The National tribune., 1882-09-02
Union Prisoners Claims.

Union Prisoners Claims.
The horrors of Southern prison life, as
described in the diary Of Free Lance,
now in course Of publication in these col
umns, are almost without a parallel in the
| history Of civilized nations. The sufferings
of Union soldiers at Libby, Belle Isle, An
| dersOnville, Columbia, Macon and other
rebel prison-pens could scarcely have been
greater had the keepers of those pens revived
the tortures of the Inquisition and subjected
| their victims to the thumb-screw and the
rack We defy any unprejudiced person to
read the colorless, matter-of-f fact narrative
which Free Lance" gives of his daily expe
riences at Andersonville without being con-
WINGED that the inmates of Southern prisons
are entitled to substantial reparation at the
hands of the Government tits impossible fer
any fair-minded man to shut his eyes to the
fact that the hardships which they were
forced to undergo far exceeded in severity the
ordinary vicissitudes of military life, or
that, at the time of their enlistment, there
was any reasonable ground for anticipating
as q possible result OF the fortunes OF war
No such inhumanity as characterized the
treatment of Union prisoners during the
rebellion was exhibited on either side in our
own Revolutionary or Mexican wars OF has
ever marked the conduct of tht
flicts of the old world, and our
had right to expect, when
the army, that they would
same consideration, if eaptul-- 49,
enemy, that the usage of civilized nations
prescribed, and, in point of fact, that rebel
prisoners experienced at their own hands.
We shall not undertake to inquire, at the
present moment, whether the policy of the
Government concerning exchanges Of pris-
oners may not have operated to increase
the rigor with which our soldiers were
treated by their captors and tended to
prolong their sufferings No matter what
the degree of its responsibility may have
been, it is sufficient to know that the suffer-
ing which these men were compelled to en-
dure was exceptional and unprecedented
from military standpoint, and contrary to
the rules of civilized warfare. 1t is this fact
which constitutes the basis of their claim to
special compensation at the hands of the
Government, and it should not be lost sight
gard the question as one of sentiment merely,
and, while they are willing to admit that
the survivors Of rebel prisons are lit subjects
for national charity, are disposed to COM
bat the idea that they have any tangible
fright" to compensation. Such, however, is
not the view we take of the matter, and we
believe that we speak for the great body of
our ex-soldiers when we say that they would
rather forego their claim altogether than be
put in the position of accepting charity. 1t
is a grave error to suppose that they are in
different as to the form which the desired
compensation takes, so only that they get
the money. They are, on the contrary, as
sensitive ON that point us any class of men
who pride themselves on their independence,
and it is not charity but justice which they
are seeking from the. Government. Had
they experienced the same considerate treat
ment while prisoners that was extended to
Confederates during their captivity, they
would have no claim upon the Government
and would prefer none but, as matter of
fact they were made to suffer a sort of mar
tyrdom, the effect of which, the Confederates
thought, would be to compel the Union au-
thorities to agree to more frequent exchanges
of prisoners, and thus insure the much
desired strengthening of the rebel armies.
Soldiers were scarce in the South and the
losses of battle were much more difficult to
repair than in the Union ranks, which were
being constantly REINFORCED by new enlist
ments. 1t was of far greater Importance,
therefore, to the Confederate government to
effect frequent exchanges of prisoners than
it was to our own Government, as both very
well understood, and it does not admit of
doubt that the former starved and maltreated
our men for the very purpose of compelling
the latter to agree to these exchanges. They
suffered martyrdom just as truly as did
the early Christians for the faith that was
in them 1t is idle to pretend that they ex-
perienced but the usual fortunes of war, and
are consequently entitled to no special COM
pensation. The records of every southern
prison, from Libby to Charleston, where
Union prisoners were deliberately kept under
fire during the bombardment, show the hol
lowness of that pretense, and the Govern
ment cannot go behind the records