Mr. B. B. Dikes, referred to in the foregoing statement of Floyd
Snelson, is not the only claimant who has endeavored to secure
possession of the grounds in and around the stockades at _Andersonville,
Georgia_. I should have said that he has entered a suit in the U. S.
Court for the possession of these lands, but in the absence of the
military he judged the ejectment of the freedmen, and getting possession
in the manner I have described, as more sure and speedy than the "law's
delay."
A Mr. Crawford claims that the land which lies within and around the
south stockade, in which are the hospital sheds, where so many of our
soldiers died, where even now the bare ground upon which they lay shows
the indenture made by the bodies of our suffering dying soldiers,
belongs to certain heirs, and he, too, has been endeavoring to get
possession of these grounds. My pastoral visitations led me to the
cabins in and around the stockades, that have been built upon the land
now claimed by Mr. Crawford. As was most natural, they poured into my
ears the sad, the almost incredible, accounts of the wrongs they have
suffered "since freedom came," or, as they more frequently expressed it,
"since the surrender came through." One of these men came to me in
January, in great distress, and told me that the day before he had been
notified by Mr. Souber, the magistrate of the district, that he must
leave his house by the next Monday night, or he would bring the Sheriff
and turn him out. Mr. Souber told him that he had charge of the land for
Mr. Crawford, _and that he was agoing to fence it in, and raise a cotton
crop in and around these stockades_. There are thousands who know how
this soil has been ensanguined and enriched. I had frequently walked
over these grounds, and seen evidences of what is both too indelicate
and too horrible to be described. I confess that my indignation was
roused to the highest degree. I sat down immediately and wrote a
statement of these facts to Hon. J. M. Ashley, and begged him to call on
General Grant, and see if there was any power in the Government to
prevent these outrages.
The Lieutenant in charge at Andersonville called upon me some days
later, and informed me that my letter to Congressman Ashley had been
referred, by General Grant to General Meade, who had referred it to him.
I furnished him the facts upon which it was based, and also wrote
General Meade as follows:
[Copy.]
ANDERSONVILLE, GA., _January 30, 1869_.
GENERAL: I send you the accompanying "statements" in regard to the
matters referred to in my letter to the Hon. J. M. Ashley, M.C. My
letter was based upon _part_ of these statements. Those additional
to what had then been communicated to me are the result of
investigations made since Lieutenant Corliss informed me that my
letter had been referred to General Meade and to himself.
I have been acquainted with colored people in the South more than
twenty-five years I know the difficulty of getting at the truth in
such matters. But I think these "statements" can be depended upon.
With great respect, yours very truly,