The record-union., 1891-05-11

an ear OF corn, and was right glad to get
1t at that; but that doesn't count, for |
was Union soldier, and was not ex-
pected to receive the same treatment as
our guests. If we could find out who was
so dlscourteous as to charge anything, we
would punish him by some mild process.
We could hardly have the heart to
duck him head foremost in hospital
SWili barrel"
10. "Our letters were scanned at the
camp postoffice" This is not an un-
common prison experience in times of
peace.
IL. "Jewelry was stolen from our
mail" This was indeed cruel. 1t is too
much to believe. If he can identify the
wretch, we will try to have him court
martialed even at this late day, for it was
''crueI' thing to steal jewelry from the
mail of prisoner of war. There was
never such charge made regarding
Andersonville, Libby or Belle Isle.
Il. I'VE were forced to dig ditch to
prevent ourselves from escaping" l
have no language with which to express
my indignation at such cruelty. We
would have dug it ourselves, had we
realized how it was going to sound
twenty-five years later, when the Century
presented it in such Gold Cheern
l3. 1.-The walls were twenty feet high
and smooth, and the sentries We're upon
the parapet outside, and the prisoners
could only see their heads and shoulders.
The lamps were so placed that the SEN
tries could see the prisoners, but it was
with difficulty that the prisoners could
see the sentries, and their beats were so
arranged that there were never more
than l50 feet unguarded at one time"
These are, indeed, grave charges. The
fence ought not to have been more than
six feet high; should not have been
smooth, and the SentrieS should certainly
have had more than their head and shoul-
derS exposed. The lamps ought certainly
to have been faced the other way 50 that
sentrieS could have been seen while they
could not see. 1t would seem as though
$50 feet was as much unguarded parapet
as could have been reasonably asked;
but, OF course, that is matter of taste.
ESCAPE AND CAPTURE.
IA. One man, having successfully scaled
this smooth, 20-foot fence, despite the
lamp, wrote to his comrades that he was
all right in Kentucky. This tempted
seven others to try it. -Four brave fel-
lows" OF these seven were captured, and
they were placed with their backs against
a tree, their arms extended above their
heads, and there they had TO stand
through the night. He wakes eloquent
upon this terrible cruelty. 1t is indeed
unkind not to put them in bed and care
fully nurse them so that they would have
strength to make q successful break the
next time. He describes in detail the
chiyalric way these 'brave fellows"
treated the sentry. Some forty picked
men organized themselves for escape and
made ladders, EARNED themselves with
stones, pieces Of wood and bottles" and
''made a rush, pelted the sentries, and
the entire assaulting party gained the out
side. Some few men were recaptured,
but the majority reached Canada or the
South" | was on guard that night and
I
no punishment was meted out to the
brave fellows" Of stone, wood and bot
tie fame who were recaptured.
Is. \ detail composed Of prisoners was
selected to accompany the garbage wagon
to some distant point outside the walls.
Five persons at a preconcerted signal
seized the two guards, diSarmed them.
and escaped. At another time two men
''were mortally wounded by a ball, the
assassin doing his work so we'll that the
same ball passed through both bodies"
Upon this he dwells with unusual bitter
ness. 1t was a brave fellow always
who threw stones, wood and bottles
who seized and bound the guard; it was
an assassin always who objected to be-
ing bound.
QUESTION OF TASTE.
As to the general charge of starvation.
He says they had daily a dish of vege-
table soup, a loaf of bread, seven inches
long and three and Il half deep and wide,
and a piece Of meat. On this diet
he says, multitudes starved to death, and
were always so hungry that rat or dog
could not come within reach without be-
ing killed and eaten. There is no ac-
counting for taste. If a man, with full
loaf of bread, piece Of meat and dish
of vegetable soup, desired rats or dogs
for dessert, it is no concern of ours; but
when he says that men were starving to
death upon such diet, we decline to
revolutionize the history of quarter Of
a century upon such testimony.
The remaining charge is that multi
tudes froze to death. Not that they were
cold or uncomfortable, but literally froze
TO death. The camp was in grove and
was inclosed by u close fence twenty feet
high. They were all quartered in bar
racks, each having four stoves, each man
with blanket. He says that each four
men formed combine, using one blanket
under them and three over them, and
then they frOZe to DEATH II saw eighteen
frozen TO death one morning! No inn
agination III this, of course. No enlarge
ment Of the facts in twenty-five years?
That same night the sentry was walk
ing upon bleak parapet, twenty feet in
the air. In the bowling wind, binding
snow or stinging cold, as the case NAV
be, he had not Il single blanketi in that eX-
posed place, and yet he never froze so
much as an ear.
There used to be some tall swearing
done by the sentries on those nights, as,
in their loneliness, they braYed the
weather, while the prisoners were com
fortably freezing to death, shut III by The
high fence, amply protected by the bar
racks, with four stoves, and under three
blankets.
Ifanybodv cares to believe that eighteen
prisoners froZc to death under these cir
hp l. H.-alanpna n hiG fnitl, in
the "Cold Cheer story. ! have no inter-
est in the opinion of any man who can
read that article and believe that there
was such unjustifable abuse or serious
cruelty, who can believe that one man
ever starved or frOZe TO death. In one
respect Gold Cheer is cheering. What
a world of possibilities it opens up to the
Union soldiers. All that is needed is
few years for the play of the imagination
to do its perfect work, rs ii has done in
the case of the author Of "Cold Cheer"
HIGH MORALE OF THE CAMP.
Thus much for the work OF fiction as
Illuminated in the Century. Now a word
as to the facts. General Henry B. Car
rington of the regular army, graduate
of Yale. a scholarly gentleman, thorc
ough business man, was IN command OF
the Department of Indiana, and devoted
himself faithfully and conscientiOusly to
making Camp Morton model prison
camp, and his pride in his charge, if
nothing else, would have prompted him
to keep it in hrst-class condition, for it
was constantly visited by the dignitaries.
General Alvin p. Hovey, in an official
report, September 4, 1865, says: Il re-
peatedly, with pride, conducted visitors
To Camp Morton to show the military dis
cipline and the order and neatness that
prevailed throughout the barracks and
prison." It was scrupulously neat and
every way comfortable for army life, but
- ,,,ayy sha,,, vary crunl aud non aSt bptja