The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-03-03
ct rs examine some of these prl,f.

had the rebel leaders within n reasonable |
time after this matter became notorious made
some show of inquiring into and alternating
the deadly misery, there might be some ex-
nation, and the plea that they did as well rs
they could wOnld have some validity. But
this state of affairs was allowed to continue
over year-in fact until the downfall Of the
neutrality-suspicious. a hand being raised to
mitigate the horrors of those places without
even an inquiry being made as to whether
they were mitigable or not Still worse {:
every month saw the horrors thicken, and the
condition of the prisoners became more
wretched.
The suffering in May, 1864 was more terri
BILE than in April June showed frightfui
increase over May, while words fail to paint
the horrors of July and August, and so the
wretchedness waxed until the end, in April
1865
The main causes of suffering and death
were so obviously preventible that the rebel
leaders could not have been ignorant of the
ease with which remedy could be applied
These main causes were three in number:
improper and insufficient food, unheard-of
crowding togethar, utter lack of shelter.
1t Is difficult to say which of these three
was the most deadly. Let us admit, for the
the rebels to supply sufficient and proper
food This admission, ] know, will not stand
for an instant in the face of the revelations
made by Sherman's March to the Sea, and
through the Caroinas, but let that pass, that
we may consider more easily demenstrabIe
facts connected with the next two propo-
sitlOns he first of which is as to the crowd
ing together.
Was land so scarce in the Southern Confed-
eracy that no more than is acres could be
spared for the use of 81. 0O0 prisoners? The
State of Georgia has population of less than
onesixth that of New YORK, scattered over a
territory One-Q Garter greater than that States,
and yet pitifal little traet-less than the corn
patch clearing" of the LATEST ''cracker"
in the State-was all that could be allotted to
the uae OF three-and- half times ten thousand
young men!
The average population of the State did
not exceed 10 to the square mile, yet Ander-
sonville was pespled at the rate of l. 400, 600
to the square mile. With millions of acres
of unsettled, useless, worthless pine barrens
all around them, the prisoners were wedged
together so closely that there was scarcely
room to lie down at night, and few had
space enough to have served as grave.
This, too, in a country where the land was
been entered from the Government.
Then as to shelter and fire: Each of the
prisons was situated in the heart of prini-
eval forest, from which the first trees that had
ever been cut were those used in building the
pens. Within gunshet of the perishins men
was an abundance of lumber and wood to
have built every man in prison a warm, COM
Portable hut, and enough fuel to supply all
his wants
Surprising, even, that the rebels did not
have the labor at hand to convert these for
ests into building material and fuel, the pris-
Oners themselves would have gladly under
taken the work as a means of promoting
their own comfort, and for occupation and
exercise. No tools would have been too poor
and clumsy for them to work with.
When logs were occasionally found or
brought into prison men tore them to pieces
almost with their naked fingers. Every pris-
Oner will bear me out in the assertion that
there was probably not root as large as a
bit of. clOthes-line in all the ground covered
by the prisons that eluded the faithfully
eager search Of freezing men for fuel.
What else than deliberate design can ac-
count for this systematic withholding from
the prisoners of that which was so essential
to their existence, and which it was so easy
This much for the circumstantial evidence
connecting the rebel authorities with the pre-
meditated plan for destroying the prisoners
Let Us examine the direct evidence:
The first feature is the assignment to the
command of the prisons of General" John
II. Winder, tne confidential friend of Mr.
Jefferson Davis, and a man SO INSCRIPTIONS,
cruel, and bloOd-thirsty that at the time Of
his appointment he was the most hated and
feared man in the Southern Confederacy.
His OdiOus administration Of the odious office
of Provost Marshal General showed him to
be tittes- Of tools for their purpose. Their
selection, considering the end in view, was
emnently wise.
Baron Haynau was made eternelly in
famous by fraction of the wanton cruelties
which load the memory of Winder But it
can he said in extenuaton of Haynau's
Ofenses that he was brave skillfnl, and en-
ergetic soldier, who overthrow OH the field
the enemies he maltreated. If Winder, at
any time during the war, was nearer to the
front than Richmond, history does not men
ton it. Winder was the son of a sham aristO-
GRAFT, whose cOwardice and incompetence in
the War OF 1912 gave Washington into the
hands Of the British ravagers.
1t is sufficient indication of this mans char
terrible suffering that prevailed in Anderson
vile in June. July, and August; that he
could see 5000 men die each month in
the most horrible manner without lifting a
finger III any way to assist them; that he
could call attention in selfboast.ul way TO
the fact that - / am killing off more Yankees
than 20 regiments in Lees Army" and that
he could respond to the suggestions of the
hOrror-struck visiting Inspector that the
prisoners be given at least more room, with
the assertion that he intended to leave matters
just as they were-the operations of death
would soon thin out the crowd so that the
survivors would have sufficient room
1t was Winder who issued this order to the
Commander of the Artillery:
HEADQUARTERS MILITARY PRISON.
ANDERsoNyILLE, GA, July 81, 1864. !
ORDER No. 49,
The officers on duty and in charge of the
Battery OF Florida Artillery at the time will,
upon receiving notice that the enemy has ap-
preached within seven miles of this post, open
upon the Stockade with grapeshot, without
reference to the situation beyond these lines
OF defense. JOHN H. WINDER,
Brigadier- General Commanding.
DiabOlical is the only word that will come
at all near fifty characterizing such an in
famous order. What must have been the
nature of a man who would calmly order %
guns to be opened with grape and canister at