The National tribune., 1910-01-27

lgeOn in charge OF AnderSonVIlie. IN ms
book, The Southern Side of Anderson
VILE" states the number of deaths there
as 1892. The graves there, however
show about 500 more. This exhibits
1883 per cent of deaths. DIR. Thorn
burg, who was Assistant Surgeon there
Testified on the WirZ trial: I'm my opin-
ion one-half of the prisoners that died
there might have been saved If they
ihad received proper diet and care"
| A careful calculation shows the aver
age life of a prisoner in Andersonville
was 95 days. Gen. John II. Winder, of
wonderful fame, in general charge of
all the prisons, reported officially 10 the
iConfederate War Department from sal
isbury. N. c., Dec. 13, 1864, that he
thought the ratio of mortality at Flor
Ience and Salisbury exceeded that of
Andersonville. More Union soldiers died
at Andersonville than were killed or
died in the War with Mexico. More
Union soldiers died in Confederate priS-
ons between Jan. 1, 1854. and May i,
1865, than the British allied army ever
had in the field at Waterloo against
Napoleon. That army numbered 1886,
while over 10000 Union soldiers died
| in prisons between those dates.
But the frightful mortality of Union
prisoners i'll the prisons of the Confed-
eracy is more shOckingly revealed when
| II is authoritatively stated that the
number of graves of prisoners at An
Jacksonville and Salisbury, two of the
most prominent prisons. of 25, SIS, ex-
ceeds the number of Union soldiers
killed at Manassas, Shiloh, Antietam,
Stone River, Fredericksburg, Chancel-
lorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga,
Spotsylvania, the wilderness, Cold Har-
Dor and the Petersburg assault, IL great
battles of the war. In those great fights
there were 23,35S Union soldiers killed,
being 2,22S less than the graves of
Union prisoners at Andersonville and
Salisbury, but two out of the 20 differ
ent prisons in which Union soldiers
were confined.
Confederate Testimony Only Used.
In this brief epitome of the suffering
of Union prisoners and the astounding
mortality among them we use Confed-
crate testimony alone. When the con,
dition of the Union soldiers in the
Southern prisons became known the
authorities of the Confederacy were OBJ
Iliged to investigate, and, sending one of
their most prominent Surgeons, DIR.
Jones, a professor in medical college
lin Georgia, to inquire, he reported: The
prisoners are without barracks or tents;
50, 900 men are densely crowded togeth
er. sheltered only by blankets and low
novels. densely and irregularly ar
ranged, preventing free circulation, en-
sendering foul and noxious vapors, and
prccluding any system of police; the
men are exposed during the days to the
rays of the sun and the dews at night,
and many unprotected during rains"
OF this report when it became public
the Doctor said: Il desired
it should never see the light of day. as
it was prepared solely for the eye of the
Confederate Surgeon-General."
So worldwide had the sufferings,
privations and deaths of Union prison.
ers become that Gov. Vance, of North
Carolina, Feb. l, 1865, wrote Confeder-
ate Secretary of War Seldom about Fed
eral prisoners, saying: Accounts
reached me of the most distressing
character in regard to their suffering
and destitution. / earnestly request
you to have the matter inquired into,
and, If in your power to relieve them,
that il be done If they are wiifully
left to suffer when we can avoid y, II
would not only be a blot on our human
ity, but would lay us open to severe Ie-
taliation"
The Sumter watchman, South Car
olina newspaper, near the Florence
Prison, late in 1864, says of a visit:
"The camp we found full of what were
once human beings, but we would
scarcely have recognized them as such.
In an old field with no inclosure but
the living wall of sentnels. who guard
them day and night. are several thou
sand filthy, diseased, famished men
with no hope of relief except in death.
A few dirty rags stretched on poles
give them poor protection from the hot
sun and heavy dews. All We're in rags
and barefooted and crawling with YER
min. AS we passed around the line Of
guards l saw one of them brought out
from his miserable booth by two of his
IL. Il
to die. He was nearly naked. His
companions pulled his cap over his
face, Strengthened his limbs, and all
was over. The captive was free.
While we were on the ground a heavy
rain came up, and they seemed greatly
TO enjoy it, coming a puris naturalibus,
opening their mouths to catch the
drops, while one would wash off I'm
other with his hand and then receive
from him the like kind Office" Contin-
uing, the article says: From the camp
of the living we passed to the camp of
the dead-the hospital transition
which reminded me of SataR's solilo-
guy: Which way I fly is hell; myself
am hell. And in the lowest deeps, a
lower deep still threatens to devour me,
opens wide 4 few tents covered with
pine tops crowded with the dying and
the dead in every stage Of corruption.
Some lay in PROSTATE helplessness;
some had crawled under the shelter of
the bushes; some were rubbing their
skeleton limbs Twenty or so die daily.
The c0rpses 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 toSeth-
er with a cotton string, and their skele-
ton arms folded over their breasts. You
would hardly know them to be men, so
sadly do hunger, disease and Wretchcd-
ness change human face divine Pres
entity came the carts. They We're car
ried a little distance 10 trenches dug
for the purpose and tumbled in Ike so
many dogs; a few pine tops were thrown
upon the bodies, a few shUvelfuIs Of
dirt. then haste mad. TO open a new
ditch for other victims. The bearing
parties we're Yankees detailed for the
work and an appointment which. as
the Surgeon told me, they consider a
favor, for they get little more TO cat
and enjoy fresh air" This and similar
narratives came from Confederate
Southern heart to rebellion aIa war.
Well may DR.. John William Draper, in
his History of the Civil War" on page
Sli. after reciting some horrors of pris-
on life, say: IF my reader be shocked,
as well he may be, at the above recital,
let me assure him thal I taVe not told
him half the reality"
To Preserve Truth of History.
One of the great purposes of this or
ganization is to preserve and record the
truth of history on the treatment and
exchange Of prisoners of war in the
great rebellion of 1861 to 1865 This
history is recorded not to excite bloody
hate. but rescue from oblivion the life