Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-03-31

"a STORY OF SOUTHERN MILITARY rRIS
ONsn

has had the unparalleled success that ha
attended the publication in the form OF
copiously illustrated volume of series o
articles that ran through the Toledo Bitd
last year under the title of "Andersonvllie
Story of Southern Military Prisons. ;
Such was the interest aroused by the sub
iect, and the fascinating manner in which
it was treated that the mere announcement
that the sketches were TO be reproduced III
book form was sufficient to bring in orders
for more than 10000 copies before one was
printed, and the volume has been upon
the market now less than four months. the
sales have nearly reached 10000. with
every prospect that the figure will be
doubled or trcbled before the year is out
Certainly no book ever sold itself to the
extent that this one has, because the efforts
to introduce it anywhere have been of the
slightest, and in much the greater p1rt Of
the country none whatever have been
made.
There is deep fascination in the subject
of AnderSonville. for that Golgotha, in
which lie the whitening bones of $1,000
gallant young men, represents to them
very much of the dearest ana coSlliest
sacrifice of the war for the preservation of
our national unity. 1t is type, too, Of its
class. It's more than hundreds of hrca.
tombs of dead represent several times that
number of their brethren, for whom the,
prison gates of Belle Isle, Danvlle, Sails
bury, Florence, Columbia and Cnhawbl
opened only in eternity. There are few
families in the north who have not ut least
one dear relative or friend among these
GO, GOO whose sad fortune it was to end
their service for the Union by lying down
and dying for it in southern prison pen.
The manner of their death, the horrors
that clustered thickly aroand every mo-
ment of their existence, the loyal, unfal-
teriug steadftstness with which they en-
dured all that fate brought them has never
been adequately told. 1t was not with
them as with their comrades in the field,
whose every act was performed in the
presence of those whose duty it was to
observe such matters and report them to
the world,
Hidden from the view of their friends in
the north by the impcnetrabe vail which
the military operations Of the rebels drew
around the 50 called confedcracy, the PEG.
pie knew next to nothing of their career
or their suiferings. Thousands died there
less needed even than the hundreds who
persisted on the battle field. Grant did not
lose us many men, killed Outright, in the
terrible campaign from the Wilderness to
the James river-42 days of desperate
tighting-as died in July and August II,
Andersonville. Nearly twice us many
died in that prison us fell on the day thai
Grant crossed the Rapidan, till he settled
down into the trenches before Petersburg.
More than four times as many Union dead
lie under the solemn oughing pines about
that forlorn little village in southern
Georgia than mark the course of Sherman
from Chattanooga to Atlanta. The nation
stands aghast 1T the expenditure of if,
which attended the two bloody campaigns
of 1864 which virtually crushed, the con
federacy, but no one remembers that more
Union soldiers died in the rear of the
rebel lines thtn were killed in front OF
them. The greal military events that
stamped out the rebellion drew attention
away from the sad drama which starva-
ton and disease played in the gloomy
pens in the far recesses Of the sombel
southern forests.
The author begins with the account of
the raid made into the eneny'S country
by the cavalry command in which he was
serving us an enlisted man they meet the
rebel cavalry,and after sharp fight, worst
it badly, sending it flying from the field
For while the Union cavalry live of thu
fairness of the land, bu at length they are
trapped in narrow valley, and after a
desperate resistance, all captured, and SEN
TO Richmond. Two month of hardship
and exposure on Belle Isle, and in the
tobacco factories end by their being sent
to Andersonville-t author ARRIVING in
first squad that enters the pen. Then
ensues six months of terrible suffering, in
which four out of five of those arOuad him
die. This is ended by the fall of Atlanta,
Immediately upon the which the rebels
fearful of the safety of so great II mass OF
prisoners liz such proximity to the national
lines us the fall Of that stron ghold has
brought about, hurry the bulk of them off
to other and more remote places of con
finement.
n hnr 10 Erst I,,l.o
after short stay there to MiIlen; thence
to Savannah again; thence to Black,hcar,
where he is paroled and sent back to
Savannah again, ostensibly to be exch4nr-
ed, but really to get him and his oompan
ions safely past Sherman's advancing lines
and take them to Florence, S. c., where
they were kept until the confederacv be. !
gan going to pieces in March, 1864.
Into this warp and wool of daily history
are woven numberlesS bits of FASCINATING
description of thrilling incidents, and cyc1 |
laughable episodes-tor there was fun. even
in that dreary experience. Anon" the
most thrilling recital to be found anywherc
IS that of the story of the fights with and
me capture anu execution ofthe Raiders
a band OF murderous desperados, who in
iootou INC pL looH, anu SIN oil whom We're |
hanged IN terrorem, and as punishment
for their multifarious oflenses. This is the
only full and accurate account of this
noted episode that has ever been written.
Many versions have been given to this
out they have all been written by men
Who were misiniormed as to the real facts
n the case. The author, being one of the
7cry few of those now living who were
lctively identified with the affair from first
o last, has exceptional knowledge of that
If which he speaks.
Letters from more than 5000 SURVIVING
prisoners testify in the strongest terms to
he wonderful accuracy of the book. Such a
estimonial-untleckt by Single dissent
rom any living prisoner-is one of the
narvels of current literature. (,
The press has been no less kind to the
book than the general public, and it has
eceived the highest euogums from polit-
Cal, religious and literary papers, which
mite in saying that for vivdness of de-
realism of detail, and fascination
Il style it has no equal in the literature of
he war.
The book contains CSC large, handsomely
printed pages, illustrated with l5l pictures
!rawn under the authors supervision.
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