The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1876-04-06
The Confederate Prison Pen.
Ex-senator BrownIow's Statement.

ted for its murderous malaria, and
Winder and Writ were expressly
put in charge of the prison pen
there TO aid in the fiendish work OF
exterminating the Yankee army.
With all the south to choose from
salubrious mountains, secluded val-
leys, healthy plataus and sheltering
forests, this red clay hillsides, sixty
miles south of Macon, Ga, was se-
lected. IL comprises twenty-seven
acres OF land, with q fever aud mus
quito breeding swamp in its centre.
A choked and sluggish stream flow.
ing out of another swamp crept
through it, while within rifle shot
distance from IL flowed q large brook
Of pure water, which, had it been in
closed in the prison pen would have
saved the lives of many Of the pri-
soners. But that would have
thwarted the murderous scheme OF
the conspirators. There were some
pine trees in the pen which might
have sheltered some Of the poor pri-
soners, but Winder ordered them to
be cut down When told that their
shade would alleviate the sufferings
Of the captives he replied : THAT is
just what 1 am not going to do l
will make pen here for the -
Yankees, where they will rot faster
than they are sent.
The pen was quadrangle with
two rows OF stockades from twelve
to eighteen feet in length, and sew
enteen feet from the inner stockade
was the dead line" over which no
man could pass alive. Within this
place there were mt one time moro
than thirty thousand human beings
confined, without shelter, parched
with the burning sun, flooded with
rain, without pure water to drink,
exposed to frost and heat to the
bullets of brutal guards, used in
wanton sport, beaten, bruised, ours.
ed, driven to madness, and idiocy,
starved into skeletons, presenting
the most Lorrid and ghastly objects
ever seen out of the torture cham
bers of the Spanish inquisition.
Even a photograph of ono of these
wretched creatures is enough to day
to sickcn the sight and stir the heart
with thirst for vengeance. -Four.
teen thousand of these poor suffer.
ers found relief in death. There are
now there 1890 of the victims
graves to bear witness to this horrid
tale. And yet jeff Davis aud Ben
Hill attempt, to palliate these hellish
outrages, TO deny them in fact, and
to pretend that tho Union prisoners
were as we'll fed as the Confederate
soldiers, and as well treated as the
rebel prisoners Mt Camp Chase and
Elmira. AS to tho scarcity OF the
necessaries of life, it is enough to
say that Andersonville is q very
fruitful section Of country, and when
Gen. Sherman marched through
Georgia to the sea, he found provis-
ions in plenty. That the murderous
system was pursued deliberately
, there is ample evidence, and jeff
/, Davis not enly knew all about it, bu.
t was responsible for it. Robert Oull
. was jeff. Davis Chief Commissioners
for tho exchange Of prisolers. He
: wrote n letter from City pint to
!: Winder on the exchange Of prison.
ers, in which he tells how the sys.
: tenn worked "Ihe arrangenant
/. | have made, said he. works largiy
Il in our favor. We get rid of set 4
! miserable wretches, and receive SOM
y of the best material l ever saw
. As to jeff. Davis 'inexcusable pr
Is yations' after he was captured and Il
a Fortress Monroe, and the torturss
IS which he says 'Dr Craven has TO
I. family DESCRIBED, we can not refral
from quoting the following par
graph from H. G -Higginson's letts
to tile Philadelphia ledger, MI
Hig ginson was one of the Ahders91
viii o Prisoner Delegates to Mr.
N. ccin. Ho says: II
on on 81 was stationed at Fortress Mo-
ID roe during most Of Mr.. Davis col
~ Ifinement there, and hardly d'
passed that | did not make compal
l. son between his condition-nice
auartered in q easement with
wife, family and friends, plenty to I
! Of and drink, DR.. Craven, attendi
roe. S physician, strolling at will srou
ties ties the ramparts, and the recipient
ing fruits and flowers from outs1
ao. friends-to the miserable spot whit
ken l lay in Andersonville, Georgia,
sheltered from wind and storm,
a. hunger, filth, nakedness, squalor Q
disease, and refused even the box
clothing and food sent to me by
friends North, which saw with
name aud address on, and knew Y
Pa they, (he rebel officers and men
- Andersonville) used them themse9
If, before this Congress met
December, there was the ghost
tor. chance for the democracy to Ss
the next Presidential election,
nod chance was removed when the
ROY, ers of the Southern democracy
\ " in their places in Congress ano
Tended or palliated the horro!
- Andersonville and eulogized [
Davis. Those whom the Gods
to destroy they first make mad.
w, G. Brownie