The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-10-02
rNe,rs and COlrier.1

in the old building, as it is understood
that this is here only to form the home
for one Of the most complete and in
teresting museums of the war in the
country-a museum that knows no
North and no South, but is OF histor-
ical interest to all, because of the inn
partiality shown in the collection Of
relics of the civil war.
The Inter- Ocean admits that Libby
was the best managed of the Southern
prisons, but" as it says "became as
celebrated as Andersonville, because
Of the many officers Of rank impris-
oned there" ''There were crueities
practiced there" the Mter-0cean con-
tinues, "but the prison was under the
very nose of the President of the
Confederacy and his Cabinet, and the
prisoners were men Of intelligence and
force to demand some rights as pris.
oners of war, and, often held as hos
tages for Confederate officers in the
North, they could not be so easily I'M
posed upon"
We are told that "they had no fur
niture, not even blankets" and that
they had to sleep on ''the floor in
double rows, head to head and feet to
feet, covering whole floors with hu-
man and loyal carpet" and that Gin
cold weather they were commanded
to sleep spoon-fashion." This was very
cruel, to be sure, but this is not all,
for we are further told that the pris-
oners had to do their own cooking,
s'fought for preference" at the two
small stoves in the kitchen and ''stole
from each other the places at the fire"
which was very reprehensible con-
duct in ''men OF intelligence and
force"-and that when they did not
have food to cook 'sthey divided with
each other and starved together" We
are not informed exactly what it was
they stssi;r;ded, but It is some salts
faction to know that they were not
unwilling to starve together. 1t is al
so gratifying to know that 'the men
did not despair" that 'all was not
sadness and sorrow in Libby" and
that "there were debates and discus
sions, literary exercises and schools,
language lessons and even minstrel
performances" We are also told that,
when the news was received of Grants
capture of Vicksburg, the cruelty
treated prisoners ofwar actually ''sang
all night until the impregnable capital
of the Confederacy had in in its midst
one of the grandest, loyal choruses
that ever sang patriotic hymns"
It is evident from the confessions OF
the Inter- Ocean that the prisoners at
Libby had a very pleasant time, and
if our contemporary tells the truth
about Libby 'the barbarous cruelties
of the Inquisition and the dungeons
of the Tower and Bastile" were after
all not worth mentioning. So far as
we are informed, there were no "de-
bates and discussions" at the 1nqui-
sition, and there is no record of
singing school, and minstrel per-
formances" in "the dungeons OF the
Tower and the Bastile." Tt is also
plain from the inventory of the relics
contained in the Libby Prison" at
Chicago that it is not to be in any
respect "a museum that knows no
North and no South" and that it will
not be "of historical interest to all,
because of the impartially shown in
the collection of relics of the civil
war" Else, why is it that the North
ern prison pen at Point Lookout, or
the dungeons of Fort Delaware, or the
stockade at Elmila is not reproduced
in the great war museum at Chicago?
Why have not the directors of the
exhibition constructed within the mu-
scum cyclorama Of the burning OF
Atlanta, or of Columbia, or of the
smoking ruins of happy homes which
marked the trail of Tecumseh Sher-
man through the Carolinas?
It is evident from the "relics" con-
tanned in the museum, and from the
Misrepresentation contained in the
Inter- Ocean as to the cruelties prac-
ticed upon the Federal soldiers in
Southern prisons, that the "great war
museum" at Chicago is wholly one
sided affair established for the purpose
of making money at the expense OF
the South. We fail to see why the
names of "Andersonville, Salisbury,
Libby, Castle Thunder" etc., should
excite 'sshame in the South. There
was much in the history of these in
stitutions to cause regret but nothing
to excite shame-regret that the South
was so poor in resources that its pris-
oners were compelled to endure great
hardships; regret that the Confederate
Government could not supply its ar
mics and prisoners with medicines,
because the Federal Government (con-
trary to a IL the rules of civilized war
fare) made medicines contraband OF
war and kept medical supplies out of
the Confederate States; regret and
horror that the Federal Government
cared 30 little for its sick and wound
ed soldiers who were languishing in
Southern prisons that it waited for
four months before it would accept the
offer of the Confederate authorities to
surrender sick and wounded Federal
prisoners without requiring Confeder-.
ate prisoners in exchange.
In July, 1866, Secretary Stanton
made report showing that, of the
Federal prisoners in Confederate
hands, 22,576 died; while of the Con-