The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-12-23
TIE TR T At LAST.
AndersOnville Review.
From the Springfield Republican.

has Temal0eo = uafh oiol upon '"'
reputation of the late Southern Con
federacy. has begun to lift itself into
the consideration of history. AID to los'
in histoTy's impartial light the black
ness Of it's original shadow. In The
years Immediately following, the war
such . paper as X. b. Richardson's II
the Neac Highlander could not have
been written, and any attempt to sho"
that there might be . division of blame
for the treatment Of our prisoners
South would have been Missed out OF
sight. Now q fuller knowledge Of the
condition of the Confederacy, the com
plisation. of exchanging prisoners,
and the tremendous pressure OF the
last part of the civil war, has compel
cd . different temper, and the facts IN
this IS we'll as other matters are now
examined on every side, instead Of on
sidsred en- parte. The result of these
Investigations, as made up by Mr.
Richardson who is we'll known IN this
vicinity as lately schoolmaster In Chi
copee-i il to the effect that the suffer
ings Of Union p~ri.ones. at Anderson
vile were due in some degree to the 10
ability Of the C%onfederscy to properly
feed or care for them, but principally
in the last year, when the direct mise
riss were experienced, to the dellbe-
rate policy adopted by the federal gov
eminent concerning sxchanges-a pom
ey entered upon with a full sense OF
the tragedy OF the prisons, but with
q corresponding sense of the necessl-
ties Of the field, and which without a
doubt shortened the war.
Mr.. Richardson notes at the outse. OF
bis examination the fact that the truths
Of the history Of the wal are now TO be
reached only by averaging accounts,
and takes up Andersonville, not as uni
que but ~ the representative Of rebel
prisons. discussing the matter In con
nsctiOn with the whole drift OF the war
and the question of exchanges in par
ticular. The Northern sense that this
was the war of the country against re
bel. long stood in the way of any neg
citations in regard to prisoners, and not
until the winter of 1862 was the tech
picality waived in agreement upon
. basis Of exchange between Gems.
Wool and Cobb. This, however, was
= failure. and it was in July OF that
year that a cartel was agreed upon be
tween Gems. Dix and Hill, for the pa
rolling and delivering within ten days,
at specified points, and subsequent e1
change, of all prisoners taken on either
side. This cartel was Immediately Wit
lated by the orders of Gen. Pope, the
champion b~raggadocio fthe war, and
his ~Iieutenants, for the shooting OF non
contestants, for which Pope and his
officers were formally excepted by the
Confederate authorities from the cartel.
This was one blow at the arrangement,
and following thst came Buffers hang
Ing of Mumford and his savage order
concerning the New Orleans women,
both of which, though defensible acts,
gave another blow no less weakening.
But the enlistment of negro troops was
the fual uncomfortable otfense of the
United States. In May, 1868, the.Con-
fsderate Congress passed a bill con-
demning white officers of colored troops
who might be captured to death or
ether punishment at discretion of the
court, and the colored soldiers them
selves to slavery. Then the United
States in honor engaged to maintaia
ing the enlisted negro on the same lev
Ell with the enlisted white man, de-
creed retaliation. 1t was this point on
which the whole question finally ban
ssd.
Meanwhile lin April. 1868 the
United States government declared 10
Robert Ouid, Confederate commission
er Of exchange, that exchange should
~ no~Apnl N pr1pnnorS antnallv hold
in confinement on either side. 1t seems
that there are documents showing that
the federal commissioners had tricked
Judge Ould in previous negotiations
into releasing many more prisoners than
were released to him, but the facts, as
Mr.. Richardson goes on to show, are
that the United States was losing by
he cartel, "since its captures were
made on hard-fought battlefelds, and
delivered from ecure possessions, "
while the so-called prisoners of the Con
fedsracy were picked up in raids like
Morgan's, in which, though ne put
thousands under parole, he could not
at any time nave carried off even hnn
dreds. Secretary Stanton issued II sharp
order while the battle of Gettysburg
was yet in progress, and the Confeds-
rates retaliated by declaring invalid the
paroles of 40, 600 prisoners of Nicks-
burg AMI Port Hudson, who were i'm
mediately put into the field again.
This act was described by Secretary
Stanton as the breaking of the cartel,
but as Mr.. Richardson says. STATIONS
statement is 'one of those half trutht
that deserve t o be branded as false
hoods. 1t takes no account Of the fact
that the whole history of the cartel had
led up to the last step" 1t was, how
ever, the final check to the exchange OF
enlisted men, 'as the proclamation con
corning the officers of Pope and Butler
had already stopped the exchange OF
the South had been 80 far from calcula-
ting that lit held only about $4,000
prisoners to Offset 40, 900 in federal
han Is" The breaking of the cartel
on its part" says Mr.. Richardson IVA,
not cold blooded, but hot-blooded."
Turning o to the actual sufferings
at Andersonsville, Mr.. Richardson
notes not only the impo.sibility of dis
putting the fact, but that it was merely
the most prominent sample of the South
err prisons, of which Florence, South
Carolina, Salisbury, n. c., Belle Isle,
Libby and Millen were others. He
cites here the accounts from rebel sour
ces ~ we'll a. infederal congressional
reports; the statement. Of A. III. Ste
phsns and Pollard, especially. He
points out that the condition of pri.-
oaers in Andersonville should not be
compared with that of the sufferers at
their peaceful homes, but with that of
soldiers under more favorable chance.
of Wal with those who come from fed