686 



PRISONERS, EXCHANGE OF. 



under General Sherman have compelled the removal 

 of pnsoncrs to other points, and'it is nowunderstopd 

 that they will be removed to Savannah, Georgia, 

 Columbus and Charleston, South Carolina. But no 

 change of this kind holds out any prospect of relief 

 to our poor men. Indeed, as the localities selected 

 are far more unhealthy, there must be an increase 

 rather than a diminution of suffering. Colonel Hill, 

 Provost Marshal General, Confederate States Army, 

 at Atlanta, stated to one of the undersigned that there 

 were thirty-five thousand prisoners at Andersonville, 

 and by all accounts from the United States soldiers 

 who have been confined there the number is not 

 overstated by him. These thirty-five thousand are 

 confined in a field of some thirty acres, enclosed by 

 a board fence, heavily guarded. About one-third 

 have various kinds of indifferent shelter; but up- 

 wards of thirty thousand are wholly without shelter, 

 or even shade, of any kind, and are exposed to the 

 storms and rains, which are of almost daily occur- 

 rence ; the cold dews of the night, and the more ter- 

 rible effects of the sun striking with almost tropical 

 fierceness upon their unprotected heads. This mass 

 of men jostle and crowd each other up and down the 

 limits of their enclosure, in storm or sun, and others 

 lie down upon the pitiless earth at night, with no 

 other covering than the clothing upon their backs, 

 few of them having even a blanket. 



Upon entering the prison every man is deliberately 

 stripped of money and other property, and as no 

 clothing or blankets are ever supplied to their prison- 

 ers by the rebel authorities the condition of the ap- 

 parel of the soldiers, just from an active campaign, 

 can be easily imagkied. Thousands are without 

 pants or coats, and mmdreds without even a pair of 

 drawers to cover their nakedness. 



To these men, as indeed to all prisoners, there is 

 issued three-quarters of a pound of bread or meal, 

 and one-eighth of a pound of meat per day. This is 

 the entire ration, and upon it the prisoner must live 

 or die. The meal is often unsifted and sour, and the 

 meat such as in the North is consigned to the soap- 

 maker. Such are the rations upon which Union sol- 

 diers are fed by the rebel authorities, and by which 

 thef are barely holding on to life. But to starvation 

 and exposure, to sun and storm, add the sickness 

 which prevails to a most alarming and terrible ex- 

 tent. On an average one hundred die daily. It is 

 impossible that any Union soldier should know all 

 the facts pertaining to this terrible mortality, as they 

 are not paraded by the rebel authorities. Such state- 

 ments as the following, made by , speaking 



eloquent testimony. Said he: "Of twelve of us who 

 were captured, six died ; four are in the hospital, and 

 1 never expect see them again. There are but two 

 of us left." In 1862, at Montgomery, Alabama, under 

 far more favorable circumstances, the prisoners be- 

 ing protected by sheds, from one hundred and fifty 

 two hundred were sick from diarrhoea and chills, out 

 of seven hundred. The same percentage would give 

 seven thousand sick at Andersonville. It needs no 

 comment, no efforts at word painting, to make such a 

 picture stand out boldly in most horrible colors. 



Nor is this all. Among the ill-fated of the many 

 who have suffered amputation in consequence of in- 

 juries received before capture, sent from rebel hos- 

 pitals before their wounds were healed, there are 

 eloquent witnesses of the barbarities of which they 

 are victims. If to these facts is added this, that noth- 

 ing more demoralizes soldiers and develops the evil 

 passions of man than starvation, the terrible con- 

 dition of Union prisoners at Andersonville can be 

 readily imagined. They are fast losing hope, and 

 becoming utterly reckless of life. Numbers, crazed 

 bj their sufferings, wander about in a state of idiocy ; 

 others deliberately cross the " dead line," and are 

 remorsely shot down. 



In behalf of these men we most earnestly appeal 

 to the President of the United States. Few of them 

 Uave been captured except iu the front of battle, in 



the deadly encounter, and only when overpowered 

 by numbers. They constitute as gallant a portion 

 of our armies as carry our banners anywhere. If re- 

 leased, they would soon return to again do vigorous 

 battle for our cause. We are told that the only ob- 

 stacle in way of exchange is the status of enlisted 

 negroes captured from our armies, the United States 

 claiming that the cartel covers all who serve under 

 its flag, and the Confederate States refusing to con- 

 sider the colored soldiers, heretofore slaves, aa 

 prisoners of war. 



We beg leave to suggest some facts bearing upon 

 the question of exchange, which we would urge upon 

 your consideration. Is it not consistent with the 

 national honor, without waiving the claim that the 

 negro soldiers shall be treated as prisoners of war, 

 to effect an exchange of the white soldiers? The 

 two classes are treated differently by the enemy. 

 The whites are confined in such prisons as Libby 

 and Andersonville, starved and treated with a barba- 

 rism unknown to civilized nations. The blacks, on 

 the contrary, are seldom imprisoned. They are dis- 

 tributed among the citizens, ot employed on govern- 

 ment works. Under these circumstances they re- 

 ceive enough to eat and are worked no harder than 

 they have been accustomed to be. They are neither 

 starved nor killed off by the pestilence in the dun- 

 geons of llichmond and Charleston. It iis true they 

 are again made slaves, but their slavery is freedom 

 and happiness compared with the cruel existence im- 



Eosed upon our gallant men. They_ are not bereft of 

 ope, as are the white soldiers, dying by piecemeal. 

 Their chances of escape are tenfold greater than 

 those of the white soldiers, and their condition, in 

 all its lights, is tolerable in comparison with that of 

 the prisoners of war now languishing in the dens and 

 pens of secession. 



While, therefore, believing the claims of our Gov- 

 ernment, in matters of exchange, to be just, we are 

 profoundly impressed with the conviction that the 

 circumstances of the two classes of soldiers are so 

 widely different that the Government can honorably 

 consent to an exchange, waiving for a time the es- 

 tablished principle justly claimed to be applicable in 

 the case. Let thirty-five thousand suffering, starv- 

 ing, and dying enlisted men aid this appeal. By 

 prompt and decided action in their behalf thirty-five 

 thousand heroes will be made happy. For the eigh- 

 teen hundred commissioned officers now prisoners 

 we urge nothing. Although desirous of returning to 

 our duty, we can bear imprisonment with more for- 

 titude if the enlisted men, whose sufferings we know 

 to be intolerable, were restored to liberty and life. 



The exposure to artillery fire of officers who 

 were prisoners was resorted to on two or three 

 occasions as acts of retaliation, but it quickly led 

 to explanations, and no injuries were the result. 

 Arrangements were made by each party on the 

 approach of winter, to furnish their soldiers 

 with blankets and other absolute necessities. 

 Articles for Federal prisoners were sent to City 

 Point from the North, and distributed as direct- 

 ed by agents of the rebels to prisoners in their 

 hands. At the same time a thousand bales of 

 cotton were shipped from Mobile to New York 

 and sold. With the money thus obtained, blan- 

 kets and other necessaries were provided for the 

 rebel prisoners in Federal prisons. A contribu- 

 tion was also made up in England, and sent over 

 for Confederate prisoners ; but permission to de- 

 liver it was refused. (See GKEAT BBITAIN.) 



In November an exchange was resumed be- 

 ginning first with the invalids and the sick, 

 and carried forward very rapidly, on the basis 

 of man for man, and officer for officer. 



