The National tribune., 1910-07-21
THE HORRORS OF s,sotdaFE IN
DIXIE.

Il Wlue range, Dut the tdieS OF terrible
sufterings are always 9the saline. The
misery of lack of food, clothes and
shelter, the inhumaB ltreatmakt, Of the
sick and wounded and even the dead,
are only partially conveyed. The whole
and complete picture of the sufferings
shown
Incidents of Salisbury.
Martin Boyer, Co. l, 18th Ind, Hew-
ins. Kan, writes: .--,
In a communication from a comrade
he speaks about the hospital at Sails
| bury in 1859. / was in that hospital
about two weeks. think I remember
the comrade. If he is the one 1 have
| in mind, he was about 30 years of age,
| fair complexion, brown eyes and heavy
| moustache. He gave me an egg which
was boiled, the only one l got while in
| prison. While there a man named
Green. of Co. /, 9th Ohio, told me If
would get him some paper he could
make as good Confederate money as
| there was there. 1 cut the buttons
always ready to trade for buttons) and
bought an old elementary spelling
book. Green with a pencil and, piece
of glass made Confederate 50-cent shin
plasters. and he and / bought peach
pies from the hucksters at the gate
with them
II would like to find out who the
other man was who WAS shot at in the
old cotton factory. There was a COM
pany of North Carolinians there who
did guard duty. They called themselves
the Yankee hunters. When they would
be drilling and the Lieutenant was Civ
ing commands, we would give COM
mands Also That made the Lieutenant
mad. One day 10 or 20 of us were in
the office part of the cotton factory
having a stag dance when the Yankee
hunters came along, very close to the
door. AS soon as they came in sight
the boys began to give commands. The
Lieutenant halted his company and
said: 'Shoot>some of those - Yanks.'
The boys rushed to the side of the room
except myself and another, who, I
think, belonged to the 7th Ohio. He
was closer to the guard than ], but not
in line, and l felt sure one of us would
be shot. We both dropped to the floor
The muSket cracked and neither was
hurt; the bullet struck the wall oppo-
site the door,
AndcrsOnvil!e Aristocrats.
I. 7. King, Co. F, 115th ILL.,, Upper
Alton, ILL.,, writes:
I'VE older Andersonville prisoners
assume the position that our ability to
endure suffering was far superior to
that of the fresh fish who were daily
being turned into the crowded stock
ade. Comrade Reese and I occupied a
spot on the south hillside and close to
the dead line, so close that there was
no danger of others pre-empting that
spot, and not so close that one might
roll under 1t or touch IL while we slept.
and so get a charge OF buckshot from
the guard. Our shelter of two old
blankets, forming tent three and one
half feet high and open at the ends,
covered space about 10 feet by 10
feet. AS thousands upon thousands
were added to our number we realized
that soon we should have to give up
some of this space, and that our cry of
You can't stop here; go over to the
north side would not much longer
prevail, and so when our number had
reached the $4,000 mark We selected
from a lot of fresh fish two Intelligent
looking fellows ione-i named White
norm, who had two blankets. a pocket
knife, a comb, a tin can and q pocket
looking-giass. These, with the possess
sions of Reese and myself, placed us
four among the Andersonville aristoc-
racy, and gave us force enough to fight
off those who would encroach on our
territory
''One day boy named Williams, the
brother of WhitehOrn's wife, came to
US, and then there were five. When we
were exchanged we boarded the train
at $3.50 in the evening. The last 1
heard OF Capt. Wirz he was cursing
ana threatening poor fellow who was
too weak to walk The train puIled
out. the moon was shining bright and
about 10 o'clock Williams Jumped off.
He ran about 10 steps. A vOlley from
the top or the train and Williams fell
The train stopped. Officers went back
and examined the body. 1 heard one
of them say: He is dead Whitehorn
said not a-word. nor did the rest of us.
Such things were too common We
lay on the floor of the freight car and
slept; there was no further alarm, but
IN the morning Whitehorn was gone.
My only theory was that he dropped |
beside the moving train and lay fiat. |
What became of Whitehorn?"
As to Wirz.
]. ID. Young, Co. B, 12Oth ILL.,, Brook
port, ILL.,, writes:
In recent copy of the Confederate |
veteran L saw an article by Col. Fam
min. of the 1st Ga. Reserves, defending |
capt. Wirz Had Col. Fannin been an |
of that hell he would doubtless |
nave very different opinion of Capt.
WirZ. That man WirZ in his treatment |
Df Union soldiers exhausted the mean
ng of the word brutality. When Col |
tannin or anybody else attempts to
defend Wirz he lowers himself in the
moral scale and casts a. shadow over
he gallant chivalry of the South. The
monument some thoughtIess people
nave erected to WirZ will fail OF its
purpose, and will only serve as a re-
nlnder OF his brutal nature Passers-
)y VIII not see the monument, but in
stead will see 10000 grinning skeletons
produced by the famine clutches of
My knowledge of Wirz
was not gained at secondhand. 1 en-
tered AndersonviIle Prison June 21.
1854, and was relieved Dec. 12, 1854,
in Charleston Harbor, and I know
1 speak. 1 could relate acts
'f that man Wirz of which I was an
,ye- witness OF such heinous brutality
nat no man with one atom of humani-
y left In him could have thought of
committing. l care nothing for the
dea or Wirz being on one side of the
question and l on the other. If I ever
lad any prejudice against the Confed-
crates L long ago gave il up.1 l know
nat the questions dividing the coun-
ry In that great war were questions
bout which honest, patriotic men had
Uttered from the formation of the Gov
1t is the character of the
nan WirZ to which I object, and the
words cruelty, inhumanity and brutal
ty are so weak as to be almost mean
ngiess when applied to Wirz."
On Dahlgren's Raid,
Isaac L. Richardson, Co. ID, 1st Me. {
;av., Bucksford, Me-, writes:J
Il was a private in Co. d, 1st Me.
he .raI