The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-09-21
THE CHAPLAIN OF ANDERSONVILLE
Rev. A. Gordon Blackwell Recalls the Stirring DAYS
When AS Confederate Official He Visited the
PrsonThe Memory of Major Wiz, Commandant
Of Anderonvile, INDICATED Of the Charges of
Cruelty Which He Was Tried and Hanged lust
After the End of the War

, Outside this stocEadc and about l2O
feet from It was another stockade
built OF p!ckct3 twelve feet nigh. This
stockade. large as 1t was. was not
sufficiently large for the great num-
Der Of prisoners confined in it. Many
more prisoners were confined at An
dersonvil!e than the authorities OK
pected 10 provide for there, and the
hope was always that the Federal gov
eminent would any day agree to the
pressing and most liberal terms Of
fered By the Confederate government
for the exchange OF prisoners"
AT this point 1t is not aniss TO in
terrupt the narrative with the state
ment that an encyclopedia of author
!ty asserts that the stockade contained
$4,000 prisoners at times. and that be-
tween February. 1864, and April. 1865.
1885 prisoners were received, of
whom 1850 died. which would indeed.
leave considerably more than 5000 on
hand
To resume the narrative of DR.. Bake
well: The selection of this southern
part OF Georgia for a temporary rem
devious OF prisoners OF war, for the
,
porary quarters to hold prisoners
awaiting exchange. was based on the
most humane considerations and the
point was considered the most con
Venicnt place from which TO convey
the prisoners to Savannah where they
could be placed Federal transports
upon exchange. 1t was, moreover. a
healthy location. and of all others
within the Confederate lines the most
abundant in food supplies and such
resources as the depleted Confedcracy
could command for the health and
weil-being OF the prisoners"
Compare in passing this statement
OF the reverend gentleman with the
statements designed to justify the exc
cut!on Of Wirz. the dcnunciation of
jefferson Davis and other Confederate
leaders, who were accused OF guilty
knowledge OF the alleged atrocities of
W'rz and Windcr. his superior, and OF
standing by conserving TO these atroci-
ties When James @ Blaine arose in
the Congress and exhausted his vo-
cabulary in depicting and denouncinE
the horrors OF Andersonville," the
late Ben liill. OF Georgia, in reply
quoted figures obtained at the War
Observation-Disclosures not Confederate
igures-demons;rati that the per-
centaSe OF sickness and death was
greater in the Federal than in the Con-
fedcrate prisons-and showed that in
some OF the Federal prisons at least
the death rare was greater than that
at Andcrsonville on the trial of Wirz
IL was blatantly asserted and sworn TO
that Andersonville had been selected
because of its unhealthfulness that
the Federal prisoners would more
surely die
In reply to Ben HIPS figures. which
could not be denied, II was asserted
that il was surprising that the excess
OF deaths in the Northern prisons was
not even greater-that The Confeder-
ates were necessarily confined in sec
tions where the climate was rigorous.
while Andersonvlle was an ideal spot
for the confinement OF prisoners so
salubrious was the climate that II was
clear that deaths there were due NO
Entertainment
To resume the testimony of DR..
Blackwell: "All that could be done for
the welfare of the Federal prisoners
at unreasonable was done. The same
rations and medical treatment was
given them as was given TO our own
men. l do not mean to assert that
either the food or the medicine given
was adequate. Every one knows they
were not and knows why they could
not be. Medicine had been declared
contraband OF war and was not to be
had within the Confedcracy. Presi-
dent Davis, in the summer OF 1854, ap-
pealed to the humanity OF the Federal
authorities, through his surgeon gem
eral, DR.. Ould. Offering to make pur-
chase OF medical supplies from the
United States authorities to be used
exclusively for the Union prisoners.
these supplies to be paid for in gold,
COTTON or tobacco. even at double or
triple the commercial value, on be-
half OF the Confederate States that
such medicines might be brought into
tho Confederate lines by surgeons OF
the Federal army and dispensed by
them direct to the sick prisoners No
reply was even received to this offer
Food throughout the South was in
adequate to the demand in 1864. The
rations of the prisoners at Anderson
vile was that of the Confederate SOL
der in the field--cornbread at all
times and bacon when II was to be
had. which was not always, by any
means. Moreover, this cornbread was
sometimes sour and decidedly unpalat-
able. ate 1t with the others and am
certain It would not tempt my appe-
title now. II is not to be denied how
ever, that the Confederate soldier as
simulated this food better than the
Federal prisoner. and more nearly
thrived upon it, I attribute this to the
fact that the Confederate soldiers
passed by gradual transition from the
adequate ration at the beginning OF
the war to the starvation period at
ita close, while the Federal prisoner
was suddenly transformed from
period Of plenty. from what may he
termed In the field during q period
of hostilities. luxurious feeding
Ito a period OF semistarvation upon
coarae and at times unwholesome food.
Soon after reached Andersonville
great numbers OF prisoners arrived
;daily--sometimes as many as 1900 n
day. 1t was impossible to make ample