The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-10-02
AnpEHsonvLLE Prison
Some Memories Of This Horrible
Slaughter Pen
Continued from End page)

mutilated with an axe in the removal
of any finger rings they may have.
The sanitary condition Of the prison
ers is as wretched as can be, the
principal causes OF mortality being
scurvy and chronic diarrhoea, the per
centage of the former being dispropor-
tionately large among those brought
from Belle Island Nothing seems to
have been done, and but little If any
effort made to arrest 1t by procuring
proper food.
Raw rations have TO be issued to
very large proportion who are en-
tirely unprovided with proper utensils
and furnished so limited a supply of
fuel they are compelled to dig with
their hands In the filthy marsh before
mentioned for roots, etc. No soap or
clothing has ever been issued
Col. Chandler closes his report with
the following recommendation as to
Gen Winder, the inhuman brute who
had charge OF all prison pens Of the
South.
MY duty requires me respectfully
to recommend a change In the officer
in command of the post. Brig. Gen.
]. II. Winder, and the substitution in
his place and some one who unites
both energy and good judgment with
some feeling of humanity and consid-
GRAFTON for the welfare and comfort
| ESQ far as is consistent with their
safe keeping) of the vast number of
lunfortunates placed under his control,
some one who at least will not advo-
cate deliberately and in cold blood the
prpriety of leaving them in their
present condition until their number
has been sufficiently reduced by death
TO make the present arrangement suf-
| fee for their accommodation; who
will not consider 1t a matter OF self
laudation and Boosting that he has
never been inside of the stockade. a
place the horrors of which 1t is diff
fcult to describe, and which is a
disgrace to civilization; the condition
of which he might, by the exercise of
a little energy and judgment, even
with the limited means at his COM
mand, have considerably improved"
Chandler Retracts Nothing
When called in the Wirz trial Col
lChandler testified as follows:
81 have no retraction to make In
regard to the condition of the prison
at Andersonville. as represented In
my report. noticed that
Gen. Winder seemed Indifferent TO the
welfare of the prisoners, indisposed
to do anything or to do as much as
II thought he ought TO do to alleviate
their sufferings, | demonstrated with
him as well as | could, and he useC
that language, which | reported to the
Department. When | spoke of the
great mortality existing among the
prisoners, and pointed out to him
that the sickly season was coming on
land that 1t must necessarily increase
unless something was done for theil
relief-the swamp, for instance
drained, proper food furnished then
and in better quantity, and other san
ltary suggestions which | made u
Ihim-he replied to me that he thought
IL was better to let half of them die
than to take care of the men"
r. w. Chiffon, assistant adutan
and inspector general, submitted the
report of Col. Chandler to the Secre
tary of War, and commented on 1t al
follows:
"rhe condition of the prison at An
Jacksonville Is reproach to US as
nation"
]. A. Campbell, assistant secretar!
of war; into whose hands these papers
came first reported to the secretar!
OF war: These reports show con
dition of things at Andersonvill'
which calls very loudly for interposi
ton of the department in order tina
a change may be made.
No change for the better was evel
made.
Dr. Joseph Jones, C. s. A., Reports
Joseph Jones, Surgeon, c. s. A.
was mentioned by Jefferson Davis II
some articles that he wrote for Bel
ford Magazine January and February
I1869, as a man oil great learning anC
undoubted probity." Davis furthel
stated in these articles that DR. Jones
report was made for the eye OF the
surgeon-general alone. and intimatei
that 1t was criminal to use this repor
against the rebel management OF An
Jacksonville for that reason.
DR., Jones, May IS, 1864, reported t
Surgeonreneral S. P. Moore c.. S. A.
land 1t will be found in Records OF the
War of the Rebellion, Vol. Z, Series
IL, page 1912. A portion OF that re
port is as follows:
Immediately after the brief repor'
upon hospital gangrene, forwarded tt
the surgeon general, | repaired tC
Camp Sumter, Andersonville, Ca, anc
Instituted a series of investigations
Iupon the diseases Of the Federal pris
toner's.
1.-THE field was Of great extent ant
extraordinary interest. There was
more than 5000 seriously sick in the
hospital and stockade, and the deaths
ranged from 80 to 1870 each day.
"Since the establishment Of this
prison on the oath Of February, 1864
to the present time over 10000 FEEDER
al prisoners have died; that is nearly
one-third of the entire number have
persisted in less than seven months.
81 instituted careful investigation
Into the condition of the sick and
we'll, and performed numerous post
norton examinations. The medioa
topography of Andersonville and the
surrounding country was examined
and the waters of the streams, springs
and wells around and within the
stockade and hospital carefully analy
ed.
"Diarrhoea, dysentery, scurvy and
hospital gangrene were the diseases
which have been the main cause Of
this extraordinary mortality the
origin and character OF the hospital
gangrene which prevailed to SO remarH
able a degree and with such fatal eff
fects amongst the Federal prisoners
engaged my most serious and earnest
consideration. More than 10000 men