Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-08-23

further propose that the surgeons be Sc
Iected by their own governments, and that
they shall have full liberty at any and all |
times, through the Agents Of Exchange, to
make reports not only of their own acts, |
but of any matters relating 10 the welfare /
of prisoner. Respectfully your obedient !
servant no. GUILD,
Agent Of Exchange. /
To this communication, no reply of any |
kind was ever made. / need not state how |
much suffering would have been prevented |
If this offer had been met in the spirit in
which il was dictated 10 addition, the
world have had truthful accounts of the
treatment Of prisoners on both sides by
officers of character, and thus much OF
that Misrepresentation which has flooded
the country would never have been poured
forth. The jury box in the case of Wirz
would have had different Witnesses, with q
different story. 1t will be borne in mind
that nearly all Of the suffering endured by
Federal prisoners happened after January,
| 1864. The acceptance of the proposition
| made by me, on behalf of the Confederate
| Government, would not only have furnished
| tn the sick medicines and physicians, but
| TO the we'll an abundance of food and cloth
ing from the ample stores of the United
| States.
The good faith of the Confederate gov
eminent in making this offer cannot be
successfully questioned, for food and cloth
| ing without the surgeons) we're sent in
| 1865, and were allowed to be distributed
| by Federal officers to Federal prisoners.
Why could not the more humane pro-
posalof January, 1864, have been adopted
Il
When it was ascertained that exchanges
could not be made either on the basis of the
cartel, or officer for officer, and man for
man, | was instructed by the Confederate
| authorities to offer to the United States
government their sick and wounded, Nth:
out requiring any equivalent. Accordingly,
| in the summer of 1864, / did offer to deliver
| from ten to fifteen thousand Of the sick and
wounded at the mouth of the Savannah
river, without requiring any equivalents,
assuring at the same time the agent of the
United States, Gen. milford, that if the
number for which he might send transpor.
tation could not readily be made up from
sick and wounded, would supply the diff |
ference with we'll men. Although this offer |
was made in the summer of 1864, transport |
tation was not sent 10 the Savannah river |
until about the middle or last of November, |
and then | delivered as many prisoners as |
could be nsported-some thirteen thou |
saad in number amongst whom were more !
than five thousand well men.
More than once | urged the mortality at |
Andersonville as a reason for haste on the |
part of the United States authorities. | /
know, personally, that it was tie purpose |
of the Confederate government to send off /
al al Al IL 4
ed, and to continue to do the same, from
time to time, without requiring any equiva-
Tents for them, 1t was because the sick and
wounded, at points distant from Georgia.
could not be brought to Savannah within
reasonable time that the five thousand we'll
men were substituted
Although the terms of my offer did not
require the Federal authorities to deliver
any for the ten or fifteen thousand which |
promised, yet some three thousand sick
and wounded were delivered by them at
the mouth of the Savannah river. ! call
upon every Federal and Confederate Of
ticer and man who saw the cargo of living
death, and who is familiar with the charac-
Ter of the deliveries made by the Confed-
crate authorities, to bear witness that none
such was ever made by the latter, even
when the very sick and desperately
wounded were alone requested. For, on
two occasions at least, such were specially |
asked for, and particular request was made
for those who were so desperately sick that
il would be doubtful whether they would
survive removal n few miles down james
river. Accordingly, the hospitals were
searched for the worst cases, and after they
were delivered they were taken to Annap-
oils, ana there photographed as specimen
prisoners The photographs at Annapolis
were terrible, indeed but the misery they
portrayed was surpassed at Savannah.
The original rolls showed that some
thrty-Gve hundred had started from
Northern prisons, and that death had re-
duCed the number during the transit to |
about three thousand. The mortality
amongst those who were delivered alive |
during the following three months was
equally frightful.
But why was there this delay between
the summer and November in sending
transportation for sick and wounded, for
whom no equivalents were asked2 Were |
Union prisoners made to suffer in order to |
aid the photographs ain firing the popular
heart Of the Norsh?
".
In the summer of 1864, in consequence
of certain information communicated to me |
by the Surgeon General of the Confederate
States as to the deficiency of medicines, | |
offered to make purchases of medicines
from the United States authorities, to be
used exclusively for the relief Of Federal
prisoners. offered to pay gold, cotton or
tobacco, and even two or three prices, if |
required, At the same time | gave as
surances that the medicines would be used |
exclusively in the treatment of Federal
prisoners; and moreover agreed, on behalf
of the Confederate States, If it was insisted
on, that such medicines might be brought