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
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 prisoners by the rebel authorities, the condition of the
apparel of the soldiers, just from an active campaign, can be easily
imagined. Thousands are without pants or coats, and hundreds without
even a pair of drawers to cover their nakedness.
To these men, as indeed to all prisoners, there are 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 soldiers are fed by the rebel authorities,
and by which they 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 extent. On an average, one hundred die
daily. It is impossible that any Union soldiers should know all the
facts pertaining to this terrible mortality, as they are not paraded
by the rebel authorities. Such statement as the following, made by
---- ----, speaks eloquent testimony. Said he, "Of twelve of us who
were captured, six died, four are in the hospital, and I never expect
to see them again. There are but two of us left."
In 1862, at Montgomery, Alabama, under far more favorable
circumstances, the prisoners being protected by sheds, from one
hundred and fifty to 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 injuries received before capture, sent
from rebel hospitals 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 nothing more demoralizes soldiers and
develops the evil passions of man than starvation, the terrible
condition of Union prisoners at Andersonville can be readily imagined.
They are fast losing hope and becoming utterly reckless of life.
Numbers, crazed by their sufferings, wander about in a state of
idiocy; others deliberately cross the "dead line," and are
remorselessly shot down.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account