eXterminated If we |
hold those caught, they amount to more than |
dead men. At this particular time, to release all
rebel prisoners North would insure Sherman's |
defeat, and would compromise our safety here.
81. s. GRANT,
Lieutenant General"
In the SURRATT trial just ended, the |
treatment of Northern soldiers in Southern
prisons, in order doubtless to influence the |
minds of the jury, was forced by the prose
cution, most unnecessarily, into the case. |
The published speech of Mr.. MERR1cK
quotes the statement of Judge GUILD, the |
on the part of the Confede- |
rate States for the exchange of prisoners,
hat he had offered to deliver up without |
my exchange for them, from ten to twenty
thousand prisoners-United States soldiers
to the United States, but the officers in
charge of the exchange had refused to re-
,eiye them. Referring to which Mr. MER-
RICK uses the following language
There was at that time as you will recollect. a
sreat many Confederate prisoners in the North
md good many Federal prisoners in the South
and irhds passed into history that the North re-
used to make those exchanges which were de-
handed by the rules of war and the laws of hu-
nan1ty. II has passed into history thar the Con-
ederdte States, at that time, offered to surrender
Up to the North from ten to tlUenty thousand pris-
,ners, II the United States would send transporta-
ion to Savannah to take them
MIR. Bradey-And without any axchange
s. Mr.. Merrick-Yes, and without any exchange
They said: We are exhausted; our resources
Ire gone our food is gone; we starve your pris-
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