Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-01-21

:
to 1929. But this Maior-Genera
Winder, within his horrible arena ot
death, from April 1864 to Apri
1865, tumbled into the trenches al
! AndersonvilIe the dead bodies oi
u, GA prisoners, only 2S4 less thar
all the Englisnmen who fell in ol
died OF wounds received in the ter
great battles l have named.
Now, Mr.. Speaker, have simply
given these results. Percentage:
pale and fade away in the presence
of such horrible facts.
And the gentleman from Georgia
denies the charge of atrocities al
Andersonville, and charges US Witl
greater ones. | viii give his word:
as they were quoted in the morning
papers:
When the SentIeman from Maine
sneaks again lei him add that the air CT
ties of d,rsonyille do not begin ID
compare with the afr rlciiies of Elmira
OF Fort Duuslis, Of Fort Delaware, and
of all the atrocities, both at Andersen
/ willie and Eimira. The confederate govern
meni stands acquitted from MI resp0nsi-
bIlity and blame.
stand in the presence Of that
statement with an amazement that
am utterly incapable of expressing.
| look upon the serene and manly
face of the gentleman who uttered
it and | wonder what influence of
the supernal or neither gods could
have touched him with madness for
the moment and led him to make
that dreadful statement. | pause,
and ask the three democrats on
this floor who happen to represent
the districts where are located the
three places named if there be one
of them who does not know this
charge is fearfully and awfully
untrue. A pause. Their silence
answers me. They are strangers to
me, but l know they will repel the
charge with all the energy of their
manhood.
MIR. PLATT. | hold in my hand a
telegraphic communication from Gen
eral B. F. Tracy, late commandant
of the military post of Elmira, and
beg permission to read. that COM
munication.
Mr.. GARFIELD. I will yield for
that purpose.
Mr.. PLATr. The communication
is as follows
BcooKLYN, New YORK, Jan. u. 1876.
To HON T. G. PLATT.
House OF Representatives, Washington
District of Columbia
The facts justify your denial OF cruelty,
| inhumanitv, or neglect in the ireatment
of prisoners at Elmira. There WAS no
| suffering there which is not inseplrlble
from a military prison. First there was
no dead-line No prisoner was ever
shot for attempting to escape. Second
the food was ample and of the best,
quality. Thousands of dollars were ex-
! pended IN the purchase of vegetables, in
| addition to the Army ration. No cnn-
gresham in WashinLton had belt'r bread
than was given daily TO the prisoners.
The beef was good, and OF the same
| quality and quantity as that distributed
to our own soldiers guarding tue camp
Third the d -ad were not buried in trench :
cs, but the remains were placed in neat
coffins and buried in separate graves,
with a head board bearing the name,
company. and regiment, and time of
death. and all .re bnried in the public
cemetery at Eluiira. Fourth, there was
no better supplied military hospital in
the United States than the hospital in
the prison camp. Fifth, all the prisoners
were comfortably quattered in new wood
EN- barracks, built expressly for them.
From the time took command, in Sep
tember, all The sawemills in the vicinity
of Elmira were kept constantly running
TO supply lumber for buildings &c. The
barracks for prisoners were first built,
and in the extreme cold weather of WIN
Ter the prisoners were all in barracks,
while the soldiers guarding them were
sill in tents. I was criticised for this in
the Army and Navy Journal, l think il
was, at the time, by an officer of our Ar
my. Sixth, the camp and all the build
ings were well poIiced, and kept scrupu-
lously clean. Seventh, the mortality
which prevailed was not owning to neg
lecI or want OF sufficient supplies or med
ical attention, but 10 other aid qaitc
different causcs.
B T. TRACY.
Late Commadant Military Post Union
Mr., WALKER, New York-Mr.
Speaker, as the member from the
district in which Elmira Depot is
located, I take pleasure in indorsing
!, every words of Colonel Tracy's dis
patch. 1 was almost daily at Elmira
during the war, and l know that
confederate prisoners had the same
care and treatment that the Union
soldiers had, and l never heard a
complaint. Great applause.
Mr.. GARFIELD.-Mr Speaker, the
lightning is our witness. From all
quarters of the Republic deDials are
pouring in upon us. Since l came
to the House this morning have
received the following dispatch from
an honored soldier of Ohio, which
tells its own story
CLEVELAND, Ohio Jan. IL. 187G-l0.33 m
! To GENERAL GARFIELD, House of Re-
pre- sentaiives: .....
| Ol duluOitil vi OECIGtdIl vi w ar IuT-
nished $4,000 rebel prisoners at Emira
with the same ratien.-coffee, tobacco,
coal, wood, clothing, barracks, medical at
tendance-as were giVin to our own
soldiers. The dead were decently buried
in Elmira cemelrey. All this can be
proved by democrats oil that city
General ]. J. ELwELI
Mr.. Hull. BY permission of the
gentleman from Ohio, desire to say
that there was no purpose on my
part by any of my remarks on yes
terday to charge inhumanity upon
anybody at Elmira or anywhere
else. l only read the evidence from
official sources as | understood it.
Mr. BLAINE. A letter in a news
paper.
MIR. HILL. Let me get through,
if you please. Do not be uneasy.
Keep quiet and l will not hurt you.
Laughter.
Mr.. MAcDoUGALL. That is what
you told us IN 1861.
Mr.. HILL. 1 simply say that was
reading the evidence of cruelties, in
the language of that letter, "insepara-
BILE from prison life" Then I read
of the smallpox epidemic at EImira
and its character. But the remark
which the gentleman is now COM
menting on was not connected with
any charge of inhumanity upon anv
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