The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1908-08-13
DAvrss soMrLlcrrr.

JEFFERs6S DAvIs's COMPLETELY.
A large part aof the case of the
Daughters oeithei southern Confederacy
is based upon the fiction that he. Wirz.
was offered his life If he would give
Ievidence duplicating Jefferson Davis in
a knowledge of the condition of things
in Andersonville1 and other Southern
prisons. We have repeatedly met this
with the statement that the evidence
was sufficient to 3mplicate Jefferson Da-
Wis withoutIi Wirz saying anything one
way or the other. There was no ne
cessity whatever OF trying to make Wirz
turn States evidence. AS an illustra-
ton of this is the following letter cap
tured with the other Confederate pa
pers at Richmond. 1t tells of the con-
ditions in the prison at Florence. 5. C.
The letter was addressed to Jefferson
Davis, and inclosed in an article from
the Sumter Watchman. The letter
reads:
'Statesburg, S. c., Oct IL, 1864.
Dear Sir: Enclosed you will find an
account of the terrible sufferings eff
the Yankee prisoners at Florence, s. G..
| III Tie name OI ali tIldt 10 HoiS 10
there nothing that can be done to re-
lieve such dreadful suffering?
| IF such things are allowed to con-
tinue they will most surely draw down
some awful judgment upon our coun-
try. 1t is a most horrible National sin
that cannot go unpublished. If we can
not give them food and shelter, for
Gods sake parole them, and send them
back to Yankeeland, but don't starve
| the miserable creatures death
Don't think that I have any liking
for the Yankee. 1 have none. Those
near and dear to me have suffered too
much from their tyranny for me to
have anything bu. hatred to them; but
l have not yet 70 ,ome quite brute
enough to- know Of such suffering with
out trying to do 81 netting even for n
| Yankee.
"Sabina Dismukes-"
| That this reached the one to whom
it was directed is shown by the follow
ing Endorsement:
Respectfully referred, by direction
of the President to the honorable Sec
| rotary of War.
Burton N. Harrison,
Private Secretary"
The article from the Sumter Watch
man referred to read as follows:
''Mr. Editor: 1t may not be uninter-
esting to your numerous readers to hear
something from the Yankee camp at
Florence. Your correspondent went
over, upon the summons of one of those
| ominous o. BIS which the times have
made more familiar than agreeable, to
take a drove of cattle to the camp. Our
party has in charge animals of all Sizes
sex and conditions, from the patriarch
of the herd, whose scanned and wrinkled
frcnt bore the marks of many a bloody
battle, aud -erumpie,' who had served
her day at the milk pail and whose
constitution was evidently unable to
stand the blasts Of another March. We
lost three on the way-two struggled
and one fell from exhaustion; the buzz
yards. after all, were not cheated of
their long-expected prey. The country
thru which I'VE Travelled is fiat, stale
and unprofitable.; The crops are poor
and every cotton field destroyed by the
army wormi', as if in imitation of its
more intelligent namesakes. No object
of curiosity was encountered on the
way. unlessew took into account the
long bridge5iover what the natives call
Spawa Swamp Most of the houses
were uninhabitedy with fences and out
buildings going to ruin.
" No product now 3the barren fields af-
But men and steel, soldier and his
sword 713
1.-THE camp we found full of what
were once human beings, but who
would scarcely now be recognized as
such. In an old field, with no inclos-
ure but the living wall of sentineIs, who
guard them night and day. are several
thousand filthy, diseased, famished
men, with no hope of relief except by
death. A few dirty rags stretched on
poles give them poor protection from
the hot sun and heavy dews. All were
in rags and barefoot and crawling with
vermin. As we passed around the line
of guards / saw one of them brought
out from his miserable booth by two of
his companions and laid upon the
ground to die. He was nearly naked.
His companions pulled his cap over his
face and stretched out his limbs. Be
fore they turned to leave him he was
dead. A slight movement of the limbs
and all was over. The captive was free,
The Cornmissary's tent was near one
side of the square, and near it the beef
was laid upon boards preparatory to
it's distribution. This sight seemed to
excite the prisoners as the smell of
blood does the beasts of menagerie.
They surged up as near the lines as they
were allowed, and seemed, in their
eagerness, about to break over. While
we were on the ground a heavy rain
came up, and they seemed greatly to
enjoy 1t, coming out a puris naturalibus,
opening their mouths to catch the
drops while one would wash off anoth-
er with his hands, and then receive
from him the kind Office. Numbers get
out at night and wander to the neigh
boring houses in quest of food.
"From the camp of the living We
passed to the camp of the dead-the
hospital--a transition which reminded
me of Satan's soliloquy:
." Which way fly is hell; myself am
hell;
And in the lowest deeps. a lower deep,
Still threatening to devour me, opens
wide
"a few tents, covered with pine tops.
were crowded with the dying and the
dead in every stage of corruption Some
lay in PROSTATE helpIessness; some had
crowded under the shelter of the
bushes; some were rubbing their skele-
ton limbs. Twenty or thirty of them
die daily-most ofthem, as was in
formed, of the scurvy. The corpses lay
by the roadside waiting for the dead
cart. their CLASSY eyes turned to heaven,
the flies swarming in their mouths, their |
big toes tied together with a cottont
string, and their skeleton arms folded