Louisiana capitolian., 1879-08-02
PRISON SURVIVORS,
THE INMATES OF SOUTHERN PENS SOON
TO MEET AT TOLEDO.

THE INMATES OF SOUTHERN PENS soon
TO MEET AT TOLEDO.
Mr.. w. H. Crowell, Auditor of Ash.
tabula county, has rcceiveda circular
inviting all the soldier survivors o
Southern prisons to mite in n grand
reunion, to be held at Toledo, Octo.
Der lst and I'd. A splendid pro.
gramme Of entertainment is in pro.
cess of formation, and every conve.
nience that can he thought Of will be
at the disposal of the visitors. Re.
duced rates will be secured on all
roads, enabling survivors in every
part Of the country to he in attend.
ance. The circular says: As mucl, Of
the time as possible will be given up
to what is the real pleasure Of every
reunion = the informal and unre-
strained meeting of old comrades and
exchange of rec0llections, reminis-
cences, and comparisons of what For
tune and Fame have brought to each
man since leaving prison. Every sur
vivor is expected to act as a commit
tee of one to stir up himself and COM
rades on the subject Of coming and to
insure \ large attendance. AS it ia
very desirable to know as soon as
possible about how many will bc in
attendance, survivors who contem-
plate coming are requested to commu-
cate at their earliest convenience with
J. J. Brown, secretary Tri-State Pris-
0ners of War Association, Toledo, O.
All survivors of Southern prisons in
Ashtabula county are respectfully re-
quested to send in their names to w.
II. Crowell, County Auditor, who has
in his possession the blanks for max >
ing the proper record, and will send
in due time report to the secretary
of the above named association
Cleveland (O.) Herald.
If the above call was issued for the
simple purpose of bringing old war
comrades together in brotl'erly re-
union, the object cannot he condemn
ed, but if it is to revive memories of
sufferings long past, endured in what
the Herald styles "Southem pens,"
such q meeting is, to say the least,
q very ungenerous act. No one in
the South denies that Federal prison
ers during the war were subjected to
great suffering and privations, and
in some cases perhaps to unnecessary
bad treatment. We do know, how
ever, that when the Army of North
em Virginia, in the dead Of winter,
was without either tents, blankets,
aye, even shoes and clothing, re-
ceiving as daily ration a pound of
corn meal and a quarter of a pound
of bacon per day to the man, that it
could not be expected that the South
could afford to give its prisoners more
than to its own brave defenders in the
field.
On the one side the Southern vet
Grams willingly accepted tho scanty
supplies that the Confedcracy gave
them, for their country's sake, that
their constancy and self-sacrifce
might bring about the triumph of
their cause.
The same circumstances did not
apply to the Federal prisoners,
who were unaccust0med to these un-
avoidable privations. They suffered,
Of course; but who was to blame I
Was it not the United States govern
'nent, who in pursuance of it's cruel
policy of non n-exchange of prisoners,
man for man, deliberately preferred
TO expose it's soldiers to the hardships
Of prison life in a country that they
closely blockaded for the purpose of
it into submission.
Aye, tho North knew we'll that
every Southern soldier they held in
was one less in the field
against its armies, that could not
oe replaced. 1t preferred to let its
soldiers die in the prisons than give
hem q chance to meet their Southern
in battle array. The North
;ould fill its gaps with constantly ar
living recruits, and thus did it choose
he alternative of sacrificing its brave
nen, inaugurating thus a system of
'arbarous warfare.
We dislike to call back these sad
We can say some
hing of prison life in 'Northcrn
'ens," too! All! well do we remem-
'er the stockaded camp at Morris
sland, opposite Charleston, estab-
shed under the fire of the Confeder-
to artillery, where six hundred Off
ers, one of whom we We're, guarded
y the 54th Massachusetts, colored
egiment, under command of a man
'ithout a soul, a Col. Hallowell, who
remarked to a Georgia
risoner, who was showing his ration
'r that day, constituting a pint cup
{ musty corn meal mush filed with
bite maggots, that he ought to
0 pleased in having his bread and
leat cooked together. We might
10, 60 on to speak of the agony last
g seventeen days, during which
me those six hundred Confederates
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