The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-01-20
CHAPTER XIV.

THE OLD NEGRO JAIL AT CHATTANOOGA.
The sufferings of northern prisoners in
the south constitutes probably the most
terrible chapter in the history of the war.
Attempts TO soften the fearful story have
met with slight success. The lot Of the
prisoner of war is always deplorable, as
accommodations are scanUy and the hard
ships of camp life greatly aggravated.
But the Union prisoners in the south
suffered more than Is usual in military
prisons. The southern states were
slenderly supplied with means for the
care of bodies of troops numbered by
thousands; the northern armies were
pressing severely and tightening the
blockade by sea and land with the express
design of depriving them of necessaries
for prosecuting the war, and in case Of
scarcity it was natural that northern
prisoners would first suffer. But to this
was added terribly bitter feeling, which
sometimes found delight in gratuitously
embittering the prisoners lot. The hor-
rors of Andersonville cannot soon be
palliated or forgotten.
But the sufferings of ordinary prisoners
was far exceeded in the case of the An
drews raiders. Our leader had been
trusted by the enemy and had betrayed
them. We had inflicted an amount of
fright altogether disproportionate to our
numbers, and we were now believed to be
beyond the protection of the laws of war,
and almost beyond the pale of humanity.
1t was thought that we were selected for
our desperate character and therefore
would require an extraordinary amount
of guarding TO prevent us from escaping
or doing further injury. Such considera-
lions no doubt had weight in the minds
Of our captors.
But these alone are not sufficient to ex-
plain the story that follows have hesi-
tated in regard to telling it at all; but
there is at least one good reason for re-
cording all that the proprieties of lam
guage will permit-a reason which also
goes far TO account for the full horrors
experienced. Nothing better shows the
spirit of the institution of slavery, and
the debasing effect it produces on the
master class. Those in whose power we
now fell had been used to seeing men,
women aud children publicly sold, whip
ped, hunted with dogs, or shut up like
wild beasts in dens. With such expert
ences they would not be likely to care
much for the sufferings Of enemies, whom
they had come to regard as the friends Of
the enslaved race Accordingly it is in
the negro prisons that our band found
their most fearful experiences.
The story of the little, old, Chattanooga
prison cannot he fully told Terrible
harrlships which had to be lived through
in agonies of shuddering disgust, and in
utterly helpless disregard of the decencies
Of life--a daily and unceasing combina-
ton Of pain and loathing-can hardly be
told by one friend to another, much less
spread on the cold printed page. The
reader will remember that for every pain
full thing related, dozen more are be-
hind, which dare not be named. Let It
be understood that there is no exaggera-
ton. Photographic accuracy, within the
limits already indicated, is aimed at.
This worst Of all the prisons has long
since been swept away; but its nOAeIy