Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1881-07-13
4 NEW YORK VETERANS CRIT
clsRa OF JEFF. DAVIS BOOK.

clsNa OF JEFF. DAVIS BOOK. =.
Winder's Order to Open on the
Prison Pen with Grape. !
Ertracts from Correspondence Of the Milwaukee
New YORK, June 15.-In regard to the
rlsrepresentatlons in jeff. Davis new
book concerning Union prisoners, have
this week interviewed Lieut.. J. N.
Allen. secretary Of the National
Union of the Survivors Of the Southern
Military Prisons. He was seven months
a prisoner at ArdersonviIle, and his
anger at the statements and implications
in Davis book illustrates the general
indignation which 1t has aroused.
Curlously enough, Mr.. Davis does not
allege that the Union prisoners were
treated we'll; he does not aliege that they
received as good treatment as was prac-
ticable; he does not deny that they were
deliberately starved and wantonly shot
without excuse. All that he does is to
quote his order, issued IN 1861, that pri.
souers of war should have the same ra-
tons as Confederate soldiers received; to
eulogize Gen. Winder as humane and
tender-bearted man, and to set up the
monster Wirz as Il martyr to his integrity
and fidelity; and to declare that more
than 10000 Confederate prisoners Cor ~
per cent of the whole) died in Northern
prisons, while only about the same mum.
Der of Union prisoners % per cent. ofthe
whole) died in Southern prisons. From
this he infers, and says, that the Union
prisoners South Jared better than Con-
federate prisoners NORTH, who were
treated he alleges, with "fiendish barba-
rity." The premises are not large enough
for the conclusion. That DAVIS, in 1861 ,
issued humane order concerning pri-
soners is quite irrelevant. 1t is not yet
time to canonize the murderer Wlrz.
And instead Of Il, 900 Confed crates dying
in Northern prisons, there were less than
a third as many, according TO the prison
records, the other 5000 being represented
by prisoners who were released when the
war was over, and who, as the "Confed
eracy" had collapsed, were never Off
cially accounted for according to the
cartel of exchange.
II would like to set my experience anC
observation against jeff. Davis infer
ences," says Mr.. Allen to your CORES
pondent, "for they will show, not merely
that the rebels did not treat us we'll, bu
that they did not treat US half as we'll a
they might have done; that they deniee
US the means Of shelter and subsistence
when to grant them was easy; that they
subjected US to want and thirst an<
exposure, for the malignant purpose O
killing US off. And JEFF. Davis knows i
Just as we'll as l do, and that's why h
says 50 little about 1t while he harangues
page after page, about who was response
bic for prisoners not being exchanged
"Were you aprisoner more than once !?
mo; once was enough. l enlisted a
the very beginning of the war, and 60
along US we'll as most of the boys til
July 9, 1864, when I was wounded an
captured at Gold Harbor. We wcr
taken TO Pemberton building in Rich
!, mond, and before gong in, everythin
we had was taken from US by the office
in charge-our money, watches, ring:
ard even photographs and letters, and "
never saw them again. l don't believ
rebel prisoners were robbed by GU
soldiers in +hat .uoy anywhere. TioL
here we were presently taken by Captain
Turner and carried south in cars in whic
cattle and hogs had been brought I
Rlchmond-cars exactly in the conditio
as when the beasts were driven out. w
we're packed seventy to ninety IN eac
filthy car, in the sweItering month {
, July. Arrived at Andersonville, we vel
4 all turned into the stockade, a cam
fenced with tall poles, measuring 101
feet one way by 779 feet the other. Tn
was enlarged afterward somewhat, an
when I was there it had 10000 inmate
at one time"
, davis said it was healthful place,
l said.
"Yes-here," and we turned to the pae
and read: 1.-THE site was chosen becauS
} of its supposed security from raid
|. together with its salubrity, the abun'
, ance of water and timber, and the pr
ductive farming of the country aroun
> it," Mr.. Allen uttered an angry exclam
,. ton and commented. Eyes! rememb'
0 it! Its 'salubrity' is we'll known. Eve,
bit of water we had ran to Us through Il
rebel camp outside, and their sinks wei
on its brink. 1t would have been les
Odious if 1t had come through cow-yar'
Our own men both bathed IN and drau
0 it, AS to the abundance of TIMBER q
|. the timber had been cut away IN IL
:, stockadc, and from the great pine fore
4 outside we were denied wood enough
) cook eur food. The allowance for
t squad of 70 men was one ordinary fOu
foot stick for the whole, a mere splint,
= apiece! We pleaded for liberty to 90 on
: side under guard, and get wood enoug
/ 10 cook our "chicken feed" but wei
e refused. Hundreds and hundreds die
in consequence Of this brutality. Thel
we're 50 many prisoners there, at or
time, that there was not room for theI
all to lie down at night; we had no CO.
e ering-no tent or barracks, as We migl
!. have had-and it rained every day for Il
. first twenty-five days. The rations at fir
were q pint and half OF coarse corn mea
two ounces of musty bacon and pine
Z, of salt; but they were afterwards reduce
| to bucket of mush to every forty. fl,
= men, and salt not once week. "
were dreadfully shocked when we fir
went in, to see the skeletons walkiu
around, and German corporal who ",
with me said il he ever came to be III
d them he would 90 inside the dead-lll
i and be shot. lost him and had forge
~ ten it, when one day his body came b
3 loaded mp with dozen others. He hs
e been shot at the dead-llne. Men die
Il every hour, and were carled off and fur
into hole in the ground. Corpses we
.. carried out at the rate of hundred q da
J. Every week some were killed ut the dea
line, and one or two wretches cou
always be seen by the brookside, whe
;, they had crawled to die. Many were t,
weak, even If they could have got WOO
to cook the bits of bacon, In whit
: maggots were crawling. Many we
}. insane. Corruption seized on some viii