Fifteen Months in Dixie; Or, My Personal Experience in Rebel PrisonsDay, W. W. (William Worthy)
History
Fifteen Months in Dixie; Or, My Personal Experience in Rebel Prisons
Day, W. W. (William Worthy)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Prisoners and prisons
9th. The best, and in truth the only means of protecting large
armies and navies, as well as prisoners, from the ravages of
hospital gangrene, is to furnish liberal supplies of well cured
meat, together with fresh beef and vegetables, and to enforce a
rigid system of hygiene.
10th. Finally, this gigantic mass of human misery calls loudly for
relief, not only for the sake of suffering humanity, but also on
account of our own brave soldiers now captives in the hands of the
Federal Government. Strict justice to the gallant men of the
Confederate Armies, who have been or who may be, so unfortunate as
to be compelled to surrender in battle, demands that the Confederate
Government should adopt that course which will best secure their
health and comfort in captivity; or at least, leave their enemies
without a shadow of an excuse for any violation of the rules of
civilized warfare in the treatment of prisoners.”
(End of witnesses’ testimony.)
This was the testimony of a scientific medical officer, who was so
thoroughly a rebel that he served as a private for six months in the
Confederate army, and yet so humane as to condemn the barbarous
treatment imposed on helpless men by such fiends as Winder and Wirz.
Let me call the readers particular attention to a few points in the
testimony of Dr. Jones.
First. As to his charge of filthiness. He states the truth, as any
ex-Andersonville prisoner too well knows, but he does not inform his
Government as to the cause. He does not say that these men were turned,
like so many swine, into the stockade, after being robbed of everything
of value. That no cooking utensils were furnished, that not an ounce of
soap was issued to the prisoners after May 1st, 1864. But he does tell
us that water was scarce, and filthy beyond the power of description, he
does tell how these men became dispirited by long confinement, by bad
diet and worse drink, and by their filthy surroundings, and by the
constant presence of death. What wonder that men under all these
discouraging circumstances soon fell to the level of brutes? And yet all
were not so filthy; all did not lose their instincts of manhood, but
through all these discouraging surroundings, observed, as well as
possible under the circumstances, the laws of health. Were it not so
this story would never have been written.
Second. He speaks of hearing some of the prisoners exonerate the
Confederate Government, and lay all the blame of their continued
imprisonment on the Federal Government. There is too much truth in this
statement to be pleasant to us as patriots, but let us see if these men
were wholly to blame in this matter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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