New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-06-11

pint OF Indian meal, partly OF cob groun
= with meal, which was made into musb, an
= which was called by the appropriate nam
I of chicken feed. Once in two days we &C
about a teaspoonful of salt. At first baco
was issued in small quantities of fifteen I
twenty pounds to ninety men, but after til
: first of July this was dropped almost Ell
!, | tirely from prison ratiOns. Sometimes, il
stead of Indian meal, we got rice or beam
but each bean had an occupant In the shap
of grub or worm. Our modes of cOOkin
, were entirely primitive. The meal. wa
stirred into wafer, making thick dough
then little meal was sprinkled on the bO
tom of plate or half of canteen, to kee
the dough from sticking. The dough wa
then placed in a plate or canteen, whicl
was set up at an angle of forty-five degrees
to be cooked before fire. When the from
of the cake was done brown the plate wa
fixed upon a split stick, and held over tn
Goals until it was baked or burned upon tn
bottom. Our meal was sometimes slftet
through a split half of canteen, in whicl
holes had been punched with a siXpenn'
nail. But even this coarse sieve left us 81
little meal for food, it was gradually aban
dsned as impracticable. In sheer necessit,
of hunger we sacrificed quality to quantity
Was there any pretense of need that tn,
prisoners should not have fire for warmth
as well as for cooking purposes By nj
means.
/ The country around the Andersonvillt
prison was thickly studded forest OF tow
ering pines, the space occupied by the camp
having been cleared for the purpose of its
location. In the midst of this abundance
and with the tall knowledge of the highest
officers of the Confederacy, Union prisoners
of war were compelled to eat raw food, and
! perish for want of fire and shelter srI
Let us see how these ratOns, so insufficient
i'll themselves, without utensils or wood for
| cooking, were brought to camp for we'll
men, and to the hospital for the use of the
sick. | give the testimony of hospital
steward, which, in its horrible, sickening
and disgusting details, is confirmed by the
| evidence of hundreds of living witnesses,
many of whom were sworn before the con-
! gressional committee: 4 e irHH4f EE
| The greatest deficiencies existed in every
| department of the prison. For instance
there were only twenty wagons, with two
mules to each, provided for hauling the
food and any articles necessary to be trans
ported for the use of the stockade and hos
pital, and the removal of the dead for
burial, and everything else necessary to be
taken away--twenty wagons and forty
mules for the use of thirtyrthree Thousand
men-a little less than one wagon and two
mules to sixteen hundred men. And here
presents most horrible and sickening fact,
so revolving in its character that would
not mention it only for its having been a
reality which helpless men were compelled
to endure, and must bear in their memories
to the end of their lives. have said that
the same wagon which brought the food
took away the dead. A number of wagons
would be taken around to the dead
house and loaded to their utmost
capacity with putrid, purging corpses
OF men who had rOtted alive from sores
wounds, erysipelas, and every disease
that flesh is heir to, and driven
to the cemetery, distance of q mile, un-
loaded, and without the least provision for
cleansing-a drop of water, broom, a wisp
OF straw-but often dripping with corrup-
ton and swarming with tiies were ordered
and driven directly around to the slaughter
house and reloaded with fresh beef for the
prisoners, and driven back to the stOckade
and hospital. There was no earthly pro-
lection interposed between this poison
mass-which in many instances would have
been deadly incubation to any man whose
raw flesh might come in contact with it
and the meat given our poor wretched men
to eat, under preteXt of sustaining life. l.
it any longer wonder that prisoners rotted
alive! In view of the excessive mortality,
the question has often been raised if our
men were not drugged and purposelv
poisoned. There was no need of this.
Heaven knows the filthy conditions of their
captors were sufficient in themselves to
poison and destroy any camp of decent men.
RESULTS OF THIS TREATMENT.
| give now the sworn testimony of another |
witness of the results of such confinement. |
such treatment such food thus procured |
and prepared; and if the whole of it shocks |
and disturbs us, what must have been the |
OF our comrades who saw and felt |
it day by day!
There being no sanitary regulations in |
camp, and no proper medical provisions, |
sickness and death were inevitable accom-
DanIments OF our imprisonment. Thousands |
If prisoners were so affected with scurvy,
caused by want of vegetables or of nutrri-
ious food, that their limbs were ready to
lrop. from their bodies. / have often seen
naggots scooped out by the handful from
he sores OF those thus afflicted. Upon the
lrst attack OF scurvy, an enervating weak
less creeps over the body which is fol-
owed by dissemination to exercise; the
egs become swollen and weak and often
he cords contract, drawing the leg out of
hape; the color of the skin becomes black
nd blue. and retains pressure from the fin
ers as putty will. This is frequently fol-
owed bysdropsical symptoms, swelling of
he feet and legs. If the patient was sub
ect to trouble with the throat. the scurvy
'ouIu tHdt PAL dHlIcLeu WlIU or |
isposed TO any disease, there it would
size and develop, or aggravate it into the
ystem.
I'm cases of this character, persons ignor-
ut of their condition would often be trying
, do something for disease which in reality
lould have been treated as scurvy, and |
,uld have been prevented or cured by pro-
er food. A common form of scurvy was in
he mouth; this was the most horrible in it's
nal results of any that afflicted the prison
IS The teeth would become lOosened, the
lms rot away, and swallowing the saliva !
lus tainted with the poison of scuryy would
reduce scurvy in the bowels, which often {
ok the form of diarrhea. Sometimes :
eating of the bowels would take place.
flowed by terrible suffering and death.
ften scurvy sores would gangrene, and
aggOts would crawl from the flesh and /. .
lss from the bowels, and. under the tor
res of slow death, the body would be-
me, in part, putrid before death. In this :
amer died Corporal Gibson, an old, J
teemed and piOus man of my company Z
70 or three others also died in much the !
me manner. Corporal Gibson especially
d his reason and senses clear, after most 9
his body was in putrid condition. In !;
her cases, persons wasted to mere skele- y
rs by starvation and disease, unable to 9
Up themselves, died by inches the most :
'rible of deaths, with not particle of -
.dicine or a hand lifted by those in charge .
the prison for their relief" =
NO NECESSITY FOR THIS TREATMENT. n
Vas there any occasion for this state of p
ngs! Was there any occasion for this 81
mt of the ordinary and common decen- Il
S of life! Let the hospital steward, now a
us in foreign country, who e
,aks under oath and of his own knowl- O.
ge, again declare: n
There was no excuse for not furnishing