The National tribune., 1909-03-25
THE TRUTH ABOUT ANDERSON
VIVIE

land the exchange of prisoners. The
Daughters of the Confederacy, however
land the writers who pander to their
sentiments are tireless in their repet-
ton of the stale old falsehoods, an6
every time this comes UP there is c
cry of INDICATION from the comrade:
over the dissemination of insulting and
aggravating untruths. \ recent pub
| lication by syndicate writer. whC
signs himself William II. Jewell, Hon.
orary Commander, Florida Division, U
! V. c., and which runs thru all the
Southern papers, excites the comrades
in that region very greatly. and there
comes a demand for refutation of his
malicious misstatements Among 9th
er things he gives some absolutely fic-
titious statistics which have no basis
in fact He says:
Here are some facts and figures
that tell the story. At Camp Douglass,
in Illinois. the death rate was compare
lively low. being 16.S per cent AT AL
ton Prison, in Illinois, il was 20.9 per
cent At Elmira II. Y. it was 32.5 per
cent. At Johnson's Island it was heav-
ier and at Rock Island ii was IA per
cent What was it at Andersonville :?
1t was % per Gent. one-thi'd and less
of the death rate at Rock Island. The
report of Secretary Stanton made just
after the war. July 10. 1866, shows that
tire South held altogether 10000 FeT
erai prisoners, while the North he,
100000 Confederates. YET of tl.cse
more Confederates died than If Fed
erals, or 26.5Tt Confederates and 2e,e4I
FederaIs; 4,32f more Confede: lied
in prison thar. of Federals ? 80 tells
the story. God knows that pr 4 life
in time of war is horrible enough at its
best if there is any such thing as a
best to it."
That he quotes Secretary Stanton's
letter shows that he was wilfully lying,
beca Use the facts given in that letter
are absolutely contrary to his state
ment. The letter of Secretary Stanton
conveyed to the House of Representa-
tives the following letter from Gen.
Hitchcock:
"Office Commissary- General of Prison.
ers, Washington, d. c., July 18,
>-1S66.
Hon. E. NJ. Stanton, Secretary of War.
'tSir: In answer to the resolution of
the House of Representatives of the
18th instant calling for a report of the
number of deaths among Union SOL
diers while in Southern prisons, and
also the deaths among rebel soldiers
while held as prisoners of war, 1 have
the honor to state that from the rec
ords of this office it appears that 26,-
436 deaths have been reported among
the rebel prisoners of war and 22,576
Union soldiers are reported as having
died in Southern prisons. These num-
bers should be seen in comparison with
-
held North and South, to wit: In the
North there were about 220, 900, while
in the South there were a little more
than half the number. to wit. about
126,952, as per reports received. 1t
should also be noticed that while we
have accurate reports of the deaths
which occurred among rebel prison.
ers in the North, the reports from
Southern prisons were exceedingly ir-
regular, as appears by the report of
the Christian Commission, showing that
there were 616 Union soldiers died of
which no report was made to this Of
flee. Add to which no reports of deaths
were made from localities in the South,
as Florence, S. c., and other places.
The reports received from all prison
stations i'm the South are believed to
be very incomplete, with the exception
of those received from Andersonville.
Ga: Salisbury, N. c.; Cahaba, Ala, and
DaHViHe, Sd Inc number oI uedtHS
included in the Christian Commission
report refer chiefly to battlefields, with
the exception of the GIG whose graves
were found at prison camps.
Very respectfully, your obedient SER
want,
"E. A. Hitchcock, Major General. q. S.
Vols, Commissary-General of Pris-
oners."
It will be seen at once that instead
of having held 10000 Federal prison.
ers that they only reduced to posses
sion during the year and half that
the exchange was stopped 126,952, or
much less than half the figures given.
1t would seem useless to enter into a
discussion with man who so wilfully
distorts statistics. Furthermore, 1t will
be seen that the letter explicitly says
that there were only very few and
imperfect reports of the deaths in the
Southern prisons received by the War
Department up to that date, and that
great numbers of graves of unrecorded
and unknown prisoners We're being con-
stantly discovered, the Christian Com
mission having only recently found one
place where 676 Union soldiers had |
been buried, of whom no record had |
been made. This appalling fact alone |
changes the whole complexion Of the |
Every man who suffered |
during the war recalls |
with shudder the number of deaths |
among his comrades which were known |
,nly to the Recording Angel. Prisoners |
were kept in camps of which there are
no record. and daily Death took his |
toll among them. We were put on |
cars and transferred from one place |
20 another and every little fiat car had |
It's toll Of death when we stopped at |
)ur journeys end. These were buried |
anywhere and everywhere and no rec
)rd made of them. We stopped for a |
1ight in some pine woods, and left |
scores of our comrades lying on the |
,round in the last sleep which knows
10 waking. No record appears of these.
10 II went on thru all the dreary months
If that imprisonment If the evidence |
which has accumulated since the war
we're properly collated it would show
1t least one-half of the 12G.952 who
we're captured after the stoppage of
he exchange and reduced to possess
lion, never again saw the Union lines
md Old Glory floating in triumph.
The figures Mr.. Jewell gives as to
he deaths in Northern prisons are