Martyria; or, Andersonville PrisonHamlin, Augustus C. (Augustus Choate)
History
Martyria; or, Andersonville Prison
Hamlin, Augustus C. (Augustus Choate)
Andersonville Prison; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Prisoners and prisons
The pathetic letter, which was composed by the suffering and dying men at
Andersonville, and addressed to the President in August, 1864, and
forwarded by the prisoners who were sent to Charleston, led to renewed
efforts on the part of the United States government; but no notice was
taken by the rebel authorities of the plea in behalf of humanity. The
following letter is said to be the one sent to the President:--
_The Memorial of the Union Prisoners confined at Andersonville,
Georgia, to the President of the United States._
CONFEDERATE STATES PRISON,
CHARLESTON, S. C., Aug., 1864.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
The condition of the enlisted men belonging to the Union armies, now
prisoners to the Confederate rebel forces, is such that it becomes our
duty, and the duty of every commissioned officer, to make known the
facts in the case to the government of the United States, and to use
every honorable effort to secure a general exchange of prisoners,
thereby relieving thousands of our comrades from the horror now
surrounding them.
For some time past there has been a concentration of prisoners from
all parts of the rebel territory to the State of Georgia--the
commissioned officers being confined at Macon, and the enlisted men at
Andersonville.
Recent movements of the Union armies under General Sherman have
compelled the removal of prisoners to other points, and it is now
understood that they will be removed to Savannah, Georgia, and
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 upwards
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 occurrence, the cold dews of the night, and the more terrible
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 storms 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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