Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-07-19
THE MEMPHIS APPEAL
MEMPHIS:
rnr ANprrsoNvILLE LnaauE.

M q M PHI i s.:
FRIDAY; July 70, 1856
THE ANDERsONVILLE LEAGUE.
We see it circnmstantially stated iD a
Northern journal that a secret associa-
ton styled the AndersonViIle League,
exists in the Northern States, composed
of men who were prisoners of war to the
Confederate States, the membersof which
are sworn to assassinate President DAVIS,
wherever he may be found on American
soil, in revenge for the sufferings of Fed
eral prisoners at Andersonville.
And yet the New York Times speaks
of the administration Of Mr.. Monroe as
"the era of good feeling" and gravely
submits that the present is a filling time
for reviving that era, and forgetting and
burying out of sight all of the bitterness
caused by the war.
It would be Uery creditable to the
Northern States for President DAVIS TO
be assassinated within their limits,-al-
most as creditable as the murder of MAX
IIIIIAN by the half f-breed Indians called
Mexicans.
As to the sufferings of the prisoners at
Andersonville, all the malice, ingenuity
and industry of Minister Of Injustice
HOLT, aided by CONOvER, and the attempt
to bribe WIRz, have signslly failed to
produce the least testimony to show that
President DAVIS was cognizant Of any
inhumanities practised there. II MIR.
DAVIS should be essassinated by the An
dersonville League, there will probably
be a more searching investigation than
has yet been entered on, Of the whole
matter Of the treatment of prisoners,
North and South, and as to the parties
who are really responsible for the suffer-
ings Of Union prisoners whom the Con-
| federate Government offered to that at
Washington, without exchange or equiv
alent.
/ On this subject We take the following
article from late number of the st.
Louis Republican. When the New
York Times stated, on the 3lst of May
last, that "nObody on either side ever
pretended for a moment" that COnfede-
rate prisoners ever died or suffered in
Northern prisons, it stated what it GER
tainly knew to be false, since such
charges were made, during the war, in the
New York papers, as to the treatment Of
prisoners at Elmira, and over and over
again, in 1865, in the New York A'elgS,
as to cruelties practiced at other prisons.
If we are not greatly mistaken, some
statements of that sort, made by Eng
lishmen, were published in the Times
itself. We know there were such charges /
noticed by the Tribune.
THE TREATMENT OF REBEL PRISONERS
BY TIE UNION AUTHORITIES.
Much has been said concerning the !
brutal and cruel treatment experienced I
by federal prisoners in Confederate pris- |
ons. That there was suffering, starya- |
ton and death, there is no doubt, and |
Secretary Stanton is responsible for the 4
death Of nany a husband, father, son 1
and brother, because, with policy truly |
diabOlic, he refused TO exchange the /
prisoners in his hands for those held in /
the south, though often implore - do 4
il. He preferred to let northern Izens /
pine away and rot and die, F4tLa tlan /
furnish q few thousand rebel prisoners to I
fill up southern armies. The p<iuted Of
fetal reports from our own war depart
ment show that an immense number Of
rebel prisoners died in northern prisons.
The number exceeds that Of federal pris-
ouers dying in southern prisons. Radi-
cal journals, when the report was pub
lished, passed it by without a COM
meut. Northern journals have bOasted
of the humane treatment en-
joyed by rebel prisoners, and heve
denied that there was either neg
lect. brutality or cruelty in the con-
duct Of those charged with the custody
OF the rebels. Keenly alive TO the Grim
inality OF rebel officers in charge Of An
dersonville and other southern prisons,
they have demanded their trial and exc /
cutiou, and Wirz was tried and hung.
But have they ever called for the trial
and execution OF such men as are de-
scribed in the letter which we print be-
low, which we take from the radical
paper, the New York Times, of the 2Sth
of June? Il appears, from that letter,
written by one whose responsibility and
the Times vouches for, that
deaths by freezing, by starvation and
neglect were common in northern pris-
Ons. Gaunt skeletons, walking about
like ghosts, were not seen in Anderson
vile alone. 1t was not there only that
they rotted away in disease. It was not
rebel officers only who beat and manned
and killed prisoners with clubs, andsabres,
and muskets. Union officers did the
same. No tale Of AndersOnyille is more
horrible than this told by one who was
an eve witness of the ghastiy scenes in
northern prisons. The north has had
the advantage of the south in parading
facts calculated to inspire hatred Of the
south, while cOncealing equally disgrace
ful facts concerning the north. They
had the newspapers and the pictOrisls,
and with these they exaggerated the ;
tales OF rebel cruelty and blackeued
southern character. We are sorry to
admit that there was foundation for il
all for it is degrading to the American ! ,,
name. But il is not more so than the in
10 helpless and defenseless
prisoners practiced by northern jailors, !
whose crimes merit punishment not less
han those charged upon Wirz. I,
Here is the letter from the Times
FEMALE COLLEGE, ,
HUNrsyiLLE, Ala Tues1ay, June Is, lo5s. {
70 the Editor OF the New Aork Times: !
NV attention has been called to an ar
icle in your paper OF 2lst ult., in which,
eplying to some remarks Of the Rich 7
nond Enquirer in regard to the treat !
nent OF prisoners, it is said:
"NobOdy oR either side ever pretended I
or a moment that the rebel prisoners
ver died in our hands or even seriously !
Uttered for lack of food or clething or :
halter No stIpb charge has ever bppn =