Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-03-02
ANDERsONVILLE.
me Plain unvarnishrd faie OF a former GraDt
County Boy who was There.

take tiom the Inter Ocean. 1t presents
facts V Oh Davis. Hill 4 Co., will
hardly care to reply to
Sioux Falls, D. T.. Feb 10, '76.
10 tie Editor Of he Inter, Ocean -
In his letter published in the Inter
OCEAN Of Feb Z, Jefferson DAVIS
says The prisoners at Anderson
vile, and the delegates permitted
| them To send TO President Lincoln to
plead for resumption ofthe exchange
OF prisoners, cannot fail to remember
| how willing / was to r, store them to
| their homes, anu to the eomfnrts Of
which they were in need, provided
the imprisoned soldiers of the Confed-
eracy should be in like manner releas-
| ed and returned 10 us. | was a
prisoner at Andersonvllle months
/ during the summrr OF 1861 and
though | know nothing Of Mr.. Davis
| Willingness to restore prisoners to
! their homes, etc, and am one OF those
who, as Mr.. Davis says, "wouId have
preferred to leave their sorrowtul
story untold if the object could have
been allowed to peacefully sink into
oblivion yet | feel il my duty to
| give Mr.. Davis the benefit Of one
| more OF those ''truthful statements in
regard to this little understood sub
ject," which lie so easily disposed OF
by calling them "bold allegations. ;"
was taken to AndersonviIe OH
the "a Of May, 1864, was IS years Of
age, III good health, and weighed 100
pounds. When | had been there
thirty four weeks was so reduced by
actual starvation not having been sick
an hour during that time, that could
with my cavalry jacket and shirt on,
make my thumb and finger meet
around the largest part Of my arm,
and my gums were swoolen and my
feet pGtfed out as though the skin
were blown tight with air. was
then in the first stage Of the fatal
disease that caused so many deaths
at AnderSonville to-wit aUenkneSS
brought on BY iack Of food and er .
posur3 to schorching sun by dag and
q chilly ajr 6g night. In the second
stage of that fatal disease my knees
would have SWOLLEN and turned
black, and then my elbows and hands,
and then my teeth whuld have loosen
ed, and then a diarrhea set in, and
my stomach refuse the coarse bread
OF unstied meal and the spoiled ba
con, and then too weak To walk to
the branch to wash or 90 through my
daily picking off Of lice, | would have
lam for IA few days PROSTATE on the
ground, blistering sun all day,
chilly, damp air at night, and the
flies would have blown me, first be-
tween the toes, then in the ears, and
nose, and ali exposed parts, and with
thousands Of lice crawling over me
and thousands Of maggot> working in
my flesh, alternately screaming pray
ers aud curses, would have gone TO
that home to which have always be-
lleved Mr. Davis was most wiling to
have Union prisoner 20. | have
drawn no fancltul sketch | saw
thousands Of men 60 through the
several stages Of that fatal disease,
and though Mr.. Davis may call this
bdld all9gatl0n, twenty thousand aili
darits can, if need be, be produced to
suh~tantIaie it.
only experienced, however, the
first stage If that fatal disease. In
my case most wonderful most
mi acnlouS cure was performed. AT.
ter | had been there six weeks it was
my good fortune to get little money,
and without consulting physian |
purchased medicine, purchased some
roots Of rare medicinal properties,
vulgarIy called potatoes and onions,
and most wonderful to tell within
three weeks after | began To eat an
| onion or a potato every day, and to
eat about three times as much of
other food as the c0nfederates fur
nished me, my feet had returned to
their natural size, the swelling Of my
gums had gone down, and every
symptom Of tat fatal disease had de
parted from me. Had Mr.. Davis and
his contederates only known Of the
wonderful properties Of potatoes and
onions, corn meal in liberal quantities
and fresh meat--articles that were
plentiful IN the south, and cheap
the fatal disease at AnderSonviIle
would have been cured, and there
would have been no call for those
papers preserved by DR. Stevenson,
which Mr. Davis says "happiy fur
uiolr full proof Of che oauoo Of disease
and death at Andersonville !" for
surely no one can suspect that men
would boast OF their chivalry and
their hospitality, men like Mr.. Davis
and Mr.. Hill, would have knowingly
| denied to prisoners Of war, when at
i tackled by fatal disease, such sim
| PIE medicines az onions, potatoes,
corn meal, and fresh meat.
The limits Of a letter will not suf.
fee for full description Of Anderson
vii e and its horrors The story has
1 been often and truthfully told, and
nerer exaggerated 1t could not be ex-
aggerated There were when went
there 10000 men confined on twelve
acres Of ground, and two or three Of
that, originally kind Of swamp, was
covered with human exesement. No
shelter Of any kind was provided no
blankets or other clothing. The pris-
on was afterward enlarged to cigh.
teen acres, and the number Of PRISON.
ers increased to nearly 10000 The
ration that they pretended 70 gire rs
was, when raw, pint Of meal and a
quarter Of a pound Of meat per day,
or in lien OF the meat either beans.
rice, or molsssos We often had
nothing but the meal, and sometimes
not that Pie water, had it not been
polluted by the camp above the
prison, and the cook house after that
was built, was good, but it was pol
luted The locality Is not naturally
sickly ; it is rolling land, sandy soil,
pine timber and good water not
likely to be an unhealthful locality.
There was no excuse for the entire
lack OF shelter. and almost entire lack