Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-02-03
The Responsibility of ] Jefferson Davis.

In estimating the responsibility of
Jefferson Davis for the inhuman cruel
ties practiced upon Northern prison
ers during the War Of the Slavehold
ers' Rebellion, it is due to the late
President of the Southern Confed-
eracy, whose friends are now trying
to replace him in the United States
Senate, that every measure of evil
dence should be exhausted. The fact
of those inhuman barbarties has been
established beyond cavil. 1t has fur
thermore been satisfactorily establish
ed that such atrocities have not been
known in the history Of any civilized
people since the days of Nero, Rome's
bloody butcher In recent article
we brought forward irrefutable proofs
that Jefferson Davis was personally
responsible for this inhumanity, and
that it was part of thoroughly.or Or
ganized plan to starve, MAIN and re-
duce the Northern prisoners so as to
incapacitate them from active service
in the field, as we'll as to kill them
outright To confirm and strengthen
this testimony we once more turn to
official history and complete the chain
of proof
The notorious Confederate brute,
Gen. Winder, was appointed the
keeper of the Libby prison in Rich.
mond by Jefferson Davis himself. In
those tobacco warehouses, the same
class of horrors existed as at Ander-
sonville, the only difference being that
in the one case the prisoners were
sufocated under roof and in the other
that they starved, scorched, or froze,
and died in the open air. In these
warehouses, thousands of prisoners
were huddled together like hogs in a
freight car While one portion of
them slept on the bare floor, the rest
stood over and almost on them. The
food and water were shockingly bad
and insufficient The atmosphere was
fetid, loathsome, and poisonous In
these warehouses thousands of pris-
oners died, and every day their bod
les were taken out, like dead animals
from a cattle-car, and carted off to be
buried. These horrors were known
to Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet
The rooms occupied by them over
looked the Libby prison, and they
could look directly in the windows of
the warehouse, AMI were thus per
sonal witnesses Of the CHASTITY process.
sions that issued from their doors.
But Davis never objected to the muir
derous barbarity. When this work
of decimating Northern prisoners was
fairly in operation, Jefferson Davis,
with the full knowledge of Winder's
lnhuman cruelty, detailed him to 90
to Georgia and select ground for
new prison-pen remote from any
possible interference of Federal cav
airy How well he did his work has
already been shown. He selected the
spot called Andersonville. He found
piece of flat, wet ground Of about 25
acres, from which he removed every
tree and shrub. The trees which were
feled were used for building stock
ade. Through these grounds ran a
sluggish stream, discharging itself in
to \ swamp, which occupied about
three acres OF the ground. There
was not a building or shed Of any de-
scription in the Enclosure, so that the
prisoners were exposed to the broiling
sun and to all the inclemencies OF
weather without covering. The rebe
troops were quartered comfortably
above the prison-pen in the pine
woods. The Union prisoners begged
the privilege every day of the disma
fifteen months they were in the And
ersonville pen to be permitted to &c
into the surrounding woods undeI
Confederate guard and cut timber t.
build huts and shelter. But their pc
tit.ons were always repealed by rude
and insulting refusal. The Confeder
ate soldiers guarding the prisoners
used and defled the water which
flowed through the pen and corrupt
ed it with the garbage and excremen
+ of the camp. 1t became utterly inf
for use, and then the poor prisoners
would go down to the swamp and dig
for water as well as for roots OF tht
stumps to cook the spoiled mule.fesi
. upon which they were fed. Wher
this was discovered, the dead line wa
moved so as to cut off access TO th'
r swamp, Notwithstanding which man.
of the prisoners il their frenzy ant
desperation would cross it, paying th'
penalty of death. We need not re
count the indescribable horrors o
, this awful pen. They had alread.
been made familiar to the American
people in the recent debate.) But a
last they became SO uncomfortable tina
, an cutlery ofprotest arose even among
: the Southern Rebels. bitterly as the,
hated the Northern people. Their
protest reached the ears of Jefferson