Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-02-15
LIBBY PRISON SALE.
THE PROTECTOR OF TIE ENTERPRISE
WISHES TO KNOW RICHMOND
SENTIMENT.
a Protest from Federal officer Who Stayed
in Richmond at the Bvacuation-
Historical "reminiscences.

|
organized the scheme to remove the
Libby Prison to Chicago, and while he
has not answered it doubtless he will
feel it his duty to say that the public
sentiment OF Richmond. of Virginia,
and OF the South is steadily growing in
condemnation OF the enterprise; be-
lieying that il will reawaken and long
keep alive the worst of war feelings:
CHICAGO, February 10, 1888.
To the Hon. Mayor of the City Of Rich
mond, Richmond, "a:
Dear Sir,-I would be glad to have
you as the official head of the city to in
form me what the sentiment of the peo.
pie of your city is regarding the transfer
of the old Libby Prison building TO this
city, a movement | am connected WITH
| see telegram from Richmond of a
copy of letter from some Philadelphia
man which is so different from tho senti-
ment OF the people of our city toward
the people of the South that / would be
obliged if you will state the truth as it
! is TO me.
With my best wishes, and believe me
to be, sir, your obedient servant, | am,
yours respectfully, ". II. GRAY.
A LETTER FROM ONE WHO WAS AT THE
LIBBY AT THE EVACUATION.
The Mayor has also received the fol-
lowing:
PTTsBURGH, Pa, February 10, 1888.
Honorable Mayor Of Richmond:
Dear Sir,-After waiting for q few
days, having seen in the "papers that
Libby Prison was to be removed to
Chicago by company of spectators, |
have made free to address you on the
matter. Not knowing your name, DO
so as above. | must confess the PROPOSE
ton startled me, particularly when it was
stated that the building was TO be used
for "curiosity-shop "a public show.
The proposition is too monstrous, the
purpose too base and sordid, TO be calm
ly considered. What The place where
Union soldiers were first imprisoned,
and where for four years it was used for
the same purpose, is now to be taken
away and made a great public money
making show of
Few, l will venture TO say none, of
those who are concerned in the scheme
had anything to do with old Libby du.
ring the time it was useda prison. ] am
well acquainted with a large number of
men who were confined within its walls,
and Do not know one who approves of
its removal 1t would be no longer
Libby Prison" There would be no
James river, no Belle Isle no other land
mark. Neither the remains of "Pem-
berton" nor "Castle Thunder" would
form the associations that were wont to
greet our eyes when inmates OF far
famed Libby" The prison withoutits
associate surroundings would not be
Libby to the Boys in Blue who were
from time to time confined within its
walls 1t might serve to collect dimes
and dollars as a CHASTITY circus exhibition
to fill the pockets Of sharp, unpriucipled
speculators-men that have conceived
the selfish and despicable idea of vio-
lating the sanctity of the soldiers suffer
ings. and to many the very spot of their
death. Outside of the sordid motive
that actuates the instigators of the despi-
cable idea, what, / would sincerely ask,
is to be gained by such a procedure ?
Will it be OF any importance to the cOun
try at large that few Chicago specula-
tors have gotten possession of and re-
moved Libby Prison" to a city which
had neither " lot nor part in the mat
ter? viii the sectional feeling which
lamentably exists be in any sense re-
moved or lessened? Will the feelings OF
the people of Virginia and the South
generally be in any way better recon
ciled by having this conspicuous relic Of
the war paraded around the country as
an implied attempt to hold them be-
fore the world as inhuman monsters
Would it not be better to let the places,
the monuments, the mementos, and
relics of the war, that terrible, desolating
war, remain as they are and where they
are, undisturbed by either side of those
who were the actors in the fearful drama
and above all, by those who have no
higher purpose or motive than sordid
greediness
Let these places and matters of in
terest remain sacred whether of tri- |
umph or suifering), where the partici |
pants and the people Of the land from all |
sections North and South can meet and |
there renew the bonds of friendship |
which were broken by the sad events of |
the past, but ought to and can be united |
again. Where, oh, where is a more fit
ting place than where the blood of both |
sections have made the ground holy in
which it mingles ?
Why not let the condition of things re-
main as they were at the end OF the war
Everything that would or tends to dis
turb the past only goes to show how
easily it wonld be to fan the flame Of
alienation again. How recently the
to return the captured flags
stirred up a feeling which has not quite
yet. And now the proposal to
remove Libby Prison is a piece of dis
turbing impertinence that no prisoner of
war who was ever confined in it would
for moment have anything to do with.
1t is neither the dictate of patriotic devo-
ton nor the wise purpose of good citi
zenship. The projectors might as well
propose to resurrect the skeletons of the
noble dead who sleep in southern graves
and cemeteries and take them around TO
crafty the morbid curiosity of deluded
spectators. / trust the good people OF
will take measures so that the
DID prison will not be removed and used
Tor the purpose OF filling the pockets of
he ghOuliSh company who planned the
project. Rather, far rather,
let it be consigned to the torch. or a tor
Dedo placed under it and hurl the whole
structure into the James.
You will, | trust, pardon my freedom
n writing with such warmth, but when
tate how things of the past identified
ne with old Libby more than any other
prisoner who was ever an inmate of it YOU
will understand my feelings L was the
,nly United States officer in Richmond
when it was evacuated. Having been
1aroled to distribute supplies to the pri-
oners of war within the Confederate
ines, | was appointed the agent Of the
United States Government for that duty
n Richmond. On the night of April 2,
S65, at midnight, Major Turner, the
Confederate commandant of prisons in
md around Richmond, sent to my Office
N orderly requesting me to visit him in
lis Office at. Libby Prison. Nv store