The Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1864-10-15 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

LIBBY PRISON AT RICHMOND.  The Nes, l'otk floraGl gives the following deverlption of the treatment of the Federal prhioners by the Confederates :  . The rooms are one hundred feet by forty. In six of these 1,200 United States' officers, of all grades, from brigadier down, were confined for months. This was the almost incredible space allowed them in which to cook, eat, wash, sleep, and take exercise. Ten feet by t co claimed by each man for all the purposes of living ! At one time they Were not allowed benches or stools, or even to fold their blankets and it upon them, but forced to huddle "like slaves in the middle passage ;" at another only allowed to make stools out of the barrels and boxes they received from the North; at all times overrun by vermin, in spite of constant ablutions, , no clean blankets being ever issued by the rebels; arel lying down at night, according to Libby phrase, 'wormed and dovetailed together like fish in a basket." There were two stoves and -seventy-five windows, all broken, and in winter tho cold was intent*. Every prisoner had a cough from the damp or cold.. It was among the rules that no prisoner should. go within three feet of the window' a rule extremely cutcult to observe in the crowded prisons of the South. Often, by accident or unconsciously, an officer would go near a window and be instantly shot at. In the , Pemberton building near by as many as fourteen shots were fired in a single day, and very frequently a prisoner fell killed or wounded. It became a matter of sport to "kill a Yankee." Once the guard caught sight of Lieutenant ilaminund'a bat through a boarded enclosure where there were no windows, and came within an inch of murdering him. Major Turner, the keeper of Libby, remarked, "The boys are in want of practice." The sentry said "he had made a bet he would kill a Yaut ee•bef ore he came off guard." Almost every prisoner bad such an incident to tell. Thromehout the Southern prison system it is a regular sport to kill Yankees. The guards were never reproved for their willingness to commit murder. The daily eation in the officers' quarters in Libby prison was a small loaf of bread, about the size of a man's fist, made of Indian meal. Sometimes it was made from wheat flour, but of variable quality. It weighed a little over half .a-hound. With it was given a piece of beef weighing two ounces. " I would gladly," said an officer, "have 'preferred the home-feed in my father's stable." The corn bread began to be of the roughest and coarsest description. Portions of the cob and husk were often found ground in with the meal. The crust was RO thick and hard that the prisoners called it ironclad. To render the bread eatable they grated it, and made mush out of it, but the crust they could not grate. Now and then, after long intervals, often of many weeks, a little meat was given them, perhaps two or three mouthfuls. At a later period they received a pint of black peas, with some vinegar, every week. The peae were often full of worms or maggots in a chrysalis state, which, wheu they made soup, floated on the surface.