The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-09-05
MONDAY. SEPTEMBER 5, 1910.
PRISONERS OF WAR.

McIiure Magazine is printing
III "Goldwin Smiths "Reminiscences Ia
Its September number fl prints what
Mr.. Smith wrote, about the treatment
5Eof prisoners of war in Northern and
Southern prisons correspondent,
IA''W. c. b." ofARiohmond. writes that
lit ought not to go unanswered" We
4 think so, too; but the same misstate,
ments of facts have been made so often
and answered so often that it is almost
! hopeless to expect that they will ever
be corrected by the magazines which
Y give currency to them. We do not be.
lieve for moment that McClure's
Magazine will print the facts about 1T
but, Just the same, we shall tell them
Mr.. Smiths statement to which our
correspondent calls attention is as fol-
TOYS:
Prisoners Of war were well treated.
visited the prison camp at Chicago |
and saw that its inmates were well |
fed and were suffering no hardship be- |
yond that of confinement. 1fthey died
under imprisonment, 1T was as the
paged eagle dies. l visited the pris
oners' hospital at Baltimore. went
Through every part of 1t, and salts
fed myself that the treatment was
good. My visit was unannounced, Oh
Thanksgiving Day the table was
spread with the good things of the sea-
SON. 1 record this an answer to the
charges of cruelty rife at the time n
England. i was the more notable as
,he treatment of Federal prisoners in
some of the Confederate prisons was
known to be most inhuman. In the
s Andersonville prison camp it was dew
ilish. and such as no want of resources
On the part of the captors could eX-
euse. I saw at Annapolis the first
patch of prisoners exchanged from An
iersonvilLe; they We're living skeletons.
put my finger and thumb round the
upperpart of large mans arm. 1t
must be said that Grant was partly re-
sponsible. if, as was understood, lie
refused to exchange prisoners, NO
laws of war surely can warrant the
retention of prisoners whom captor
cannot feed. They ought to be released
on parole"
What are the facts? According to
the report of Edwin NJ Stanton. United
states Secretary of War; 22,576 Federal
prisoners died in Confederate hands
curing the war: 26,436 Confederate
prisoners died in Federal hands In
round numbers, according to the off,
rial report of Surgeon General Barnes,
ne the United states Army. the num-
her of Confederate prisoners in Fed
eral hands was 100000, and the mum.
her OF Federal prisoners in Confeder-
ate hands 100000. Out of the 2To.ooo
Federal prisoners in Confederate hands
$4,000 died. while of the 100000 Con-
federate prisoners in Federal hands
over $4,000 died. More than II per
rent of the Confederates in Federal
hands died; less than per cent. OF
the Federals in Confederate hands
died In his reply to James G. Blaine
In the House OF. Representatives at
Washington, Ia.nuary II, 1876. Benia-
min II. Hill, of Georgia. said: 1T APP
pears from the official record that me
confederates came from Elnira, from
Fort Delaware, and from Rock Island
and other places with their fingers
frozen off, with their toes frozen OIL
and with teeth dropped out"
Every effort made by the, Confederate
authorities to obtain an exchange OIL
prisoners was refused by the Federal
authorities and partly upon the recon-
mendation Of General Grant himself
who preferred that the Federal pris-
oners at Andersonville and in other
Confederate prisons should die rather
than that the Confederate prisoners
should be released lest they return
to the service, and so strengthen the
resistance TO him and his army All
appeals from the Confederate author
,it,es were rejected; all the petitions
of the Federal prisoners Themselves at
Andersonvlle We're denied In Sep
,tember, 1864, the Federal prisoners al
Andersonville adopted resolutions set
ting forth their unhappy estate, one
sof which read as follows;
"Resolyed, That While allowing the
Confederate authorities all due praise
for the attention paid to our prisoners.
+ numbers of our men are daily con-
signed 10 early graves in the prime
of manhood, far. from home and
Kindred, and this Is not caused inten-
jltionaily by the Confederate Govern
ment, but by the force of clrcum-
istanees.
In August, 1865. gpnius Henri Brown.
Northern writer, perfectly famliar
with the conditions at Andersonville
and in other Southern prisons said
that If the exchange of prisoners asked
by the Confederate Government had
been assented to. "at least twelve or
Sfteen thousand heroic lives would
have been saved TO the Republic"
Down in country graveyard in
Georgia there rests at least one former
prisoner of war who passed through
THE hospital at Baltimore, and endured
4he Tong agony at Point Lookout, and
SUFFERED the torturos Of Elinira. who
would speak. If his voice We're not
stilled forever. of the barbarities Of
prison life In the great Christian North
bf comrades who were permitted By
61 VI heir keeDars tn die like brutesEf OF