The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-09-15

fer him, Tor 1t Is against his positive
orders to exchange papers with the
Eedcrnls, and doubtless like orders
from yourself. Ii is, however. well
known, that papers are exchanged,
and. as above indicated. when not ac-
tually engaged il deadly strife, men
from both armies arc anxious and
willing. and very naturally so, to hold
communication and exchange papers.
This soldier is, | believe, thoroughly
imbucd with a sentiment Of honor,
and could not have approached your
lines with any sinister purpose, and
though at this time u private in the
ranks from choice. has been both a
Colonel and Brigade General in our
army. and filled both grades with cred
It to himself. Should my statement
be corroboratcd by that Of your Off
GERS | believe this man East will be
favorably regarded hyyou, and that he
will soon be returned to Our lines, to
his friends and family. ! ALL with
high respect, very truly, &c,
Y. VI. hILloA,
Major General. G. S. \.
The next day Gen. Wilcox received
this answer:
HEADQUARTERS OF THE POToMAt,
Nov. 80, 1864.
Major Gen. &. NJ. Wilcox, G. S.
Army-Your letter OF the 18th inst.
has been referred to me by Lieut..
Gen. l.. S. Grant, with directions 70
reply to it. l regret extremely that it
is not in my power to accedc to your
request by returning to your lines
Private r. \. Pryor, Third Virginia
Cacalry, The same considerations
which prevented you from applying to
your Commanding General preclude
me from sanctioning this irregular in
tcrcoursc between the opposing pick
cts, which is in direct violation Of my
orders, and for violating which and
thus permitting himself to be captur-
cd in a similar manner, ! recently dis
missed Captain Burrasc CT Q Massa-
chusctts regiment. Private Pryor will
have to suffer the consequence of his
imprudcncc. He will be held az a
prisoner of war, and with all consider
alton due to his position.
| remain, General, with great re-
Spcct, &c. GEO. G.. Meade,
Major General Commanding.
On the 18th of October, 1864, Gen.
Hancock snntovcr to the Confcdcratcs
a flag Of truce to be allowed to bury
his dead. The men on both side had
become accustomed to sec each other
suffer and die, and the men in blue
who were detailed to perform these
last said rites we're callous and easily
contentcl themselves with shallow
graves for their dead comrades, and
after the first rain that fell on these
narrow holes in the earth you could
see an arv showing here or a foot in
the open air there, SC.
Now the grave diggcrs they had
"Gone, and thero was not q CLEAN OF them,
Gone, and we could Only dream Of thotn
Gone into the hight OF the ne7eImore,"
so far as their dead were concerned.
November nights in Virginia are
chilly, and our men being thinly clad,
and shoes and bluotets were not to be
had. they were forced from necessity
to sec that there could be no harm in
~uncovcring these aforementioned
graves aud get the blankets, shoes,
hats and pants that could not be Of
further service only to keep those Of
Us from suffering who were fortunate
enough to get them. l take the fol-
lowing from Colonel \. {. Ilaskell,s
address, delivered in Spartanburg, S.
G., May 10th, 1897. In speaking of
Confederate soldiers take them as de-
pictcd by the enemy in "Recollcctions
of a Private Soldier Of the Army Of
the Potomac" as his line lay before
u works at Petersburg in the sum-
mcr of 1864 awaiting the order for the
attack:
Every man in the Second Army
Corps knew says he, THAT not many
miles away hat the columns of the
Army Of Northern Virginia were
marching furiously to save Petersburg
and Richmond and the Confederacy.
We could almost sec those veteran
troop-lcan, squalid and hungry and
battle torn, with set jaws and anxious
looking cyes-striding rapidly through
the dust, pouring over bridges, crowd.
ing through streets of villages and
ever hurrying to face us, and we knew
that once they got behind the works
in our front We could not drive them
out"
In Gen. Buffers book is another
testimonial tothc physical suffering of
the "mcn in gray" In discussing
the treatment CT prisoners under the
non-cxchangc policy enforced by the
Federal authorities he writes
Il feel bound to say that from care
determination of the subject do not
believe hal either the people or the
higher authorities Of the C%Onfcdcracy
were in so great a degree responsible,
as they have been accused. In the
matter Of staryationit is incontcstablc
that a soldier Of u army would have
quite starved on the %rations which in
the latter days of the war were served
out to the Confederate soldier before
Petersburg. | examined the havcr-
sacks Of prisoners and found therein
as their %rations of three days scarcely
more than a pint Of kernels Of corn,
none Of which were broker, but only
parched to bIackness b. the fire, and
a piece Of meat, most frequently raw
bacon some three inches long by an
inch and a half wide. and less than
half an inch thick. Now no Northern
soldier could have lived three days
upon that. and the lank, cmaciatcd
condition Of the prisoner fully tcsti,
fled to the mcagrcncss of his means of
subsistence.
With regard to clothing, he goc: on
t. say:
1T was simply impossible for the
Coufcdcratcs at that time and tor
many months preceding to have sufi-
Gent clothing upon the bodies of their
soldiers, and many passed the winter
barefoot.
Tho were iHCn
Whom power could not corrupt,
Wnnm death could not t"rri!E,