The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-01-18
The Truth Wen Told.
IRON the Mobile Cycle

4 ubC IL 40 tIuCy tuc uiSUOIy Vi All
Jacksonville Is q shocking and shameful
one shameful, not to the Confederate
authorities, but TO the Administration
OF q party which permitted It's soldiers
to .languish in prison, rather thar
exchange them, and which refused
to permit supplies Of food and medicine
to be furnished them, lest the starving
soldiers OF the Confederacy might profit
by the permission. Wirz was murdered
that his blood might wash away the
guilt from the skirts Of his murderers
and now the effort Is to drown the dam.
nable truth In torrent Of defamatory
invectivo against jefferson Davis.
During the war Mr.. Davis was de.
Pnounced by tho Richmond E.rdmine,
and other malcontents, for JauOving
Federal prisoners Nth hlLuries at tn
expense of our O,C1l soldiers In the feLd
and even after It's close his unscrupillous
enemies charged him with having exer-
cised undue leniency in that direction,
for the purpose OF securing favor to
himself In case of disastcr--making to
himself friends of the mammon OF
unrighteousness." Now, no less ran
corous nor less unscrupulous foes, from
another quarter, denounce his atrOcious
cruelties to these same favored prison
ers as worse than those OF Alva, the
Guises, Catherine de Medici, or Torque
mazda
The truth about Andersonville has
been partially published more than
once, but 1t never penetrates the quar-
ters whore it Is most needed. We have
little hope that what we shall now pub
fish will go farther than 1t has gone be-
fore, but 1t may possibly reach the eye
of some one who might otherwise imag-
inc that the statements Of Blaine and
H.. rG. a 1xxJ 1,sa
the sake Of such, we quote from u pub
LEGATION made several years ago by
Robert Ould, ESQ, Confederate Commits
sioner Of Exchange, the statements of
which have neUer been contradicted.
He says
"On tho 10th of August, 1864, I addressed tho
following communication to Brig. Gen. John l..
milford tthcn MAJOR Assistant Agent OF Ex-
change:
RICHMOND. Aug. 10. 1864.
Major John e. milford. Assistant Agent of
Exchange:
'Sy-You have several times proposed to me
10 exchange the prisoners, respectively held by
tho two belligerents- officer for officer. and man
for man. Tho same offer has also been made by
other officials having charge Of matters connect
This proposal has heretofore been declined
by the Confederate authorities, they insisting
upon the terms Of the cartel. which required the
delivery OF the excess on either side on parole.
In view however. Of the very large number Of
prisoners now held by each party, and the
suffering consequent upon their continued con-
flnement, / now consent to the above proposal.
and agree TO deliver TO you the prisoners held in
captivity by the Confederate authorities. pro-
yideh You agrea 60 deliver IN equal number D o.
bers are delivered from time 10 time. they will
be declared exchanged. This proposal is made
with the understanding that the officers and
men, on both Sides who have been longest In
captivity, will be first delivered where 1t Is
t.t
lily as possible. whether this arrangement can be
Respectfully. your obedient s ss mt, :
Agent Of Exchange
1.-THE delivery Of this letter was ccompanied
with u statement Of the mortality which was
s'@ on Tie g saa pe dsy " August 1854 not having
eapa IN m n rsPSnse eh e"
United States Commissioner OF Exchange, COW
ering u copy OF the foregoing letter to General
Mulford, and requesting an acceptance of my
=" No answer was ever received to either. of
these letters. Gen. milford. 21 the 3ist of Au:
no communication on the subject from the
United States authorities and that no was not
at Chat time, authorized TO make IN answer;
This offer, which would have instantly re-
stored TO freedom. thousands Of suffering emp,
tivcs. which would have released every Federal
soar n & I'm Fss a ppiSSn
ties. at that time had a large excess Of prisoners,
the effect of tho proposal which had !nade. II
%Trl nu' wSa large number i, 81 n" uond
crates would have remained IN prison. awaiting
the chances OF the capture Of their equivalents"
The cartel to which Mr.. Ould refers in
the foregoing letter was the original car
tel between the two belligerents, by the
terms OF which prisoners were to be ex-
man for man, and any excess
In the hands Of either party to be re-
leased on parole until their equivalents
could be substituted. This agreement
was made when the Confederates held
annulled, or ignored. when the prepon-
derancc was on the other side, and other
terms proposed by the Federal authori-
ties. When these latter were finally
accepted by the COnfederates us ap-
pears abOve-no notice was taken of the
Ii was better to let two
Federal soldiers languish or perish in
captivity than to have one Confederate
released and restored to duty. Recruits
were plentiful on that side; the material
was exhausted on this
But this is not all. Mr.. Ould proceeds
TO show that already-some months pre-
vious to the above letter to Gen. Milford
he had proposed that the prisoners on
each side should be permitted to have
The services OF their own medical Off.
GERS, and that these officers should act
IS commissaries, with power to receive
and distribute food, clothing, medicines
md other supplies, which might be for
for the relief of prisoners. This
offer, also, was treated with contemptu-
ous silence.
But we are not yet at the end OF the
story. Mr.. Guild goes on to show that,
when It was ascertained that no agree
ment for exchange could be effected,
either on the basis OF the original cartel
Or on Il at Of the subsequent PROPOSE
lion of the Federal authorities, he was
"inst7ucted by the Confederate author
tiles" to offer to deliver the sick and
wounded Federal prisoners WITHOUT ANY
EQUIVALENT whatever.
Accordingly" says he. in tho summer Of
1864. did offer to deliver from ton to fifteen
thousand of the sick and wounded. at the mouth
Of the Savannah river, without requiring any
equivalents assuring at the same time the agent
Of the United States, Gen milford. that II the
number for which he might send transports
could not raadily be made up from sick and
would supply the difference with
rel men. Although this offer was made in the
summer of 1864, transportation was not sent to
he Savannah river until about the middle or
asst Of November. and then delivered as many
prisoners az could be transported-som thir-
more than five thousand we'll mon.
More than once / urged the mortality at An
iersonvilIe as n reason for haste on the part OF
.hc United States authorities. / know, person
ally that II was the purpose OF the Confederate
government to send oil from all its prisons all