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Indiana University 
from Indianapolis in order to supply the troops more speed- 
ily, and that they were to go by special agent. Morton caused 
a list of the articles shipped to be sent to St. Louis so that 
the order would not be duplicated.®^ In October, 1862, Morton 
organized a relief expedition to McCook’s Division, which had 
suffered losses in Tennessee. All expenses were borne by the 
state.®^ 
Another of the most striking attempts made to aid Indiana 
men was made in the latter part of 1863. During the autumn 
reports reached Morton that Indiana soldiers confined in pris- 
ons in and around Richmond, Va., were in destitute condition; 
that the men were half dead from hunger, filth, and vermin ; 
that the rations were about the same as those issued to the 
rebel army, but very inadequate and poor. Officers were 
treated little better than privates, and Indiana military agents 
urged Morton to do something to relieve conditions.®'^ 
The Governor began negotiations with the Confederate au- 
thorities. J. W. Montfort, Indiana military agent at Wash- 
ington, carried on the correspondence with Robert Quid, the 
Confederate commissioner of prisoners. Consent was given 
by that official saying : 
Any provisions you may send to Ely Point for Indiana prisoners 
will be faithfully distributed under such regulations as our prison author- 
ities may furnish, such regulations relating solely to the benefit of the 
prisoners. The provisions can be sent to my care or that of Brigadier- 
General Wilder. We have now begun scattering our prisoners over the 
country, owing to the refusal of the federal authorities to make an ex- 
change. This action will alone be good reason for directing your provi- 
sions to any one of your officers.®* 
The directions agreed upon stated that “boxes must be 
sent by express prepaid to Fortress Monroe. No expense will 
be incurred upon them beyond that point. All packages 
Department Despatches, XV, 305, 308. 
92 General Despatches, IX, 69, 71, 73, 74. 
9* Captain M. T. Anderson, of the Fifty-first Indiana, an escaped prisoner, writing 
in the Journal said of conditions at Libby and Belle Isle: “Food is bad, scanty, and dis- 
gusting. Often there is no meat at all and never enough. This is the case with officers 
in Libby. It is still worse with privates in Belle Isle. There food is not only meager, 
rare, and bad, but they have no other personal comforts to compensate for the want 
of it, or make its absence tell with less damaging force on the system. The whole isle 
is alive with vermin, and the men who could easily, and would gladly, keep themselves 
clean by bathing in the river which runs within a few yards of the camp are never 
allowed near the water at any time. . . . The very sand of the shore is thickened 
with vermin.” Indianapolis Daily Journal, December 28, 1863. 
94 Ihid., November 21, 1863 ; Indianapolis Daily Sentinel, November 23, 1863 ; Terrell, 
Report, I, 322, 
