Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-01-31

and an equivalent exchanged with the re-
mainder on parole until credits could be
made to declare an exchange.
Under this cartel the prisoners taken
i'm the great operations of 1850 aud the
beginning of 1859 were promptly delivered
and exchanged The first trouble
Cured over the passage by the Confed-
crate congress OF law returning negro
soldiers captured 10 slavery. and turning
over their officers IL the states to be
dealt with according to the laws punish
ing those who melted servile instruction.
This meant death for all the white offi-
GERS and a number were so executed.
Our government having put uniforms on
these men was in all honor required to
protect them to the uttermost.
Trouble at Vicksburg.
There was soon added to this compli-
ca ton the prisoners captured at Nicks-
burg and Port Hudson and paroled on the
field In making the terms Gen. Grant
reasoned clearly that IL he paroied the
men they would return to their homes
within our lines and remain quietly there
during the rest of the war. The Con-
federates were keenly alive to this dan
ger and Gen. Pemberton demanded OF
Cen Grant that I've send the prisoners
under guard. to point inside the Con-
federate lines. This Gen. Grant refused
to do. and the Confederates thereupon
declared exchanged all the prisoners cap
lured at Nicksburg and Port HUDSON
They were put into the army. massed
against Gen. Rosecrans at Chickamauga
and many of them taken prisoner again
I'VE find Gen. Thomas asking instruc-
lions from the War Department as TO
how he should treat them. In the mean
while the Confederates held the prisoners
they had captured at Gettysburg, ChicRa-
manga and elsewhere until the dlspute
could be settled The Union armies were
everywhere capturing a. great many more
Confederates than they were losing. ana
the surplus in the hands OF the Union
com manders was daily increasing. me
Confeferates began to insist upon an Cd
servance of the provision in the cartei
providing for the paroling OF the surplus.
and Cen Grant who had come into COM
mand of all the armies OF the United
States. maintained inf1exibiy position OF
offering to exchange man for man, ana
stop there. This was the whole DISPUTE
Gen. Eutler. who was placed in COM
mand a Fort Monroe. attempted to carry
out informally an exchange by sending UP
a certain number of men and receiving an
equal number in return. but the Con-
1e1efateS refused lltlS as al tNdStoIl oi
the cartel providing for the paroiing of
the surplus. AS the war continued the ex-
cess in our hands grew ra-idly until II
was, perhaps. approximately 1O0,OO The
reasons became still stronger why this
great army should not be released at a
most critical time to be nut in front of
Gen. Grants or Gen. Sherman's armies.
Therefore. with few exceptions. there was
no more exchange until the close OF the
war.
. Birth Of Andersonville.
"Andersonville was started In the. winter
of 1S63-64. when the Confederates became
hopeless of forcing our government to an
exchange upon their TERMS. and the in
tention was to collect the prisoners at
some point remote from danger of re-
capture and where they could be easily
fed. 1t was located in Sumter county Ga
sixty miles south of Macon and about
$50 miles south of Chattanooga. near
which the Confederate army maintained
Its line of defense The prison was To-
Gated In the midst of a great barren Of
long-leaved pine, and remote from any
considerable town or city. The site was
Rbout One-haf a mile from the little sta
ton OF AndersonVille on a railroad run
ming from Macon to Alban.'
Albany YVES at the head Of nayiga ton
for the Appaiachicola region. Across wide
ravine. through the center of which ran
SWeetwater creek, stockade was erected
] ,1G0 feet long by 80 wide The stockade
was made by setting pine logs. twenty
five feet long. five feet into the ground
The fnc!osed space measured about thir-
teen acres. but 1t was further diminished
by the dead line running on the inside OF
twenty feet from the stockade clear
around the prison. Along the top Of the
stockade We're little perches for the
guards, who could overlook the interior
of the prison. Around the prison for it's
defense. and to hold the prisoners in ave-
were breastworks. and heavy forts one
Of these at the southwestern corner
mounting eleven guns. Into this pen
without shelter Of any kind, the prisoners
We're turned. Most OF them We're stricoed
of their camp equipaxe. cooking utensils
and most of their clothing before. they en-.
tered. =
AS for myself. my bat alton. the Sd Bat
TALON. 18th Illinois Cavalry. had been
captured entire after sharp fight at
Jonesvlile. Va. forty miles from the
I MON lines, when il was surrounded by a
brigade OF Confederates under the COM
mand of Gen. William E. Jones Their,
were 30 Of us in the fight Of whom six
ty-one were killed or so badly wounded
that they could not be taken from the
field. This left a84 OF us to he taken to
Richmond. After short stay there we
were sent to Andersonville and were in
the first squad which entered the prison.
This was on the night OF February "A
1854
Inside the Stockade.
7 When We entered we found the condi-
tons an Improvement on those of the
buildings in Richmond in which we had
been confined. for here was open air with
bright Georgia sun. The interior Of
the stockade was covered with the trunks
Of the felled trees and brush from the
swamp bordering the creek. With an in
pennitE ba IaI1 OF
once set about making shelters for our
selves by taking the long poles from the
swamp. bending them into semi-crcle
and forming shacks something like the
pictures of the bushmen's kraals in South
Africa using the briars and vines TO hold
the hoops together and the matching of
,long-leafed pine. The rations were not SO
bad, as we got at first quart of meal
and a little piece of salt beef. There was
plenty of wood for fires to cook our ra-
tons and fol warmth. We got along
fairly we'll with no more annoyance than
men being shot occasionally without cause