Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1881-07-13

AS TO our gardens OUTSIDE the prlson'-We
never had any-they are fgment OF the
imagination. Lucky were the men dc,
tailed to go out for occasional wood; and
one OF our squads brought in an armtul
Of watermelon vines they Lad pulled up,
and they boiled them on the fire and ate
them. Perhaps this was the procuring
vegetables of which jeff Davis speaks.
Under this management 1000 men died
during August-more than one hundred
aud thirty a day-one every twelve min.
utes, night and day."
"Of course, some Of the men out on
detail broke their paroles, and escaped -
"a good many tried it, and about one
in ten got to the Union lines; the rest
were chased by cavalry and bloodhounds,
and either killed or recaptured. Scores
were brought back terribly. lacerated."
"Was your corn.meal generally goods"
1T was not corn-meal at all, as q
Northerner understands the term. 1t
was made of stock peas with hulls and
chaff, and corn, corn husks, corn cobs,
bugs and dirt, all ground up together.
Besides being so coarse that tue sick
couldn't swallow it, it was often spoiled
and maggoty. Fresh meat was the great
est of rari!ies."
When we got email ration Of meat
once in week or twO-it would some
times be so rotten that even starving
man couldn't eat it. saw hundreds die
of actual starvation"
One poor fellow belonging to an Ohio
regiment gave me his ration and died be.
fore my eyes. Our food was the refuse of
the Southern commissary department.
jeff Davis speaks highly of Winder.
Now, we took particular pains to have
them know how we were suffering and
starving TO death. In August one hundred
aud twenty sergeants of detachmeuts, in
Guiding myself, prepared and sent to Rich
mond detailed complaint setting forth
the brutal manner in which we were
plant was actually forwarded to Rich
geauts together to hear the reply. It was,
in substance, IL statement that General
Winder WAS entrusted with the manage.
mcnt of military prisons throughout the
South, and from his conduct there was no
appeal. Wirz then added; The Confed.
crate government knows all about this
prison. am carrying out General Win.
der's orders. II i go to hell for it, as some
of you have said, I will give you hell
while I live.' I heard this speech. We
were then driven back into tue pen. Out
of the SQUAD of thirty men that had
charge Of after July, fourteen died during
those six months. Some froze to death for
lack of fire and clothes when winter
came. One night over thirty froze to
death in camp"
Was the region free from raids, as JEFF.
Davis says?"
swell, yes, it was. But even an improb-
able RAID was provided tor. The prison.
pen was encircled by eight forts mount
ing thirty one guns. These guns com.
manded every foot inside of the stockade
aod all the approaches to it. And how
near Winder came to slaughtering US is
apparent from the following order from
him, posted in the stockade few days
after got there:
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY PRISON,
-ANDERsONv1LLE Ga, July q, 1864.
THE officers on duty and In charge oil
the battery of Florida artillery at the time
will, upon receiving notice that the enemy
has approached within seven miles of the
post open upon the s.ockade with grape
, shot, without reference to the situation
beyond those lines Of defense.
, John W. W1NDER.
"Brigadier- general commanding"
'The original copy OF this inhuman and
barbarOus order is now in possession OF
t the United States authorities This is JEFF
Davis hum ane and kin6-hearted prison
commsnder-an order to fire at c!0s'
range INTO solid mass of help less human
: beings, seventeen acres in extent! Ii
: August, 1854, the rebel Col. Chandler viv
r idly set forth what he had witnessed there
!. and recommended to Davis that Wlnde
2 be removed and some one else be sen
e there, who, at least, would not advocate
r deliberately, and IN cold blood. the pronri
! ely OF leaving tne prisoners in their exist
4 ing condition until their numbers should
, be sufficiently reduced by death TO max
o the existing accommodations suffice.
q During one dsy in August, 2O7 men died
e Davis cannot profess ignorance, when III
d report on Andersonville which he recei1
i ed from Prot. Joseph Jones, of the medi
e cal College Of Georgia, that same summer
? is too horrible and sickening for you +
0 put into your letter, though I have
8 among my documents
d "Have you ANYTHING that you carrie
3 through your prison life? ~
Mr.. Allen showed me, in response t
y my question little morocco covere
blank book. in which was an intermittcn
e diary. II wrote whenever I had q per
e Gill;" he said. 1t was very grimy an
>, greasy, but was precious relic Of endu1
l. arce and the witness of the awful TRACED
}: at Andersonville. Call that I saw an
q heard during those months Of my capt.,
l. ity," he said, land all that I have sine
r heard, make it absolutely certain that
y conspiracy was entered into by the rebt
e leaders, chief among whom was JEFF Davi
e himself, to kill off the Union soldiers i
3 their prisons as rapidly as exposure, star,
|. alton and other barbaritles could accom-
< plish it-thls, too. merely to save foo
II and gain military advantage. Gangreu
e was considered an honorable weapon G
IT warfare, and when mans toes or finger
o dropped off OF dry rot, or he cut off IL
q diseased members himself, as a goo
many did, all that Winder thought Of W.
r another Union soldier disabled. Few {
I. the survivors of Andersonville are We
n men. have never seen awell day sine
9 and don't expect to as long as live'.'
q JEROME.
AT the present writlRg our owa State