The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1867-05-08

ofSaxony. They went to Secretary Har.
Ian, and be dismissed the imposter and
important Witness in the Wirz trial on
the 2la November. eleven days after the
execution. No one who is acquainted
with the Conover testimony, in conse,
quence Of which, the President Of the
United States was falsely induced to place
a reward Of 100000 up6n the head Of
an innocent man. will be as,onisbed at
the above disclosures OF the character Of
testimony before Military Commissions
So much for charge No 2.
II from twelve to ffteer 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
offences. Such was the unnatural state
Of the pubic mind against the prisoner at
that time, that such men regarded them
selves. and were regarded, as heroes, after
having testified in the manner above de
scrihed; whilst on the other hand, the
witnesses for the defence were intimdaled 4,
particularly after one Of them had been
arrested.
But who is responsible for the many
lives that were lost a, Andersonville, and
in the Southern prisonsi That question
has not been fully settled, but history will
tell on whose heads the guilt for those
sacrificed hecatombs Of human beings is
to be placed. Ii was cer,ainIy no. the
faul, Of poor Captain Wirz, when, in con-
sequence Of medicines having been de
clsrsd contrsbau1 Of war by the North,
ihe Union prisoners died for the want Of
the same. How often have we read du.
ring the war that ladies going South,
were arrested aud placed in the Old Cap.
ital prison by the'U MON authorities, be.
cause some quiniae or other medicipes
had been found concealed in their petit
coats. Our navy prevented the ingress
OF medical stores from Tho seaside, and
onr' troops repeatedly destroyed drug
stores, AID even the supplies Of private
physicians. in the South. Thus, tue
scarcity Of medicine became general al
over the South. Surgeon J. G. Pilot
writes, September 6, 1864. from Ander'
sonville, Chis letter was produced by the
Judge Advocate In The Wmz trial A.
ave have but little more than the in.
digenous 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 gangrene,
and We are compelled to fold our arms
and look quietly upon its rsvsges, no,
even having s,imulan,s to support the
system under its depressing jnhueu ce 3;
the articles being SO limited in supply
that it can only be psed for cases under
the knife"
That provisions in the South were scarce
will astonish nobody, when II Is remem.
bered how the war was carried on. Gen.
Sheridan boasted in bis official report,
that, in the Shenandoah Valley alone, he
burned two thousand barns filed with
corn and whes,, and al ,be mills 10 the
whole tract OF country that he destrosed
all factories OF cloth, aud killed or drove
of every animal, even to the poultry, that
could contribute to human sustenancs.-
And those desolstions were repeated in
different parts Of the South, and that 90
thoroughly that last month, two years
after the end OF the war. Congress had to
appropriate a million Of dol lars TO save
the people OF those regions from actual
starvation. The destruction Of railroads
and other means OF transportation, by
which food could be supplied by sbupdan,
districts 10 those without it, increased the
difficulties in giving sutficien, food to our
prisoners
The Confederate authorities, aware ol
their inability to sustain their prisoners
informed the Norlhero agents oflhs great
mortality, n4 urgently requested tha,
the prisoners should be exch snged even
without regard to the surplus which the
Confederstes had on the exchange rolis