The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-04-08
THE CAMP MORTON AFFAIR.
Prospects of n Warm Controvsrsy over DIR.
Wyeth's staten "a,

n
NEW YORK, April 6.-The Sun says: II
W. r. Holloway of Indianapolis, private
secretary OF Governor Morton during the
civil war, does as he says he will do there
Will be a fine controversy.
DR.. John a. Wyeth of this city wrote
the article which appeared in the Century
for April. This article was about the
treatment Of confederate prisoners OF war
at Camp Morton, near Indianapolis, from
November, 1868, to February, 1865, and
set forth as the personal experience of the
writer n tale OF horror equal in some re-
spects to the stories of Libby prison or
Andersonville. 1t charged thai the con-
federate prisoners were almost starved. ate
rats and dogs. were unprotected from the
bite Of terrible winter, and suffered all
sorts of indignities.
Mr.. Holloway says he visited Camp Nor
ton nearly every day and that he propos-
IS to prove that DR.. Wyeth does not state
acts. DR.. Wyeth said last night: u have
read Mr. Holiowav's statement and | am
anxious that he shall try TO disprove what
have written. | am in a great measure
prepared for him with incontrOvertib.e
documents anf within a few weeks
shall be still better prepared. ! have
waited twenty-eight years before publish
ing this story, ns | wisheI all the preju-
dice which the feeling OF recent wrongs
engenders to die ont, and think that l
wrote with iairness-With great modera-
tion even
"The editors of the Cln'ury magazine in
vestigated my figures before they pub
lished the article. They found that was
absolutely right-that l had been more
moderate than the facts would have justi-
fed. ! confined myself 10 my personal
experiences to the things that came un-
der my own eyes. | heard OF many things
from comrades which were undoubtedly
true, and which were worse than the
things | published, but which l could not
use because had not seen them.
''We were men from Alabama, Louisi-
ana and other warm states, used to a
sunny climate. We were not sheltered
against the winter; We had no medical
attention for sickness. Then there were
horrors of starvation incredible. For
years and years there has been a great
uproar about Libby prison and Anderson
vile, and it is true that the union prison
ers were not treated as they should have
been; but we had the excuse that we had
only food and clothing and medicine
enough for our own men. For Camp Nor
ton no such excuse could be offered. The
federal government never gave me a
bit of clothing in all the time was there,
and it gave little to any OF the others.
There were plenty of doctors and there
was plenty OF medicine in indianapolis,
yet the sick were allowadto die of ,tFSsing
ailments. And those prisoners were
starved within sight of fields of grain.
These facts were published in part in a
Georgia magazine by the Rev. J. G. Will
son of st. Louis before he died. l can get
ample confirmation Of my story from COM
rades imprisoned with me and now living
in various parts of the South. Senator
Pasco of Florida was there at the time
and will bear me oCt in what have sad.
The official figures show the death rate 10
have been seventeen hundred or eighteen
hundred in 10000. and that speaks for
itself"