Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-04-22
/" FEDERAL Policy ana Northern Prisons"

h"
This is the title of an article In the
Southern Quarterly (for April. b. Asthe
horrors of AndersonvilIe " have been so
extensively ventilated at the national
expense, the least that the Southern press
can do is to assist in the circulation Of
well authenticated facts showing the other
picture. We accordingly give few ex-
tracts: 1875 ~ aega asla' o. fif4
Much as we have heard Of the horrors
of war, says the Reriev, we have as yet
formed no adequate conception OF the
yindictiye malgnity with which the
South was prosecuted, orof the inhnmsn'
tiles perpetrated by officers OF the Fede'
raj army, under countenancs and in-
struction from the Federal Government.
Ia every large prison at the North,
cruelty was systematically practiced for
the purpose Of forcing prisoners to take
the oath of allegiance to the Federal Gov.
ernmeut, or, in case of their refusal, OF
enfeebling their health to such an extent
as to render them unfit for military ser.
vice on their return to the South. The
treatment of some Of the prisoners was
SO severe that when they were taken from
the cells the blood gushed from their ears
Sometimes prisoners, thinly clad, were
removed long distances from one prison
70 another in the coolest weather. No
PROVISIONS we're taken, for them, and be-
neyolent people along the route were TOR
hidden to give them either food or cloth
ing. On such occasions large numbers
of the wretched sufferers died in the cars.
But they gained happy release. No one
can read the accounts of the treatment
of Southern prisoners in most OF the
large prisons at the North without feel
ing that those who died soonest were the
most favored
At Camp Douglas, on Lake Michigan,
during an intensely cold spell in the vim
ter of 1862, when icicles hung from the
Roof of the prison within two inches of
the stove pipe and the breath froze on
the boards Of the prisoners, SIX blankets
were issued to about l60 men-the only
blankets issued during the winter. Few
of those detailed to briRg in fuel returned
without being frost bitten; many we're
brought back insensible or in helpless
condition. Some had their arms frozen
stiff around the wood and could not open
them. The food was very scanty, and
rats and dogs were eaten whenever they
could be procured. " Men," says one
prisoner, talk Of the horrors of Ander-
sonville Ifthose who nov sleep on the
shores of Lake Michigan could tell the
story of their sutferings, Andersonvllle
would appear as a paradise in compari.
SON. efp'l aNiA@t
In one instance when a negro guard
had shot into a crowd of over two hum
bred Southern prisoners, at Point Look
out, without provocation, killing and
wounding five men, the officer OF the day,
in presence of the prisoners, told him
when bis ammunition gave out to let him
know, and he would furnish more. Men
were frozen to'death by being forced to
sleep on the ground with only one blank
ct aud no fire. The rations were just
enough to keep soul and body together.
1.-THE fendsh brutality practiced by the
Fifth Massachusetts, Cavalry on the de-
fenseless unfortunates at this post can
never be forgotten or forgiven" was
a prisoner for eight long months" says
one man, " and the sufferings i witnessed
during that time, I never before had any
conception Of. am told by those who
experienced the tortures Of Fort Della
ware, that they we're still worse"
Tying up by the thumbs was a punish
ment practiced daily at Fort Delaware,
for the slightest infraction of prison
rules. Men were frequently tied up in
this way for two and three hours at a
time. At eight o'clock every morning,
one small piece Of mixed corn and wheat
bread. and about an ounce Of salt, were
issued to each prisoner. The same
quantity was issued at two o'clock, with
the addition Of pint of filthy soup.
This was all they had. A poor boy from
charlottesville, Virginia, was shot dead
for throwing some water from a cup out
of a window Of the barracks. One stove
was all that was allowed about ten thou
sand men the coolest winter months. A
lieutenant, for very slight offense, was
ordered BY Gen. Scboepf to have his
hands manaclea behind his back, and to
be hung I'D BY his elbows. BE was kept
hanging until he tainted from excrucia.
ting agony. A surgeon was detailed to
watch the operation and to replace the
shoulders Of the unfortunate sufferer,
when they became dislocsted. This was
repeated several times, after which the
prisoner was placed in solitary coufine-
ment fOr ten days The corpses Of pris-
oners were sold and bodies taken from
the craves for the nse Of madinal COLLEGES