The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-08-04
80. Fob, ,s,.ene,'s "Jaia Journal"
RICHMOND, February, lSo;

r~ov,, roYar, Mttcncl'a "S'h "SssEss$aA'
RICHMOND, February, 1866.
p~,,,roes Of prisoners are now partially
,sncfed' after great deal OF hiSgilnS cor.
rcspondence, and it is part OF inc aut! o.
~. Abundance Committee to send n &C.
. .nJ of It's members down the James
r r;r from time TO time in steamboat which
n,cvs Federal prisoners ~ far ~ Narl'';i
I,lnse to Buffers Dutch-Gap canaD ana
th,rc 10 take on board an equal number OF
rnturning Contcderates. The men are unaer
,h,reoe Of Mr. Commissioner ouid or ms
deputy, and the task OF our commlttee Is
'n},. ~ attend the sick men, both Fedeiais
amJ Confcdcratcs, and supply them with
""w rcfrcshmcnt on their way. The Yam
w. MON are not much in need OF anything,
,,n, are. on the whole, not only well
",,,,n,jcd with rations on scale equal 10
r,,,r troops. but also receive large quantities
NJ Good things from their friends ut home;
We pass under the armed blum, which we cA,
Dreyry's and the enemy calls OFT Darins
then mile or two lower down Ile .'",tGla cs
~ o,' Than;n's bluff, and at last stop at wharf
" ,,iant To which road leads down the
ha,r Very soon appear two or three Fcde-
,..I nA,cers' with guard OF their blues, ana
BON column Of our dilapidatcd warriors,
innt;mg worn and tired, and arraycd in all
;r,a,,;nable sorts of old uniforms, but bear
inc Themselves rs proudly as they can while
undcr the cnemy'Seye. once on boaro, thc
poor fellows generally sink exhausted. They
always reach us savagely hungry, anu very
many sick, after the hardShips and horrors
Of northern prison-pcns. They give
lis dreadful narratives OF the barbari-
ties, expressions, privations, indlS-
mites. which they endured at such places rs
Camp Chase. Point Lookout, and Fort
Delaware. Into the question oil the COM
parative hardShipS of prisoners OF war III
northern and southern dcpotS ito not en-
ter. No doubt the unfortunate men III
either side suffered cruelty ana had adrearS
time. However, ii is pleasant TO sec now
our poor fellows are revived by hhdlllS
themselves once more among irlcnds ana
under their own flag. If we arrive at liic
may of Richmond early in the evening
they form and march through the town 10
C,nitol SQUARE, where MIR. DAVIS or thc
secretary of War reviews and welcomes
thcm: and then the good Richmond ladies
send them baskets with bread and cold
meat, while band plays Urtc. :,
On one Of these occasions l recognized
amongst the forlorn troop Who came on
hoard 10 us mt Earina, 4 slender young
man in nm officers faded uniform, and II face
sadly worn bv suffering. young John Doc
lev. q son of our friend the Major. He is
lieutenant in the First Virginia regiment,
and has passed most of his captivity ut Fort
Johnson, upon an island i'll Lake Erie. Ills
arrival that evening made one house IN
Richmond joyful one. They Ill with one
accord expressed the bittcrest ana most
yindictiye sense of the inhuman usage they
had cpdured-no matter in which OF the
various pens but on the other hand. gene
rally bore testimony to the humanity and
rcntlencss shown them by Major milford,
the officer who brought them on to uS.
From the moment they fell into his hands
they had been treated with consideration.
The gentleman is entitled to this acknoW-
ledgment, if will do him any good.
Received from Charleston. by the cour-
tesy of officers Mt Fort Sumter, Il trunk con-
tanning everything that had belonged to my
son some clothing, his sword and pistol.
and several photographs of the officers OF
his regiment, and also one relic-the latter
ed fragment of the first Confederate flag
which had tloatcd over the fort, rent and
riycn by the fire of the Yankee fleet at the
grand bombardmcnt. In this trunk. too,
was a private memorandum book with al
entry of everything which had taken place
i'm Fort Sumter since the day when he was
placed in command, especially the number
of shot and shell fired 1T the fort, land the
progress made by the engineers and work.
ing parties in opening bomh-proof passages
through the mass of ruins which The place
had become.
February and March pass slowly away
the skirmishng still continuing actively
around Petersburg. where General Grant
is very much ut his ease, with his base Of
eXhallstless supplies and reiniorccmentS at
City Point, while General Lees force is
sadly dwindling. At last-a bad sign
General Lee, about the middle OF February,
on taking general command OF the Confed-
crate armies, demanded that the slaves
uh,,,lJ ha aDliSta1 and armed Inc SpIll
make soldiers Of them, he said, and could
no longer do without them. The General
further urged that the Government should
hold out emancipation ;lS 4 reward. Now,
if freedom be q REGARD for ncgrocs-tlat Is,
if freedom be good thing for negroes
why then it is and always was 9rlcvous
wrong and crime TO hold them in slavery
at all. If It is true that the state of
slavery keeps these people depressed
below the condition to which they
could develop their nature, their intel
lgcnce and their capacity for enjoyment,
and what we call "progrcSS," then every
hour of their bondage for generations is Il
black stain upon the white race. But &C.
neral Lee, in fact, is understood to have
been always All aboltionist that is, one Of
the Virginia school of gradual emancipa-
ton under State laws, school which WAS
strong fifty years ago, and included many
of the best and perhaps wi>c>t men of the
State but their influence had gradually di-
minshcd, and their theories had been ST.
fenced under the pressure of New England
aggressive philanthropy. OF course, thou
sands of NlrglnianS remained emnriDa-
,lonStS in principle. l know not if there
are many men ut the North who are aware
that General Lee is Il better and more con-
Scientious abolitionist than Abraham Lin
coin.
John Daniel could not endure this out
break of aboiitionism ut such a moment.
and indeed predicted that no slaves would
volunteer into the army for any such in
ducement. He was perfectly right on this
point. The act of the Comic dcratc Congress
for the armng of slaves, while ii weakened
the moral position of the Confederate cause,
never brought us any soldiers.
In the mean time the Confederacy Is hard
pressed both North and South. Sheridan,
with strong force, especially in cavalry,
has ut last utterly destroyed the valley OF
The Shenandoah. Raids are made upon the
plantations of James river twenty miles
above Richmond, while Sherman in Geor-
Gia has made his famous march from the
mountains to the sea-" This is an express
sion which, to Yankee ears, sounds pocti-
cal, like Hooker's "battle above the
clouds; for it is most artistic people,
and loves what it calls poetical Justice
much better than the prosaic article, l
think. The finest poetic justice OF which
it has yet had any conception is southern
lady, after her house had been plundercd
by Federal troops, begging some of her
own bread Mt headquarters for her chill
drcn's supper. Such thing, it is true,
may seem hard but look ut the poetry of
1t Charleston has fallen at last. Fort